1853 LITERARY EXERCISES OF THE YOUNG LADIES OF PROFESSOR METCALFE'S ACADEMY IN REVEREND MR. PORTER'S CHURCH - BROADSIDE

On offer is a very attractive two-page broadside 8" x 10" announcing LITERARY EXERCISES by the YOUNG LADIES OF PROFESSOR METCALFE'S ACADEMY, In Rev. Mr. Porter's Church, Fourth Street, Williamsburgh, Long Island, New York, on Friday, 3 o'clock, P.M., July 1st, 1853.Many students are listed along with the titles of their compositions. This ephemeral announcement is in very good condition, printed on old paper of excellent rag content. It is printed on one side and folded in the center, so that Part I of the program is detailed on the front side, and Part II of the program is detailed on the reverse. The back or rather "inside" of the folded paper is blank. This broadside apparently announced the CLOSING EXERCISES of Professor Metcalfe's Seminary, as it concludes with: "The Academic Year will commence on the first Monday of September, with School Rooms greatly enlarged and improved." As the concluding activity of Professor Metcalfe's school, research reveals that the affair apparently went off with quite a notable bang; "On November 13, 1849 the Rev. Elbert STOTTHOFF PORTER was called to the pastorate of the Reformed Dutch Church in Williamsburgh, Long Island, New York. Professor Silas METCALFE'S Academy for Young Ladies occupied the basement of this church building. In 1853, while the closing exercises of Professor METCALFE'S Seminary were in progress in the Reformed Dutch Church, A TORNADO STRUCK THIS BUILDING. The spire crashed down on roofs of buildings on the south of the church & many timbers fell through the ceiling onto the organ gallery at the west. No one was sitting in the gallery. The spire was never rebuilt." Handwritten at the very top is the manuscript autograph of Caroline F. Aiken, presumedly the attendee and recipient of the broadside.