27 May 1942: Assassination of Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich by Czech Paratroopers

On this day in 1942, paratroopers sent by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, the ruler of the Nazi-occupied "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia." Heydrich was not only the "Reichsprotektor," but also the architect of the SS security apparatus and a driving force behind the extermination of European Jewry.

The attack mortally wounded Heydrich, who died on 4 June. The reprisals that followed are, if possible, even better known than the assassination itself. In particular, the massacre or deportation of the innocent villagers of Lidice became a synonym for the state terror and collective punishment under Nazi occupation. (That such terms are nowadays cavalierly applied in vastly different and incommensurate contexts is a sad irony worth noting, even though we cannot discuss it in detail here.)

The motivations and calculations behind the assassination were complex, and in part because of the ferocity of the Nazi response, details remained murky long afterward.

Reflecting on the difficult choices and consequences some three decades later, former Chief of Czechoslovak Intelligence František Moravec concluded:

Perhaps 5,000 Czechs paid with their lives for the death of a single Nazi maniac. The cost and the worth of the killing of Heydrich has been the subject of much controversy. It is certainly true that the price paid for Heydrich was much higher than the figures indicate, for the Nazis executed systematically the very best of the nation. On the other hand, it is quite clear that had Heydrich lived he would have done no less. The eradication of the Czechoslovak nation and its amalgamation into the Reich, including the systematic murder of its leaders, was the assignment with which he came to Prague.

In my opinion, the problem of cost can be reduced to a simple principle, so well understood by the parachutists Kubis and Gabcik: freedom and, above all, liberation from slavery have to be fought for, and this means losses in human lives.

The ethical and strategic dilemmas remain as relevant today as they were then. Among other things, it is bracing to be reminded of an age in which leaders calmly and resolutely--though not at all lightly--made such calculations involving both political principles and human lives. Our otherwise commendable modern desire to avoid loss of human life "at all costs" may blind us to the equal or greater costs of inaction.

Because I was for the first time present in the Czech Republic on the occasion of these anniversaries, I'll return to these topics in a more systematic way in the near future.

Practical Things You Can Learn from Studying Science. Lessons from history

A recent article by John Malone and Brian Oliver, "The genomic 'inner fish' and a regulatory enigma in the vertebrates," in the Journal of Biology (an OpenAccess publication, always a good thing) managed to include one of my favorite scientific anecdotes:

Even before the origin of species by descent from a common ancestor was posited, it was realized that groups of animals had related morphologies. Georges Cuvier, the father of comparative anatomy, viewed anatomical structures though the lens of form and function. Similar looking anatomical structures should have similar function, and anatomy could be used diagnostically to group organisms – a theory he termed "the correlation of parts" [1]. A famous story illustrates the idea. One of Cuvier's students dressed as the Devil with horns on his head and hoof-shaped shoes burst into Cuvier's bedroom when he was asleep and said, "I am the Devil. I have come to devour you!" Cuvier woke up and replied, "I doubt whether you can. You have horns and hooves. You eat only plants."

Cuvier thereupon rolled over and went back to sleep.

Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk

The Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk, held annually on the weekend closest to the date of her death, by tradition concludes at her graveside, where there are a few formal remarks and readings from her works and a toast (seltzer rather than champagne these days, alas). Attendees are also invited to step forward and read their favorite poems.

Herewith, a few images of the afternoon's event, which drew one of the largest crowds in recent memory.

Then: the Dickinson Family plot, in an old photograph, on the sign marking the final stop on the poetry walk.

These are the original family grave monuments: matching, but cubical in form and simple. Emily's stone originally bore only her initials, "EED." Early in the twentieth century, her niece Martha Dickinson Bianchi, who came to assume the role of keeper and quasi-creator of the Dickinson poetic legacy, replaced the simpler markers with larger, upright ones, bearing sententious inscriptions (below). She created similarly uniform stones for members of the Austin Dickinson family in Wildwood Cemetery (a modern "rural" or "park" cemetery, in whose creation Austin played a major role).

Now: the Dickinson plot today, with the gravestones that Martha Dickinson Bianchi substituted for the originals. Emily's, as is well known, bears the poetic-philosophical epitaph, "Called Back."

Tributes—a bouquet and a program—left by dancers from Amherst Ballet's production of "Emily of Amherst" on the preceding night are still present.

Restoration of the badly deteriorated and improperly repaired iron fence (see details below) is on the list of the Historical Commission's Community Preservation Act projects for the coming fiscal year.

The throng arrives, via the Gaylord Gate, making its way from the 1730 Knoll (where landscape restoration is in progress) to the post-1870 section of the cemetery, in which the Dickinson plot is located.

Literary scholar, Dickinson aficionado—and Town Meeting Moderator—Harrison Gregg reads Emily's poetry:


The crowd assembles. A guest offers song as well as poetry.

[updated images]

West Cemetery Landscape Restoration: Second Planting

This weekend, just in time for the Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk and close on the heels of Town Meeting's approval of a long list of Historical Commission projects, the second phase of West Cemetery landscape preservation got underway.

The Stockbridge School fraternity, Alpha Tau Gamma (ATG), continued its efforts to bring back a meadow-like environment on the 1730 Knoll, the oldest and most threatened part of the Cemetery. Volunteers planted 120 creeping phlox, two dozen creeping thyme, a dozen rudbeckia, and five lupines.

Volunteers efforts such as these are the spearhead of the restoration process, but do not end there. The new CPA funds that will become available with the start of Fiscal Year 2010 will begin to finance the larger and more ambitious restoration efforts, including tree plantings. ATG will, however, be involved here, as well, contributing labor and maintenance services as appropriate.

In this way, the Historical Commission hopes to maximize the use of resources by drawing upon volunteer donations of materials and labor wherever possible, while turning to public funds and Town staff for implementation of the more ambitious aspects of the plan.

May 15: The Cemetery is Alive on the Anniversary of Emily Dickinson's Death

The spirit of Emily Dickinson seemed tangible in West Cemetery as night waned on the anniversary of her death. Following the very successful premiere of "Emily of Amherst" by Amherst Ballet, members of the company spontaneously decided to pay a nocturnal visit to the poet's grave.

Most had never been to the plot or even the Cemetery before, although a few had begun to acquaint themselves with the site in preparation for the production. Scene 1 of Act Two, "Becoming a Poet," is set there, where her "departed friends" emerge from behind their tombstones. One can easily visit, or just locate virtually, the monuments of Sophia Holland (1828-44) Jennie Grout ?-1851), Abby Haskell (?-1851), and Martha and Ellen Kingman (both ?-1851). The grave of tutor and friend Leonard Humphrey (1824-50) is elsewhere.

A passage recited at the opening of the act suggests how the experience of loss brought Dickinson early on to ponder the fact and symbolism of death and prospects for an afterlife:

I write to Abiah tonight, . . . because I am feeling lonely; some of my friends are gone, and some of my friends are sleeping the churchyard sleep—the hour of evening is sad—it was once my study hour—my master has gone to rest, and the open leaf of the book, and the scholar at school alone, make the tears come, and I cannot brush them away; I would not if I could, for they are the only tribute I can pay the departed [Leonard Humphrey].) You have stood by the grave before; I have walked there sweet summer evenings and read the names on the stones, and wondered who would come and give me the same memorial; but I have never laid my friends there, and forgot that they too must die; . . . To those bereaved so often that home is no more here, and whose communion with friends is only in prayers, there must be much to hope for, but when the unreconciled spirit has nothing left but God, that spirit is lone indeed. I don't think there will be any sunshine, or any singing-birds in the spring that's coming. I shall look for an early grave then, when the grass is growing green.

——to Abiah Root, 1850

For good reason, then, did the "Reader's Guide" to Dickinson's poetry, produced by the NEA and Poetry Foundation for this year's "Big Read" and distributed free to the audience at the ballet, cite the place of immortality as Dickinson's "flood subject."

As the group moved through the cemetery, a simple stroll took on mysterious qualities when the orange haze from the lamps near the Gaylord Gate gave way to increasing darkness and a more restrained, though not somber mood. Near the grave itself, the glow from cell phone screens had to provide most of the light. The dancers investigated the iron fence and monuments and gave Emily the memorial that she craved and doubted. The dancers paid tribute by leaving gifts of flowers—the very bouquets that they had received from friends and family but a short time ago—or striking ballet postures before the family plot.

They also recited Dickinson's letters and poems, chiefly from those used in the ballet, though someone, a parent perhaps, had thought to bring the collected verse, and so the tribute grew. There was a momentary shiver when a fiddler struck up a tune from the opacity somewhere between the 1730 Knoll and the newer section of the cemetery where we stood. In an instant, we relaxed, and he soon came over to join us. A short time later, a group of college women—clearly on their way from a party, but one that had somehow prompted them to want to render their homage to Emily—wandered our way in need of directions, which we gladly supplied.

>

As the gathering closed, someone instinctively reached for the poem that introduced Act Four, "Legacy," on Emily Dickinson's posthumous fate:

The Poets light but Lamps ~

Themselves — go out —

The Wicks they stimulate

If vital Light

Inhere as do the Suns ~

Each Age a Lens

Disseminating their

Circumference —

The reader cried, and she was not alone in doing so.

[updated images]

Next Step in West Cemetery Landscape Restoration Saturday

Following on the successful initial effort this past fall, members of the University of Massachusetts Stockbridge School's fraternity Alpha Tau Gamma (ATG) will undertake a second planting on the 1730 Knoll in Amherst's West Cemetery as part of the comprehensive landscape restoration plan that the Historical Commission is carrying out.

