Dutchess County Historical Society

Seeks Artifacts For Quaker Symposium

In 1796, the New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) opened the first successful co-educational Friends Boarding School in the country in what is now Millbrook in Dutchess County, N.Y., the Nine Partners Boarding School, now known as the Oakwood Friends School.

At the time of the American Revolution, Quakers were the fifth largest religious group in the country and they had a significant presence in Dutchess County. During its day, the school’s fame was known far and wide, including in Connecticut.

Organizers of an upcoming November 2009 Dutchess County Historical Society special Quaker symposium, “Cultural Landscape of the Friends: A Symposium on Mid-Hudson Valley Quakers in the 18th and 19th Centuries” are hoping to locate any documents, journals, ledgers, information, artifacts, or drawings related to Nine Partners Boarding School, as well as any samplers from the school.

The primary exhibit will be Nine Partners Boarding School samplers, including those owned by Oakwood Friends School and private collectors. The items will be used for learning more about the school, discussion during the November 12 to 15 symposium, and possible inclusion in the exhibit and accompanying exhibit catalog and book about the school.

It is possible, said Kathy Moyer, co-chair of the symposium, that residents of Newtown or Sandy Hook attended the school. “It would be incredible and so wonderful if anyone still had in their family some of the original samplers created at the Nine Partners School, or anything else related to that school, that they would be willing to loan us,” said Ms Moyer.

If you have information about the school or its samplers, contact Kathy Moyer, symposium co-chair and associate director of development and alumni affairs, at 845-462-4200, extension 226, or kmoyer@oakwoodfriends.org.