(603) 622-7531

Ext. 306 – Jeffrey Barraclough, Assistant Executive Director – jbarraclough@manchesterhistoric.org

Ext. 223 – Aurore Eaton, Executive Director – aeaton@manchesterhistoric.org

Link here to view a slide show and to download high-definition digital images:  http://www.meetup.com/Manchester-History-Network/photos/15098332/

MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE USA – The Millyard Museum is featuring a new special exhibit of portraits selected from the permanent collection of the Manchester Historic Association. The exhibit, “People You Should Know….Portraits from the Collection,” is on view in the museum’s Charles F. Whittemore Discovery Gallery until October 12, 2013. The display includes 16 oil paintings, watercolors and photographs. Admission to the exhibit is included with regular admission to the Millyard Museum, which is located at 200 Bedford Street in the historic Amoskeag Millyard in Manchester, New Hampshire. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For details on admission fees, and links to the catalog and a slide show of the works on display, visit the website www.manchesterhistoric.org.

The “People You Should Know” exhibit includes portraits of both prominent and lesser-known individuals who lived in Manchester. Among the well-known people are the gifted politician and friend of Abraham Lincoln Governor Frederick Smyth, and philanthropist Frank P. Carpenter, donor of the Carpenter Memorial Library building. Others are songwriter Alonzo “Zo” Elliot, best remembered for composing “There’s a Long, Long Trail,” one of most famous songs of World War I, and the 19^th century circus performer “Commodore” George Washington Morrison Nutt. Also shown is a painting of Captain William D. Downs, whose death at sea in World War II inspired the beautiful Marine Memorial Monument at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. A dramatic portrait of much-admired Central High School teacher Elsie D. Fairbanks hangs in the show, as well as a tinted Victorian-era photograph of the young Esther Africa, daughter of a wealthy local family. Also shown are portraits of attorney and land speculator Samuel Newell Bell; and of Lieutenant Jean D. Grenier who was honored after his death when Manchester’s World War II airbase was named after him.

Works by two accomplished commercial artists from the 19^th Century are included in the exhibit. Swiss-born painter Edward L. Custer is represented by his stunning self-portrait as a young man, and by a painting of his beloved mother. Two watercolor portraits of family members painted by Henry W. Herrick are on view. Herrick was a nationally published illustrator who became a luminary in Manchester’s artistic circles. Manchester native Omer T. Lassonde who studied at the Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences (now the New Hampshire Institute of Art) is represented by his handsome portrait of local department store owner, James W. Hill. Other artists with works in the exhibit are Manchester architect and painter George C. Soule, and two well-known New Yorkers – portraitist Sidney F. Dickenson and cartoonist Burris Jenkins, Jr.

The Manchester Historic Association operates the Millyard Museum at 200 Bedford Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, at the corner of Commercial and Pleasant streets in the historic Amoskeag Millyard. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The organization’s Research Center is located at 129 Amherst Street in downtown Manchester, in the Victory Park Historic District. Research Center hours are Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. Please call (603) 622-7531 for more information, or visit the website www.manchesterhistoric.org.

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