Vol. 2, No. 2                                                                                        April 2007

March Meeting

The rescheduled winter meeting of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum was held at the Historical Society of Cheshire County on Thursday 15 March. We had a good turnout, with seventeen people attending representing fourteen different organizations.

The March meeting was a highly engaging and enthusiastic Roundtable, where a lot of information was shared. In fact, the morning Roundtable went until nearly 1:00 p.m. before we broke for our brownbag lunch. Some of the topics talked about included:

- Mission statements and fundraising ideas;
- Film and tape conversion to DVD for an upcoming Roundtable meeting;
- Establish and offer a contact and email list of attendees of Roundtable meetings   for networking;
- Develop a summer Roundtable brochure that lists programs and events of   Roundtable members;
- A Roundtable antique auction.

In addition to the wonderful Roundtable discussions, the good folks at the Jaffrey Historical Society volunteered to host the June meeting. This spring meeting will be held on Thursday 21 June 2007 at the Jaffrey Civic Center beginning at 9:30 a.m. More on this meeting in the May newsletter.

As part of the Roundtable meeting, we discussed the experiences folks had with the collaborative meetinghouse project. This was an important and helpful discussion. Suggestions included a need for better guidance and greater detail on what was needed from each participating organization. Stay on the established time schedule and give more time to prepare for a new project. Develop a better method to encourage participation from more organizations and better marketing to announce the project and encourage visitation. Create better speaker programs to go along with the exhibit. This discussion led to whether or not we would consider another collaborative project. The answer was a resounding, yes!

In discussing the types of projects that would be possible for collaboration, we established a short list that almost all of the region's historical organizations would be able to participate in. Each of these suggestions were envisioned as an exhibit with some type of contributing publication.

- Schools
- Taverns
- Libraries, books, and printers
- Mills and mill life
- Summer Camps

We will discuss a new collaborative exhibit at the spring meeting in June.

The meetinghouse subcommittee initially talked about holding a spring meetinghouse open house event for May. It became clear that there would not be enough time to do such an event well. We did, however, discuss at the Roundtable meeting an open house event for October of 2007. I will contact the meetinghouse subcommittee to investigate further the possibility of a fall open house.

The initial printing of the publication was 200 copies, and we sold the last one in April. We have ordered a second printing of what has proven a popular sale item at HSCC and area bookstores. We should have the second printing of the publication available by mid May for anyone interested in selling them at their facilities.

The folks at the Marlborough Historical Society recently ordered an interpretive panel for there old meetinghouse area in Marlborough. Other Roundtable members were interested in knowing more about the company. They are called Folia and are located in Canada and recommended by the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department. Their web site is www.Folia.Ca. Thanks Dick!

Contact & Web Site Information

For all questions or concerns regarding any aspect of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum, please contact HSCC's Tom Haynes at 603-352-1895 or dired@hsccnh.org. Please remember to post and share this newsletter with your members. Also, please remember to submit your summer events for posting on the Roundtable Events page of the Roundtable Forum web site.

Roundtable Forum to have Booth at Reliving New Hampshire's Past

The Newport Historical Society is hosting an historical event for the whole family. Reliving New Hampshire's Past is a one day celebration on Saturday June 2, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. that will have reenactors, children's games, traditional craft vendors, demonstrators, food booths, a fireman's muster, and booths in the Opera House for historical organizations to promote local history.

The Monadnock Historical Societies Forum will be sponsoring a booth to represent the Monadnock Region's many historical organizations. Donations from the meetinghouse exhibit will cover the costs of the booth. If you would like to have your organization represented at the festival or can volunteer to help out at the booth, please contact Tom Haynes at 603-352-1895 or dired@hsccnh.org. Please attend this important event to help support the Roundtable Forum's effort to promote our region's history and to celebrate New Hampshire's past.

Mission Statements Requested

The Hinsdale Historical Society is reexamining its mission statement and is looking at other statements as models. To share your mission statement, please contact Laurel Powell at 336-7479 or cpowellbks@cheshire.net.