The volunteers will be at work between around 9 and 11 a.m., and the public is welcome. The planting comes just in time for participants in the Annual Poetry Walk, which traditionally ends at Emily Dickinson's grave in the mid-afternoon.

More on the Premiere of the New Dickinson Ballet This Weekend

Following on the heels of the lengthy piece in the Republican, the Gazette ran its own detailed article on Thursday, here via the May 15 issue of Bulletin:

Kathleen Mellen, "Dancing Emily Dickinson":

The inspiration for Amherst Ballet's new, original production, "Emily of Amherst," based on the life of poet Emily Dickinson, came from one of her poems.

It reads, in part:

I CANNOT dance upon my Toes -
No Man instructed me -
But oftentimes, among my mind,
A Glee possesseth me,

That had I Ballet knowledge -
Would put itself abroad
In Pirouette to blanch a Troupe -
Or lay a Prima, mad ...

It is just one of the 1,800 poems Dickinson wrote in her lifetime; fewer than a dozen of which were published before her death. (read the rest)

Early Coverage of Historic Preservation Votes

Scott Merzbach, "Amherst votes to spend CPA money on historic preservation," Hampshire Gazette, 12 May 2009

Last Night's Key Decisions:

Town Meeting voted to spend $337,800 from the Community Preservation Act account for a series of historic preservation, affordable housing and open space projects.

Of this total, $265,600 is aimed at various historic projects, many of which will help the town celebrate its 250th anniversary this year, said CPA Committee member Louis Greenbaum.

The projects at the historic West Cemetery and the preservation of historic buildings, Greenbaum said, honor Amherst's past and helps the town take pride in its accomplishments.

Town Meeting unanimously approved $25,000 for historic ironwork restoration at the cemetery and $30,000 for the town tomb reconstruction.

James Smith of Precinct 6 said the town tomb has sustained damage in recent years. "This is necessary to maintain that historic structure," Smith said.

Town Meeting members, though, had a lengthy discussion on appropriating $20,000 for landscape preservation at the cemetery before approving the expenditure by 128-61.

Mary Streeter of Precinct 8 and Vince O'Connor of Precinct 1, both members of the CPA Committee, said they were opposed to this spending, in part, because the CPA account was being reduced too much. "This is not something urgent to be done right away," Streeter said.

But James Wald of the Historical Commission said the cemetery represents a time capsule of Amherst's social values, aesthetics and history. "This town is in danger of losing an important resource," Wald said.

Town Meeting voted to spend $15,000 in CPA money for preparation of bid specifications for repairs to the Jones Library roof, $10,000 to study a climate control system for special collections at the library and $20,000 for the fourth of five yearly payments to pay for the preservation of historic documents.

Members rejected $7,000 for repair of the roof at the North Congregational Church.

Janet Chevan of Precinct 7 said she was uncomfortable with spending CPA money on a church building,

Smith agreed. "There is a definite separation of church and state issue here," Smith said,

Despite an effort to reduce the $65,000 for restoring the historic Civil War tablets, Town Meeting narrowly approved the full CPA expenditure by a 91-84 tally vote.

By a 95-70 tally vote, Town Meeting agreed to spend $30,000 for historic writers' walk signs that will recognize famous authors who have lived in Amherst.

Other items approved included $10,000 for nomination packages for expansion of the Dickinson Historical District and creation of an Amherst Depot District and $15,000 to complete an historic inventory of barns and other outbuildings.

Another $25,600 in CPA money will go for the third of five yearly payments for preserving the Kimball House on North East Street

Town Meeting unanimously also agreed to spend $47,200 in CPA money for affordable housing projects, of which $30,000 will be used for a Habitat for Humanity home being constructed on Stanley Street. The other $17,200 represents the minimum 10 percent set aside for future housing projects. Town Meeting members Rob Kusner and Jim Oldham both expressed concern that affordable housing is not being sufficiently funded.

Meanwhile, Town Meeting postponed consideration of Article 13, a petition submitted by O'Connor in support of increasing the state and federal gas tax, until after Article 30 is completed, likely sometime in late June.

Light Moment:

When a voice vote to call the question on the CPA spending on historic writers' walk signs seemed to be evenly divided, a Town Meeting member immediately shouted out for a count.

Moderator Harrison Gregg seemed taken aback because he had not yet announced which way he believed the voice vote went.

"I haven't counted it; how can you doubt it?" Gregg said.

After much laughter in the auditorium, Gregg called for a second voice vote, at which time he determined the ayes had won and the question could be called.

Words to Ponder:

Select Board Chairwoman Stephanie O'Keeffe notified Town Meeting that it would likely be adjourning to June 15, instead of the original June 1 date, at which time the fiscal year 2010 budget issues would be taken up.

"As everyone knows this is an absolutely extraordinary budget year," O'Keeffe said.

She said there are unprecedented unknowns in the budget, including the amount of state funding and whether local option taxes will be available, that could be resolved by the later date.

Next Up:

Next year's budget, along with capital spending items, will be considered.

May 14 update: the May 15 issue of the Bulletin (which requires no registration) includes some of the above in the context of all May TM actions: Scott Merzbach, "Town Meeting Wraps Up Until June":

A series of improvements to the West Cemetery, an increase in the density of residential units in downtown and village centers, better protections for transgender individuals and preservation of open parcels in the Lawrence Swamp area have been approved at annual Town Meeting. (read the rest)

It's often interesting to note which items are highlighted in briefer or later coverage. The Bulletin piece leads with the Cemetery improvements, which together are the largest category of historical preservation expenditures, even though they--with the possible exception of the landscape improvements--did not generate much debate.

Town Meeting historic preservation votes

(via mail)

Town meeting overwhemingly voted in favor of our projects, defeating only $7000 for roof repair to the North Congregational Church (concern over church-state issues seems to have done it in).

A great victory for historical preservation, civic spirit, and right reason.

10:05 p.m.

Kimball House Historic Preservation

Article 18 F: $ 25,600 for Kimball House Historic Preservation (year 3 of 5)

This is by far the simplest of the proposed appropriations: It represents a continuing legal obligation to the Commonwealth that Town Meeting approved three years ago, and is not negotiable. Finis.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings

Article 18 N: Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings: $ 15,000

This measure, like the preceding one involving districts, is mandated by the Preservation Plan (p. 36) as a continuation of ongoing standard activity:

"Update the existing [Historic Resource] inventory by . . . completing [Massachusetts Historical Commission] forms for the . . . landscapes and structures which were not included in previous efforts."

Rigorously prepared inventories, entailing documentation of the nature and history of landscapes and the built environment, are a key element in the training, and constitute the the bread-and-butter work, of preservation professionals.

The proposal here addresses our rapidly disappearing agricultural heritage. As active farming has declined, many property owners find themselves without a need, or in many cases, even the ability, to preserve the barns, sheds, and other outbuildings that were once ubiquitous. The disappearance of these structures means the disappearance or radical transformation of much of the historical character of the town. The first task, as always, is to document what remains, so that appropriate assessment and action can follow.

To cite one example of the importance of proper inventories in preservation: Only thanks to the fact that our predecessors on the Historical Commission had begun to establish a thorough inventory that included agricultural structures was a group of preservationists able to halt careless and illegal state demolitions on the UMass campus in recent years.

The Historical Commission hopes hereby not only to preserve our heritage, but to encourage sustainability. Calling attention to farm buildings can help to encourage local agriculture or assist farmers in securing help with preservation. Adaptive reuse of such buildings for other purposes is moreover an example of green building and smart growth at their best.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson District Expansion & new Depot District

Article 18 M: Historic Register District Nomination (Dickinson District Expansion & new Amherst Depot District): $ 10,000

Nominations of either individual properties or entire areas to the National Register of Historic Places are one of the most common and important preservation practices. They ensure that historic resources are thoroughly and professionally documented, and they actively protect them by raising public awareness and, in some cases, forestalling certain types of state or federal action.

Amherst already has 9 NHR's, and the Preservation Plan (pp. 36, 38-39) calls for continuation of this work:

"Complete National Historic Register work [nominations] for . . . Railroad Depot Area . . . [and at least 15 other potential NHR districts."

In this particular case, the goal is to acknowledge the importance of the areas neighboring and east of the grand and imposing mansions: the houses where resided the laborers--including the new Irish immigrant community--who worked in the homes and factories of the wealthy. One measure extends the boundaries of the existing Dickinson District. Another creates an entirely new district in the vicinity of the current Amtrak station. In this way, we acknowledge the social diversity and industrial heritage of the town.

The funds pay for professionally rigorous research and recording of data from the area, and development and submission of the detailed rationale and documentation required for the new designations.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

Amherst Literary Landmarks Project: Writer's Walk

Article 18 L: Historic Signs for Literary Landmarks Project: Amherst Writer's Walk: $ 30,000

The Amherst Writer's Walk emerged directly from the action items of the Amherst Preservation Plan (2005; funded with CPA monies; pp. 37-38):

• "Develop, install, and maintain a system of signs and street furnishings to mark historic districts and village centers, and to encourage tourism"
• "Continue to expand and maintain the existing sign program, providing better way-finding cues for visitors and creating more visible signs"
• "Create walking tours of Amherst's historic districts

It is also one of the fruits of partnering with other state and local organizations (one of the mandated activities of local historical commissions): in this case, the Massachusetts Center for the Book, Hampshire College, and the Jones Library. The Center for the Book, a state affiliate of the national organization housed in the Library of Congress, works to promote literacy, reading, and "understanding of and appreciation for the past, present, and future of the book and of the book arts in Massachusetts."

