Summer 2017

Fig. 7: Rocking chair. America, ca. 1900; retailed by Margeson Brothers, Portsmouth. Oak; leather upholstery; replaced leather seat. H. 42¼, W. 27¼, D. 33 in. Portsmouth Historical Society; Gift of Bob Shouse, 2014. Photo by Ralph Morang. This Mission-style rocking chair has two associations with the Seacoast area. Made at an as-yet- unidentified furniture factory, the chair, like much of the modern furniture in use in the area at the time, was retailed by Margeson Brothers of Portsmouth. It bears their label stenciled in black on the inside of the front seat rail on the removable slip seat. More significantly, it also has a history of having been part of the furnishings of Rock Rest, a house at 167 Brave Boat Harbor Road in Kittery Point, Maine, now a landmark in the history of African-American experience in the Seacoast area. Hazel and Clayton Sinclair of New York acquired this house in 1938 and began taking in guests during World War II. After expanding the house and renovating the garage, they operated Rock Rest from 1946 to 1977 as a summer retreat for an African-American clientele, hosting as many as sixteen lodgers at a time. Rock Rest, now on the National Register of Historic Places, like similar venues throughout the country, provided safe and congenial lodgings for Black Americans before legal and de facto segregation ended in the United States. Through the efforts of historian Valerie Cunningham and the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, the Rock Rest archives are now permanently housed at the University of New Hampshire’s Dimond Library. The site is featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Fig. 6: Swiveling office chair, ca. 1905, W.B. Moses and Sons, Washington, D.C.; retailed by Derby Desk Co., Boston, Massachusetts. Mahogany; metal base; replaced leather upholstery. H. 35, W. 22½, D. 19½ in. Portsmouth Athenaeum. Photo by Ralph Morang. Even utilitarian factory-made objects can become tangible reminders of momentous events and important personages, in this case the Russian-Japanese Peace Conference held in Portsmouth in 1905. This swiveling armchair was used by Baron Komura, the head of the Japanese delegation, and bear inscriptions and a plaque, respectively, recording their use by him on September 5, 1905, when involved in the preparation and signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth that ended hostilities. The Portsmouth Historical Society has recently acquired a matching chair used by Sergius Witte, head of the Russian delegation. In 1905, “revolving” armchairs that could swivel and tilt were still something of a new phenomenon. W. B. Moses and Son, the maker, was a prominent establishment in the nation’s capital from the mid-nineteenth century until its dissolution in 1937. The White House and other branches of the federal government were among their many clients. Like all the furniture acquired for the meetings, this chair was sold directly after the end of the conference by the Portsmouth Furniture Company. It remains a tangible reminder of the significance of this exceptional episode of civilian diplomacy in Portsmouth’s long history. Summer 128 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com