Projects
2006 Update Here are the projects the Leeds Historical Society members have worked on during 2006 with some continuing into this new year:
We coordinated the Veteran’s Day program which again was a very successful cooperative community effort. Compilation of records of all the Leeds’ Veterans of all wars continues. If you have information, contact Richard Fochtmann at 524-2324.
We’ve continued to do some background research on our Civil War Monument since some of the original facts are still sketchy. With a concern about the condition of some of the original slate plaques on the monument, we got an estimate for repair work and made a proposal for a Community Betterment Grant.
We have a long term digitization project that will make all the cemetery records compiled by Albert S. Bryant, turn of the century Postmaster of Leeds, combined with more current cemetery information into a searchable database – a genealogist’s dream. Anyone interested who can type, has a computer, and would like to help in data entry and/or proofreading for accuracy would be greatly appreciated.
Marilyn Burgess continues to build and maintain our Resource Room. Photographs, newspaper articles and historical documents too numerous to mention here, but some of the wonderful and much appreciated donations include:
Evelyn Coolidge has spoken to us about her concern for preservation of the Foss Church on Rt.219 near the Dead River which was built in 1836 by her great-grandfather, Walter Foss.
We continue to interview some of our town’s elders. If there is any interest in helping us with this effort or in transcribing the interviews that we have, we would be very appreciative. Some of us will be attending an upcoming free workshop, Oral history Workshop with Jo Radner, whish should help us with techniques and procedures.
A number of us have been spending time reading and transcribing entries from the diaries of John Young Merrill from the 1850’s ( loaned by Allen Merrill ), Henry Brewster, and Ernest Russell. Be on the lookout for a future evening program highlighting aspect of these interesting historical records. If you have any diaries or letters you might wish to share for this project, contact Ian Ormon at 524-3241.
Pam Bell is working with our resources to produce a 18 month calendar with photos and quotations from our local history. We plan to have it ready for sale at Town Meeting where you can take a look at it before purchase. If you have any photographs to share for this, contact Pam at 933-4121.
We got a lot of the group’s housekeeping done such as a mission statement, donor form, collection policy, policy and procedure for use of the Resource Room. We took an inventory of the town records kept up at the Town Office so that we’d know what was there for research purposes.
Renovations continue on the old Town House. We took down some of the inner walls to bring the space back to an earlier configuration. There are concerns about the condition of the roof, particularly the south facing, but we are proceeding cautiously since there is significant cost in reroofing.
Lastly, but not least, we are planning an outreach meeting with community organizations and groups sometime soon to begin a dialogue of how the historical society can help with local interests and how projects of the society can be assisted by the community. This way we can grow in mutually beneficial ways.
