Old Northampton and the "Lupine Lady" - Brought to Life in Long Lost Letters
A Public Talk by Jennifer Hamlin Church
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Date
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Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 7 pm
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Location
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In Person at Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA
and On Zoom |
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Admission
Sponsors
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Sliding Scale Admission: $5 - $15
Historic Northampton in partnership with Smith College Archives
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Register for the in-person talk
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Register for the Zoom talk
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Forty years ago, Miss Rumphius introduced thousands of young readers to the lupine lady “who made the world more beautiful.” Winner of the 1983 National Book Award for Children, the story was inspired by the real life of Hilda Edwards Hamlin, who spread lupine seeds along the roads near her summer home in Maine.
A native of England, Hilda's connection to Northampton began when she moved here as a 15-year old to live with her uncle, Harry Gardiner, a Smith College philosopher. After graduating from Smith College in 1912, she married and moved away. In 1929, after her uncle’s death and her own divorce, she returned to Northampton as a single mother to raise her three children. For the rest of her life, Hilda split her time between Northampton and the summer home her uncle had purchased in Christmas Cove, Maine. |
The story of Miss Rumphius was inspired by the real life of Hilda Edwards Hamlin, a former Northampton resident.
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Hilda Edwards Hamlin at 15,
the age she came to America (1904) |
In this presentation, Hilda’s granddaughter, Jennifer Hamlin Church will share glimpses of Northampton history gathered from the letters and diaries written by her grandmother and her great granduncle. She will also share her own journey, from finding papers in trunks, hatboxes, and bottom drawers to deciphering penmanship and solving the mysteries that emerged.
In 2023, Church described her ancestors’ lives in a book, Harry & Hilda: Letters Home The Sparkling Life of the Lupine Lady and the Professor Who Made it Possible (2024). Set primarily in Bristol, England, South Bristol, Maine, and Northampton, the book chronicles more than a century of life on both sides of the Atlantic - from two world wars and Hemingway's Paris to the start of the space age. Based on the wealth of written words they left behind, Harry & Hilda: Letters Home brings to light the remarkable lives and times of two unforgettable immigrant Americans. Copies of the book will be available for sale at the public talk. |
In Partnership with Smith College Archives
Introduction by Nanci Young, Smith College Archivist
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Hilda Edwards Hamlin in her elder years,
in a wicker rocker in Maine |
Jennifer Hamlin Church with Hilda Edwards Hamlin
in Birmingham, England |
About the Presenter
Jennifer Hamlin Church lives in southeast Michigan, keeping one foot planted in the corn fields of the Midwest and the other splashing in the coastal waters of her native New England. A graduate of Middlebury College and the University of Minnesota, she has worked as a writer and editor in many settings: as an art reviewer, feature writer, and periodicals editor, and as a communications professional at Siena Heights University, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Adrian College.
Growing up, Jennifer regularly visited Northampton to spend time with her grandmother, aka “the real Miss Rumphius.” Harry & Hilda: Letters Home is her third book.
Jennifer Hamlin Church lives in southeast Michigan, keeping one foot planted in the corn fields of the Midwest and the other splashing in the coastal waters of her native New England. A graduate of Middlebury College and the University of Minnesota, she has worked as a writer and editor in many settings: as an art reviewer, feature writer, and periodicals editor, and as a communications professional at Siena Heights University, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Adrian College.
Growing up, Jennifer regularly visited Northampton to spend time with her grandmother, aka “the real Miss Rumphius.” Harry & Hilda: Letters Home is her third book.