Source: Plaistow 2005 Annual Report

Report Of The Historical Society

This year the society has continued its work with members of the community on two fronts. We work with the youth in explaining and showing the history of Plaistow with visits to schools and with individual sessions as requested. Visits to the museum are teaching sessions for both young and adult.

On the second front, we continually work on organizing and cataloguing artifacts and photographs for display. Much work has been done by volunteer staff in identifying photos of Plaistow houses, scanning them into computer storage and indexing them for easy retrieval.

We constantly remind residents that any artifacts, papers and photos pertaining to Plaistow’s past are welcome donations to this museum. If you cannot bring these things we can pick them up from you.

We have been fortunate this year in acquiring local memorabilia and articles of historical interest. We were given antique documents found in an old Plaistow inn from over one hundred years ago by members of a family who lived in town in the 20th century. Also we were given 19th century town maps sold on E-Bay by a citizen who watches for such things for us.

The Town-owned 1861 handtub (hand fire engine) was moved to the museum by the Fire Department and installed for display. The front entrance to the building had to be removed and replaced to enable this installation. The machine was acquired from Derry, NH, in 1901 when purchased by four citizens and donated to the town. It was the first piece of firefighting equipment in Plaistow. Members of the Plaistow Firemen’s Association restored the engine to museum quality in the 1970s and, until recently, it was displayed at the fire station.

New displays were set up and the museum was opened to the public on Old Home Day when it was visited by many current and former residents. It was also opened Wednesday evenings during the summer and on many Sunday afternoons.

Our volunteer staff continues to catalogue artifacts and photographs during the winter on Thursday mornings. Much work has been done in scanning and indexing photos for computer display and retrieval according to street address. A home movie film of the 200th anniversary celebration has been digitized for computer display.

Looking forward we hope that any and all who have gained something of Plaistow’s history through our activities will consider joining our society and helping us with our work this year.

Respectfully submitted,
Gordon Sykes
President