March UP-Date & Minutes

It has been a very busy time for The Marlow Historical Society which means I must apologize for the lateness of March-April E-Newsletter and update. On the 8th of April The Society cosponsored The Third Annual Marge Davis Memorial Skull and Antler Show. The chairman was Jack Strickland ,who with Aaron Dimlich , premiered this event in 2004. This year's show featured local mounts and exhibitors, including MDM Muzzel Loader and Klucky Films in Murray Hall and a film by George Klucky which was shown in Jones Hall. Jack spent many hours preparing for the show and the MHS made posters, did mailings and prepared the halls for the event. Jack wishes to thank Ronny and Lucille Gorges, and his Dad, Charlie Strickland,for their help. Irwin Ward, from Alstead, for taking time out of his schedule to be there all day with his display of mounts and live fish! The Pitcher Mountain 4H club for providing food. Circuit City, NH Fish & Game, Athens Pizza, Cheshire Village Pizza, Frank Fisk and Dick’s Sporting Goods for donating door prizes. A letter of thanks for all those attending will be sent to the Sentinel and individual thank you's will go out this week. Proceeds from the show of $413.75 along with an additional donation of $100 were deposited in the Murray Hall Account and credited to The Aaron Dimlich Memorial Fund". "Help Paint Murray Hall Jug" donations of $22.33 were also raised at this event.

On Wednesday April 12th The Society was host to Wally Giffin and Mardy O'Neil and their spouses. Wally and Mardy are third cousins who met through the MHS Forum. Wally flew in from Washington State and Mardy from Maryland. They spent Tuesday at the Historical Society of Cheshire County researching the Giffin Family ( and it is spelled GiffIn) . They shared their research with us presenting Loisanne with 205 pages of Giffin family information. On Wednesday they came to Marlow and were greeted by Loisanne at 9 AM at the Chapel. After going through the materials that Loisanne had gathered they visited the site of the Giffin Elm ( trying to locate the stump) and then were hosted to a tour of the Giffin Homestead now owned by Jennifer Brown. After lunch which was served at the Chapel by Mary the Giffins visited the Jay Allen Cemetery and then met Mary Avery at the Town Clerk's Office to go over the Town's collection of Vital Records. We spent the afternoon at that office and they were absolutely thrilled with their visit when they returned to their lodging in Keene in the early evening. Mardy O'Neil and Wally Giffin.

Our next event is the Spring Tag Sale and Flea Market scheduled for Saturday, May 13th from 8-3. In addition to money raised by renting spaces and tables, we will be serving a chili and cornbread lunch as well as breakfast pastries, coffee and cold drinks. If you wish to rent a space or a space and a table please call Mary at 446-6201. The MHS will be selling our usual items ( including some items “on sale” ) at the gift table located in the foyer and items that have been left over from the Silent auctions at the Tag Sale. The MHS tag sale table can be manned by MHS members in adjacent booths, but Volunteers are needed to man the kitchen and the gift table. Here are the times that volunteers are needed.

Mini Treasurers Report:

The following is a brief report of MHS Finances. If, at anytime, you wish to receive a full report just e-mail MHS and I will send you a full report. I will still be sending the MHS Annual Report and it should be available within 2 weeks as our report to the state is due on the 15th of May and our report to the Town is due on June 1st.

• As of April 22 - Ocean Bank - MHS General Account - $ 500.56

• As of April 22 - Ocean Bank - Murray Hall Account - $ 1.288.40

Town Meeting Lunch and Snacks:

I wish to officially thank Candy Wiggum for organizing our effort to raise additional money to restore Murray Hall by providing lunch and snacks at the Town Meeting. Many contributed with food donations while others donated their time as servers and cashiers.

The following is the results of our sales at the Town Meeting March 18, 2006 

Other:  

MH Jug / Feb & Mar Song Swap and Town Meeting / 15.00

Meet The Candidates:

The 2006 "Meet the Candidates" was held at Perkins School on March 11, 2006. Art Schmid served as our delightful host lending his professional manner to the proceedings. Candidates attending were Robert Allen, David Kinson, Richard Rock, Nancy Vesco, John Salo, and Larry Leech as a write-in candidate for School Board. The questions for the candidates were insightful and intelligent and those attending this year's "Meet" saw the results in the election outcome.

Town Reports:

Through the combined efforts of the Town ( Gen Ells) and the MHS a complete set of town reports are now on file in the Town Clerk's Office, The Marlow Library (thank you, Johanna Kent), and the Historical Society. Each set includes 1873 and 1889 to 2005. Having a complete set available at the Library is a boon to those doing genealogical research as each report contains a wealth of information. Extras A date base has been created for our extra copies ( 3 file boxes worth) and we are offering those for sale for $3 each . There are a few years that we do not have in duplicate: 1873, 1971, and 1995-2005. Remember the Town Reports list births, marriages and deaths and would make for an unusual yet thoughtful present.

