May Up-Dates

Murray Hall

Bucky has finished painting Murray Hall. His estimate of $3,000 was the lowest bid. We are 60% of the way to our Murray Hall 2006 Project Goal of $3500, having raised $2100 leaving us with a balance to raise of $1400. Ben Levesque and his grandfather Dave Davis made us wonderful window boxes which were planted and tended by Candy Wiggum . As the months grow colder we will fill them with holiday greens. The identification sign is still to be ordered and when we reach our goal we will order the sign. We were also hoping to have the windows repaired before the cold weather sets in but that can be done over the winter as the volunteers find time in their busy schedules.

30th Anniversary Project

The Liberty Elm project is definitely a go! We have received $2810 in donations and pledges and we have ordered four 14ft-19ft trees receiving six free 10-12’ elms from the Elm Research Institute in Keene. In addition we will purchase a Liberty Elm Plaque, a tree bench for the Common and a park bench for the “Quiet Spot” in memory of those friends and family who have given donations to the Society in memory of Geney Ames, Marge Davis and Kay Windhorst. We will also purchase protective fencing for each Elm that we plant. Tony Davis has volunteered to pick up the trees and to help us plant them.

Bride’s Quilt Project

In May the Lempster Historical Society sponsored a NH Quilt Documentation Project. We took the 1876 signature quilt and the 1976 Bicentennial Quilt to be documented. Since that time we have been busy researching the signatures on the 1876 Bride’s quilt . We have rec’d a great deal of information from Bob Nichols of Keene whose grandfather owned Nichols and Newton . Nichols is researching the names on the quilt for us and has already discovered a wealth of information about the quilt signatures and the interrelationships among the signers. We know now, for instance, that the quilt was made for Francis Dodge just before her wedding to Jerome Reed, and signatures of parents and grandparents of bride and groom as well as relatives and friends appear. Only one family remains a mystery to us, the Hariss [sic] family. Can anyone identify them? For you Huntley fans, there are two Huntleys on the quilt, Lizzie and Melvin, and Adam Plumb, our young historian, tells us that there are many other Huntley connections, so this is truly a Marlow treasure. Loisanne has met with a quilt restorer and at this point we must decide whether to restore or conserve. An option would be conservation without repair. A new backing could be put on. (As it is, batting is leaking out in several places.)Then the whole could be covered with tulle or gauze in such a way that the signatures would be readable. While this would not strengthen the quilt, it would help preserve it in its historical authenticity. The cost would be $200.00 - $250.00. We have already received donations and pledges to pay for this option.

Monadnock Music Dinner and Spring Tag Sale

Sales and Donations for the MMD totaled $1.100 and our expenses were 233.79 earning us profits of $866.21 which was split 50/50 between the general fund and Murray Hall painting. We wish to thank profusely those who donated their time and money to this project. We wish to give special thanks to Becky Sharp who managed the dining room by herself, Susan Rock who served as hostess , Loisanne who keep track of the desserts, Sandy and John Salo , Richard Rock and Susan Schmid on the serving line and Tom Fuschetto and Charlie Strickland who sold tickets for the dinner. My special thanks to Loisanne, Rock, Sandy and John who stayed to the very end for cleanup and to Tom, Dave Davis and John (and of course , Al) for help in putting up and taking down the canopies.

We had a great turn out of dealers at the Spring Tag Sale as well as a good time. Volunteers were scarce so we had the WFCS make and sell the chili while we sold and drinks, muffins and cookies. In all we made $155.35.

The Jug

At every event we put out “The Jug”. It is large heavy glass water jug which was purchased at the Methodist Church Auction some years back by Gerry Plotts, “the jug” serves as a donation jar for contributions for restoring Murray Hall. On Memorial Day when we served soda and water at the common to those attending the services and parade, we collected $40.96, at the tag sale $12.00 , at the Monadnock Music Dinner we collected $18.34, and at Four Days of Fury we counted $5.00. Although it does not seem like much we are thankful for these donations for the restoration of Murray Hall.

Update on Tom Wessels

I have been in touch with Tom Wessels, a professor in the Environmental Studies Dept at Antioch, and author of several books including Reading the Forested Landscape. He has agreed that he could come to Marlow and “read” the Marlow Common for us: identifying foundations from stonewalls and original forest from new forest.. He feels that it would take 2 hours to cover the 3.1 acres at $100 an hour, a bargain at twice the price. The Park at the Common was cleared over two summers by the Historical Society nearly 12 years ago. It has been maintained by volunteers “on the hill” who mow and pick up debris.

