Marlow Historical Society
Annual Meeting and Elections
Sept. 15, 2005, The Chapel
At 7:05 PM, Mary Blank welcomed the members. Loisanne Foster read the
Secretary's Report of the last Annual Meeting of Sept. 16, 2004, written
by the 2004 out-going secretary, JoAnn Hartwell. Gen Ells
explained that the line about the name change for the oldest cemetery to
"Early Settlers' Cemetery" should be accompanied by the
information that access to it is a work in progress and that the several
cemeteries in town are being given face-lifts, and, that, when the work
was finished, there would be a tour of all three cemeteries. The report
was accepted as amended.
Mary Blank then read the Treasurer's Report, noting that copies of an
itemization document were available on the shelf nearby. Some discussion
ensued about how to make the Monadnock Music Dinner more lucrative. Gen
Ells noted that this year we had paid for the ingredients of some of the
dishes which was not past practice. We also bought the green
salad. She said that, in the past, those who donated dishes also
purchased the ingredients as part of their donation, and salads were
also donated. Mary Blank acknowledged this and responded that this year
some of the cooks were called upon to make very large batches with
expensive ingredients and we decided to purchase the salad ingredients
because we had wanted to be able to ask more people to bring desserts as
we had run short the year before. The question was taken for
consideration by the Board.
Lydia Stevens asked if we had gone to restaurants, bakeries, and stores
for donations. Mary Blank explained that we had and enumerated our
donors. Lydia said that signs could be made for the buffet table, one in
front of each donated item: "Donated by ---. Please patronize our
donors."
Gen Ells noted that last year we and the Marlow Women's Society voted to
share the expense of a plaque in honor of Betty Batchelder to be placed
in Jones Hall. This has now been done, and the bill from R.J. Sports is
$55.00. Our share is $27.50. Mary responded that we have approved this
in the Executive Board meeting.
Gen also noted that we had agreed to share the expense of replacing the
Marlow sign which was stolen from the north side of town along Route 10.
(We maintain four such signs.) Gen has contacted the man who produces
these signs. He is soon to retire, but he has agreed to make us a
replacement sign for $285.00, the MHS share being $142.50. The sign
painter will not install the sign. Tony Davis will. Gen said the thought
is to install it closer to town, near Stone Pond where there is more
activity.
The Treasurer's Report was accepted as read.
Loisanne Foster then read a two-page summary of the Annual Report, a
compilation of our activities and accomplishments since Sept. 16, 2004.
She noted that copies of the full six-page report were available on the
shelf near the Treasurer's itemization. Candy Wiggum proposed an
amendation which was accepted. The line which indicates that we
dedicated the proceeds of the Monadnock Music Dinner to Murray Hall
Restoration now reads, "Restoration and Maintenance," and the
Murray Hall Restoration Fund shall be called "Restoration and
Maintenance Fund." This is because, as Candy Wiggum pointed
out, the Fund is used for insurance, electricity, and odd repairs here
and there as well as for major restoration projects. The The Report was
accepted as amended.
Maria Baril noted that she happened upon Jacqui Fay and Loisanne Foster
at the town offices sharing information concerning a possible grant for
Jones Hall and its problem roof and that she then provided information
about the Preservation Fund and its impact on Jones Hall. She was able
to borrow from Laura Lindholm the large binder of pictures,
correspondence, donors, and other ephemera related to the 1990's Marlow
Restoration. The binder has been passed around among the Board members.
Maria then expressed concern that the sheaves of associated financial
records, which had been left with Chuck Warren, may have been lost since
they would be invaluable in launching a new Preservation effort. Mary
Blank assured her that we indeed still have them, both on a Quicken Zip
Disc and in the files over the Chapel.
Maria also asked whether or not there had been negligence on the part of
the construction company that did the work in 1996 on the Jones hall
roof and whether or not there was immanent danger of collapse. Joe Feuer
was quoted as saying that the boards under the new roof are rotted and
that water has seeped in and damaged a small area near the stage. Tony
Davis and Jimmy Elliot checked out the situation and said there was no
immediate danger of collapse. Gen Ells told us that Joe Feuer had said
that the boards under the roof were rotted and should have been replaced
before the new roof was put on. Mary Blank noted that Tony Davis and Jim
Elliot had checked the building and reported that there was no immanent
danger. Someone reported that there is a small stain from leakage in the
front near the stage. We resolved the statements, seemingly at variance,
about Jones hall by saying that, while Jones hall is not in
immanent danger, there is serious difficulty. Leon Stevens said,
"Hopefully the town would step up..."
