Historical Society Minutes
Historical Society Minutes 3/5/2020
Attendance: Dee Dee Tranfaglia, Wes Jones, Elizabeth Whitham, Roger Maxfield, Dyrace Maxfield, Lucy Gordon, Melissa Moore, Michelle York, Stanley Prescott, Liz LeBrun
The meeting was called to order at 6:32 pm.
A motion was made by Lucy to accept the Secretary’s minutes as presented. Second by Dee Dee. Motion passed
Lucy reported that the Past Perfect software purchased for $1204 came out of our budget. $266 will be remaining when all the yearly bills are paid.
Melissa reported that she is working on the information for boarding houses and summer inns as well as the dairy section of the town history book. She has spoken to John Storrs and Tim Moore. She has also contacted Bill Silver who might supply pictures of McClellan House. Melissa read some articles that she found in the Boston Globe relating to summer inns. Melissa brought up the idea of the Historical Society purchasing a subscription to Ancestry.com. The group seemed interested but more thought is needed on how we would offer this to the public.
Loudon’s birthday celebration at the library went well. About 30 people enjoyed Dyrace Maxfield’s civil war exhibit. Dyrace also did the presentation for Young at Heart and will do it for the Villages on May 12. He will approach Pittsfield Historical Society to see if they have any interest.
We will have a table at town meeting in the lobby. Dee Dee and Dyrace will sell calendars and banks. Michelle will produce a pamphlet to promote of the Humanities Council speaker on April 1 at 7:00 pm. At the meeting, Michelle will talk about Loudon’s 250th anniversary to encourage other organizations to be involved with planning the celebration. The banner will not be done for town meeting, however we do have magnetic signs that can be used.
Stanley reported having met twice with Steve Fifield to evaluate the old town office building for our future need to have a climate-controlled space. The stonework has historical value and should be preserved. He also suggested that we take measurements in the wooden section so we have records of what was there if that were to be torn down. We are considering that perhaps next year a capital reserve fund should be started.
Members signed up to man the building for the next few months and to bake for the April 1 program.
The Boston Post Cane was discussed and Stanley has taken an application to pass along to an interested resident.
We have started to use the Past Perfect software and have inventoried approximately 30 items. The cabinets and shelves are numbered and many items have been tagged. Lucy has created a “How To” guide for entering inventory into the system and will show others how to use it. Lucy will make a list of when people will be working on the inventory and has suggested that working in teams is best. The Deed of Gift and the Thank You documents need to be customized for our needs.
The Citizen of the Year Plaque has been moved to display at the town office.
We congratulated ourselves for the progress that has been made in the last 3 years.
April 1 will be our Humanities Council Presentation in place of the monthly meeting. Steve Taylor will speak at 7:00 pm about NH’s Long Love-Hate Relation with Its Agricultural Fairs.
Motion by Wes to adjourn the meeting at 7:40. Second by Roger. Meeting adjourned.
Liz LeBrun
Secretary