Historical Society Minutes
Historical Society Meeting Minutes 8/7/2019
Attendance: Melissa Moore, Deanna Tranfaglia, Lucy Gordon, Michelle York, Stanley Prescott, Elizabeth Whitham, Roger Maxfield, Dyrace Maxfield, Wes Jones, Liz LeBrun
The meeting was called to order at 6:32. The secretary’s report was read. Lucy made a motion to accept the report and Stanley seconded. Motion carried.
The treasurer’s report was given. $982 has been spent. We have renewed the State Historical Society membership, bought supplies and purchased a chest of drawers. Wes made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report and Deanna seconded. Motion carried. The group was in agreement not to renew the Association of Historical Societies of NH membership.
Melissa reported that for book research she had talked to some townspeople about older homes. She went to the Sanborn Mills open house and she will go back to UNH to review some Brown family journals. She is trying to familiarize herself with some old time jobs.
Dyrace discussed 7 daguerreotypes in our possession. We are familiar with people in 4 of them. Someone has shown interest in purchasing one of them. Some of them need restoration. We agreed that we should keep all of them. Wes made a motion to restore two per year. Stanley seconded. Motion carried.
We have 35-40 glass slides that need to be digitized. We should look into who Canterbury used or find someone in town to help with the project. Dyrace will contact Bob Raney.
Melissa will talk to Roy Merrill to obtain an oral history. Deanna will try to accompany Melissa to familiarize herself with the process.
We have had donations of 3 new display cabinets and a sewing machine. Thank you notes will be written to those individuals.
On Old Home Day, the building will be open 11-3. We will have a bake sale at the building and a booth at the rec field. The 2020 calendars will be on sale and Dyrace will set up a display. There was discussion that we should have advertised in the Old Home Day booklet.
The next meeting is September 4 at 6:30 pm.
The meeting was turned over to Neil English who specializes in old building restoration. Neil found the Joshua Emery chest of drawers which the Historical Society now owns. Neil discussed the piece and provided us with a printout from the internet concerning the piece.
Stanley made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:28. Roger seconded. Motion carried. We gathered around the chest of drawers and the desk to hear more of Neil’s thoughts on those two pieces. Neil who was Poet Laureate of New Hampshire shared three poems with us before we headed home.