One of its major initiatives is a literary map of the Commonwealth (currently in paper, eventually online, as well) intended to call attention to our literary heritage and contemporary literary life, and in the process, to assist in the preservation and promotion of the physical sites. Amherst is privileged to have 16 sites (behind only Boston and Cambridge) listed in the first edition of the map, and is one of only five locales to earn its own inset. The Center for the Book thus encouraged us to develop markers for these emblems of our distinguished place in the cultural history of the Commonwealth, and our anniversary year seemed the perfect occasion to do this. This past fall, students in my seminar at Hampshire College studied historic preservation and local social and cultural history, and researched individual writers and literary sites. Their papers will furnish the basis for marker texts, as well as for parallel entries on the exciting new Digital Amherst website that the Jones Library and its Special Collections have launched in our anniversary year. (Here is the entry that one of the students did for the Amherst Academy).

The number of Amherst writers is large, so we tried to select an initial list that gives a good sense of the range of our contributions to the literary world, above and beyond the inimitable Emily Dickinson, who does not lack for a public and publicity.

• Ray Stannard Baker (1870-1946), journalist, muckraker, press secretary to President Wilson at Versailles Peace Conference, Pulitzer Prize winner; writings on the rural life under the pseudonym, David Grayson. Home at 118 Sunset Avenue (home of the Stockbridge fraternity ATG)

• Robert Frost (1874-1963), poet, US Poet Laureate, winner of four Pulitzer prizes; residence at 43 Sunset Ave., 1931-38

• Robert Francis (1901-87), poet in the circle of Robert Frost, who called him the best unknown poet in the country; home, "Fort Juniper" at 170 Market Hill Road--today a writer's retreat

• Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-85), childhood friend of Emily Dickinson, activist on behalf of Native American rights in the west; childhood home at 249 South Pleasant St.

• Mabel Loomis Todd (1856-1932): author, artist, popular lecturer; founder of Amherst Historical Society; early editor of Emily Dickinson's poetry; home: "The Dell," 90 Spring St.

• Mary Heaton Vorse (1874-1966): muckraking journalist, populist and activist on behalf of socialism, feminism, pacifism; summer residence at 219 Amity Street, the boyhood home of:

• Eugene Field (1850-95); humorist and author of children's literature ("Wynken, Blynken, and Nod")

• Lilian and Howard Garis (1873-1954; 1873-1962) journalists and authors of children's literature the Bobbsey Twins, Uncle Wiggily), home at the other "Dell," 97 Spring St. (today, office of Five Colleges, Inc.)

• Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa; 1858-1939), physician in the Indian Health Service, Native American rights activist; author of works on Native American Life; residence on Snell St.

• Noah Webster (1758-1843); lexicographer, political reformer, educator involved with Amherst Academy and Amherst College; residence at 30 Main St.

FAQs

• Is it permitted to spend money on signs?

Yes. In the first place, signs are among the most common sources of expenditure under existing CPA practice. Some three dozen communities have appropriated funds for signs marking historic sites and open space, without a single legal challenge.

When asked for an opinion, Town Counsel ruled that the signs were clearly appropriate if located on-site and involving the standard protective language of historic preservation.

• What do we get for the money?

A smart investment in materials at the outset means a product that will last and not need replacement in the foreseeable future. Porcelain enamel signs will resist fading and deterioration.

Based on consultation with designers, staff of other historical preservation groups (e.g. Historic Northampton), and the specialized manufacturing firms, and assuming that we can have installation done in-house by Department of Public Work, we calculate that, at about $ 420 per square foot, a porcelain enamel marker of about 5.7 square feet would cost about $ 2400, and a high-quality but simple steel post, about $ 1000, for a total of $ 3,400.

The requested appropriation should thus pay for 9 to 10 signs, depending on final cost.

• Why are signs a priority?

As indicated in the Preservation Plan, historic markers are one of the most important and common forms of historic preservation practice. They are arguably the best means of highlighting and protecting Amherst's rich literary heritage, moreover potentially paving the way for other, legal-institutional preservation measures. In addition, they can play a major role in cultural tourism, a clean economic growth industry, and one of the most important for Amherst.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

North Church Roof Repairs

Article 18 k: North Congregational Church Roof Repairs: $ 7000

The congregation of the 1826 North Church approached us with a very modest request for support. The church has already undertaken a series of major and very expensive repairs following damage from a storm. Recently, however, the contractors discovered additional, structural problems in the original construction of the roof. Addressing this issue now can help to ensure the integrity of the building in years to come.

The church is what is called a "contributing structure" of the North Amherst National Historic Register District. From the NHR nomination:

“[North Amherst Center] is the historic civic, religious, and commercial center for North Amherst. The church [1826], meeting hall [1845 parish hall—on the church property], library [1893], school [1833/1845/1860/1887], fire department [1920], tavern [1803], and general store have all been clustered in the area since [beginning around] 1821. . . . North Amherst is located at the primary junction of the north-south road between Amherst and Sunderland (North Pleasant Street) and an east-west road from Amherst to [North] Hadley (Meadow and Pine Street).”

As a historical and visual anchor of the neighborhood, the church thus ranks high on any list of preservation priorities.

By affirming the historic and architectural importance of the structure through the appropriation of a modest share of CPA funds, the Town may help the church to secure assistance from private grants in the case of future repair needs.

FAQs

Is there a problem with giving CPA funds to a private group?

No. Community Preservation Act Committees across the Commonwealth regularly disburse funds to private property owners and organizations. Such grants represent the public interest in the preservation of a given property and concretely help to protect it.

It is the law that there must be a quid pro quo for a grant of public preservation funds to a private body--usually in the form of a historic preservation restriction. The restriction is the legal means of affirming the Town's interest in the public view and character of the structure. The church would commit--vis-à-vis the Town and the Commonwealth (via Massachusetts Historical Commission) not to destroy or undertake measures harmful to the building, and in particular, the view from the public way. Such agreements simply formalize our shared interest (in all senses of the word) in the preservation of a landmark.

Is there a problem regarding church and state?

No. Such issues require due diligence and proper sensitivity, but numerous churches and other religious structures have received preservation support from state and federal funds.

The issue has come up in the past when religious organizations approached us with potential funding requests (which they, for various reasons, chose not to pursue). In Town Counsel's opinion, there is no threat to the wall of separation here. The Community Preservation Act Coalition agrees. Grants to churches are nothing new.

As with any private property, the action here signifies the public interest in the public aspect of the site: its history and visual character.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

Jones Library Preservation Projects

Jones Library Articles

Article 18 G: Archival Material Conservation & Restoration (Year 4 of 5), Jones Library Special Collections, with Town Clerk's Office: $ 20,000

Article 18 H: Jones Library Roof study/bid specs and emergency repairs: $ 15,000

Article 18 I: Jones Library Special Collections Climate Control (HVAC) study/bid specs

These articles are closely related, for the concern the relation between the integrity of the building and the protection of the collections it houses. For three years, now CPA has been funding the restoration of Town documents (including tax records, records of Town Meeting on paper and audio-visual media, etc.) as well as the whole range of rare resources in Jones Special Collections (books, letters, photographs on paper or glass, audio recordings, and the like).

It has become increasingly clear, however, that conditions in the building are actually or potentially deleterious to holdings. The most dramatic problem occurs in the place where one would least expect it: Special Collections, which is supposed to be controlled for stable temperature and humidity, but which in fact displays large and disturbing fluctuations.

More recently, deterioration to the fabric of the building itself has become apparent, notably to the slate roof and related structural elements.

Given the historic nature of the building, expert analysis of materials and techniques is required if repairs are to be lasting and do more harm than good. Because the potential cost of such comprehensive work is very high, the Historical Commission is supporting funding for initial work that will diagnose the problem, establish a plan for complete correction, and fund any emergency repairs that cannot safely be put off. It is in this sense that the word, "study," is to be understood. We anticipate that a good share of the appropriation can be used for actual repairs. The remainder, if any, would return to the pool.

The Historical Commission has expressed an interest in hearing proposals for funding the larger repair scheme once a rigorous plan has been developed.

(more content coming)

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation

Article 18 J: Civil War Tablets--Phase I Conservation, Engineering & Design,

Installation and Interpretation: $ 65,000

FAQs

Why are these so important?

These marble tablets, donated to the town by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the Union Army Veterans' organization

At the time of the donation in 1893, the Civil War was closer for citizens of that era than Vietnam is to us. The Civil War, fought to preserve the Union and end slavery, produced more casualties than any other conflict in American history, including the World Wars. This is Amherst's only public memorial to that costly and fateful conflict.

The six tablets list over 300 local residents who served, including 21 African-American soldiers who took part in the war for unity and freedom.

The tablets were originally displayed in Town Hall but were removed in the course of renovations and never reinstalled.

Returning them to Town Hall is an appropriate gesture of respect for the principles they represent, and thus a fitting commemorative project in this, our 250th anniversary year.

What does this money actually pay for?

The massive tablets need to be cleaned and repaired. Because they manage to be both large and fragile, careful engineering will be needed to develop a manner of presentation that avoids harm to both the tablets and the elements of the building within which they are installed. Professional conservators and engineers have calculated:

1. Safely crate, transport, clean, and conserve 6 marble tablets: $ 25,000
2. Structural engineering analysis of potential display locations in Town Hall: $ 10,000
3. Research, design, and bid specifications for secure installation, including lighting, protection, and interpretation: $ 10,000
4. Installation of at least two tablets, presumably in the foyer: $ 20,000.

We will seek to obtain the remaining funding through a combination of grants, donations, and possibly future CPA funding. It is, however, essential to complete this first phase now: Having the proper engineering and planning in hand will help the Town to make a case for grant funding. Having at least some of the tablets on display is the best way to inspire donors to help fund installation of the others.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

Emily Dickinson Ballet to Premiere for 250th

Briefly noted:

Amherst Ballet, in collaboration with the Emily Dickinson Museum, has created an original performance piece to interpret aspects of the life of Amherst's most famous resident. It's noteworthy in several regards, not least of which is the failure of the town to produce an official legacy artwork in conjunction with the 25oth anniversary celebrations.

