Collection number: MC 325
Size:
(5 Boxes)
(2.5 cu.ft.)
About Norman D. Stevens:
Norman Stevens is a retired librarian, library historian, and has collected and researched extensively on various folklore and folklife topics. He is a member of the University of New Hampshire’s Class of 1954.
About the Old Home Day Collection:
This collection consists of history, research and memorabilia related to Old Home Day/Week in across New England, New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. A very small amount of material relates to Maritime Canada. Old Home Day was started by New Hampshire Governor Frank W. Rollins in 1899 as a way to promote local history, traditions, and family connections in individual towns. The collection includes Old Home Day pins, paper ephemera, literature related to the topic, research/lecture notes by Stevens and others, bibliographic searches, and related material.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open.
Copyright Notice
Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], [Folder Number], [Box Number], Norman Stevens Collection on Old Home Day, 1899-1999, MC 325, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Gift of the creator, 2002
Related Material
The American Library Association Archives: Norman D. Stevens Papers, 1813-1995
Separated Material
Some newspaper clippings were deaccessioned for preservation reasons.
Collection Arrangement
Collection is organized alphabetically by state, then by alphabetically by town within each state.
Collection Contents
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Origins of Old Home Week, States of Connecticut & New Hampshire,
1899-1998
This box contains extensive materials collected by Stevens on the origins of Old Home Week, including addresses by Gov. Rollins (1899), essays by Stevens himself, discussion of the use of phrases “just like old home week” and “like old home week”, exhaustive bibliographic searches for the phrases and concepts, and two songbooks of Old Home Day songs. Folders 6-7 relate to the state of Connecticut’s Old Home Week celebrations. These are East Hampton (1987) and Union (1998). Folders 8-10 relate to the state of New Hampshire overall, including state-wide Old Home Day/Week reports for the years 1900, 1909, 1921, 1923, 1929, 1936, & 1983. | ||
| Box 2 | ||
| New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, 1899-1999
Materials include articles, programs, and postcards for the following New Hampshire towns: Acworth, Candia, Compton, Fitzwilliam, Grantham, Kingston, Lempster, Littleton, Louden, Nashua, Newport, Ossipee, Peterborough, Pittsfield, Swanzy, Washington, and Wilton. Massachusetts towns: North Adams, Boston, Charleston, Centerville, Lunenburg, Medway, North Hampton, and Wales. A copy of Phoebe Atwood Taylor’s 1937 novel “Figure Away” (set during Old Home Week in the fictional town of Billingsgate MA) is included. Maine towns: Clinton, Hope, Kennebunk, Portland, Monson, and Sullivan. | ||
| Box 3 | ||
| Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont,
1901-1993
Michigan: Materials are statewide, and there is only one folder. Ohio: Youngstown Pennsylvania: Allenstown, Centerville, Doylestown, Hazleton, Green Castle, Wilkes-Barre. Rhode Island: Providence Vermont: state-wide, Montpelier, Rockingham, and Waterford. | ||
| Oversize Box 1 | ||
| Paper Ephemera, 1900-1990
Old Home Week posters for several New Hampshire towns, and a children’s book on Old Home Week. | ||
| Oversize Box 2 | ||
| Memorabilia, 1899-1999
This box contains three display cases of pins from Old Home Day celebrations across New England, maritime Canada, and beyond. These objects are highly fragile and should not be lifted from their cotton cushioning during viewing. Click here for a .pdf list of objects and places represented. | ||
