Packard, Donald (1893-1974)

Name:

Packard, Donald (1893-1974)

Title:

Graduate, Harvard -- c. 1915
Member, Boston Clock Club -- 1930s
President, National Assoc. of Watch and Clock Collectors, New England Chapter

Other Names:

Packard, Donald K.

Born:

1893

Died:

1974

Residence:

Chestnut Hill, MA
New Ipswich, NH

Occupation:

Bank Manager -- New England Merchants Bank

Relations:

Mentor of Charles S. Parsons, clock scholar
Sibling:
Packard, Marjorie (unmarried)
Grandchild: Anne Litchfield, Dracut, MA
Aunt: Florence E. Packard (d.1940), buried Mount Auburn Cemetery

Spouse:

Joy, Beatrice

Children:

Packard, David B. (res. Hopkinton, NH; insurance business; m; step-dau.)
Packard, Sammy
Packard, (son)

Notes:

Donald and Joy Packard were collectors of New Hampshire-made clocks and New Ipswich, NH-area furniture. Don authored several articles on New Hampshire clocks.
Corresp. from Jim Garvin (1985): "Donald Packard was a pioneering New England collector and student of clocks. His special issue of Historical New Hampshire, "When New Hampshire Was a Clock-Making Center" (April, 1950) was the first attemp at a systematic overview of New Hampshire clocks, and played a formative role in CSP's [Charlie Parsons] decision to specialize in collecting New Hampshire timekeepers. Packard's article was illustrated with examples from the Society's collection (then small) and from his own collection; many of the clocks in the latter have now become the Society's property.
The clock gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Packard are second only to those of CSP in range and number [13 separate Packard gifts]. Packard was a particular student of the simple but ingenious and economical brass movements developed by makers of New Hampshire 'mirror' clocks; he wrote an article on the 'rat trap' striking movement.
As you will see from the list of 1978 gifts by Mrs. Packard, the Packards were also collectors of furniture. Mrs. Packard's gift of their collection of chairs made by the Wilbur family of New Ipswich provided the Society with the core of a collection to which we have since added a number of examples by purchase. According to surviving company records, the Wilders were among the most prolific chairmakers in northern New England; their enterprise is important in the history of New Hampshire furniture making.
Altogether, the Packard gifts represent the ideal situation of private collectors using their intelligence and financial means to assemble an important collection which they later donated to an educational institution for the public benefit."