The Treasurer, the Oral Historian, and the Artist (Part 5 of 30)

Louis Rogers, Barbara Erkkila, Leslie D. Bartlett

Consider…
a timeline of three individuals who might standout out as central figures in the preservation of what the day-to-day life of the granite industry on Cape Ann was like.

Louis Rogers 
Final Treasurer of the Rockport Granite Company, he preserved corporate records which he bequeathed to the Harvard Baker Library in April, 1953.

Barbara Erkilla
Lanesville native, writer of Cape Ann Granite history (Hammers on Stone) compiler of numerous oral interviews with the living remnants of the quarry industry.

Leslie D. Bartlett
His 2007 installation at the Cape Ann Museum – Chapters on a Quarry Wall reveal the resilient quarry landscapes of Cape Ann for a new generation of Cape Ann natives and visitors alike. And it lead Leslie to spend 10 years researching photography and granite papers at Sandy Bay Historical Society and the Cape Ann Museum; over 3 years in research at Harvard with the materials collected by Louis Rogers, and most recently,  the papers of Barbara Erkkila at the Cape Ann Museum.

 

Part 6 : Attitudes toward scholarship, research and preservation for the future.

Advertisement

Cape Ann Quarryland

Euphoria.

For over 200 years Cape Ann farmers had dug out, pushed and shoved rock out of the way to clear their fields for farming.

Euphoria.

Granite was something everyone could break, shape and sell. It lay on either side of the road, the fields cleared, small holes were dug out for larger chunks of granite to be removed. The quarry spectacle was viewed by summer visitors who sat atop their carriages.

Euphoria

The Cape Ann Quarryland is born .

Cape Ann Quarryland, a sketch made by Carl J. Nordell of Annisquam and Boston