A Tour of Old Sturbridge Village by Samuel Chamberlain - 1957 Edition

The visitor to Old Sturbridge Village is carried back in time to the age of the farmer... (from the Foreword) 

 

{HISTORY}

An assembled collection of forty historic American homes, farms, and public buildings dating from 1800 to the 1820s, Old Sturbridge Village, located in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, is the place to go if you want to learn about how our ancestors lived during the era of the early republic. 

A living history museum that highlights New England's early 1800s rural lifestyle, Old Sturbridge Village was founded in the 1920s by brothers  Albert B. Wells and J. Cheney Wells. It first opened to the public in 1946 with a collection of twenty buildings filled with period-appropriate antiques of the era, collected and assembled by the brothers.

Now the largest living history museum in the northeast,  the Village has doubled in size and offers visitors year-round educational programs, tours, workshops, classes, demonstrations, and special events focusing on all details of daily life in early 19th-century Massachusetts. Blending historic architecture, 18th-century crafts, animal husbandry, gardening, cooking, and other activities surrounding domestic life and entrepreneurial endeavors, OSV, like Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia,  offers important insights through the help of on-site interpreters into how New England's past has informed its future.

In 1955, revered American photographer Samuel Chamberlain (1895-1975) created a paperback tour booklet of Old Sturbridge Village, combining his beautiful photography with brief descriptions of the sites encountered amongst this 250-acre village. Two years later, just as Old Sturbridge Village welcomed its one millionth visitor, the booklet was revised again. 

In this 1957 edition, Samuel calls out interesting details about each subject matter with both his camera and his observations. In his words..." the adventure of visiting Old Sturbridge begins on a gentle hillside..." from there, all sorts of interests delight the traveler's eye. A stop into Miner Grant's store, "rich in rural atmosphere," and stocked with the same necessities required of early 1800s homesteading, provides a glimpse into early 19th-century shopkeeping inventory and display. The Village Tavern boasts repurposed interior beams that originally came from a covered bridge. The "faded rose salt-box", the Mashapaug House, with its bookshop in back, shows how wings were added onto original structures in unique ways to accommodate growing families and business opportunities.

Further on in the booklet, there are captivating glimpses into this agrarian setting with photos of a team of oxen heading down a dusty lane, a tall rock wall sporting a hefty stone pound across its entrance to keep animals at bay, and the layout of a prized herb garden seen through the window of a house. The interesting thing about Samuel's photobooks is that while his images take center stage, his descriptions offer brief but captivating fun facts that lure readers into learning more about the chosen subject or person. 

Other such intrigues include a view of an "open" house, like a gazebo, where women sat to sew in the summer months. Inside the Salem Towne House study, a portrait of the owner, Salem Towne himself, hangs in front of reproduction wallpaper created to match an original scrap found inside the house. The Pottery Shop contains old examples of antique bowls and plates, pitchers and jugs, alongside new dishware made on site by local craftsmen in the same style. 

As lovers of Samuel's photography, many of his books have come through the shop, each one bearing his signature style of crisp, clear, beautifully cropped photos and his delightful way of sharing just the right amount of detail to capture your imagination and engage your interest. 

No stranger to how art and travel naturally converge, Samuel led an interesting and diverse life. Along with his artistic wife, Narcissa, and their equally creative children, the Chamberlains lived both in the US and abroad, where the entire family developed artistic pursuits in cooking, photography, writing, and interior design. 

Here in the Vintage Kitchen, we were first introduced to the vivacious Chamberlain family through the adventures of their delightful, funny, and quirky French cook, Clementine, whom we wrote about on the blog here and whose book was in the shop here.

A unique combination of enigmatic talent, both individually and together as a family, the Chamberlains (Mom, Dad, kids, and cook)  all contained a joie de vivre that was infectious when it came to their creative projects.  Something that could be translated just as effectively, whether they were working with words, photos, furniture, food, or recipes. 

For armchair travelers, for history buffs, for decorators, collectors, and researchers who are unable to swing by Old Sturbridge Village in person, you have no better tour guide than Samuel himself to highlight this dynamic educational resource.  It's so interesting, we bet it will inspire a future trip and more interest in Samuel's work.  

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• 1957 Edition by Hastings House
• 72 pages
• Paperback booklet

{CONDITION}

In beautiful vintage condition, this book is clean and bright throughout with no spots, stains, or notations. All the interior pages are very clean and bright, and the photographs are crisp and clear. The spine is tight, and all pages are intact. Please see photos. 

{SIZE}

Measures 8" inches (length) x 6" inches (width) x .25" inches (thickness) and weighs 5oz. 

{FOR THE LOVE OF SAMUEL AND FAMILY}

Find more books by the Chamberlains in the shop here.