Vol. 4, No. 4                                                                                     July 2009

Spring Roundtable Meeting Recap

The spring meeting of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum was held at the Westmoreland Town Hall on Thursday 18 June 2009 and wonderfully hosted by the folks from the Westmoreland Historical Society. We wish to thank Jan Carpenter and her assistants in organizing our successful meeting in Westmoreland and for providing refreshments. We also wish to thank John Harris, Westmoreland Historical Society's new president, for welcoming the Roundtable to Westmoreland and to wish him well in his new duties.

I far as I can remember, this was the best attended Roundtable to date. The Roundtable's first meeting was held at Melville Academy in Jaffrey Center in the spring of 2002. At the meeting in Westmoreland there were 34 people in attendance representing 17 different organizations. Of these organizations, we wish to extend a warm welcome to the members of the Hinsdale Historical Society who were attending their first Roundtable meeting.

During the morning Roundtable we were able to catch up on all the many projects and programs each organization is involved with, as well as discuss the fall collaborative exhibit and deaccessing. During the meeting we learned that the Hinsdale Historical Society is moving forward to purchase the historic Hinsdale House with its 18th century buildings and land next to the Connecticut River. Congratulations! The Winchester Historical Society has a new website. Although no one from the Rindge Historical Society was at the spring Roundtable, we learned that they have a wonderful collection of more than 100 World War I posters that will be part of an exhibit. After many years of hard work, the Westmoreland Historical Society's book on the town's historic homes is at the printer and will be available for purchase this fall. Great Accomplishment! At the Nelson Town Archives, they have received a collection of post cards of one time Nelson resident and acclaimed author May Sarton.

After the morning Roundtable and brown bag lunch, we carpooled to the Westmoreland Corner Schoolhouse, whish is located at the junction of River and Poocham Roads. Built in c1789, it was the original number nine school- house in Westmoreland. It was moved to its current location around 1846. It is owned by the Town of Westmoreland and used and maintained, including the period 18th century heirloom garden, by the Westmoreland Historical Society.

Deaccessioning

It was agreed upon to ask Greg Bixby of Keene, a professional auctioneer, appraiser, and HSCC volunteer, to develop a set of guidelines as to how this deaccessioning venture would work effectively. We will invite Greg to the fall meeting in Sullivan, to explain the guidelines and to answer any questions we may have. If Greg is not available to attend the fall meeting, we will have his deaccessing information and guidelines available for discussion.

Fall Roundtable Meeting

The fall meeting will be held at the Sullivan Town Library on Wednesday 21 October 2009 at 9:30 a.m. We switched this meeting from a Thursday to a Wednesday to avoid a conflict with the library's open hours. More news on the fall meeting in the September newsletter.

Schools & Education Collaborative Exhibit Project

It was agreed by the exhibit subcommittee to make one final contact during the summer to the several historical organizations that have not yet indicated if they would like to participate in the fall exhibit.

The exhibit subcommittee requested that each town's written narrative be completed and submitted by the spring meeting in Westmoreland. Many made this deadline. Thank you! If you are still looking to have your organization represented in the publication, please submit your written text as soon as possible along with a list of available photographs. Guidance on what information to include in the narrative is available on the HSCC website at: www.hsccnh.org/roundtable/exhibittext.cfm or by calling Tom Haynes at 352-1895. Completed narratives can be sent via email to Tom at dired@hsccnh.org, placed on a disk or CD and dropped off at the HSCC office at 246 Main Street in Keene, or mailed to:

Historical Society of Cheshire County
c/o Tom Haynes
P.O. Box 803
Keene, NH 03431

30 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.

Contact & Website 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 events for posting on the Roundtable Events page of the Roundtable Forum website.