The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
SENSE OF PRIDE
Auctioned keepsakes from Morgan School to be returned; legacy preserved at new school
CLINTON >> The decision to purge historic Morgan School memorabilia outraged some citizens, while the committee tasked with handling the items admit the plan went awry and are working to right any perceived wrong.
Along with desks, chairs and textbooks, The Morgan School’s recent move to the new high school included a plethora of treasured keepsakes. Then came the decision of just what to do with the glut of trophies, plaques and pictures, some dating back over 100 years.
“The intent was never to get rid of stuff,” said Superintendent Maryann O’Donnell. “It was not an intent to discard or diminish, or ‘This isn’t important to me.’ It really wasn’t.
“It was about ‘This is important because of our legacy as Morgan and who better to have some of these things that we found than the people who earned them.’”
While most of the significant items were set aside for preservation, duplicate team photos, undated plaques and vintage trophies were reserved for an auction.
“We had 350 items that day of these picture plaques and these banners throughout the school that were going in a box or thrown away, really, in many cases,” she said about the day of the auction.
“The realistic thing is many of the things that were there were things that were found in boxes and closets,” said O’Donnell.
Yet, upon closer inspection, The Morgan School Football Team 1987 State Championship Trophy was discovered sitting among the auction items. This signaled the need to step back and reexamine the process, O’Donnell said. While some objects were auctioned off already, the new owners have stepped forward and offered to donate the items back to keep the collection complete.
“Probably 10 items that were out that day just didn’t sit right and probably shouldn’t have been out on the table,” said O’Donnell.
Committee members include Keith Dauer, Deb Grass, Keri Hagness, Beth Allen Nadeau, April Godwin Schuman and Jane Scully Welch.
“The people we’re talking about on this committee are so invested,” said O’Donnell. “They’re heartbroken that people are upset …”
Yet, O’Donnell is optimistic that they will continue the job they started to preserve the rich history of Clinton education.
“We had a misstep, but now we have an opportunity to really engage the alumni and do this in an even bet-
ter, pretty powerful way, I think,” said O’Donnell.
Work had begun, even before the auction, to catalog, photograph and display the vast collection of memorabilia collected from various spots throughout town.
Some of the artifacts, including a Huskies mug, a 1964 boys’ soccer ball representing “First State Championship Ever Won By A Morgan Team,” a 1948 letter sweater, newspaper clippings and photographs, are currently on display in the new school and many more will be rotated into specially designed display cases.
“We are bringing together some of the core people to say, ‘Look, we’re all in this together and let’s listen, let’s heal, let’s move on and let’s make this something really great.”
Throughout the school is the committee’s work, a culmination of about 18 months, beginning with the time capsules, cemented into the building directly behind the 2016 cornerstone of the new school.
Capsule 1 represents 1970 to 1951, including the 1931 Program Founders Day, 1951 photo of student body and faculty, Capsule II, 1951 to 2015, with a 1965 Ivy Leaves School Newspaper and 1979 Carnival Playbill and Capsule III, Community, representing “The people and places … that over many years have made us … Clinton.”
In addition, the arch that is on display at the entry way and the brass letters, emblazoned in the concrete at the entrance of the school, “Morgan School, 1871,” are both from the original Morgan School, dedicated in 1871.
The centerpiece of the school’s display cases is the 1901 ceremonial spade that went missing in the early ’60s, only to be discovered in the Andrews Memorial Town Hall attic just days before the groundbreaking for the new school.
The silver and wood handle spade has “Morgan 1901” and trailing ivy carved intricately carved into the wood.
“We were looking for it for years and years,” said Grass. “There was an old history with the spade that was passed from the senior class president to the next senior class president.”
As president of the alumni association and former chair of the history department, Dauer was the last senior class president to pass the spade. The tradition was reinstated this past year with Hagness presenting it to Brian Gendron, 2015 Student Council school-wide president, who in turn present it to Burton Caldwell, president of the Class of 2017.
Hagness applauds the committee’s work on the display cases and the focus on the history of Morgan School.
“I liked the idea that there would be something that was planned that would give the story of Morgan as you walked in, which is unique, I think, to the town and the history of the Morgan School,” she said.
Meanwhile, the committee continues to sort through memorabilia, taking photos, cataloging and savoring the rich history of each and every piece. For O’Donnell, the one little misstep was just that and they are back on their feet ready to move forward.
“This was such a labor of love,” said O’Donnell. “They’ve been so proud of the reactions of people when they walk in the new school and they see items just displayed that link back to the ’50s, when they attended, or back to the original Morgan and so there’s this feeling of pride in this community about the building.”