Several members implied that, since Jones Hall belongs to the town, the
Jones Hall roof is the town's problem, not our. Lydia Bruce Stevens said
that Jones Hall is our only building on the National Register of
Historic Places and our featured piece and that, as a Society dedicated
to preservation of the town's historic buildings, it is encumbent upon
us to involve ourselves. Emile Piterak added that there are monies out
there to help with just
such buildings.
Mary Blank said that, if we had a Preservation Fund, we could, perhaps,
match what the town put into the building.
Lydia Stevens expressed the opinion about grants that the State is not
interested in building in small towns, but she suggested trying for a
small grant from the New Hampshire Council of the Arts which has given
modest grants to theaters in small towns.
Leon Stevens complimented JoAnn Hartwell for her wonderful work with the
Youth Group.
Elections
Gen Ells reported that we have tried hard to find people to run for the
vacant offices, but that, given the small number of year-round residents
in our organization and given the small number of those actually
available to take on the added responsibility, we are reduced to an
impossibly small number of potential candidates.
Candy Wiggum, as a member of the Board of Directors, ran the election.
All new officers were elected by unanimous vote:
President:
Mary Blank
Vice President: Charles
Strickland
Secretary:
Loisanne Foster
Corresponding
Secretary:
Loisanne Foster
Treasurer:
Mary Blank
Board of Directors: Candy Wiggum
We have two other members of the Board of Directors, each elected for a
three year term. They are John Salo (now in the third year of his three
year term) and JoAnn Hartwell (now in the second year of her three year
term). Together with the other officers, they form the Executive Board
which meets at the Chapel, normally the first Tuesday of each month at
6:30 PM.
Mary remarked that we hope to fill other positions as well:
Membership chairman
Program chairman
Harvest Fest chairman
Project chairman
Archivist
Maria Baril noted that members, especially those from out of town, need
to receive at least one newsletter in return for their membership fee.
Candy Wiggum noted that we do send a yearly newsletter/report out in
February soon after the membership drive. She also explained that we do
have an alternative way of reaching the public now, and that is our Web
Forum which is always available. She paused to thank Emile Piterak who
is responsible for our Forum. Loisanne Foster directed attention to the
brochures and bookmarks which have the MHS Forum web address.
Laura Lindholm said
that many members, especially those out of town, have seen the MHS Web
Forum and are most appreciative of it. <http://www.marlowhistoricalsociety.org/phpbb/>
The discussion turned to the feasibility of securing grants for
preserving and maintaining Jones Hall. Loisanne Foster mentioned that
the restorations of the Claremont and many of the buildings in
Harrisville were accomplished through grant monies and stated that most
of the institutions which give grants are not only interested in the
historic value of the buildings involved, but also in a long-range plan
for preservation, and they are interested in seeing the buildings used
by the community. We enumerated recent uses of Jones Hall by the
Historical Society: Hal Brown (local history of forensics and criminal
justice), Becky Rule (humorist), Eric Bye (nineteenth century New
England music). Lydia Stevens noted the value and use of the theater
there. Leon Stevens said that the Monadnock Music Chamber players have
said publicly that, in all of New England, Jones Hall is their favorite
venue, superior to all others for musical events. Johanna Kent reminded
us not to forget the library and its many programs for the children.
Someone said, but they don't use the hall upstairs. Johanna replied that
they do make use of the upstairs hall for the children's special
programs. Someone else added that it does not matter whether the use of
Jones Hall is upstairs or down as long it is being used.
Lydia stated that she believes that the Historical Society has lately
had much too narrow a focus, Murray Hall restoration. She questioned the
advisability of taking on Murray Hall in the first place. "It's
eating you alive," she said. She suggested that we have spent a
great deal on Murray Hall, do the detriment of the town's other
historical buildings, and, of course, it is still a long way from
usable. She would like to see a broader focus. She would like to see a
change in the charter so that all the historical Marlow buildings are
included with emphasis on the Town Square. [Although no one said so, our
bylaws show our mission to be the preservation of Marlow's historical
buildings (plural).] She suggests that we have a town Preservation
Historical Fund again as we had in the 1990's "with a
representative from each entity" to safeguard and distribute the
funds and that the Fund be the
Marlow Historical Society Treasury. Several on the Board suggested that
the new Preservation Fund be separate from the MHS Treasury, as before.
Candy Wiggum explained that we have sepatarate operating expenses such
as insurance, rent, mailings, and incidentals associated with fund
raising, membership, and festivities.
Lydia suggested that, if each organization in town would agree to donate
ten percent of its fund rasing proceeds to the Preservation Fund, it
would soon grow. She said that we need to work to make this town
special, "frankly, cute." Gardeners could get together and
decide on a theme, perhaps one that might change, year to year. They
could apply the theme around the public buildings. Then others could
pick up on the theme at their residences. It might be red geraniums.
