The Scriven Arts Colony
Please welcome The Scriven Arts Colony, which has just launched
to host sporadic cultural events in a circa 1790 barn in
Gilmanton, New Hampshire. The Colony is located at 452 NH Route
140 in Gilmanton. It is named in honor of Jane Scriven Cumming
(1904-1998), a publicist, interior decorator, and bon vivant
best remembered as the author of the 1993 classic, Gilmanton
Summers, still in print and available through The Gilmanton
Historical Society. The Colony is the brainchild of Jane’s
grandson, Bill Donahue, a Gilmanton journalist who has written
for The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. Here
is a link to a 2008 essay he wrote on the barn and his
grandmother. Here is a link to the Facebook page.
The 2015 calendar features two events, described below. Both
events are suitable for adults and children alike. Admission is
free and open to the public.
Silent Movies
Friday, August 14 at 7 p.m.
Pianist Jeff Rapsis plays a live soundtrack to two Buster Keaton
classics, Sherlock Jr. (1924; 40 minutes) and Steamboat Bill Jr.
(1928; 70 minutes). Rapsis is co-founder and associate publisher
of The Hippo, New Hampshire’s weekly journal covering the arts,
entertainment, food, culture, and lifestyle. Prepare for this
event by reading the definitive biography, Keaton, written by
Gilmanton’s own Rudi Blesh in 1966.
History Talk By Gilmanton’s Own Rebecca Onion
Friday, September 4 at 7 p.m.
19th-Century Boyhood on Paper: Homemade Books by the Nelson
Brothers of Goshen, New Hampshire
Rebecca Onion grew up in
Gilmanton Corners and is now the history writer for Slate
Magazine. Please join us in the barn as she gives a 45-minute
talk about three little-known New Hampshire authors—the Nelson
Brothers of Goshen, NH. The Nelsons were late 19th century farm
boys, and in their early youth, writing on spare scraps of
paper, they created a fictional universe replete with its own
land masses (the Big, Round, and Long Continents,), as well as
its own farm fields and wars.
Rebecca is the daughter of longtime Gilmanton residents Anne and
Perry. She is an alumna of Gilmanton Elementary, Gilford Middle
School, Milton Academy (Milton, MA), Yale University, and the
University of Texas at Austin (in that order). She holds a Ph.D
in American Studies. Her book, Innocent Experiments: Childhood
and the Culture of Public Science in the United States, will be
published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2016. She
currently lives in Athens, Ohio.
The Nelson Brothers at home in Goshen.
The Colony’s namesake, Jane Scriven Cumming, celebrating
her 85th birthday in 1989.