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News & Views

Photo of Sandwich Village by Joe Janis

Sandwich Historical Society receives Research Grant

12/21/2022

 
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Photo by Franz Nicolay
The Sandwich Historical Society has received a grant from Historic New England to do research on the authenticity and cultural context of the small grouping of Native American artifacts in our collection, and to create programming for the public related to it. We will seek the advice of cultural anthropologists, collegiate academic institutions, and Abenaki leaders in this assessment and planning. 
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This photo and the one below: A sampling of Indigenous Peoples artifacts within the collection of the Sandwich Historical Society. Photos by Franz Nicolay
Since its inception, the Sandwich Historical Society has primarily focused on the colonial and postcolonial Euro-American history of the town. We would like to explore, acknowledge, and document pre-contact and simultaneous uses of this land too. We wish to place in context the Indigenous Peoples, First Nation historical experience in the mountains and lakes region, as a foundational and inclusive element in our complete and evolving history.
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We are reaching out to the Sandwich community and beyond, with two questions that might assist us in our research, via crowdsourcing techniques: 
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1. Are there any residents with direct Indigenous lines in their family, with stories that would be pertinent to our town’s historical timeline and before our incorporation as a town?
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2. Do you have artifacts within your family that you would be willing to lend or allow us to document, or sites on your property we may photograph, for specific summer programming that would give us further insight on the Indigenous history of this town?

 If so, please feel free to contact Franz Nicolay at sittingrock@gmail.com,
 on behalf of the Programs & Education, Collections, and Exhibition Committees at the Sandwich Historical Society. ​

Sandwich Historical Society opens for the season on June 25th with special events.

6/13/2022

 
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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Save the Notch Campaign.  As it was in the 1970s, the debate of conservation versus use and development remains at the forefront of discussions regarding the wilds of, not only New Hampshire, but many areas of the world. In our small corner, we have decided to highlight the persistence of our community to persuade those with the power to preserve the Sandwich Notch for future generations. 

Our seasonal exhibit can be seen in the Elisha Marston House, Barn & Gift Shop, which will be open on June 25 from 10 AM - 3 PM.  Don't forget to check out the Gift Shop and all the new items!

Elisha Marston House Reimagined:  If you're new to Sandwich or the area or you have not visited us in a few years, this summer is a great opportunity to see what our Collections team, led by our Museum and Collections Coordinator - Lauren Hansen - have been up to!  Lauren shares, "The last two years of quarantine and limited visitors have allowed us to do some thinking on more than just conservation. 

We have had some significant acquisitions in recent years, so we decided to rearrange some rooms throughout the house.  Some objects have been on display for many years.  It was with this in mind that we put some to bed for a rest, brought out some to say hello, and are highlighting those who have recently joined "our family." Visit, and see if you can spot all of the changes we have made!
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Special Events 12 ~ 3pm

The fun and special events continue at the Quimby Barn & Transportation Museum which will be open from 12 - 3 PM.  Outside we will have live demonstrations of traditional arts and our artisans include:
 
Tina Greenfield, from Rensselaer, New York, will be sharing her skills in decorative painting, often known as “tole” painting. It is the folk tradition of embellishing household utilitarian objects with surface paint to transform that object into one of beauty. Ms. Greenfield has been painting in this style on wood and metal for close to thirty years, and has received both regional and national recognition for her work. Her pieces have been shown at the Library of Congress and the White House, as well as at several New England conventions in this field.

Suzanne Weil will be creating pottery on the wheel during the afternoon. Ms. Weil makes functional stoneware pottery in Sandwich, NH, and teaches writing at Plymouth State University. Her appreciation of the rich historical pottery tradition in Sandwich, and the simplicity and integrity of pots made for everyday use, inspires her work.
 
Corey Slater, from Ashland, NH, is a pack basket weaver. He will be showing and creating backpack baskets out of traditional materials. His backpacks are especially loved among mushroom collectors. Mr. Slater learned the craft from his father who has been teaching the craft in the Adirondack Mountain range for over twenty years. He focuses on making backpack baskets; however, he creates a variety of other basket forms as well.

