Vol. 5, No. 4                                                                                   August 2010

Spring Roundtable Meeting Recap

The spring meeting of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum was held at the Amos Blake House Museum in Fitzwilliam on Thursday, 17 June 2010 and hosted by the Fitzwilliam Historical Society. We enjoyed another good turnout, with 24 people attending representing 14 different organizations. We want to thank Terri Sillanpaa of the Fitzwilliam Historical Society for organizing our spring meeting, providing refreshments, and giving us a wonderful tour of the Amos Blake House after our brown bag lunch.

The depth of interest and sharing at our Roundtable meetings continues to grow. I am always amazed by the number and diversity of all the projects members are undertaking to promote local history, and feel thankful that we have a forum to collaborate and grow together in this endeavor.

Schools and Education Exhibit

At our spring Roundtable meeting the school and education exhibit was still on view. In early July it was taken down and artifacts on loan were returned to their proper homes. We had many positive comments about the exhibit and publication. In fact, we had more than 450 students and teachers view the exhibit, with most classes comparing and contrasting our one room schoolhouse with current classrooms and many taking lessons from the old school books that were part of the exhibit.

I want to thank everyone who had a hand in making this collaborative project such a success. In our efforts, we collected remembrances of early schoolhouse experiences, exposed numerous children, teachers, and the general public to the long history of schooling in the region, and opened the doors to many of the remaining schoolhouses and academies for visitors to see first hand these wonderful schoolhouses.

To all who participated in this project, thank you! We look forward to working with you on our next collaborative exhibit on mills, mill life, and water power in the Monadnock region.

Next Collaborative Project

At the spring meeting we discussed a variety of potential topics for our next collaborative project. On the short list were Libraries, Books, and Printers; Mills and Mill Life; Taverns; Summer Camps; and Bridges. It was decided to take on the topic of mills, mill life, and water power for our next collaborative exhibit and publication.

We anticipate this exhibit opening in 2012. We will form an exhibit steering committee to organize and create the exhibit and publication, and will seek members at the fall Roundtable meeting in October.

Roundtable Brochure

At the Spring meeting in Fitzwilliam we discussed developing either a Roundtable brochure and/or booklet to help publicize our organizations. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided to focus first on developing a brochure. I am seeking a few people who would like to work on creating the brochure, with a possible early spring printing and distribution for our summer visitors. If you would like to be a part of this creative process, please contact Tom Haynes at 352-1895 or dired@hsccnh.org.

"The Way We Were" - Articles for The Keene Sentinel

As you may have seen, we have had a number of articles published in The Keene Sentinel highlighting some of the region's historic buildings in "The Way We Were" column. These columns are published every other Tuesday. While we have done better in submitting articles and photographs, I have missed a few deadlines because I have had no article to submit.

The Sentinel is still encouraging us to continue our efforts with this project as their readers enjoy the articles, yet I still need more articles and photographs to meet our bi-weekly deadline. Please send me your completed articles with a current digitized photograph of 200 dpi or better as soon as possible so we can continue this great project and opportunity to showcase historic buildings in our communities.

If you have any questions, please contact me at 352-1895 or dired@hsccnh.org.

Fall Roundtable Meeting

The fall Roundtable meeting will be in Alstead on Thursday, 21 October 2010 at the Alstead Town Office beginning at 9:30 a.m. and hosted by the Alstead Historical Society.

Details on the fall meeting will be in the September newsletter.

Contact 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.