Elm Trees:

On April 20th at our monthly meeting Candy handed out information about the Liberty Elm to the Board Members present. This would be a great 30th Anniversary effort and information may be obtained at http://www.libertyelm.com/

May and June Programs:

Those who attended the School house # 4 are invited to participate in Tales out of Schoolhouse #4 at our May Meeting at the Chapel on May 18th. Our discussion will be preceded by at Potluck supper at 6PM.

In June we have plans for the Marlow Premier of “Four Days of Fury” Tracy Messer and Charlie will be checking their schedules and we will let you know the date ( we are hoping for June 15th) We would like to have a potluck and show the film in Jones Hall. 

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Executive Board Meeting Marlow Historical Society / Minutes March 07, 2006

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM with Mary Blank, JoAnn Hartwell, Candy Wiggum, John Salo, and Loisanne Foster present.

Loisanne Foster read the Secretary’s Report which was approved as read. Mary Blank read the Treasurer’s Report which was approved also. The Giffin donation plus sales of the Marlow History added $265. to our treasury last month. Mike Meninno’s estimate for painting the Grange is $5,500.00 which includes labor and materials. It included hand-scraping and stain-killer, oil primer and latex paint. Replacing old boards would cost $25.00 an hour.

Old Business:

Archival organization:

Ben Levesque, Boy Scout, for his community service project moved books that were in the balcony of the Grange to the museum where they will be shelved with his help. Scott and Alex Chase moved the bookcases upstairs, and Al Blank moved the file upstairs.

Mary is in the process of organizing our town reports and cataloging our books and pamphlets and putting them on a data base.

Insurance:

The first quarter with the new company, Zurich North America, has been paid.

Misc.:

The Song Swap goes on. Mary continues to do the posters and help set up each month.

A grandfather clock constructed by Elgin Jones, Marlow cabinet maker, is on display at HSCC in Keene. The clockwork was made in Putney, VT.

We looked over brochures produced by various N.H. historical societies. We have not forgotten our longtime plan to produce a new Marlow Walking Tour, perhaps with an audio component as well as a brochure, but postponed the work until summer.

"Food at the Town Meeting":

We finalized plans and responsibilities for the event.

New Business:

Toleration Act Project/Exhibit, Nov. 3, 2006 :

Mary Blank reported on her participation in the HSCC Round Table. We will be participating in the upcoming project/exhibit having to do with churches which were built between the Toleration Act of 1819 and the mid 19th century. After the Toleration Act, for the first time, N.H. citizens did not have to pay a ministerial tax to support a church to which they did not wish to belong, so, at that time, new churches proliferated as people built churches to house worship of their own choosing.

Brian Gallien Report:

We read a letter from the year 2000 written by the Selectmen re Jones Hall, and Brian Gallien’s recent preservationist report with his recommendations for the repair and care of Jones Hall roof. We decided to use these at the Town Meeting to inform people about the genuine needs for Jones Hall preservation.

Sponsorship of a Teacher to Peterborough Workshop:

We decided to sponsor a teacher to the April 6th “Introduction to Material Culture” workshop in Peterborough, a workshop designed to help teachers incorporate historical artifacts into the curriculum. Mary will contact the principal of Perkins School and see if the third or fourth grade teacher would be interested. We’d like to foster early interest in local history.

New Hampshire Historical Society:

The NHHS wishes to become a member of the Marlow Historical Society. (They are doing this throughout the state.) We briefly discussed how much an association membership should cost. Then we decided just to sent them our membership application as it is and allow them to decide how to apply and not take advantage of their organizational status.

Town Meeting and Jones Hall:

Candy asked how we intend to handle the Jones Hall issues at Town meeting. The warrant article for Jones Hall roof is written for $35,000.00 We need to support it, even though there has been a struggle over the issue of getting three estimates. (That is taken care of in a separate petitioned warrant article.) The amount could be cut somewhat, but we need to be sure that the repairs will meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Building. We can just support the money here and go to the budget meetings to make the latter point.

Exhibit at Antique Co-op in Milford, NH:

Loisanne explained that this reputable business is inviting local historical societies to sponsor exhibits in a booth reserved for this.

Loisanne has been directed to look into this and find out the rules and how far in advance they are booked. Mary will look into the insurance part. This could be good publicity for us.

Skull and Antler Show, April 8

Jack Strickland is going ahead this year with the Marge Davis Memorial Skull and Antler Show in honor of Aaron Dimlich. We will be cosponsoring it in Murray Hall, and the entire proceeds will be donated to the Marlow Historical Society. There will be mounts and trophies and a raffle for a muzzle loader, door prizes, and a hunting film shown in Jones Hall.

Solicitations for Painting the Grange:

We will be sending out about twenty a week.

Monadnock Music Concert and Dinner:

The tentative date is August 12. ( this date is now July 28th)

The meeting was adjourned at 9:34 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Loisanne Foster

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