One hopes that projects such as this can help to fill the void and carry some of this year's accomplishments into the future. It is in the same spirit that the Historical Commission has proposed an ambitious program of preservation projects for consideration at Annual Town Meeting.

Pat Cahill, "Poet's life celebrated in ballet," The Republican, 10 May 2009, reports:

"How on earth," people used to ask Catherine Fair, director of Amherst Ballet, "are you going to write a ballet about a woman who sat at her desk and wrote all the time?"

After this weekend, people may ask the opposite: What medium other than dance could possibly capture the nimble wit and sylph-like image of Emily Dickinson?

Fair and Jane Wald, director of the Emily Dickinson Museum, have created "Emily in Amherst," a four-act ballet that runs on Friday through May 17 at Kirby Theater at Amherst College. (read the rest)

West Cemetery Landscape Restoration

Article 18 E: West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (1730-1870 sections): $ 20,000

Although most of us associate historic preservation with buildings, historic landscapes, urban and rural alike, are an increasingly prominent element of modern preservation practice.

West Cemetery is a treasure that earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in part because it is a time capsule or museum of evolving landscape architecture--and the accompanying social attitudes and aesthetics--from the Colonial to the high Victorian eras. The Preservation Plan sets forth a comprehensive system of treatments, embracing the overall topography and viewscapes, Cemetery turf or "floor," circulation paths, herbaceous plants, and trees. Plants are either historical varieties or the closest hardy, disease-resistant modern cultivars.

In moving ahead with these efforts, we have been very fortunate to secure the assistance of the horticultural fraternity of the Stockbridge School at the University of Massachusetts, Alpha Tau Gamma (ATG), which has been engaged in many philanthropic projects, ranging from the creation of a memorial garden for alumnus "Victory Garden" host Jim Crockett to assisting in the planting of the 250th Anniversary daffodils here in Amherst. ATG is eager to embark on a decade-long collaboration that will allow its members to practice their skills and help the town by furnishing a combination of plants and labor.

The first phase of landscape restoration will focus on the sections of the cemetery in which we have undertaken our most substantial previous work: the 1730 Knoll, the adjoining African-American section, and the Town Tomb area. These are the oldest sections of the cemetery as well as those that have been most threatened by a combination of regular maintenance work, visitor traffic, and vandalism.

Early American cemeteries were anything but idyllic: crowded, wild, and sometimes desolate places. The afterlife of the spirit was accorded more importance than the fate of the body, which was simply to return to dust.

William Cullen Bryant wrote (1818)

. . . Naked rows of graves

And melancholy ranks of monuments

Are seen instead, where the coarse grass, between

Shoots up its dull spikes, and in the wind

Hisses, and the neglected bramble nigh,

Offers its berries to the schoolboy's hand

An early cemetery would thus have resembled a meadow, grazed by sheep. The Preservation Plan (pp. 32-33) recommends recreating something of this sort in a more manageable form: rehabilitating the Knoll floor by planting it with low hardy groundcovers, herbs, spring bulbs, and wildflowers, which would need to be mowed only once a year. By reducing the need for lawn care, we create a more sustainable landscape in all regards: reduced costs for Department of Public Works labor and materials, less risk of damage to graves and headstones from mechanical equipment.

We can already begin to imagine how the site will be transformed. The first plants that ATG put in last fall are now in bloom, and a second planting session is scheduled for mid-May.

The adjoining African-American section presents a different challenge. The history of Amherst's Black community is an old and distinguished one, though many graves are unmarked. Among the later graves are those of Henry Jackson, a prominent local teamster and probable conductor on the Underground Railroad, who was involved in the dramatic rescue of Angeline Palmer when her employers attempted to sell her into slavery in 1840.

Nearby are graves of Civil War soldiers, who fought in the famed Massachusetts 54th and other units.

Here, the Plan recommends planting, in place of the rather forlorn and struggling grass, shade-loving groundcovers. In addition, in order to minimize and manage foot traffic in an area containing so many unmarked graves, the Plan recommends a small path. An interpretive marker and bench in this quiet area of the Cemetery will allow visitors to learn about and contemplate the history of the community.

The Town Tomb area, part of the first expansion of the Cemetery, in 1833-69, presents a different feel, in keeping with the then fashionable "rural "or "park" cemetery movement, which sought to turn the former "burying grounds" into attractive places for contemplation of nature, mortality and the local patriotic heritage. Following reconstruction of the Tomb, the Plan (pp. 36-37) calls for a path to control foot traffic, new topsoil, groundcovers to stabilize and soften the landform, shrubs, and intermediate-sized trees to take the place of the mature specimens that will soon decline.

FAQs

• Doesn't this cost a lot? Can't the same thing be accomplished with volunteer work?

To answer in the succinct manner of DPW Chief Guilford Mooring: Yes. And No.

This is a complex, multiyear project, and as such, expensive.

Whenever possible, we seek outside funding, or donations in labor and materials. The costs represented here--based on detailed calculations by Town staff and three outside consulting firms, including the authors of the Plan--are low-end estimates and take into account the contributions of ATG.

To cite but one example: three intermediate-sized trees for the Tomb area cost nearly $ 1875, and plantings in that section alone could cost anywhere from $ 7475 to $ 13,475. Costs for the pathway could range from $ 4480 to $ 24,000, depending on choice of materials.

Value

The new flowers on the 1730 Knoll give a hint of things to come.

One of the most rewarding aspects of our work on the Cemetery in the course of the past decade has been bringing this treasure to the attention of Amherst residents and tourists alike. This has been particularly noticeable in our 250th anniversary year, for example, on the occasion of the Town Meeting Coordinating Committee bus tour and the "Conversations with the Past" reenactments this month. Many was the person who said, "I've lived in Amherst for X number of years, and yet I had never been here," or "I had no idea that there was an African-American community and burial section here."

That is what historic preservation is about.

By bringing back the "Bloom and Bees" of which Emily Dickinson wrote, our projects will call proper attention to the history of the town and its diverse communities and restore not just the historic look and character of the landscape, but also an appropriate dignity and atmosphere.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

West Cemetery Restoration: Ironwork and Town Tomb

Article 18 C: West Cemetery Ironwork (Cutler & Dickinson Plot fencing, Tomb door): $ 25,000

Article 18 D: West Cemetery Town Tomb Reconstruction: $ 30,000

Historic preservation projects are often complex and multifaceted and can therefore be categorized in a variety of ways, for example, depending on the nature of the asset in question or of the task or technology involved. Whenever possible, we seek to "bundle" together work of a similar technical nature in order to save time and money for the Town. Article 18C therefore bundles all metalwork together. At the same time, work on the Town Tomb appears not only here (by virtue of work on the iron door), but also under its own rubric (18D) for engineering, and in conjunction with overall landscape restoration (18 E).

Article 18C

Cutler and Dickinson Plot Ironwork

Fencing around the graves of members of a given family came into vogue in the early 19th century in conjunction with the new park cemetery movement, which sought to transform the stark "burying grounds" of the Colonial era into idyllic places of commemoration and contemplation. By the 1860s, such boundary markers were on the wane in many more modern cemeteries, seen as either elitist or unnecessary for protection. In Amherst, however, there were no formally acquired and designated plots until around this time: graves were dug as needed. In part for that reason, metal fences or stone coping were added to define the newly fashionable family sections. The plots of the Cutler and Dickinson families contain the only surviving cast iron fencing of this type, and even they are now endangered.

Both the Cutler and Dickinson ironwork have undergone notable deterioration in the decade since the creation of the West Cemetery Preservation Plan.

The Preservation Plan (p. 18) describes the Dickinson fencing as "structurally . . . in sound condition." That was in 1999. It goes on to warn, however (p. 19), "Most of the fence is rusting rapidly from lack of maintenance and the rate of corrosion is accelerating rapidly. If not restored and repainted soon, the fence will begin to deteriorate structurally as well." By 2009, this had come to pass: we can see that the fence is rusted and showing signs of decay, and portions of the horizontal rail are even delaminating, revealing splits through which daylight can readily be seen.

The Cutler Plot fencing is in even worse shape. Already in 1999, the Preservation Plan (p. 19) described it as "in a serious state of disrepair" and "seriously corroded," noting that "Many of the panels along two sides have either fallen down or are missing altogether." Today, only one side is still barely standing, with the others in pieces or missing altogether.

This is the result of the passage of but a decade in a cemetery that is nearly 280 years old.

Town Tomb

Simply put, "tombs" were the sites where communities stored the bodies of the deceased in the winter, when the ground was too frozen to dig. They typically take the form of a stone and/or masonry vault covered by a mound of earth, including (when finances and other conditions permitted) elegant stone facing and an iron door. The Amherst Tomb (1851), with its sober Egyptian Revival aesthetic, is a typical example, and a visual and historic anchor of the West Cemetery.

The Preservation Plan (p. 19) called for replacement of the Tomb door, which is "severely corroded" and compromised by what appear to be modern additions or repairs, including a patently ahistorical and "poorly designed" modern "locking mechanism."

Town Tomb door: detail showing gap and deterioration from rust

Article 18 D

The real defects of the Tomb are, however, structural. The Preservation Plan (pp. 19-20) finds few cracks or signs of leakage but notes a "dislodged fascia stone in the right front" and observes that "the cut stone veneer on the front wall is showing signs of structural distress," moving "away from the stone foundation walls behind," which has "opened up many of the joints," so that "Several of the panels are approaching the point of instability."

