Allan Appel Photo
Looking spry for a man approaching the end of his second century, Donald G. Mitchell dropped by a centennial celebration of the library built and named in his honor in Westville.
“You age very nicely,” said the president of the New Haven Free Library board, Elsie Chapman.
“I’ll be 189 in April,” Mitchell replied laconically.
A hundred others joined in the time-traveling festivities Saturday afternoon as local history buff Harold Houston, with an uncanny likeness as well as erudite info on his personal life, channeled Mitchell to the delight of about 100 people.
Lots of local people know that Mitchell not only helped design East Rock and West Rock parks. His gentleman’s model farm, “Edgewood” was turned over to the city forming what is today Edgewood Park.
However, many, including this reporter, were surprised to learn that Mitchell was also a diplomat, an attorney, and one of the most distinguished personages of the mid-19th century and the writer of many successful books.
Heard of Reveries of a Bachelor? Apparently a hot item in 1851; it sold 14,000 copies that year.
“That’s the equivalent of 14 million today,” said Houston.
Returning to the reenactment of his character, Houston enumerated that among his pals and literary visitors to Edgewood Farm were Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. When Edgar Allan Poe died, Mitchell, whose pseudonym was Ik Marvel,” delivered the obituary.
Oh, and Washington Irving introduced Donald Mitchell to his lovely bride, Mary Pringle, aka Sharon Lovett-Graff, the Mitchell Branch librarian.
“We had 11 children together,” Mitchell/Houston said, complimenting his wife on her continuing good looks through the centuries.
Houston’s real-life daughter Emma (picture in above photo on the right, in costume, with another of Mitchell’s make-believe children played by Shoshana Lovett-Graff) was having her genuine birthday on the same day as the library. Her dad of course gave her high compliments for putting celebrating Donald G. Mitchell’s special day above her own.
Mitchell died in 1908. Two years later the library opened in the mansion of Ebenezer Beecher. (Beecher pioneered automatic match-making of the Diamond kind.) At the time it was a private subscription library for Westvillians. When New Haven annexed Westville in 1922, Mitchell became part of the city’s public library system.
Two small exhibitions Saturday accompanied the images and books of Mitchell, which Harold Houston used as effective props. New Haven: A Century in Photographs and 100 Years of Books in New Haven: A Journey Across Time, Cultures, Languages and Genres are on display in the branch’s program room.
Students from the Yale Public Humanities Program helped curate the centennial shows. A grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation made the birthday in all facets possible.
The Mitchell Branch‘s current building was opened in 1966. This year patrons have checked out 100,000 items there.
Upon hearing that information Saturday, Donald G. Mitchell rubbed his mutton chops and said: “I’m amazed people would do this [for me]. Although I was a world-famous horticulturist, attorney, diplomat, architect, and lawyer, I was most happy to be a gentleman farmer. [Still] a library is most appropriate.”
The exhibitions are up for the next two months. Those interested in possible future tours of the Donald G. Mitchell residences in Westville should contact the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance or call Mary Pringle … uh, that would be librarian Sharon Lovett-Graff, at 946‑8118.