My name is Jane Carver Fielder. As the school archivist, I can usually be found in the Archives Room located on the lower floor of Baxter Hall.

For several years I have shared my essays about the early to middle life of Kimball Union Academy with our school community through emails called, “From the Archives….” I’ve also placed them on the KUA Website History page; if you are interested in reading them, they are all still available. This year, I thought it would be an enjoyable change to focus more on our visual and memorabilia collection and share them with you. I hope you enjoy the experience.

An 1852 drawing of the Meriden Parrish as it appeared in 1812 that was found in the pages of Dr. Frost’s diary.

This week, I’ve included a copy of a drawing from The Chronicle of Elias Frost, M.D. (1782-1863). Dr. Frost drew this map from  memory in 1852, of how  the Meriden Parish looked in 1808, when he arrived here from Uxbridge, MA, to serve as the village doctor. For the first six years he boarded at the Hilltop home of Daniel and Hannah Kimball, founders of Kimball Union Academy. Almost center, to the lower left of an earlier wooden church can be seen the home of the “Hon. Daniel Kimball,” now the stone church parsonage. Below the road to the right is the “D. Kimball barn.” This is the small red building between the gym and Miller that currently houses Facilities and Operations and is believed to be the oldest building in town.

In 1815, Dr. Frost bought Rev. Dickinson’s house at the bottom of the hill next to the Baptist Church where he lived until his death in 1863. Frost House was privately owned until 1963 when KUA bought it for faculty and student housing.

It might be fun to compare Dr. Frost’s drawing with this copy (below), drawn in the late twentieth century by an unknown artist, from his second 1808 map, Meriden Center.