The deterioration is readily apparent a decade later. Squirrels live happily in the ample crevices, and the daylight is visible between the foundation and the fascia stones, which appear in imminent danger of collapse.

leaning fascia stones seen from the east

growing gap between fascia stones and foundation structure

the Tomb's only occupant today

A previous appropriation of $ 5000 from CPA funds will fund the prerequisite engineering study. This year's $ 30,000--a figure established by masonry specialists at Dorsey Monuments--will pay for labeling and disassembly of the structure, laying of new foundations, and reassembly of the structure.

Future plans include similar studies of the tombs in the other town cemeteries. The South Amherst tomb (1881) appears to be or less durable structure but in more stable condition.

South Amherst Cemetery Tomb (1881)

South Amherst Tomb (1881) detail

In order to achieve the maximum efficiency coupled with minimum cost and disruption, the engineering and reconstruction work on the Town Tomb will take place in conjunction with the first phase of the West Cemetery landscape restoration (Art. 18 E).

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

West Cemetery Restoration: An Overview

The case of West Cemetery epitomizes the challenges and successes of Amherst’s historic preservation policy, and moreover demonstrates why good work takes time and costs good money: careful inventorying and assessment, thorough preparation of project specifications, hiring of specialized professionals, coordination with Town departments for requests for proposals and bidding as well as in-house work.

This quiet Dust was Gentlemen and Ladies

And Lads and Girls --

Was laughter and ability and Sighing

And Frocks and Curls

This Passive Place a Summer's nimble mansion

Where Bloom and Bees

Exists an Oriental Circuit

Then cease, like these --

Emily Dickinson, c. 1864

(used as motto of West Cemetery Preservation Plan)

Although the 1730 Cemetery contains what is perhaps the only piece of virtually untouched topography from the Colonial period and is the final resting place of some of Amherst’s most important citizens, it had sadly deteriorated by the end of the twentieth century. Commercial encroachment and other inappropriate aesthetic intrusions, decaying fences, vandalism of graves, and general lack of upkeep to the lawn and paths landed it a spot on the Commonwealth’s notorious list of Ten Most Endangered historic resources in 1998. That dubious honor prompted the Town to nominate the site, successfully, as it turned out, a place on the rather more desirable National Register of Historic Places. Both designations spoke to the importance of the site, and the Historical Commission hired consultants to produce a comprehensive Preservation Plan (adopted 1999), involving the input of landscape architects, engineers, gravestone conservators, and metals conservators.

The Plan assessed the nature and condition of historic resources in the Cemetery, and recommended a systematic series of “treatments,” which have furnished the basis of our policies in the past decade.

• The Commission began with an effort to control access and maintain security, a complex process requiring coordination with the Department of Public Works. 2002-3 saw the erection of a new metal perimeter fence and restoration of the two gates (“Gaylord,” behind Pleasant Street, and “Burnham,” on Triangle Street).

• Former hemlock edging, which had fallen victim to disease, could not be restored because the excavations threatened to disturb graves. In order to produce a more dignified backdrop along the northwestern edge of the property, abutting the Carriage Shops, the Commission—at the suggestion of then-staff liaison Lynda Faye—initiated a competition that led to the creation of Amherst Community History Mural (2003-5) by artist David Fichter. The project restored dignity to an area formerly notorious for its graffiti and antisocial activities: it has also become one of our most popular attractions, and formed a particularly fitting backdrop to the recent “Conversations with the Past” reenactments held this month in conjunction with our 250th Anniversary.

• Lighting for both the Mural and the Cemetery as a whole, funded by CPAC beginning in 2003, is about to be installed, now that the Department of Public Works has completed its streetscape and entrance improvements (2005-9).

• Once the Cemetery access was secured and a more dignified atmosphere began to assert itself, we were able to begin the restoration of funerary monuments. Actual work on restoration of over 250 of the most threatened headstones in the oldest portion of the Cemetery, the so-called 1730 Knoll, began in earnest last summer, and to date, we have expended $ 92,600 of the $ 150,000 allotted for the project, which is scheduled to conclude this summer.

• Welcome signs and interpretive entrance markers have now been designed (Commission member Michael Hanke generously donated his professional services for this purpose) and will soon be put out to bid.


As this first phase of headstone restoration (2006-9) nears completion, we now begin to address the larger and equally important task of landscape restoration. The first phase of work will likewise focus on the oldest portions of the Cemetery. Once this goal is achieved, we will move to address other portions of the site.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

"Conversations With the Past: The West Cemetery Walk"

The dead rose from their graves to speak with visitors to Amherst's historic 1730 West Cemetery in one of the most successful events of the 250th anniversary celebrations.

The 250th Anniversary Historical Subcommittee, drawing upon the success of similar endeavors elsewhere, decided that one of the best ways to communicate and popularize the broad sweep of Amherst history would be to have ordinary citizens act out the roles of historical character at the sites of their graves in West Cemetery. One advantage here was that many of the figures were already portrayed on the Community History Mural by artist David Fichter (2005) and thus documented and in some sense familar. Although the Historical Commission and Town Planning Department assisted in some of the early phases of the project, all credit belongs to the Subcommittee and the citizen-volunteers.

Herewith a few scenes:

Mike Haley as David Parsons (1712-81), Amherst's first minister

Michael Coblyn, as Sanford Jackson (1831-63), member of the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry, America's first all-Black fighting regiment, who died of wounds suffered in the assault on Fort Wagner (as depicted in the film, "Glory"). Jackson was buried near the site of the battle, but the historic African-American section of the Cemetery, where Coblyn is standing, is home to the graves of several African-American Amherst Civil War veterans, as the GAR marker next to the tombstone indicates.

Reynolds Winslow, as teamster Henry Jackson (1817-1902), who helped to rescue Angeline Palmer

when her employers tried to sell her into slavery.

Brenda Thomas as Anna Reed Goodwin (1869-1943), matriarch of Amherst's Black community

Meg Gage as Lavinia Dickinson (1833-99), younger sister of Emily; with Mary Ellen Sailer,

as Margaret "Maggie" Maher (1841-1924), Emily's maid and confidante

Trish Farrington as Orra Hitchcock (1796-1863), landscape artist, scientific illustrator,

and wife of Amherst College President Edward Hitchcock

Mary Hocken as Mary Dickinson Mattoon (1758-1835), wife of General Ebeneezer Mattoon (1755-1843)

Town Planning Director Jonathan Tucker as the anonymous gravedigger of Amherst—a designation

that many local political activists would undoubtedly find appropriate.

It has been an extraordinarily successful event from the perspective of both organizers and visitors. I can attest to the fact that I heard from the latter things similar to what participants in the TMCC Warrant Article Tour said when I brought them to the Cemetery to explain our Historic Preservation proposals: typically, "I've lived here 'x' number of years, and yet I've never been here," or "I had no idea about x or y," or "this really made history come alive for me."

The comments from the reenactors were equally encouraging.

Some, such as Michael Coblyn, had long been involved in similar events—in this case, Civil War reenactments, with particular reference to the Mass 54th.

By contrast, for Brenda Thomas, who played Anna Reed Goodwin, the anniversary was a first and vital opportunity to learn more about the community to which she had moved. She immersed herself in the history as she prepared for her role, and found herself being drawn ever more deeply into the details of "Ma" Goodwin as well as Amherst itself.

Visitors on the first day (on which these photographs, with the exception of that of the gravedigger, who appeared only the next day) were enthusiastic and voluble. Given both the quality and short duration of this program, many expressed the wish for a repeat performance in the fall.

Resources:

• Cast and Crew with Timeline (from Amherst 250th)

• overview of characters and events: Mary Carey, "Amherst breathes life into history," Hampshire Gazette, 1 May

[updated images and links]

Historic Preservation: No Joke

Recently shared by a preservation professional:

Poet and Professor--and Prague

In my eagerness to announce to the world that the Hampshire College campus had earned the rating of "moderate dinginess," I somehow neglected to post mention of yet another laudatory news report* on a colleague.

Kristin Palpini, "From Russia with love: Renowned poet brings her passion for literature to Hampshire College," Amherst Bulletin, 10 April:

Hampshire College professor Polina Barskova discovered poetry at age 8 while waiting for her mother in a grocery store parking lot in Russia's Leningrad.

The words poured from her - a poem about fairy tales that came to the child from the "magic voices of the night itself," Barskova recalls.

And the words kept coming.

At age 9, Barskova had a poem, "Young Children of Lenin," published in the Leningrad newspaper.

. . . .

Some called her a prodigy.

Standing in her office in Amherst one day last month, pulling off layers of winter outerwear, Barskova, now 33, reflected on that. "Prodigy is more of an ironic title, right? I began writing early, so some people thought I am some kind of circus freak,' like a talking seal," she said, "but it's still my craft and my vocation." (read the rest)

Polina and I share an interest in the literature, history, and politics of Central and Eastern Europe, and supervise student examinations together. We are about to embark on a new collaboration, leading a study trip to Prague and Kraków from late May through mid-June. The course enrolled students from Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Emerson Colleges, and is being offered in collaboration with the Dartmore Institute for Central European Studies, a leader in study-abroad programs in that part of the world (and one of the best-kept secrets in the field).

I plan to report regularly here about our activities, and we expect that our students will also be blogging from Prague.

(* see also the reports on recent accomplishments by Rachel Rubinstein, Salman Hameed, and the team working on the Darwin anniversary celebrations)

And that sure as hell ain't socialism

Close tie for strangest remark in Town Meeting this past week.

Part of what we do when it comes to housekeeping articles is fill in gaps that we missed in past local legislation or bring our local laws into line with required state practice.

