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Some Songs: Poetry For Valintine's

1/27/2021

It's no great surprise that Frank Stephens, a lover of Shakespeare, the founder of Arden, and an artist, would have a way with words.

Enjoy this poem "To Eleanor" from Some Songs:

O! Heart--hold closer by me, for this life
Hath really neither breadth nor height nor depth
Other than love; and all material forms
That hedge us round and seem to bound our world
Are rough daubed scenes upon whose little stage
We play this tragic comedy of life--
That mirrors forth some larger world beyond--
Only the purpose, born of love, is real.

Frank and Eleanor Stephens, ca. 1928, ACSM00006

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Politics and Public Life in the Ardens

1/20/2021

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The Ardens have a long history of being politically diverse.

In 1950, Don Stephens said about Ardencroft:

“You are welcome hither, for here in Ardencroft we do not ask about a man’s religion nor his beliefs nor do we hold to any theory of racial superiority.”

This philosophy was a continuation of the spirt of Arden and Ardentown, epitomized in the words of the stile:

"You are welcome hither"

Arden Stile, Spring 1996, ACSM01933

Many Ardenenites have been politically active. Arden was home to Mother Bloor, a founder of the American Communist Party. Frank Stephens, who founded Arden, was a Single Taxer who followed the economic and political theories of Henry George and participated in the Delaware Single Tax Invasion of 1896.

Frank Stephens, 1910s-1920s, ACSM00040

Mother Bloor, early 1900s, ACSM00690

Frank’s daughter-in-law Ingeborg (Inky) Stephens was an activist who first worked for women’s suffrage in the 1910s and then participated in anti-war protests in the 1960s, with other work in between.

Inky Stephens and her brother-in-law, Roger Stephens, New York City Suffrage Parade, 1910, ACSM00026

Inky Stephens at anti-war rally in the 1960s, ACSM00019

On April 27th, 1935, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the Ardens. She was visiting WPA projects, of which the cobblestones around the Arden Green are one. Mrs. Roosevelt was greeted by Marie Holcomb of the local girl scout troop as seen below.

Eleanor Roosevelt visit, April 27, 1935, ACSM01100

The newly inaugurated 46th President, Joseph Biden, lived for a short time with his family in a rental on Harvey Road in Ardentown. Maria Holcomb Burslem, niece to the girl scout who gave Mrs. Roosevelt flowers, remembers President Biden as the local paper boy.

The Arden Craft Shop Museum has in it's archive a newspaper article from 1986, when then Senator Joe Biden, gave greetings to Charles Pettit on the occasion of his 100th birthday at the Candlelight Dinner Theatre.

President Joseph Biden, Official White House Photo by David Lienemann, 2013

In 2020, the museum opened an exhibition called "Equality in the Ardens" which highlights the work of suffragists and other activists from the Ardens in the early 20th century. This work allowed women across the United States to celebrate the 100th anniversary of casting their ballots in the federal election of 2020. This exhibition will be transitioning into the museum’s main gallery along with our other current exhibition “15 Treasures”. Be sure to see both of these through September 2021.

Arden Suffrage Parade, 1912, ACSM01639

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Some Songs: Poetry For Valintine's

Politics and Public Life in the Ardens

What's Happening at the ACSM

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