Peterborough
&
The Art of Family

One of the Historical Society’s most important artifacts, the Job Hill Family portrait, now graces the cover of a new book, The Art of Family, published in April by the New England Historical Genealogical Society.

Painted by 21 year-old Caroline Hill in 1837, the Job Hill family portrait shows Caroline, her parents and siblings, and the family cat seated around a table in their home in Peterborough. A family genealogical register hangs on the wall behind them.

Caroline was a self-taught artist who helped to support her family by working in the mills with her sisters. Six years after painting the portrait, Caroline married the Reverend Levi Fay and moved to Lawrence, Kansas where she died in 1854.

The Art of Family features essays by some of the leading scholars of New England decorative arts and history. The book is handsomely illustrated with reproductions of New England’s most important genealogical artifacts. Copies of the book are available at the Toadstool Bookshop.

 June 2002

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