Guest curator Don B. Wilmeth, Ph.D., will lecture on “The British Actor Invasion of the Early American Stage” at HSCC’s November membership meeting. The illustrated program is in conjunction with the winter exhibit, “Actors on the Early American Stage,” which opens to the public on Saturday, November 22. Dr. Wilmeth, Emeritus Professor of Theatre and English at Brown Univ. and editor of The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre, is the curator of this exhibit which is drawn from his personal collection of theatre memorabilia and ephemera.

The program will examine the phenomenon of the actor during the first 75 years of documented professional theatre in the Colonies and the early years of the United States. Actors immigrating to the New World or simply touring in the Colonies in hope of financial gain, followed a career that was never easy and required considerable bravery. Most actors and companies found their existence in the colonies far more difficult than in even the remotest provincial circuit in England.

Dr. Wilmeth is an established authority on the history of American theatre and drama. He retired from Brown University in 2003 after 36 years there, 16 as chair of the theatre department. He is an author, editor, coeditor, or series editor of over four dozen books, including the award-winning three-volume The Cambridge History of American Theatre, which he co-edited. He will present a second lecture on March 18 entitled, “The Theatrical Playbill: An Illustrated History.”

• Sat., Dec. 13, 3:00 p.m. – Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol with Actors’ Circle Theatre (ACT)
  

  Ever wonder what really happened in “A Christmas Carol” and who was really responsible for Scrooge’s change in heart? Written by Tom Mula, Marley must save Scrooge to save himself from a damned eternity. This heartwarming tale tells Dickens’s classic story with a twist that is sure to warm any humbug heart. This program is free and open to the public, with a $5.00 suggested per person donation encouraged or $15.00 per family. To enhance the Christmas spirit, there will be caroling and non- perishable food items will be collected at the door for the Keene Community Kitchen.

• Wed., Jan. 21, 7:00 p.m. – “The Birth of Broadway: American Popular Music ”

  Frank Behrens will present a program on The Birth of Broadway: American Popular Music from 1866 to 1900 in the Exhibit Hall. Through lecture and recorded songs, he will examine songs sung on stage after the Civil War and how these performances created the format for the Broadway musical. Frank Behrens, a retired teacher, gives talks about the history of music, reviews CDs and DVDs in the local media, and writes monthly essays for Art Times Journal.

• Sat., Jan. 31, 2:00 p.m. – A reading of Bernard Shaw’s play, “The Devil’s Disciple”

  Set in NH during the Revolutionary War, the melodramatic play concerns the coming of General Burgoyne’s British troops to a small, very Puritan, NH town in 1777, the attempted hanging of the local minister, the heroic transformation of a local ne’er-do-well, and the confused loves of the minister’s young wife – all told with ironic Shavian wit and humor. The Hourglass Readers, founded by Catherine Behrens, is a group of men and women who love the classics and love to perform.

• Wed., March 18, 7:00 p.m. – “The Theatrical Playbill: An Illustrated History.” Lecture by Don Wilmeth.


• Sat, March 28, 8 p.m. and Sun., March 29. 2 p.m. “Save Me a Place at the Forrest Lawn”

  A one-act play by Lorees Yerby performed by Carin Torp and Mary Armstrong about the lives of two elderly women. Tired and lonely from life’s journey, they meet daily to talk, recall their early life, and contemplate death, which lurks outside the cafeteria. Yet theirs is a resignation touched with wisdom and humor, and a friendship that has provided comfort in their later years. A talk back with the performers and refreshments will follow each performance. A $5.00 per person suggested donation is encouraged.

• Fri., April 3, 7:30 p.m. – Two Old Friends Concert

  HSCC will host a concert by Two Old Friends in the Exhibit Hall. Using several different instruments, Two Old Friends sing traditional American songs to demonstrate how these tunes are derived directly from the songs of the British Isles and influenced by other cultural and ethnic groups to create an original American sound. This concert by Two Old Friends is free and open to the public, and sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council and Monadnock Folklore Society.

In mid October, HSCC held four forums around the county to collect community comments on the operations of the Wyman Tavern Museum to assist HSCC in developing a long range plan for this historic building. To everyone who attended one of these forums, thank you. Your comments are helpful and truly appreciated. If you were unable to attend one of the forums, we encourage you to share your comments by filling out a Wyman Tavern Survey Form. You can do this by visiting HSCC in person or through our web site at www.hsccnh.org.

The forums produced numerous comments and suggestions. Although it will take time to explore all the community responses, one comment was nearly universal: People want to see the Wyman Tavern remain as a community supported building.

The next step in this process will be to establish a Wyman Tavern Subcommittee Focus Group. This subcommittee will gather all appropriate information on possible uses for the Tavern, analyze the feasibility of such use, and craft a draft long range plan. With the completion of the working draft, HSCC will organize another round of forums to present the new plan and to collect additional community comments and support.

This process of developing a plan for our historic Tavern is exciting. Thank you for your encouragement and comments as we guide our most important artifact into the 21st century.

With winter close at hand, the Wyman Tavern Museum will close its doors for the winter on Friday November 14th. We had almost two hundred visitors this fall, and for the year more than 860 people visited the Tavern to tour, view the quilt exhibit, or take part in one of the educational programs or events. This success was made possible by all our wonderful volunteers, intern, and teachers. Thank you!!

The Wyman Tavern will again open for another season of programs and activities at the beginning of May 2009.

The fall meeting of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum was held in the old Cheshire Mill No. 2 in Harrisville on Thursday October 16th. We wish to thank Historic Harrisville for hosting this meeting and offering the Roundtable forum a wonderful space to meet and for a great tour of the renovations of the old mill buildings.

