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‘Thank You for Celebrating This Moment’: Officials Cut Ribbon on Reopened ‘Rogers Studio’ at NCM&HS

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More than 50 people gathered at the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society last week for the widely anticipated reopening of the Rogers Studio. Moved to the nonprofit organization’s campus from its nearby original location on Oenoke Ridge in 1965, the single-room structure was “dedicated by the Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark for its exceptional ability to illustrate United States heritage” the following year, according to NCM&HS Executive Director Nancy Geary. “This building was the first in New Canaan to receive this designation, a rare and important honor,” Geary told the crowd on a sunny and comfortable afternoon on Sept. 12, minutes before a formal ribbon-cutting by First Selectman Dionna Carlson and NCM&HS Board President Tom Monahan. “It is a beautiful example of Victorian architecture and we are very pleased that this ‘Rogers Reimagined’ project has given it new life.”

The workspace for John Rogers, described by Geary as “the most popular sculptor in United States history,” the studio’s impressive renovation and collection came about because of many people’s generosity and respect for historic preservation, she said, specifically thanking: Todd Levine of the State Historic Preservation Office of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (he “recognized the importance of both the building and the artist and helped navigate the process,” Geary said); the Greenwich Historical Society (which “gifted the New Canaan Museum 63 groups, the vast majority of its collection.

Around Town

After Two Years of Work, NCM&HS To Reopen ‘Rogers Studio’

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The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society this week will reopen the 1878 Rogers Studio after more than two years of work. (It opens Saturday to the public.)
We put some questions to NCM&HS Executive Director Nancy Geary ahead of the Reimagined building’s unveiling. Here’s our exchange. ***
New Canaanite: Who was John Rogers? Nancy Geary: Known as the “People’s Sculptor,” John Rogers (1829-1904) was the most popular sculptor in United States history.  Between 1860 and 1893, Americans purchased approximately 80,000 of his putty-colored plaster “Rogers Groups” at an average price of $14.00.  These realistic works, which celebrated military, theater and domestic scenes, were fixtures in every Victorian parlor.  Why?  As David Wallace writes in his seminal biography, John Rogers, The People’s Sculptor, (Wesleyan University 1967) “No other American sculptor has ever been so completely at one with his contemporaries in taste, in spirit, and in human sympathies, and none has made his works so generally available to the general public.”
John Rogers was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1829, the son of John Rogers, a merchant in Boston, and Sarah Ellen Derby, whose grandfather Elias H. “King” Derby, had built a successful shipping empire.  By the time of John’s birth, however, the fortune in his mother’s family had dissipated.  His father had a series of disastrous forays into business.  During John’s childhood, the family moved from Massachusetts to Ohio to New Hampshire, before finally settling in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1841.  In Roxbury, John attended English High School where he studied mathematics, mechanics and surveying.  He left school a year early and chose to become an engineer, later holding jobs as a dry goods clerk, a master mechanic and a city surveyor.  This practical education and work shaped his artistic vision as a Realist in portraying the American scene.

Around Town

‘A Real Treasure’: Jim & Dede Bartlett Center for New Canaan History Opens at NCM&HS

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. New Canaan has long been an epicenter of rich history and culture. It’s apparent in the buildings downtown, library, schools, parks and local organizations. It’s also apparent in the people, some of whom have left indelible marks on the town. 

Recently, the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society opened a permanent exhibit to highlight just that: the people and ideas that have left a profound legacy on New Canaan. The “Jim and Dede Bartlett Center for New Canaan History” is “the cornerstone of a $2 million dollar ‘Campus Reimagined’ project,” said Nancy Geary, executive director of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society.

Opinion

Letter to the Editor

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NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter to the editor. Please email your letters to editor@newcanaanite.com to publish them here. ***
On June 2, the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society hosted its Ice Cream Social.  The weather was perfect, and the atmosphere was celebratory as more than 1000 attendees, ranging in age from 8 weeks to 94 years, enjoyed ice cream, cake, the Town Band, vintage cars, and games while exploring the campus and the historic house museums.
The day could not have been the wonderful success it was without the generosity of businesses in Town and the work of dozens of dedicated volunteers. Phil Luongo, owner of Gofer Ice Cream of New Canaan, made – and saved – the day.  He donated delicious flavors, plus toppings, sprinkles, and cups.  But only 35 minutes into the event, with a line snaking its way out into parking lot, we realized we would run out.  With a huge smile, Phil arrived with more so that nobody left disappointed.  Phil is a relatively recent owner of the store on Main Street, but he jumped right in to help the Museum & Historical Society and put a smile on hundreds of young faces. All my thanks to the members of the Exchange Club who scooped the ice cream and Nick Williams who performed clean-up duty for two hours straight; the National Charity League – Canaan Parish and New Canaan Chapters, Elizabeth DeMuth, who organized them, and all who baked cakes, helped serve, and ran games; Christopher DeMuth and the other S.L.O.B.s who lugged and hauled everything that was too heavy for the rest of us; the Town Band for another year of its fabulous music; Frances Wilson, Patricia Oxman, and Karen Ferguson, who educated visitors to the Rock School and the Hanford-Silliman House; Board Governors Janice Luddy and Ellen Cummings for welcoming everyone at the check-in desk; Russ Jones for gathering prizes for the People’s Choice awards, and the car owners for letting us admire their vintage cars; Scott Ready and Old Faithful for the classic fire trucks; and Board Governor Mark Markiewicz, who has designed our Special Collections Museum and was there to answer questions about the construction.

Who Knew: New Canaan’s DNA

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. Is it too on-the-nose to start a column about historical exploration in New Canaan with a Back to the Future reference? Because I’m about to. 

I’ve stood at the corner of Main and Elm streets and wished for a backpack full of Doc’s plutonium rods and a DeLorean whose dials I could fiddle with endlessly. It would provide the perfect front-row seat to the past nature of this place. What kinds of dinosaurs roamed these fair fields during the Mesozoic era?