We will also be commemorating the 10-year anniversary of moving the Quimby Barn to its present location as well as a special dedication of the Slade Room (which houses our Concord Coach).  This special event will be held at 1:00 PM.  Denison R. Slade's family gave the Concord Coach to the town of Sandwich. ~ Denison Slade was a benefactor and friend to the town, and his only request was that the Concord Coach have a proper storage space. 

In 2012, after almost one hundred years of being stored in various barns and sheds in Sandwich, and a lengthy sojourn in Meredith at the Pinnacle Park Zoo and return to Sandwich in 1939, the Sandwich Historical Society and the Alfred Quimby Fund trustees finally provided “A Proper Room” for the Coach’s storage and preservation.  Help us commemorate this special 10-year anniversary since the Quimby Barn was moved across Maple Street to its new home and rebirth as the Quimby Barn Transportation Museum.

We will also have the grill fired up outside the Quimby Barn!

Grange Hall will be open 12 - 3 PM.  Come see our rare 19th century curtain painting of Mount Israel located on the upper level. Stop by and help us celebrate our season opening!  We look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday, June 25! 

Summer hours at the Elisha Marston Museum, Barn and Gift Shop will be Friday and Saturday, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM, from Saturday, June 25 to Saturday, September 3.  The Quimby Transportation Museum will be open every Saturday from 10:00 - 2:00 PM.  Our other buildings will be open during Old Home Week.  For the most up-to-date information, please visit our website:  http://www.sandwichhistorical.org or email us at sandwichhistory@gmail.com.

Meet Our Members ~ Jim Mykland of the Sandwich Historical Society

5/2/2021

 
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The Museum, photo by Janina Lamb
What is your name and the name of your organization?
Jim Mykland of the Sandwich Historical Society.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?

I first washed up on the ledges at the Pothole in July or August of 1956 when I was six months old. My parents were friends in New York with the Pohls and the Lungams who had bought houses in the Maple Ridge/Mount Israel Road area and we came up to visit them that summer. We came back summers after that, staying in the cabin that the Pohls had on Maple Ridge Road.

In the mid 1960’s my father retired and, the North Shore of Long Island having grown up from the farms and pine barrens of the immediate post war years when they moved there, my parents decided to move to Sandwich full time in 1966. 

We moved here the October I was in fifth grade, just after the Fair. I went from a baby boom Town with three elementary schools (and building a fourth) of three or four classes of each grade to Sandwich Central School with a combined fifth and sixth grade class of about 16 students.
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Jim, shortly before he first moved to Sandwich.
What got you started working with SHS?
I have always loved our little Town between the lakes and the mountains. All the old houses and fascinating people I remember growing up. 

I first visited the Museum probably the summer after we moved here. The thing that grabbed my attention at 11 years old, naturally, was the dugout canoe. And the model of Center Sandwich made by the Quimby School boys in the 1930’s. I came back often over the years to wander around the house. I was fascinated by Sandwich history.
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The dugout canoe in the museum. Photo by Janina Lamb
In the late 1980’s, in what I can only assume was an act of desperation, I was asked to serve as a Trustee of the Society. I’ve been here pretty much ever since serving as a Trustee and officer including four years as President. I came back in the 2010s as a Trustee and later Vice President. In December 2020 I was asked by the Trustees to serve as Interim Executive Director.

Tell us about your organization. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
The Sandwich Historical Society has, in its hundred plus years, made a concerted effort to collect and preserve historic artifacts and ephemera that directly relate to Sandwich. It became evident that a building would be needed to house this collection and in the 1920’s the Society bought the Elisha Marston house at 4 Maple Street in The Center. Over the succeeding years, the Society has added other buildings to our holdings as the need became evident. 