• Select Board member Gerry Weiss caught our attention when he suddenly referred to his having bought a lawn tractor with which to mow his grass, only to find that it did not come with the necessary cutting deck. It was a bit surreal, because you had to put two and two together for yourself, so most people were simply confused.

One such instance of housekeeping--Article 10--involved our formally rescinding a rent control bylaw dating from the mists of political antiquity (which is to say, the 1980s) because such measures had been outlawed by the Commonwealth in the 1990s.

Now you would think that simply doing what the law requires--and in this case, only the wording, and no longer the practice, was out of whack--would not be controversial, or at least require extended commentary. Well, not in Amherst.

• Local blogger and political gadfly Larry Kelley felt impelled to speak. After referring to the hoary date of the bylaw--passed in 1986, and amended on May 1, 1989--and denouncing the power of subpoena accorded the Housing Review Board, he reminded us that we needed to remember another date, November 1989:

"The Wall came down. Socialism don't work. Get used to it."

In case that wasn't harsh enough, he later added on his blog that we had "experimented (in a Nazi sort of way) with "Rent Control" back in the 1980's."

(I don't recall seeing the concentration camps, minefields, and free-fire zones of either Hitler or Stalin, but I'm just a historian.)

• Harry Brooks then took the microphone and led us on a rather bizarre walk down memory lane, in which he, by contrast, extolled the Review Board's power to intimidate witnesses and extract truthful statements, which so concerned Larry. No one had a clue what he was talking about, because, as Moderator Harrison Gregg reminded both speakers, the issue under discussion was the rescinding of an antiquated law, not the resurrection of the Review Board.

And people wonder why neighboring Pelham and Hadley can hold their annual Town Meetings over only one to two days, whereas ours extends through both May and June. Still, it occasionally makes for good television.

8-9 May 1945: V-E Day. Victory Over Fascism

Czechoslovak liberation medal

On this day in 1945—midnight on 8 May in the west, thus a day later in the USSR—the unconditional surrender of the forces of the Third Reich to the victorious allies went into effect.

Winston Churchill told Parliament:

Yesterday morning, at 2.41, at General Eisenhower's headquarters, General Jodl, the representative of the German High Command and of Grand Admiral Doenitz, the designated head of the German State, signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Force, and, simultaneously, to the Soviet High Command.
. . . . . . . . . .
The German war, Mr. Speaker, is therefore at an end. After years of intense preparation Germany hurled herself on Poland at the beginning of September, 1939, and in pursuance of our guarantee to Poland, and in common action with the French Republic, Great Britain and the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations declared war against this foul aggression. After gallant France had been struck down we from this Island and from our united Empire maintained the struggle single-handed for a whole year until we were joined by the military might of Soviet Russia and later by the overwhelming power and resources of the United States of America. Finally almost the whole world was combined against the evildoers, who are now prostrate before us. Sir, our gratitude to our splendid Allies goes forth from all our hearts. We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing, but let us not forget for a moment the toils and efforts that lie ahead. Japan, with all her treachery and greed, remains unsubdued. The injuries she has inflicted upon Great Britain, the United States and other countries and her detestable cruelties call forth justice and retribution. We must now devote all our strength and resources to the completion of our tasks both at home and abroad.

The fascist German response managed to be characteristically both ingratiating and self-pitying. The New York Times report concluded:

After having signed the full surrender, General Jodl said he wanted to speak and received leave to do so.

"With this signature," he said in soft-spoken German, "the German people and armed forces are for better or worse delivered into the victors' hands.

"In this war, which has lasted more than five years, both have achieved and suffered more than five years, both have achieved and suffered more than perhaps an[y] other people in the world."

Some might beg to differ.

Nonetheless, it's worth remembering a time when wars had a clear moral purpose and clear conclusions, and re-education and "nation-building" actually meant something and succeeded.

resources:

• New York Times front page

• President Truman's Broadcast

• Winston Churchill's speech

• Marshal Stalin's V-E Order of the Day

• Marshal Stalin's Victory Address

• General De Gaulle's Broadcast

Historical Preservation Proposals: Site Visits and Warrant Review

In the course of the past few weeks, I presented the Historical Commission's Community Preservation Act (CPA) project proposals in a variety of settings:

1. at the Town Meeting Coordinating Committee (TMCC) bus tour (19 April).
2. at the League of Women Voters/Town Meeting Warrant review (21 April)
3. at the Select Board consideration of CPA articles (22 April)

• TMCC Bus Tour: The best efforts of Carol Gray and other valiant organizers notwithstanding, we were hampered in our efforts by the failure of the bus driver to show up (an omen, or just par for the course in Amherst?). As a result, we formed a caravan or carpool and managed to see most of the relevant sites, though with some omissions and compression.

The video--most of which actually deals with the Historic Preservation portions of the CPA articles--shows (1) me explaining the proposed restoration and display of the Civil War tablets currently stored at the DPW facility in Ruxton (Art. 18 J); (2) Survival Center Director (and my predecessor as Vice Chair of the Comprehensive Planning Committee) Cheryl Zoll, giving a tour of the Center and explaining the services that it provides (Art. 23); (3) Jones Library Director Bonnie Isman describing needed roof repairs (Article 18H) and the closely related Archival Material Conservation and Special Collections Climate Control (Art. 18 I & G); (4) Carol Gray at West Cemetery explaining Art. 7 (municipal parking district); (5) me explaining West Cemetery projects: landscape restoration (Art. 18 E), ironwork restoration (Art. 18 C), and Town Tomb reconstructi0n (Art. 18 D). After the end of the tour, I described the West Cemetery Mural (a Historical Commission project completed in 2005), which provided an opportunity to talk about the Writer's Walk markers (Art. 18 L), and, more briefly, the Dickinson District expansion and depot District nomination (Art. 18 M).

• Warrant Review (21 April)

(watch on demand from ACTV: the Historical Commission Articles are discussed between about 8:27 and 8:50 p.m.)

• Select Board, 22 April

See other entries at this site for details on Historical Commission projects:

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns and Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

[* links updated]

Historical Commission Brings Ambitious Project Proposals to Town Meeting for 250th Anniversary

AMHERST HISTORICAL COMMISSION PRESERVATION PROJECTS, FY10

PRESERVING THE PAST, ENRICHING THE FUTURE

• Mission

A local Historical Commission in Massachusetts (M.G.L. 40 § 8d) is charged with responsibility for "for the preservation, protection and development of the historical or archeological assets" of the city or town. Our duties include researching and identifying historic sites, establishing and maintaining inventories of same (available in the Planning Department and Jones Library Special Collections), producing maps and informational publications, holding demolition delay hearings, obtaining preservation restrictions, and coordinating "the activities of unofficial bodies organized for similar purposes."

According to M.G.L. 40 § 8d, "For the purpose of protecting and preserving such places, [a Historical Commission] may make such recommendations as it deems necessary to the city council or the selectmen . . . ." These include funding proposals as well as legislative measures. As Town Meeting members will know, there is no budget line for our work, so implementation of our projects largely depends largely on CPA funds (see below, end of entry).

• Definitions: What is historic preservation--and why spend CPA funds on it?

Many people are surprised or irritated to learn that historic preservation is one of the legally mandated categories for CPA expenditures (the others are affordable housing and open space and recreation). It seems to them a luxury. By contrast, I myself have always been struck by the profound wisdom that the Commonwealth displayed in creating the CPA: It’s not about the life-or-death necessities that keep body and soul together. Towns will always find a way to fix the sewers and pay the police. It’s about the things that make life worth living. They are usually the first to go when budget crises force agonizing choices. The CPA is nothing less than a safety net for our quality of life. We need it now more than ever.

Public community resources, no less than public schools, are a foundation of democracy and diversity. The CPA supports crucial elements of the Master Plan. It preserves nature and culture for all: the forests and marshes, farmland and historic sites, which benefit residents and attract visitors. It provides recreational opportunities—parks, nature trails, playing fields—for all, young and old, homeowner and renter. It ensures access to housing for all, regardless of class and wealth.

The quality of life that keeps us here in turn attracts the clean economic development—in the form of cultural tourism and innovative new businesses—essential to funding the basic services to which we are so committed.

So, just what role does historic preservation play here?

Historic preservation embraces landscapes as well as buildings, whole neighborhoods as well as individual structures, the surroundings of the common people as well as the elite, the vernacular as well as the spectacular. It is about maintaining the physical connections to our heritage, and thereby our own identities: the sites, structures, objects, and aesthetics that have become important parts of our contemporary existence. It educates us about our past, it beautifies our present.

Fundamentally, it is also about a mature perspective on life. As Cicero said, to be ignorant of history is to remain always a child. By teaching us to live humbly and lightly, historic preservation is very much akin to environmentalism. Just as we would no longer countenance the destruction of a species, so too, we pause at the thought of wholesale destruction of types of landscapes or built environment. We realize that no single generation should be entitled to make such choices for all time. Tastes change. (The Renaissance scorned the “Gothic,” yet today we are glad that medieval buildings survive.) Historical preservation thus reminds us that we are but one link in a chain of generations. By showing respect for what came before us, we affirm both our humility and the hope that part of what we live and create will likewise become a part of the common human heritage.

The modern theory and practice of historic preservation are intimately linked to ideas of sustainability. Contrary to what one might expect, older buildings actually tend to be "greener" than recent ones. Renovation or adaptive reuse of older structures, by conserving resources and energy and preventing sprawl, makes the most economic and environmental sense. As the National Trust for Historic Preservation declares: historic preservation is green building. A sound historic preservation policy can thus support affordable housing and the preservation of open space.

