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Gov. Frank W. Rollins (1860-1915),
c. 1895, ink on paper
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Frank West Rollins (Feb. 24, 1860-Oct. 27, 1915), was born in Concord. He was a successful businessman and was devoted to improving NH. After serving a term as a state senator, he was elected governor of New Hampshire, and held office from 1899 to 1901. Though he was educated at Harvard as a lawyer, he joined his father's investment banking firm, ad was successful as a businessman. Best known for starting Old Home Week in 1899, Rollins urged that the forests of the White Mountains be saved to attract tourists. Determined to reinvigorate the state's economy and to help save New Hampshire's rural past, Rollins established Old Home Week as a statewide homecoming. In an Old Home Week address in Concord, Rollins decried the clear-cutting of the forests of the White Mountains and declared, "This must stop." Rollins helped found the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests in 1901 and served as the organization's first president. Rollins love of travel and sailing is reflected in the Society's bobblehead, for sale at the museum store, 6 Eagle Sq. or online. The bobblehead is fashioned after a photograph of the former New Hampshire governor at the helm of one his boats, circa 1903.
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Frank W. Rollins is depicted in this political cartoon penned by John E. Coffin (1860-1905), c. 1896, ink on paper, whose illustration shows Rollins's dedication to NH's scenic resources
as well as building the roads required to reach them.
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Rev. Nathaniel Bouton (1799-1878)
painted by Adna Tenney (1810-1900),
1873. Oil on canvas.
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President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) painted by Adna Tenney (1810-1900), 1852. Oil on canvas.
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Adna Tenney was born in Hanover on Feb. 26, 1810, and farmed until he was 34. He became interested in art, and went to Boston to study with the artist Francis Alexander. He then became an itinerant portrait artist, who was in Concord in 1845 and again in 1872. Aside from time in NH, Tenney painted in New York City, Baltimore, along the Mississippi River (c. 1856) when he painted 27 portraits. He moved to Winona (MN) and Oberlin (OH), where he died, August 10, 1900. The Society's collection of 10 includes a portrait of President Franklin Pierce, as well as one of Nathaniel Bouton (1799-1878), a minister and NH historian. Tenney also painted 30 portraits which now reside at the NH state house.
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Society members invited to exhibition opening reception March 14
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In the Notch by John White Allen Scott (1815-1907)
1857, oil on canvas.
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On Thursday, March 14, 2013, from 5:15 to 7:15 p.m., the Society's members are invited to attend a reception for the exhibition opening at the museum, 6 Eagle Sq., Concord.
There are two exhibitions now on view: Mountain Scenery, which features 19th-century New Hampshire landscape paintings by 17 artists, and Home, School, and Studio: Women Artists and New Hampshire. The pieces in this show display the distinctive work of women collected by the Society over the past 150 years.
The reception is open to members of the Society: if you would like to become a member, you can do so online.
If you have not yet responded to the invitation, please let us know whether or not to expect you by contacting us at 603-856-0621 or by email at wolcott@nhhistory.org.
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