Vol. 2, No. 1                                                                                January 2007

February Meeting

The winter meeting of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum will be held at the Historical Society of Cheshire County on Thursday February 15th beginning at 9:30 a.m.

The morning will start off with our traditional roundtable, where everyone can share what their organization has done since the fall, upcoming activities and events, and any additional ideas, concerns, needs or assistances your organization is searching for. Because we will be in the space of our collaborative meetinghouse exhibit, we will have a second roundtable like session that will focus on any aspect of a meetinghouse your organization wants to share or is seeking information about.

In addition to the roundtable, we need to attend to several business tasks. These include deciding where the June and October meetings will be held, debriefing from the meetinghouse exhibit experience, considering future collaborate projects, and discussing and planning a Meetinghouse Open House event for Sunday, 20 May 2007.

Also planned for the meeting is a "shared" gallery tour of the meetinghouse exhibit. As always, there will be plenty of time for conversation and discussion during breaks and over the brown bag lunch. Please let me know if you are planning to attend by Friday 9 February to help us plan refreshments by calling 352-1895 or by email at dired@hsccnh.org.

Directions: The Historical Society of Cheshire County is located at 246 Main Street in Keene, across from Keene State College. There is free parking behind the building in the first two rows that are closest to the building.

Meetinghouse Exhibit Update

The collaborative exhibit Sacred and Secular: Historic Meetinghouses and Churches of the Monadnock Region, 1750 to 1850 will be on view at the Historical Society of Cheshire County until Saturday 31 March 2007 during regular hours: Tuesday - Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Wednesday evening until 9:00 p.m., and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to noon. Historical organizations are invited to visit or meet at HSCC while the exhibit is in place.

The exhibit's companion publication by the same name is also available at the HSCC Museum Store at retail and wholesale prices. The meetinghouse sub-committee wishes to thank all the participating historical organizations as well as Ocean National Bank, SVE Associates, Cox Woodworking, Daniel V. Scully, Architect, Weller & Michal Architects, and The Keene Sentinel for their generous support.

Upcoming Meetinghouse Events

Wednesday - 28 February
Meetinghouse Exhibit Gallery Tour with HSCC Director Alan Rumrill, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday - 14 March
A Special Meetinghouse Exhibit Program with Charles E. Clark, speaking on "The Meetinghouse Tragedy: An Episode in the Life of a New England Town." The tragedy happened in Wilton, New Hampshire as the community was building their meetinghouse, and reflects the process of how most of the meetinghouses were built in the Monadnock region. Charles Clark is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of New Hampshire and author of "The Meetinghouse Tragedy." This special program begins at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday - 24 March
Meetinghouse Exhibit Gallery Tour with HSCC Director Alan Rumrill, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Saturday - 31 March
Last day to view meetinghouse exhibit.

All meetinghouse exhibit programs are free and open to the public.

Exhibit Donation

We are still accepting $25 donations from Roundtable members to help support the costs of the exhibit and accompanying publication. For your donation you will receive two free copies of the publication Sacred and Secular. If you have contributed, thank you. If you would like to contribute, please contact Tom Haynes or mail a check to:

Historical Society of Cheshire County
P.O. Box 803
Keene, NH 03431

Newsletter Ideas & Logo

There will be six Roundtable Forum newsletters each year, January, March, May, July, September, and November. Comments, suggests, or ideas for our new newsletter format are welcome. Our Roundtable meeting schedule will remain the same, meeting on the 3rd Thursday of February, June, and October.

It might also be fun to have a simple Monadnock Historical Societies Forum logo to add to our newsletter and other documents we might prepare. If you have a logo idea or would like to try your hand at designing a logo, please contact me at 352-1895 or dired@hsccnh.org.

Contact Information

For all questions or concerns regarding any aspect of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum, please contact Historical Society of Cheshire County's Tom Haynes at 603-352-1895 or dired@hsccnh.org. Please remember to post or share this newsletter with your members, and to let them know that they can stay updated on all the events and activities by visiting the Roundtable Forum's web site at www.hsccnh.org/roundtable/default.cfm.

Roundtable Web Site Information

Please remember to submit your events to have them posted on the Roundtable Events page of the Roundtable Forum web site. If you wish to post your organization's information on the web site along with a picture, please fill out the form and submit by email or mail or contact Tom Haynes at 352-1895.