It’s time once again to have a look back in time and realize just how fast it slips away from us.10 years ago — 2001: We were already into our new century and had experienced our first national election, which saw George W. Bush sworn in as our 43rd president; our fifth-grade students at the Colebrook Consolidated School were being born; Colebrook was building a new firehouse in the Forge District; and George Wilbur ceased producing milk from his once large herd of Brown Swiss cows, ending the era of small farms in what since Colonial times had been the backbone of our economy.20 years ago — 1991: Ronald Reagan became president; Gulf War breaks out as U.S.-led alliance with sanction of U.N. invades Kuwait and Iraq, expelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait; war begins in Yugoslavia, changing forever the political makeup in the Balkans.30 years ago — 1981: Egyptian President Sadat assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists; first U.S. space shuttle, Columbia, makes successful flight; Voyager II flies by Saturn; the ’80s ushered in the era of proliferation of the personal computer, where the average individual could constantly communicate and interact with any other computer in the world.40 years ago — 1971: People’s Republic of China admitted to U.N. in place of Taiwan; civil war in Pakistan between East and West Pakistan; East Pakistan becomes the independent nation of Bangladesh; U.S. astronauts continue manned exploration of the moon’s surface; U.S. satellite Mariner 9 orbits Mars.50 years ago — 1961: John F. Kennedy elected president; U.S. breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba; Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro Free Cuban forces supported by United States fails; East Germany builds the Berlin Wall; our flag had 50 stars.60 years ago — 1951: Libya becomes an independent nation; Gen. MacArthur relieved of command in Korea for advocating use of atomic weapons; peace treaty signed with Japan; first transistors developed for commercial use; Chrysler introduces power steering for automobiles; transcontinental television broadcasting begins in United States.70 years ago — 1941: In May, British forces in North Africa are driven back to the Egyptian frontier by German army commanded by Rommel: On Dec. 7, Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, plunging United States into World War II; aerosol spray containers introduced; first Jeeps are produced on designs developed in 1940.80 years ago — 1931: Japanese troops occupy Manchuria; DuPont introduces Freon.90 years ago — 1921: Women have the right to vote for one year; Irish Free State created within the British Empire; our flag had 48 stars.100 years ago — 1911: Italo-Turkish war results in Italian victory and annexation of Tripoli from the Ottoman Empire; Amundsen reaches South Pole; our flag had 46 stars.110 years ago — 1901: Queen Victoria dies after more than 63 years on the British throne; Commonwealth of Australia formed; President McKinley assassinated; Vice President Theodore Roosevelt becomes president; Marconi transmits first wireless signals across Atlantic; oil discovered in Texas; our flag had 45 stars.130 years ago — 1881: James A. Garfield became president; the first summer camp in the United States for city children is established at Squam Lake, N.H.; our flag had 38 stars.One hundred fifty years have passed since Abraham Lincoln was elected president; also in 1861, the U.S. Civil War began; the U.S. flag contained 34 stars.170 years ago — 1841: William Henry Harrison was elected president, although he died in office after having served for only one month. He was succeeded by his vice president, John Tyler; the Sawyer Cotton Mill in Colebrook River was beginning its first full year of operation, which was to extend to 1890; the first ever picture of the moon was taken; our flag had 26 stars.210 years ago — 1801: Thomas Jefferson was elected president; four-tined dinner forks came into common use, before that they had either two or three tines; our flag had 15 stars.230 years ago — 1781: the War of Independence was winding down to its conclusion. On Sept. 5, the British fleet was forced out of Chesapeake Bay by the French; on Sept. 8, New London, Conn., was seized and burned by the British under the command of Benedict Arnold; on Oct. 19, Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, Va.; our flag had 13 stars.And so it goes: The years recede into the past, and only the highlights are remembered by the man in the street. Perhaps the most common occurrence in these 10-year windows is the prevalence of wars. As a species, it seems that we should make greater efforts to avert the causes of these destructive cycles before one overwhelms us. Bob Grigg is the town histoiran of Colebrook.