Cheshire Walkers

Join Cheshire Walkers on one of their weekly, Wednesday morning walks or hikes in Cheshire County. This fall they will be visiting the historic areas of neighboring towns and area trails.They will be visiting Walpole, the 20^th, of Sept…. Future walks include Honey Hill in Swanzey, Bolster Pond, Pitcher Mountain on Oct 11^th , Kilburn Loop, Peterborough, Gap Mtn, and Horatio Colony Preserve on Nov 8^th. For Info Call 354-5454 Ext 7837 or go to http://www.cheshire-med.com. We look forward to seeing you at the Annual meeting on Thursday and look forward to your participation in the discussion Maintaining Marlow’s Rural Character.

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Marlow Historical Society / Executive Board Meeting / May 03, 2006

The meeting began at 6:55 PM. 

Present were: Mary Blank, Candy Wiggum, and Loisanne Foster. The Secretary's report was read and accepted. The Treasurer's Report was read and accepted.

Old Business:

The Grange Hall painting project goal thermometer is made except for the letters which are ordered and will be added soon. The monetary figure will be added when the final cost is known. The letters from Silver Direct are removable, so this item can be reused as needed.

Painting estimates for the Grange:

Bucky White - $3000.00

Mennino - $5500.00

Stebbins - $8,200.00

It looks like we will go with Bucky!

As part of the Grange Hall restoration, we will have a sign: "Old Universalist Church –dates- Excelsior Grange –dates- Mary will get an estimate of the cost of the sign. We will also have flower boxes made by volunteers, Ben Levesque and his grandfather, David Davis.

Liberty Elm Project
It looks like a "go." We have pledges from individuals already. We will ask organizations to contribute, and, of course, we will seek their advice on agreement on the locations of the elms. Our idea is to replace the old elms which were in Marlow, and we have pictures of Marlow when it was elm-shaded. We might use the pictures for reference. We need to engage the Select Board as well. We will not ask them for money, but we would like to ask Tony Davis' help with the planting. We hope to have the major tree in the common in front of Jones Hall. If we order from Keene's Liberty Elm, Co. five two inch trees at $300.00 each, we will receive a five inch tree "free." We must agree to purchase a plaque for it and have a fence around it and a bench near it. This project will celebrate our 30th year as a historical society. Candy Wiggum is the woman behind the plan, and she will ask the various Marlow organizations for support. We agree that raising awareness of the our rich historical heritage and the possibilities available is part of our mission.

Marlow Clean-up Day is May 6. MHS will concentrate on the Hearse House that day.

Mary distributed MHS Tag Sale posters for the May 15 fund-raising event at The Grange (Murray Hall). We need volunteers to serve at the MHS table and help with the food as we will serve a a chilli and corn bread lunch, breakfast items, desserts and beverages.

Tales Out of School: Program for May 18 along with a pot luck supper.

Mary is sending out invitations to a dozen or so people who attended the old Marlow Elementary School which closed in 1973. We brainstormed a number of candidates - Joe Marcotte, Jack Strickland, Jim Elliot, Tony Davis, Barbara Clark and others. We will be prepared to recod the stories to add to our archives.

The New Hampshire Historical Society is now a paying member of MHS.

Loisanne signed off her treasurer role on the bank signature card. This will allow for Mary to open for MHS a separate account for restoration funds. (We are allowed three accounts.)

Mary will complete our financial report to the State is due on May 15.

MHS E-Newsletter: Copies will be sent at week's end, and those to be mailed will be sent the next day.

Wally and Jen Giffin visited the Lempster family with Marlow names. They continue to send us information.

Three large sweat shirts have been ordered from RJ Sports. GiffEn has been changed to GiffIn. One has sold already.

New Business:

Loisanne asked for advice and help in finding certain information for the MHS Forum. For instance, to field genealogy questions, we need a list of who is buried in the Village Cemetery. (It turns out that there is a cemetery map in the library as well as one at the Town Offices.) It would also be good to post a list of our Veterans of Wars for the period after World War II, but where can we find a complete list?

A letter has been sent to Pat Gallup requesting the use of the Inn for the Monadnock Music Dinner.

Mary has contacted the NH Antique Tractor Association to see if they are willing to display at the Harvest Festival.

May 27: We will ready the MHS Museum for Open House so we may be open for Memorial Day Services on May 28.

June 15 Program, "Four Days of Fury," will be held at Perkins School. We are working with Joe Marcotte to have the fire apparatus that was used in the 1941 fire on display.

We agreed to plan a MHS trip to Keene's historical Wyman Tavern for June.

We agreed to work on having real stage lighting instead of "chicken lights" for Jones Hall. Mary plans ask Lydia Stevens advice and help for this project.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Respectfully, submitted,
Loisanne Foster

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