Date: Fri 27-Jun-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLK

Quick Words:

Bellamy-Study-Center

Full Text:

Bellamy-Ferriday House Plans Archival Study Center On Property

BETHLEHEM - The Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden announces plans to create an

Archival Study Center on the Bethlehem property for the benefit of the

students, scholars and researchers.

The 100-acre property, on Route 61 in Bethlehem, is owned and maintained by

The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society (ALS). The basis of the archival

collection is the personal papers of the late Miss Caroline Woolsey Ferriday,

who left her summer estate, The Bellamy-Ferriday House, to the ALS. It was

Miss Ferriday's intent the property be open to the public in memory of her

parents.

"The creation of an archival study center at The Bellamy-Ferriday House &

Garden conforms with Miss Ferriday's wishes for the preservation of her

residence, once the home of Bethlehem's first minister, the Reverend Joseph

Bellamy," said Thomas P. Peardon, chairman of The Bellamy-Ferriday House &

Garden Task Force.

The Task Force, a volunteer committee comprised of 15 museum, design and

preservation professionals, has appointed a development subcommittee that will

oversee the plans for the study center, scheduled to open to the public in the

year 2000. The goal of the subcommittee is to oversee a capital campaign to

raise the $115,000 needed to convert an existing structure into the archival

study room.

"Essentially, we will be adaptively re-using a summer kitchen that was

modified by the several subsequent owners after the Reverend Bellamy's

occupancy in the mid-18th Century," says Nan Heminway, the project

coordinator.

The building will be stabilized and proper archival storage requirements such

as climate control, fire protection and security systems will be installed.

The building will house the archives of Miss Caroline Woolsey Ferriday and her

forbears, many of whom lived enriched, philanthropically based lives.

Miss Ferriday's maternal great aunts, the Woolsey sisters, were nurses during

the Civil War. Upon returning to New York after the war, they were

instrumental in the creation of the nursing school at what is now Columbia

Presbyterian Hospital. Their correspondence to other family members while at

battle sites forms the basis of the Woolsey Family Papers.

Additionally, the archives include first-hand accounts of concentration camp

survivors for whom Miss Ferriday arranged medical treatment. Overall, the

archives cover topics such as the historical development of Bethlehem, the

life and writings of the Reverend Joseph Bellamy, World War II, the French

Resistance and horticulture - all passions of Miss Ferriday.

"We believe the archival documents are rich in history and should be shared

with the community, with scholars and researchers of all levels," said Mr

Peardon. "At one point there was an issue of whether to have these documents

stored in the archives of a regional college, but The Antiquarian & Landmarks

Society and The Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden Task Force felt strongly that

the papers should be kept at the Ferriday site and remain in and be available

to the local community."

Once the archives are open, public programs will be implemented that enhance

use of the papers. "We are currently planning programs that will allow area

school children to use these primary source documents to supplement their

studies," says Barbara K. Bradbury, site administrator of the property. The

contents of the archives provide first-hand accounts of significant historical

events that cannot be found in textbooks.

"Primary sources offer an interesting and unique alternative to learning with

standard secondary sources. By using the archives at The Bellamy-Ferriday

House & Garden, students will be able to gain information and form their own

interpretations of history."