This weekend at the Fall River Historical Society

[Stefani]

Come and join us!

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[Susib]

Wish I could!!

[twinsrwe]

I also wish I could attend.

Stefani, is it possible for someone who has the opportunity to attend, to give those of us who are unable to attend, a summary of the event?

[Stefani]

Since I am doing half of the talk, I would be happy to tell you. The groups go to two talks, me, doing the artifacts talk and Dennis Binette doing the history of the story of Lizzie as they understand her through Parallel Lives. He is quite lovely in his explanations and people love it.

I am in the room with the display cases and go from case to case to tell them what is in them, explaining what they are and how they were acquired. It is a chronological telling based on these great artifacts, ending with the new additions: Lizzie's travel book, which she had with her on her grand tour, and the two legal documents donated to the society after being won at auction (for $16,000!). One is very very important. Lizzie's power of attorney after the murders granting Emma that right. The second is a document that is Emma firing Charles Cook and hiring Andrew Jennings as her business manager. Dated in 1917.

Any specific questions?

[twinsrwe]

Wow, Stefani, I am so envious of you! How exciting that you were presenting a talk on the artifacts while Dennis was doing a talk regarding the history of the story of Lizzie as he understands her through Parallel Lives.

I would love to have seen Lizzie’s travel book from her grand tour. What kind of things did she record in it?

There is a picture of the power of attorney document in the article that Deborah Allard wrote up in The Herald News, on Oct 15, 2017: http://tinyurl.com/ydcv42gt

Deborah Allard also wrote an article, in The Herald News, on Nov 12, 217, regarding those documents being donated to the FRHS. However, again, the document of Emma firing Charles Cook and hiring Andrew Jennings as her business manager, was not shown: http://tinyurl.com/yd6xb7cq

Was there a good turnout for this event?

Thank you so much for the summary of this event, Stefani; I appreciate it, and I am sure other members appreciate it as well.

[Stefani]

Saturday, the 4th, was a rain day---torrential with flooding in the city. Even a tornado touched down in Webster, MA. So it rained all day. We had some come, maybe about 20 or so in all.

Sunday was much more attended and we were kept busy. Groups of about 8 or so at a time. All the people were LOVELY. Asking very insightful questions and interested in the case. They were great.

The travel book was purchased on ebay and donated to the society by the same person who purchased the other documents. In it, Lizzie marked which museums she visited and the art that she viewed. Turns out this book was pretty much the basis of the captions she placed in her Travel Scrapbooks which are detailed in Parallel Lives. The Society had those on loan for the writing of PL, but they have since been returned to the owner.

The Emma Firing Cook and Hiring Jennings is really interesting to me. I suggested to the curators that perhaps the date of this --1917-- is significant. In 1916 there was a fire (the Steiger store fire) on South Main near Columbia. The Borden sisters owned a building on Spring Street that sustained damage. Perhaps this insurance issue with that building is what precipitated the change. As we know, Cook turned out to be not so nice. When LB died, he tried to make the case that the house I live in next to Maplecroft was his. LB had him buy it with her money and put it in his name so as not to alert the neighborhood that she was buying up land. When she died he said it was his. Her two friends who administered her will fought him in probate court and won.

Maybe Emma felt that she needed him out of her pockets.

[LABRhush]

Late to the gate on this post, but I just wanted to say I attended the event and it was better than anticipated! I'd seen the exhibit before, and loved it, but the two talks this last time made it a must see! The rain, on the other hand, made my hair a must not see. Also, seeing Lizzie's travel book was an unexpected treat