• Strategy and Program

In our work, we are guided by the the standards of historic preservation as defined by current scholarship and professional practice, the Department of the Interior and National Park Service, and the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Our specific projects emerge from the priorities set forth in the Amherst Preservation Plan (2005) and draft Master Plan, both funded by Town Meeting.

It has therefore been the policy of the Historical Commission to operate according to a comprehensive system of action steps and implementation priorities. It divides undertakings into physical preservation, documentation, regulation, and outreach and advocacy, which are further distributed over a ten-year schedule, divided into near-term, mid-term, and long-term goals.

As our last Report to the Town explains, the approaching fifth anniversary of the Preservation Plan was a welcome occasion for the sort of review and updating that the document mandates. Recognizing that, as a citizen committee operating with limited resources and staff support, we could not hope to accomplish the full range of action items on the original timetable, we undertook a a fundamental reappraisal and recalibration—the most radical overhauling of our agenda to date, and one that will shape our policy in the years to come. We eliminated or downgraded both overly ambitious and simply desirable rather than pressing measures.

The proposals that you see before you are the product of this refined prioritization and implementation strategy. In this, our 250th anniversary year, we propose a broad but assuredly feasible range of projects intended to highlight the full scope of Amherst's diverse historic heritage. They continue long-term existing initiatives and begin new ones. They include capital projects and inventories. They support preservation of public and private properties. They call attention to periods ranging from the Colonial to the contemporary, to our industrial as well as cultural heritage, to our famous and unsung citizens alike, to the full range of our social and ethnic profile.

Isn't that a lot of money?

Many citizens raise an eyebrow at the cost of some historic preservation projects. The fact is, good work takes time and costs good money. Botched preservation or restoration efforts are actually more expensive in all senses of the word: They damage or jeopardize the resources and often therefore necessitate repeat work, which entails greater costs in the long run.

When dealing with threatened resources, careful assessment and planning are of the essence, and even the preparation of bid specifications requires the input of specialists. Many projects require materials and techniques no longer in common use, which can be far more expensive than comparable contemporary methods. Even "ordinary" projects such as signs and plantings cost far more than most of us realize, as our examples will demonstrate.

Although our preservation projects are in round figures, all cost estimates are prepared on the basis of consultation with experts in the relevant areas. And, as with all CPA appropriations: in the event that a project costs less than anticipated, any surplus funds return to the pool for the next year.

Ultimately, of course, the issue is value rather than cost alone, and one gets what one pays for.

Michael Morissey summarizes:

Historic preservation is nothing short of the continuation and enhancement of everything important in modern society. It is growth in the local economy, it is a strong advocate for ecology, it is a living display of local or national history, it is proof of all residents' common heritage. It is, in a word, the ultimate in city planning.

• Warrant Review presentation and Bus Tour
• Historical Commission Project Overview and Rationale
• Kimball House Historic Preservation (Art. 18 F)
• West Cemetery Projects Overview
• West Cemetery Restoration: Iron Work and Town Tomb (Art. 18 C, D)
• West Cemetery Landscape Restoration (Art. 18 E)
• Civil War Tablet Conservation and Installation (Art. 18 J)
• Jones Library Preservation Projects (Art. 18 G, H, I)
• North Church Roof Repairs (Art. 18 K)
• Amherst Writer's Walk (Literary Landmarks) (Art. 18 L)
• National Historic Register Nominations: Dickinson Expansion; new Depot District (Art. 18 M)
• Historic Resource Inventory, Phase II: Historic Barns & Outbuildings (Art. 18 N)

* * *

• *) CPA Background:

The Community Preservation Act (2000) provides Massachusetts locales that adopt it with support for Open Space and Recreation, Historic Preservation, and Affordable Housing. Funds come from a progressive surcharge ranging from one to three percent, based on local property tax assessments but exempting the first $ 100,000 of assessed valuation. Participation has moreover traditionally earned communities state matching funds, derived from property transfers. Home committees, such as the Historical Commission, generate funding proposals, which are then reviewed by the local Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC). Only proposals that pass both screenings are sent to Town Meeting in the form of a warrant article or articles for final approval (by a simple majority in the case of most proposals, by a two-thirds majority--aking to a zoning article--in cases where actual purchases of property are involved).

Initially, all communities could earn a 100-percent match. However, as the number of participating locales increased and property values decreased, the Commonwealth determined that, as of autumn 2008, only communities whose surcharge lay at the upper end of the scale would be eligible for matching funds. Amherst initially (2001) adopted the minimum one-percent rate, and cautiously increased the rate only to 1.5 percent in 2006. A measure on the November 2008 ballot proposed to increase our surcharge to the maximum three percent, in order to increase amounts available from local resources and to ensure that we continue to receive matching funds. (Many of our neighboring communities, including Northampton, Hadley, and Leverett, already have three-percent surcharges in place, so we have in effect been subsidizing their expenditures.) Although adopting the measure in Amherst would have meant an additional surcharge of only $ 55.87--or around 15 cents a day--for the average single-family house with an assessed value of $ 332,500, the measure was narrowly defeated. Resistance came from divergent sectors of the political spectrum. Many critics, including leading centrist advocates of fiscal responsibility, and the local newspaper editorial page, criticized the measure as the wrong action at the wrong time. Some did so on strategic grounds, reasoning that taxpayers, unable to fathom the subtleties of the aforementioned financial calculation, might revolt against even so modest a measure bearing the name, "tax," or "surcharge," which would thus jeopardize prospects for a general tax override deemed necessary in order to meet the looming budget crisis. In the event, there was no move for an override. In the meantime, Boston informs us that the state match this year will be only 29 percent.

First Flowering of the West Cemetery Landscape Restoration

Last fall, the Historical Commission launched the landscape restoration phase of the West Cemetery Preservation Plan (1999), as members of the Stockbridge School fraternity Alpha Tau Gamma donated and planted grape hyacinth bulbs, barrenwort, and other spring-flowering perennials.

A month ago, the new growth appeared--about the same time as the first daffodil shoots broke the soil next to Emily Dickinson's gravestone (below)

and 23,000 new daffodil bulbs sprouted on public and private properties all over town. The bulb planting, a project of the 250th Anniversary Committee, was the brainchild of Dolly Jolly. Students from the Stockbridge School were likewise involved in this planting project last fall. (Here, a planting by Bev Ziomek, down the street from us on Route 63 this week.)

And this weekend, the warm weather finally brought out the first flowers, just in time for the West Cemetery Walk (coverage to follow), organized in conjunction with the town's 250th anniversary celebrations.

The planting was a pilot project, intended to give visitors a taste of what the full meadow restoration might look like, and to add one more festive touch to the 250th events. This month, the Historical Commission will bring a proposal for funding of the first full phase of the restoration effort to Annual Town Meeting. (Detailed coverage of all of our proposals on the warrant will follow on these pages. Selecting the rubrics ("labels") of this posting will bring up all the relevant pieces.)

1 May: International Working-Class Holiday

From Historein

For most Americans, May Day conjures up images of rigidly orchestrated military parades on Red Square. Well, actually, maybe just for Americans of a certain age (never thought I would utter that phrase) and political awareness, and maybe not even them anymore. Most of us probably think of maypoles and spring festivities. Can Memorial Day, the unofficial start of the "summer" recreational--and advertising--season (this, although the astronomical summer still lies almost a month ahead) be far off?

Our relationship to, or better put, ignorance of, May Day, reminds us of our peculiar and fraught collective attitudes toward class, politics, and history. Judging from conversations and coverage in the American media, one could remain completely unaware that it is the international holiday of labor, for participants ranging from strict leftist political parties the likes of which we do not have, to trade unions scarcely distinguishable from our own.

That Americans, ever the exceptionalists, celebrate their Labor Day--now generally reduced to serving as the symbolic end of the summer vacation, the return of the school year, and yet another excuse for capitalist advertising and sales--in September is a story in itself.

It was actually American workers who in many ways took the lead in celebrating the traditional holiday of May 1 as the occasion to honor labor and mark the struggle for the eight-hour day. The target date for achieving that then-radical goal was May 1, 1886. It was in pursuit of that goal in the course of a strike in Chicago that both police and workers died in the notorious Haymarket Affair of May 4. In 1888, the American Federation of Labor renewed its push for the eight-hour day and a celebration on that date, in part as an hommage to the Haymarket martyrs. The Second International adopted May 1 as its common holiday in 1889 (and went on to create International Women's Day in 1910):

There shall be organized a great international demonstration on a fixed date, so that in every country and every town on the given day, the workers shall formally summon the public authorities to reduce the working day by law, and apply the other resolutions of the international congress of Paris.

Seeing that such a demonstration has already been decided on for 1 May 1890 by the American Federation of Labor during its congress held at St Louis in December 1888, this same date has been retained for the international demonstration.

As influential German socialist Wilhelm Liebknecht--one of the institutors of the May holiday--observed, there had been some debate within the working-class movement over celebrating May 1 or the first Sunday in May, in part over the question of whether it was wise or even possible for workers to absent themselves from work. The point was to make manifest the discipline and resolve of the working-class movement, not to give the impression of shirking obligations.

