HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND RECEIVED A DONATION OF VICTORIAN JEWELRY FROM UNITED WOMAN'S CLUB OF CONCORD

The Historic New England (Previously known as the Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), founded in 1910) is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. It was founded in 1910 to preserve and present the cultural and architectural heritage of New England.

Ladies of the UWCC enjoyed a lovely New England Fall themed luncheon at its October meeting. Two new members, Bea Fousek and Priscilla Smith were welcomed and a group of guests were introduced.

Historic New England’s Wendy Hubbard shared the major developments in the history of adornment through an overview of Jewelry which has been donated to its collections. Her talk covered the 17th century through the 20th century by giving us a fascinating slide show of portraits of the owners wearing these exquisite pieces of jewelry, their families, and homes in this region.

Wendy manages 4 historic homes including the Gropius House and Codman House in nearby Lincoln and offered to give us tours in the future. Wendy was fabulous as she described the jewelry indicating the materials, metals, gemstones, and manufacturing processes of these beautiful pieces over the centuries including gold, silver, onyx, carnelian, pearls, coral, pinchbeck, micro-mosaics, enamel, and gemstones.

UWCC selected 6 pieces of jewelry ranging from Victorian to the 1940’s to donate to Historic New England to reflect our respect for their preservation of New England Antiquities as well as our history of selling donated costume jewelry for over 50 years to raise $6000 to $8000 in scholarship funds to be awarded annually to deserving High School seniors.

Our Jewel Queens donned their Tiaras to listen and watch Wendy’s presentation. Thursday evening, we received an email from Wendy: “What a surprise and delight to receive your lovely donation of jewelry!! It was a pleasure to meet your group and be hosted by such gracious women.”

*****SAVE THE DATE *** TELL YOUR FRIENDS *** Hi-Ho, Come to the Fair!!*****

December 5th at Harvey Wheeler: Our jewelry, attic treasures, sweets & treats, holiday gifts, tags, and handmade crafts including knitting, American Doll clothes, quilting and sewing will be available from 9am to 2pm.

Anyone interested in attending a meeting and/or joining the club is invited to contact President, Jini McCoubrey at 978-287-4474.