History Uncorked 2023
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Objects Spotlighted During Previous 'Uncorked' Evenings
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Sounds of early 1900s catchy though scratchyPerhaps the most surprising thing about our c. 1905 phonograph is that, instead of discs, it plays hollow, black wax cylinders—of which we have 21 in our collection. Our phonograph is a Graphophone, a model produced by Columbia. The amplifying horn is a “Gem,” made by Thomas Edison, who invented the phonograph in 1877. He primarily envisioned a machine for dictating audio “letters” that could be sent through the mail and played on a second party’s phonograph. That use never caught on, but other inventors (including Alexander Graham Bell) pursued the concept, and Edison jumped back on the bandwagon. Around 1887, papers began carrying stories concerning this amazing sound-capturing invention. Some predicted it would put stenographers out of work. Some saw it as a toy. In the 1890s, phonographs were fair and carnival attractions. People gave lectures on them. Edison and Columbia began making cylinder recordings of music, comic sketches and speeches. By 1900, “entertainments” often featured phonograph selections along with live performances. Then came gramophone parties and concerts until, finally, most families owned a phonograph. While it’s interesting to see our Graphophone, the real thrill is hearing music recorded more than a century ago: That’s how our evening ended—with a march and two popular songs of the era, all catchy though scratchy. (Presented August 11, 2022)
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Chillin' in the days before refrigerationOriginally part of the “Rosemead” estate on Ocean View Avenue, the Rothwell Icehouse was donated to Cotuit Historical Society and moved to our grounds in 2009. James Rothwell, a summer resident for over 40 years, was known as the “Cement King.” Local tradition has it that, in 1898, he had a 10-foot-high concrete seawall installed in its entirety overnight. The icehouse is thought to have been built the same year. Icehouses were common at country residences by the 1840s. Samuel Hooper, Cotuit’s first summer resident, had one as did later well-to-do families like the Lowells, Coolidges and Wesssons. In Cotuit, ice was harvested from Lovells, Eagle, Lewis and No Bottom ponds. In 1915, Rothwell entered into an agreement with Roland Nickerson, whose School Street property ran back to Lewis Pond. For $2.50 per year, Nickerson gave Rothwell a “right of way for the purpose of hauling material from Lewis Pond to School Street.” The “material” was surely ice for Rothwell’s icehouse. But you didn’t have to be wealthy to get ice. From the early 1800s, the ice harvesting industry and the popularity of iceboxes developed hand in hand. In the early 20th century, Cotuit’s iceman was Horace Nickerson, who spent summers delivering truckloads of ice blocks cut from local ponds over the winter. (Presented July 14, 2022)
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The stereoscope: Virtual reality Victorian-style A precursor of the View-Master and 3D movies, the stereoscope thrilled Victorians with its capacity for making photographs look three-dimensional. Introduced at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1851, the first hand-held stereoscope was greatly admired by Queen Victoria. Royal approval inspired an explosion of public interest, with 250,000 stereoscopes and more than a million stereographs (dual-image cards for viewing) sold within three months.. Stereoscope companies quickly began sending photographers to shoot pictures all over the world. Ten years later, Boston physician Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. developed a more streamlined, less expensive version.. As he chose not to patent his design, companies like Underwood & Underwood (which produced two stereoscopes in HSSC’s collection) were able to copy it, and it became the most popular model. Stereoscopy mimics our natural ability to discern depth by using side-by-side images shot from about the same distance apart as our eyes – or 2½ inches. The stereoscope is designed to keep the right eye focused on the right picture, the left eye on the left. As with real eyesight, the magic of merging the two images and creating depth perception happens in the brain. Today, historians are especially grateful for the stereographs, which sometimes provide our only photographic record of a certain place at a certain time. (Presented August 12, 2021)
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Trumpeting the late, great Cotuit Brass Band,.A drumroll, please, for this surprisingly well-preserved band uniform jacket, once worn by a cornet player with the Cotuit Brass Band. Founded in 1882, the band periodically fell apart and regrouped until, in 1896, the members built their own hall for rehearsals on School Street. The jacket probably dates from that time. Until disbanding for good after 1905, they gave entertainments at Freedom Hall., played on the Fourth of July and for Cotuit High School graduations., and might even play for your private party, if you asked them. Once they accompanied the Odd Fellows on an excursion to Nantucket. When the Cotuit Federated Church building was dedicated in 1901, the band played for the laying of the cornerstone. It also led the entire town’s Memorial Day observances in Centerville. The musician who wore the jacket, A. Seabury Childs (1863-1948), also wore other uniforms on behalf of his village, serving with Cotuit’s fire department (including as chief) for 27 years and as constable for 51. (Presented July 8, 2021)
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Proudly manufactured in CotuitWhen Victor Nickerson started his plumbing company in the late 19th century, the village plumber’s job went way beyond fixing drippy faucets and overflowing toilets: Nickerson also sold equipment for accessing groundwater. Playing a crucial part in the process, the well point served for leading a pipe down to fairly shallow groundwater, receiving water and filtering out dirt particles.. After stainless steel was invented in 1913, Nickerson and his employee, Wampanoag Chief Len “Little Bear” Hammond, probably discussed how the metal might make a great material for well points because it wouldn’t rust or corrode. Hammond was actually the one who invented the Victor Well Point. Nickerson Plumbing was among the first to make well points from stainless steel, which remains the material of choice today. They'd begun marketing their product to plumbing supply companies by 1922. In 1930, they received orders for at least 625 well points and had enough of a reputation that Montgomery Ward reached out, expressing an interest in selling the Victor Well Point through their stores and catalog. We don’t know if this happened, but Nickerson’s grandson Merton kept producing it as needed as late as about 1982. (Presented September 12, 2019)
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