The discipline and quiet dignity of the workers impressed even many of the most skeptical or scared among the bourgeoisie. Stefan Zweig wrote in his elegiacal memoir, The World of Yesterday (1943):

I can still recall from my earliest childhood the day which marked the turning point in the the rise of the Socialist Party in Austria. The workers, in order to demonstrate visibly for the first time their strength and numbers, had given out the word that the first of May was to be declared the working people's holiday, and they had decided to march in closed ranks in the Prater, in whose main avenue, a lovely, broad, chestnut-lined boulevard, usually only the carriages of the aristocracy and the wealthy middle classes appeared. This announcement paralyzed the good liberal middle classes with fright. Socialists! The word had a peculiar taste of blood and terror in the Germany and Austria of those days, like 'Jacobin' before and 'Bolshevik' since. At first it was thought impossible for this rabble of the faubourgs to carry out its march without setting houses on fire, plundering shops, and committing every sort of atrocity imaginable. A kind of panic set in. The police of the entire city and the surroundings were posted in the Prater, and the military were held in reserve, ready to shoot. Not a carriage, not a cab, dared to come near the Prater; the merchants let down the iron shutters in front of their shops, and I can remember that our parents strictly forbade us children to go out on the streets on this day of terror which might see Vienna in flames. But nothing happened. The workers marched in the Prater with their wives and children in closed ranks, four abreast, with exemplary discipline, each one wearing a red carnation in his buttonhole as a party emblem. While marching they sang the 'Internationale,' and the children, who trod on the lovely green of the Nobelallée for the first time, chanted their carefree songs. No one was insulted, no one was struck, no fists were clenched; and the police and the soldiers smiled at them like comrades. Thanks to this circumspect conduct, the middle classes were no longer able to brand the workers as 'revolutionary rabble' and they came to mutual concessions, as always in wise old Austria. The present-day system of suppression and extirpation had not yet been discovered, and the ideal of humanity (although it had already begun to fade) was alive even among political leaders.

The United States establishment made every possible effort to separate the American celebration of a day of labor from the generally accepted socialist date and goals. Although New York unions celebrated a labor day in September in the early 1880s, the subsequent Haymarket affair is generally regarded as having spurred the choice of a September rather than May Labor Day as the national norm on the part of both more cautious unions and the government. If the message needed to be made any clearer, May 1, marked as "Americanization Day" since 1921, became the date for the federal holidays of "Loyalty Day" and "Law Day" during the Cold War.

Today, as the Employee Free Choice Act is debated, a supportive petition circulated by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts reads, in part:

As historians, we understand the contribution of the labor movement to the well-being and quality of life of America’s workers, union and non-union alike. Unions and collective bargaining are essential to workplace democracy and justice on the job. Unions truly are the people who “brought you the weekend”— and contributed to the creation of Social Security, free and universal public education, equal rights, and much else. We are keenly aware that the majority sign-up route to union recognition provided by the Employee Free Choice Act has a long history and is in widespread use today in the U.S. and many other countries.

The history of May Day is a part of the history behind that history.

Right, that's not socialism (but neither is that)

As noted earlier in these pages, bedrock conservatives seem obsessed with the need to tar, first, candidate, and now President Obama with the brush of "socialism." Sociologist Alan Wolfe comes to Obama's defense (well, sort of). In the April 1 (can one hope that there was at least a hint of irony?) issue of The New Republic, he offers us an analysis entitled, "Obama vs. Marx. Hint: One of them's not a socialist." [partial/talkback link; the TNR website is undergoing a restructuring, so I cannot link directly to the full article at the moment]

Well, that's certainly true. For all of Obama's emotional attachment to the left and its ethos, most of his concrete policy positions, as we have remarked, and as should have been clear to anyone with eyes to see, were actually more conservative than Hillary Clinton's to the extent that he was more inclined to rely on private initiative and the market.

At any rate, citing the widespread predictions of socialism in the cover stories of magazines from right to left--National Review's "Our Socialist Future," Newsweek's "We Are All Socialists Now," and The Nation's "Reinventing Capitalism, Reimagining Socialism," Wolfe wisely challenges the more simplistic of these arguments on a number of grounds. It should be obvious to anyone, for example, that our tax rates--whatever we may think of them when we get out the checkbook or look at the paystub--are far lower than those in most advanced industrialized countries (which, by the way, provide far greater social services to their citizens), and that it is a little bit mysterious why an increase of government spending as a share of GDP from 20 to only 22 percent should signal the red apocalypse. Fine. Likewise, he correctly points to the temporary rather than permanent nature of the planned government involvement in the banking and automotive industries, as well as the private sector-oriented approach to health care and climate change.

He thus argues,

What these ideas have in common is, first, an attachment to economic freedom that no self-respecting socialist would countenance. In fact, most of Obama's measures are designed to save, not destroy, the instruments of capitalism--businesses and the markets in which they compete. Should liberals get everything they want, liberals will once again--as has happened so often in the United States--gone a long way toward rescuing capitalism from its worst excesses.

True indeed, especially the latter part, which ought to count as the real parallel to the New Deal, to refer to that dreadfully overworked and overwrought comparison. The former, however, is more debatable, for Wolfe, who ought to know better, trots out the old and simplistic notion that liberalism is about freedom and socialism about equality, and that the two are irreconcilable. To be sure, there is a kernel of truth in that, but an acorn is not an oak.

Thus, he logically continues,

Moreover, it has for some time now been established that the moderate use of government to improve the lives of large numbers of citizens, while producing minor increases in equality, is primarily about giving citizens more liberty. People who, with the help of government, need not postpone medical care or can avoid going into lifetime debt to pay for it are freer people. Progressive taxation, especially the way Obama talks about it, is not about confiscating the wealth of the rich bit about giving those at the bottom of the ladder more opportunity. Modest enhancements of what has been called 'positive liberty' do not come anywhere close to socialism; they instead make liberalism's benefits more widespread.

Well, yeah, if you think so. Here's where things get illogical in the larger scheme of things. Only Wolfe's latter two statements make real sense. I'm sorry, but for most people, access to health care is about equal rights. Call it freedom, if you will, but freedom without practical opportunity is meaningless. I am "free" to shop for any house I like in the age of anti-discrimination laws, but if I can't afford the mortgage, then that "freedom" doesn't mean a hell of a lot in practice. And what is freedom, after all? It certainly is not absolute. Professor Wolfe has no doubt read Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. (For that matter, even Aristotle believed in unequal but limited property.) The moment we agree to live in society, we relinquish some of our liberty, and it is by and large a good thing. The issue has to do with the price, not the fact.

Wolfe thus manages to be right and wrong about a lot of things. He's right to say that "In the United States, liberalism is the alternative to which we turn when conservatism fails" (neither the church nor traditional statism appeals, he says) and to identify liberalism with "dedication to human rights" that "conservatives such as Bush and Cheney were prepared to dispense with." He is right to say that "Socialism was born in conditions that no longer exist," and that "The story of socialism's decline is essentially a European story," and to note the stepping back from collectivization and class struggle on the part of New Labour (for others of us, the turning point was the German Godesberg Program of 1959). Fair enough. But to say, "In its most radical form, the one associated with Marx and Engels, it [socialism; JW] had far more in common with European romanticism than with the moderate reformism of a John Stuart Mill. . . ." Sure, if you set the comparison any way you want. The late Michel Foucault famously said that, by his lights, both Marx and Mill were playing in the same wading-pool. Most analogies to Romanticism are meaningless and concocted by those who have no concept of the term. The only reason an educated and rational person could nod assent to the equation of Marx and Engels with Romanticism--which they despised and associated with reactionary politics--should be extreme fatigue or excessive imbibing or both.

Maybe the problem is that Wolfe is a sociologist rather than a historian. He begins by talking about common origins of liberalism and socialism in the era of the Peninsular War in 1812 (one could quibble with that, too). The point is: why should we owe any more fealty to the term or concept of liberalism of 1812 than that of the socialism of 1848? Both ideologies and movements have undergone drastic changes with various local variations. Why is New Labour's reformed social democracy any less authentic than Obama's updated liberalism? Neither Mill nor Marx would recognize his heirs today. That should be neither surprising nor entirely bad.

Wolfe concludes,

We cannot at this point know what his [i.e. Obama's; JW] legacy will be. But we do know what it will not be. Eight years of Obama, and the United States has its best chance to return to the liberalism that has long defined its heritage. There would be no greater blow to socialism--in America, in Europe, or anywhere else--than for this venture to succeed.

Striking a blow at socialism? I didn't realize that was his chief job, and if Wolfe really believes what he is saying, then it is flogging a dead horse.

John B. Judis, writing a week later, responds, "Socialism Lives":

Noting that the old new left in the '60s used to argue about how soon socialism would arrive and that he was counted a dire pessimist because he postponed the blissful future until the mid-'70s, he cites a new poll showing that Americans prefer capitalism to socialism by 53 to 20 percent, although people under thirty vote for capitalism at 37 percent and socialism at 33 percent, while 30 percent "are weighing the alternatives." (Of course, as I regularly tell my wide-eyed students: people who favored a "third way" between "socialism" and "capitalism" in the 1930s were called either naive or: "fascists.")

Instead, what those 30 percent of under-thirties probably mean by "socialism" is a much greater degree of government--and public--control of private corporations and of the market. That would put the United States closer, say, to Sweden, France, or Germany, but would not put it anywhere near the old Soviet Union, which tried to abolish the market itself. Most of all, I imagine, it's an expression of extreme disillusionment with the magic of the market as preached by Republicans and some Democrats as well.

It's also, I think, not an incorrect understanding of socialism. As a political philosophy, socialism predated Marx as any reader of "The Communist Manifesto" or of "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" is aware. In America, too, there were Christian socialists like Walter Rauschenbusch, who was an important influence on Martin Luther King, and prairie socialists in Kansas or Oklahoma who never envisioned giving up their farms for socialism. The point that runs through all these many varieties was not collectivism, but instead the subjection of large banks and businesses to social priorities: "people before profits," as Bill Clinton said in 1992. And that's what those 20 percent of Americans in the Rasmussen Poll seem to be opting for.

Not unproblematic, either. Still, subjection of private interests to social priorities: shorter and smarter than Wolfe's analysis, in my humble opinion.