Vol. 6, No. 6                                                                                November 2011

Fall Meeting Recap

The fall meeting of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum was held in Stoddard Center on Thursday, 20 October 2011 at the home of Meng Chi Tsen and hosted by the Stoddard Historical Society. We wish to give Meng Chi a big thank you for letting us "take over" his home and for showing us his extensive collection of British military uniforms and apparel that fill his home and barn. We also want to thank Alan Rumrill, president of the Stoddard Historical Society, for hosting and giving us a tour of the Historical Society's museum and the town's historic church.

We had 22 people attend the meeting representing 16 different organizations. We want to extend a warm welcome to Phil Barker, who attended his first Roundtable meeting representing the Washington Historical Society. During the morning session we held our traditional Roundtable and discussed our current collaborative projects.

During the Roundtable we learned that Chesterfield had a successful 250th incorporation birthday celebration. The folks in Jaffrey, with the help of a grant, have purchased digital equipment for their oral history and school project. Alstead is moving forward to create a non-profit group to save and preserve the Chase Mill. Park Hill Meetinghouse has a new roof and the Corner School House has seen further improvements in Westmoreland. Both Stoddard and the Nelson Town Archives received Moose Plate Grants for preservation work. There is a new book on the architectural legacy of Dublin. Winchester had a successful baseball exhibit and several member programs as they continue their work on the Sheridan House. Washington needs more space for collections as their school, barn, and museum building are getting full. Swanzey receive a donation of clothes from the Page family. Marlow has a new fence around Tin Shop Pond and has been celebrating their 250th anniversary. And Marlborough has completed a series of history panels for the new school, a small book on its Civil War soldiers, and an agricultural survey of historic barns.

The Keene Sentinel's "Way We Were" Column

Because the voluntary signup for submitting articles did not work as proposed at the June meeting, we decided to have one organization submit one article (with photo) each month to the Sentinel. To make this commitment firm, a signup sheet was passed around and we have commitments through September of 2012.

2011
November - Jaffrey Historical Society
December - Marlow Historical Society
2012
January - Alstead Historical Society
February - Nelson Town Archives
March - Chesterfield Historical Society
April - Westmoreland/Park Hill Meetinghouse
May - Dublin Historical Society
June - Nelson Town Archives
July - Swanzey Historical Museum
August - Stoddard Historical Society
September - Jaffrey Historical Society

The article and photograph/s are due to me at HSCC the first of each month. I will send out an email reminder to each person who signed up one month ahead of your scheduled deadline. Please have your articles in the 300 to 400 word range, and have photographs at 200 dpi or higher. Please let me know if you have any questions. It feels good to continue this project.

Roundtable Brochure

It was agreed to continue moving forward with a Roundtable brochure. We have a format/model that we like and some basic figures for printing 2,000 to 4,000 brochures. At the winter meeting in February, the subcommittee will hopefully present a finished mockup for approval. Although we do not have confirmed costs, we are expecting each participant will donate or find a sponsor/s to contribute $50 to the project. If you have not submitted your brochure information with photograph, please do so as soon as possible. The form is attached to the email newsletter, or can be found on the Roundtable website.

Town History Class

The evaluations of the "Town Histories of the Monadnock Region" are quite positive, with the hope that we continue the class next fall. I will share with you the comments at the February meeting. To everyone who participated in the success of this year's CALL class, thank you. We will receive $500 for teaching the class that will be put toward the brochure and/or exhibit.

Collaborative Mill Project

As of the October meeting, I have survey forms from Marlow, Chesterfield, Marlborough, Jaffrey, Harrisville, Nelson, HSCC, and Alstead. With this information, the Mill Exhibit subcommittee can begin creating the exhibit. If you have items that could be part of the Water Power Mill exhibit, fill out the simple survey from (attached) and return it to Tom Haynes via mail or email as soon as possible. Survey forms can also be found at the Roundtable website.

Please do not forget future deadlines for the companion publication (most of the dates correspond with our Roundtable meetings). This part of the exhibit consists of writing an article or case study that focuses on a particular mill, cluster of mills, or the mills along a particular river/stream valley that would represent the mills and mill life in your town.

Project Time Line:
February 2012: Draft or outline of your town's mill article w/ potential photographs.
June 2012: Final draft of article and photos.
October 2012: Deliver exhibit items to HSCC.
November 2012: Exhibit Opening.

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 by email.