We currently own the former Quimby School barn, which was moved across Maple Street and now houses the Transportation Museum of Sandwich-related vehicles, both great and small, including the magnificent Sandwich Coach that used to transport mail and people from Center Harbor to Sandwich and West Ossipee. We also own the former Mount Israel Grange Hall on Maple Street, the former Heard family barn off Skinner Street in The Center, and the former Lower Corner Schoolhouse on Schoolhouse Road.
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The Transportation Museum, photo by Janina Lamb
Throughout the year the Society sponsors programs, talks and walks that highlight features and people of our little hill town. One of the more popular programs is ‘Pictures from the Vault’, an hour or so sample of some of the thousands of images in our collections. Another day might find a walk in The Center or Lower Corner or The Notch highlighting architecture and people who have lived in the area in the past.
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SHS promo for this winter’s zoom offering of 'Pictures from the Vault.'
Perhaps of more lasting impact than artifacts and buildings, the Society, following its founding principle of collecting and sharing the history of Sandwich, has a unique canon of over a hundred years of written history of the Town in our annual Excursion Booklets. These Excursion Booklets cover the entire history of the Town from the very beginning until today. In the early years these were truly excursions to various neighborhoods in Town sharing the history of each area and collecting the precious memories of older residents before they slipped away. 

These booklets form an invaluable history of our small town between the lakes and the foothills of the White Mountains. In 1995 the Society published ‘Sandwich, New Hampshire 1763-1990’ a one volume history of the Town compiled by a number of talented writers who were also members of the Society.
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SHS gift shop. Excursion Bulletins, and much more, are available from the gift shop and the SHS website. Photo by Janina Lamb
How did SHS get started?
The Sandwich Historical Society was founded in 1917 by a group of full-time and seasonal residents who had grown concerned with the steady loss of artifacts leaving Town as old homesteads were sold and auctioned off as well as the loss of the unwritten Town history as older residents passed away and their stories and memories vanished with them. For a more detailed history of SHS, please visit: http://www.sandwichhistorical.org/society-history.html
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Earliest photo of the Elisha Marston House, late 1800s.
What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
Working with our great knowledgeable staff Jennifer Wright and Lauren Hansen and our Trustees and Officers. The Society is truly a group effort and being able to interact with these smart, hard working staff and volunteers is exciting and intellectually challenging and very educational to me.

What has happened to your organization in this last Covid year? 
The Society offers an annual exhibit at the Elisha Marston House Museum. Last year due to Covid our buildings were closed and the volunteers and staff created a virtual exhibit, both remote and online, with banners and QR codes around Town highlighting historic women of Sandwich and their stories. There was also a virtual Excursion during Old Home Week that provided a driving tour to all their houses. 
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Judy Coolidge, one of the Women of Sandwich featured on a poster in 2020.
Photo by Janina Lamb
This year we are planning to be back in the Elisha Marston House Museum with the exhibit featuring portraits by Susan Lirakis of Sandwich mothers and their daughters taken over the last forty years.  There will also be an online exhibit again this year.
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Doctor’s desk at the Elisha Marston House Museum. Photo by Janina Lamb
What are your goals and hopes for the future?
In the most immediate sense my goal is to get the Society back to its normal functioning level as quickly and as safely as possible. Our goal for this year is to have a summer exhibit and our annual excursion this August.
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The Museum, late summer. Photo by Janina Lamb
What else can you tell us about yourself and your organization?
The Society is still governed by a volunteer board of trustees with the assistance of a few paid staff members. It exists through the generosity of our members and donations from the public and the thoughtfulness of benefactors over the years. We are here to try and answer your questions about Sandwich and what went on here and what is happening here today. We offer our superb research library to writers and those doing genealogical research. For more information on when our buildings are open and to check a listing of upcoming programs and events visit our website at www.sandwichhistorical.org. Or you can contact us at sandwichhistory@gmail.com.
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  • Home
    • About Sandwich
    • Town of Sandwich
    • Sandwich Business Group >
      • website sponsorships 2023
      • SBG by-laws
  • What's Happening!
    • Map & Membership List
    • Meet Our Members
  • Visit Us
    • Attractions
    • Food, Dining & Lodging
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  • The Great Outdoors
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  • News & Views