The next meeting of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum will be on Thursday February 19, 2009 at the Historical Society of Cheshire County beginning at 9:30 a.m.

HSCC thanks its 2008 Tavern Keepers for helping to support the work of the Wyman Tavern.

Adelard Lambert’s Franco-American Civil War novel The Innocent Victim begins in Sept. of 1899 with the discovery of the skeleton of a young woman buried in the cellar of a house being demolished in Manchester, NH. A local doctor determines that the woman had been murdered. From that sensational introduction, the author tells the story of the unfortunate young woman and how she came to this sad and violent end.

The Innocent Victim tells the tale of a young Franco-American family torn apart by deceit and civil war. The story was first published in French in the Ottawa newspaper Le Droit in 1936. It has now been translated into English by Dr. Margaret S. Langford, professor of French and Franco-American Studies at Keene State College, in collaboration with Claire Quintal, Founding Director Emerita of the French Institute at Assumption College. This new version was published by Images from the Past, Inc. and is available for purchase at the Historical Society.

The Innocent Victim quickly draws the reader into a fast-paced tale of deceit, determination, lies, love, loss, and murder. The author goes much further than the dramatic story of Jean and Marie Legendre, however, and uses his novel to educate the reader about the experience of 19th century French-Canadian immigrants to New England. The book illustrates the emotional impact of such a migration on individual French-Canadians and their families, as well as the challenges that they faced in a new country. The Innocent Victim combines fiction and history in a delightful story that is entertaining and educational.

The retail price of the book is $15.95, but Margaret Langford has generously agreed to make the book available at the special discounted price of $12.00 through December 13 only at the Historical Society’s gift shop. Take advantage of this special deal and learn more about 19th century French-Canadian immigration to New England.

The Historical Society recently received a call from Michigan offering the gift of a Civil War drum for the collections of the Society. Family history indicated that the drum was that of the drummer boy of New Hampshire’s 6th Regiment of NH Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. The 6th Regiment had many Cheshire County enlistees who mustered, camped and trained in Keene. The drum was delivered to the Society personally by the donor.

The drummer boy was supposedly a known ancestor of the donor who had lived in Winchester, but further research on the part of the donor and the Historical Society determined that that was very unlikely. The drum itself, however, is clearly a Civil War period drum associated with the 6th Regiment. It is stored in its original bag marked 6th NH Regt. The drum itself was cut down in size sometime after the war, probably in 1884 and probably for use in a town or local band. An identified drum of this type is a rare find and a welcome addition to our very strong Civil War collections. Our next task is to try to identify the drummer boy of the 6th Regiment so we will know who carried this instrument on the battlefield.

On August 28, the Historical Society lost a special friend, when Paul Bourassa died at the VA Medical Center in White River Junction. Paul was a familiar figure to patrons of the research library, volunteering in the library as many as four or five days a week, assisting patrons and handling research requests. Locally, Paul was considered the expert on Franco-American genealogical research, and he helped countless families researching their Canadian ties. In addition to his work at the Historical Society of Cheshire County, he was a researcher at the American-Canadian Genealogy Society of Manchester, NH. Paul was a one-of-a-kind individual, whose contributions to the Historical Society will long be remembered. The staff fondly remembers the early apples that he always provided and his sense of humor in addition to his superb research skills. The Historical Society is accepting gifts in Paul’s memory, which will be applied to a new computer in the Wright Room research library.

In 1888, the year of the Great Blizzard, Perley Edwin Swett was born on a backwoods farm deep in the hills of Stoddard, NH. Destined to become one of the Monadnock Region’s most colorful, controversial and tragic characters, he was the subject of many tales and rumors, having achieved local, as well as, national notoriety as the “Hermit of Taylor Pond.” He would die 85 years later in this same neck of the woods, quite alone and miles from nearest neighbors, as the old farms and the paths that once led to them had long gone back to forest.

Today, 35 years after his death, Perley’s story has been given new life. His granddaughter, Sheila Swett Thompson, has written Perley, The True Story of a New Hampshire Hermit. In it she writes his biography from cradle to grave – a grave that, as the author puts it, Perley both figuratively and literally dug for himself. Although he lived in what we might call “simpler times,” Perley hardly led a simple life. His rigid adherence to puritanical values and insulation from a world that was rapidly changing at the start of the 20th century led him to fight losing battles with many demons, both real and imagined. The result was estrangement from family and, ultimately, society itself. Living alone with his goats and seemingly impoverished, he had in the meantime amassed a small fortune in land through sharp trading and Yankee thrift.

The author leads us through the events that shaped Perley’s view of the world, leading him to spend his later years in near isolation. In the process she paints a vivid picture not only of life on a home farm in the Monadnock Region at the start of the last century but of Perley’s transformation from would-be gentleman farmer into a life as a hermit. She invites us to understand that choice through her grandfather’s eyes – a life where peace was wrung not from winning the admiration of family, friends and neighbors but from the land itself – and the ideal that land ownership, and particularly the family farm, represented. Indeed, at the end, only the land was left...and Perley had made sure that he would always be part of it. Perley is this year’s “must read” for those interested in Monadnock Region history and local color. Published by the Historical Society of Cheshire County and edited by HSCC board member, Bob Weekes, delivery at the Society’s bookstore is expected on November 19th where it can be purchased at the special prepublication price of $11. After December 6th Perley will sell for $14 (plus $3 postage and handling if the book is not picked up at our bookstore).