Profiling History: A look inside the Harvard Historical Society — Topsy the Mare
Much of who we are as a town can be attributed to where we have been. The Harvard Historical Society documents that path through preservation, education, and acquisition.
Founded in 1897, the mission of the Society is to "preserve Harvard's past for Harvard's future."
The success and longevity of the organization is in great part due to munificent benefactors—Winnifred Sturdy and Elvira Scorgie—along with generous monetary and material contributions from Harvard townspeople.
Since 1967, the society has called the former Baptist Society Building in Still River its home. Housed inside is a mammoth collection of ephemera that ranges from handbills to letters, diaries, charts, and business records. There is also a cache of furniture, costumes, photographs, paintings, machines, household goods, and firearms.
The volunteers of the society operate a small museum, present school programs, and assist the public with research.
The Historical Society is funded totally by donations, memberships, and programming. Some of those special events include the popular tour of homes, guided walks, the organ revival series, and Discovery Days, held the third Sunday of each month, in which visitors get insight into different aspects of the collection through exploration and lectures from experts.
In the new series, "Profiling History: A Look Inside the Harvard Historical Society," the Press will present items unique to Harvard. This month the chosen piece is a headstone of a horse named Topsy.
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| Dr. John Quincy Adams McCollester (Courtesy photo) |
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| Topsy's tombstone (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz) |
"Topsy the Mare belonged to Dr. John Quincy Adams McCollester.
We don't know where the stone was found, it may have been on the farm where the Doctor and his horse lived. Perhaps the horse carried him when he made his house calls or when he went to fight in the Civil War. The stone came to the Historical Society in 1910.
John Quincy Adams McCollester was born in Marlborough, N.H., in 1831. He graduated from Norwich University in 1853. He became a medical doctor after studying at Jefferson College in Philadelphia as well as with another doctor. He came to Ayer (then called Groton Junction) and practiced medicine there and in the towns nearby. He later moved to Waltham and practiced medicine there until he retired in 1903. He died in 1911.
In 1862 he volunteered as a surgeon in the Civil War, with the 53rd Mass Regiment. He served with the regiment in Louisiana. In 1863 he returned from the war and moved to Harvard, where he stayed, practicing medicine here and in the surrounding towns, until 1869. In 1887 he moved to Waltham.
He lived in the Old Mill District, probably on Poor Farm Road. 'He was not only a very skillful doctor but a very fine man and a large and successful farmer.' (Savage, Memoirs of Old Harvard Days)
Dr. McCollester was a member of the School Committee, a Justice of the Peace, and a Republican, as well as belonging to many other organizations. He married Sarah E. Hazen of Shirley, and after her death, Georgeanna Lydia Hunt. He had 7 children."
—Excerpt by Judy Warner, curator, taken from the files of the Harvard Historical Society.