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Caleb Von Gardey (kneeling) and Paul Guerino carefully fit the 1844 portrait into a custom-built crate.
Patrick L. Sullivan
The painting shows Maria Coffing in the foreground and, behind her, a young Black woman looking out from a doorway. Both women lived in Salisbury. Maria’s husband, John Churchill Coffing, was an ironmaster; Winslow, known as Jennie, came to live with the Coffings as a child and remained with the family for decades.
The museum selected the portrait for an exhibition on how girls and young Black women were represented in early American art. It aims to draw attention to their often-overlooked lives.
“We are honored by this special opportunity to share Jane Winslow’s representation and her story with our visitors,” said Emelie Gevalt, the museum’s deputy director and chief curatorial and program officer.
The Salisbury Association acquired the portrait in 2012. It was restored by Val Michalski of Egremont, Massachusetts, who had previously restored a companion portrait of John Coffing. It was a difficult task. At the time, Michalski described the painting’s condition as “quite appalling.”
At some point, the painting had been revarnished with a substance that resisted Michalski’s array of solvents.
“I was stymied,” he said. “I had one technique left.”
He used a very small scalpel to physically lift the varnish off. As he painstakingly worked the size 15 scalpel under the layer, “Lo and behold — the varnish just shattered.”
From that point, the process went fairly quickly. He was able to use a bigger scalpel, a size 20.
“You could take a leg off with that one.”
The shattered varnish came off easily, but it left a faint gray haze and a couple of damaged areas that had been touched up with black wax.
Removing the varnish made the young woman in the background easier to see. Michalski called Katherine Chilcoat of the Salisbury Association, who was also Salisbury’s town historian.
Regina Madigan had researched and appraised the painting for the association before the restoration.
“I almost fainted” when she saw the clearer image of the young Black woman, she said.
Madigan said Black people were included in some American portraits of the period, but were usually both thematically and literally apart from the main subject — working in a field in the background, for example.
In this painting, Winslow is physically close to Maria. Michalski described her expression as “very caring but also commanding.”
The association’s research identified her as Jane Elizabeth Winslow. Orphaned at about age 5, Jennie joined the Coffing household around 1830. The 1840 census lists a free Black person in the household whom the association believes was Winslow.
The 1850 and 1860 censuses list her by name. She stayed in the Salisbury house for several years after Maria died in 1865 and later married Egbert Lee.
According to Chilcoat, John Coffing was 37 and a widower with four children when he married Maria Birch, a 30-year-old schoolteacher, in 1813. Coffing made the first move in the courtship with a letter.
“Miss Birch, as the first advance belongs to the part that I am, this is to directly inform you madam that I have it in contemplation to make some pertinent propositions to you,” he wrote.
Maria replied: “I am bound to tell you that my heart is buried with a man who lies I know not where, but if you still wish it, I will marry you, and be a mother to your children to the very best of my ability.”
Getting her portrait to New York began with a slight detour caused by faulty internet directions. There was another delay when the transporters reached the Academy Building and realized they did not have the right wrench.
Regular human directions to Herrington’s hardware store in Lakeville were supplied, and they returned in 15 minutes.
The men carefully lifted the portrait off the wall, placed it on thick plastic sheeting and bundled it up. Outside on Academy Street, a specially built crate lined with black foam awaited.
The painting fit snugly inside.
Von Gardey said the truck’s cargo area is controlled for temperature and humidity. The men strapped in the crate and were on their way to New York by 11 a.m.
The portrait will be part of Locating Girlhood: Place and Identity in Early American “Schoolgirl” Art, which runs from Oct. 9 through Feb. 28.
Caleb Von Gardey (kneeling) and Paul Guerino carefully fit the 1844 portrait into a custom-built crate.Patrick L. Sullivan
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