Vol. 3, No. 4                                                                                        July 2008

Gilsum Meeting Recap

The spring Roundtable Forum meeting was held on Thursday 19 June 2008 at the Congregational Church Gilsum, and was hosted by the Gilsum Historical Society. We wish to thank Betty Pratt, Edith Hasbrouck, Merrylin Johnson, and Karlene Arseneault for organizing the use of the Congregational Church, making the many tasty treats and refreshments, and giving us a tour of the blacksmith shop and Old Town Hall.

There were 16 members from 13 different organizations at the meeting. During the Roundtable we learned of Heritage Mills interest in the county's pail industry and producing a film on one of the last pail makers living in the region. In Sullivan they are working on an old school project. In Gilsum they are looking into collecting oral histories and conducting a historic home survey. In Winchester they are looking into acquiring the old railroad depot next to their Sheridan House Museum in Ashuelot. In the Sheridan House they have completed the Avon Room in honor of Persis Albee of Winchester. The Park Hill Meetinghouse in Westmoreland will be getting a new slate roof, and the Westmoreland folks are diligently working toward publishing their historic homes of Westmoreland book. In Jaffrey, the Historical Society is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary and they have a new interactive web site that explores Jaffrey history at www.jaffreyhistory.org.

After our Roundtable meeting we toured two museums operated by the Gilsum Historical Society, the Blacksmith Shop Museum and the Old Town Hall Museum. The blacksmith shop was moved to its present location across the street from the Congregational Church in 1907 and was operated by Phin Wright until he retired. The building went unused for many years until it was given to the Gilsum Historical Society with much of its contents by Lois Wright, Phin's daughter.

From the blacksmith shop, the Old Town Hall Museum is a short walk up Main Street. The museum is a work in progress, yet the upstairs has been arranged with a number of exhibits, displays, and library space. Exhibits include the old country store, period living room, and quilts. Artifacts include the old post office mail boxes, uniforms, and instruments. Archival material includes business records and photographs.

Thanks again to the Gilsum Historical Society for hosting a fun and enjoyable Roundtable.

Fall Meeting in Harrisville

Historic Harrisville, Inc. will host our fall Roundtable meeting on Thursday 16 October 2008 beginning at 9:30 a.m. Details of the fall meeting will be in the September newsletter.

Schools & Education Collaborative Project

Our first meeting of the collaborative project sub-committee met on 17 July to begin the process of envisioning and designing the exhibit and publication. Sub-committee members are Richard Boutwell, Jan Carpenter, Tom Haynes, Laurel Powell, Chris Pratt, and Alan Rumrill. The committee discussed and listed many themes that could be a part of the exhibit, such as change or reform in the educational system at different periods of time, architecture, teaching, discipline, and school books. Guiding which themes becomes a part of the exhibit depends on the availability of artifacts and other primary materials from the collaborative partners.

The sub-committee will meet again in September to create a working plan of what the exhibit might contain, types of artifacts and documents we are seeking, and a description of the information needed for the publication. This will be presented at the October Roundtable meeting in Harrisville. To avoid the crunch at the end that happened with the meetinghouse exhibit, we set up an organizational time line to help us have a successful and fun project.

16 October 08 - Fall Roundtable in Harrisville
Overview and explanation of the various parts of the project.

19 February 09 - Winter Roundtable Meeting
Each participating organization gives to sub-committee a list of artifacts/items/photographs they have available to contribute to the exhibit.

18 June 09 - Spring Roundtable Meeting
Submission from each participant their written history and photographs for the publication.

23 October 09
Delivery deadline of all artifacts/items that will be used in the exhibit.

20 November 09
Tentative opening of exhibit and completion of publication.

Historic House Forum

HSCC is organizing a "Historic House Forum: Preserving Community Buildings" for October 2008. Throughout the region many historical organizations are struggling with their obligations to maintain these wonderful and important historic buildings in their communities. Using the Wyman Tavern as a case study, the forum is designed for residents throughout Cheshire County to address the question of what does the region want to see the Wyman Tavern become (or the historic building/s in your community). HSCC will hold four forums within the county, and to help generate an open and moderated discussion, a wide variety of different models will be presented that other historical organizations are using to help support their historic buildings. Scheduled forums to date will be on 7 October in Keene and 9 October in Fitzwilliam.

Archival Supplies Contacts

A list of businesses with contact information and links, including HSCC, which sell archival supplies is now available on the Roundtable Forum pages of the HSCC web site at www.hsccnh.org/roundtable/roundtablesupplies.cfm.