Leon Stevens said Marlow might become a historical microcosm after
Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, acknowledging that nothing could top
Strawberry Banke. He noted that not even Strawberry Banke had not fully
restored each of its buildings to its original condition. Several were
fully restored. Others were show-pieces, shells showing what the past
had been in appearance. He explained that the overall appearance of
Strawberry Banke cannot be topped because it did not approach full
restoration of the use of each building. Therefore, it could concentrate
on what it did and do it well. He suggested that we stabilize
Murray Hall, paint it, and exhibit it "as the shell that it
is". He said, "You don't have to take it all the way through
to a dance hall." We don't have the money, he said, to make it as
it was.
Mary Blank explained that almost everything we have done at Murray Hall
so far has been to stablize the building. It had to have a new roof or
be ruined. The work on the walls and clapboards, and foundation were
necessary to keep the building standing. The old clapboards she
described as "basically driftwood". The work on the ceiling
was necessary to keep it from being a danger, falling in chunks on those
below. The rotting shed in the back needed to be removed as it posed a
danger. She said that now we have had many displays there along with
coffee and punch. We've had community tag sales there, an art
exhibition, and even a country dance.
Lydia said that many buildings in town have historical value, including
The Christmas Trees Inn. She pointed out that, at one time, Virginia
Sales, a well-known actress, lived there and ran it as an inn. Gen Ells
pointed out that The Chapel, which is just as historic as The Old
Academy Building, the Methodist Church, and Jones Hall was ignored
during the life of the last Preservation Fund. Lydia said that was
because the Fund needed a gimmick, and the chosen gimmick was the famous
Marlow view across the Village Pond with the three building
standing out and that Marlow is the most photographed village in New
Hampshire or possibly New England.
Lydia suggested signs for the Hearse House and Murray Hall and all of
the historical buildings in town.
Lydia said that the many thousands of dollars that supported the Marlow
Preservation Fund in the past were raised "from small money"
fund raiser. She said there were no grants or huge donations. She
suggested,
for instance, raising funds by taking groups of children to the
children's matinees at the theater in Peterborough. She suggested that
maybe "Gus," the theater owner, would split his take for the
publicity. It would look good. The big Peterborough Theater helping the
little Marlow Theater on its way to recovery.
Leon Stevens suggested making a special Christmas in Marlow, to make it
in such a way that many people from outside would like to come to Marlow
to celebrate, to decorate the town suitably and have a variety of
activities and venues for the occasion. He said, "Of course it has
been done before. It is not how many times it has been done, but how
well you do it."
Gen Ells said, "Who is going to do this? Where are all the
workers?"
Lydia emphasized that we need a town-wide Historic Preservation Fund
permanently, and we need a consensus on a name change for it. We began
to list the stake-holder in town: The Odd Fellows, the Church, the
Women's Society, the Historical Society, and the Women's Methodist
Service Organization.
Richard Rock observed that all the historic buildings in town have
improved a great deal. He said it would be hard for the Odd Fellows to
contribute much to restoration since they are a service organization and
help people in town. He said, "We have given a lot to help the
people of this community. We don't have a lot of extra." He also
said that not everyone appreciates the Monadnock Music events at Murray
Hall, that it's not the people from Marlow who attend and that, everyone
leaves at intermission and not everyone returns. Leon Stevens differed
with his view and pointed out the over-flowing crowd at the most recent
Jones Hall Monadnock Music Concert with people sitting on the stairs to
the end.
Someone asked, "What is our relationship with the
Select Board. Where do they come in? How do we change our relationship
with the Select Board? Aren't they one of the entities?
Lydia said that, when
each entity is included in a Preservation Fund Board, a mass letter
should be sent to the town, "We're back..." Leon said,
"Don't remove "Marlow Historical Society" from the title.
Lydia said, "Whatever you do, take pictures, pictures, pictures.
Get publicity." She added, "I will do anything I can to help.
Just let me know."
Rock said, "There should be a committee." Mary asked,
"Will you be on it?" and he said he would. We brain-stormed
other possible committee members from among the attendees: Charles
Strickland, Odd Fellows; Ira
Hartwell and Gerry Plotts, the Church; Gen Ells, the Women's Society;
JoAnn Hartwell, The Women's Fellowship. Laura Lindholm said that she
will be glad to help when she is here.
The discussion returned to Murray Hall. Candy Wiggum volunteered that
there are two things we need to do: scrape and paint Murray Hall, for
which we will need volunteers, and put in flower boxes. This led to a
discussion of the current somewhat unkempt state in front of the hall
where a few weeds grow against the side of the building. Some members
wanted more of the territory in front of the hall mown. Charles
Strickland, who volunteers his time to mow it, responded that the area
they wanted mown is not on the MHS property. Lydia suggested a handsome
sign in front with dates and pictures.
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM.