Puddledock Press Editor Celebrates Birthday

"Happy Birthday JoAnn"

JoAnn and her cake.

The Farmington Historical Society's Public Relations Co-Chair, and long time Puddledock Press Editor, JoAnn Doke, recently celebrated her birthday with friends at the Mustard Seed Cafe last Sunday, March 6.  JoAnn is a very active member of our Community and has been so for many years.  Along with being the editor of the Puddledock Press, our local newspaper, for many years, she is also the Immediate Past President of the Farmington Woman's Club and a former Library Trustee.  We wish JoAnn a Happy Birthday and honor her for her long years of service to our town.   

Woman's Club President Stephanie Roux has a bit of fun with former President JoAnn

Woman's Club members help JoAnn celebrate.

Join the Historical Society tonight as we welcome New Hampshire author and humorist, Rebecca Rule, who will present on the history of the Town Meeting in New Hampshire.  For more information, visit the events page, or the March 7 Meeting announcement below.

Learn More

Mustard Seed Cafe on the Web   www.TheMustardSeedCafe.org
Puddledock Press on this site   http://www.farmingtonnhhistory.org/p/puddledock-press.html

  

March 7: The NH Town Meeting with Rebecca Rule

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"Moved and Seconded:  Town Meeting in New Hampshire"

Friday, March 7th

7:00 pm

Goodwin Library

Woman's Club Room

presented by 

Rebecca Rule

New Hampshire Author, Humorist, and Story-teller

Based on her recently published book, Moved and Seconded: Town Meeting in New Hampshire, the Present, the Past, and the Future by Rebecca Rule (Plaidswede Press, 2012), this program by Rule covers the rituals, traditions and history of town meeting; including the perennial characters, the literature, the humor, and the wisdom of this uniquely New England institution.

Town Meeting is a sacred institution in New Hampshire. It has rituals, traditions, and a unique history. Town meeting is democracy in its purest form. For three years, noted New Hampshire author Rebecca Rule has been gathering stories, attending town meetings and writing this book. She has crafted an instant New Hampshire classic. You’ll meet the characters who keep the drama cracking, from silent knitters to rabble-rousers, from deep-rooted hoary historians to transplants, from across-the-board cutters to homespun philosophers. You’ll dip into the literature — poems, novels, short stories and essays — some by famous writers and some by writers who may be new to you. You’ll sample the legendary dry humor as well as the down-home wisdom, which inspires well beyond the walls of the Olde Meeting House.

This event is free and open to the public through a grant from the NH Humanities Council.

This meeting will take place in the Woman's Club Room on the second floor of the Goodwin Library.  Light refreshments will be served following the presentation.

A Historical Society Members business meeting will follow the presentation and refreshments.

Learn More

 "Moved and Seconded - Having Your Say: NH town meeting - its storied past and uncertain future"  in NHMagazine.com
http://www.nhmagazine.com/June-2012/Moved-and-Seconded-by-Rebecca-Rule/

'Moved and Seconded': Rebecca Rule’s Town Meeting in the Nashua Telegraph
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/996333-469/moved-and-seconded-rebecca-rules-town-meeting.html

Rebecca Rule on the web
http://www.rebeccarulenh.com/

Travels with Becky - Rebecca Rule's blog
http://islandportpress.typepad.com/travelswithbecky/

Rebecca Rule Biography on the NH Statre Council on the Arts
http://pierce.state.nh.us/nharts/artsandartists/roster/artistinfo.asp?ArtistID=77

Stories of Logging, the Mills, and Life in the Androscoggin Valley - Rebecca Rule's previous presentation to the Farmington Historical Society on Friday, May 6, 2011
http://www.farmingtonnhhistory.org/2011/04/may-6-meeting-stories-of-logging-mills.html

  

Local recalls UNH's military training for women

Doris Grady
photo credit: John Huff/Foster's Daily Democrat

Rugged. Dedicated. Patriotic.  These are just some of the words used to describe a series of photographs of one of the nation's first female collegiate-level military training programs. Published by LIFE Magazine in the early 1940s, these photos shed light on the University of New Hampshire's military training initiative for women during the midst of World War II.

With recent reports of the U.S. Marine Corps postponing certain strength requirements after a high percentage of female recruits failed to meet standards, LIFE's website republished these photographs, showing just how dedicated a small New England university was when it came to preparing for war.

Grady, now 90 years old, recalled many men at the university putting their studies on hold to fight overseas, leaving much of the school's training equipment untouched. Discussion soon shifted to the training of women to prepare them to serve their country as well. This led to then-director of the women's physical education program, Margaret Hoban, to develop a fitness program for females that would prepare them to serve in various military auxiliaries.

“We were all so concerned because of what Japan had done,” said Grady. “Everybody was willing to do anything they had to do at that particular time.”  As a physical education major, Grady said she was soon introduced to the all-female military-style training program. Having been an athlete all her life, Grady shared with Foster's that the university's training program was right up her alley.  “I wanted to test myself to see if I could do it,” said Grady.  Scaling walls, crawling under fences, and jumping wide ditches didn't deter Grady whatsoever. In fact, she admitted she didn't find the training to be all that difficult. “It was kind of fun,” she said as a smile spread across her face.

The program at UNH was one of the first of its kind, providing military-style training to women similar in fashion to the men's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. More than 650 female students at UNH would go on to become involved with the program in its first years, utilizing training equipment set up for men in the university's ROTC division that had been virtually abandoned after the school lost a large portion of its male population to various war efforts.  

By 1942, the women's program had gathered enough attention to spark interest among those affiliated with a notable publication known as LIFE Magazine. 

According to a New Hampshire Alumnus article published in February of 1943, LIFE's news bureau contacted university officials in December of 1942 to find out more about the program itself as well as UNH's initiative to help the country's war effort. It was soon decided that one of the publication's most respected photographers, Alfred Eisenstaedt, would travel to Durham and pay a visit to the many women participating in the university's military-style physical training program.

“I remember we all thought it was a big deal that LIFE was coming to the area, and that they were going to have one of their best photographers come,” said Grady.  Although it had been a relatively warm winter, an unexpected shift in the weather turned temperatures frigid and covered the university's grounds with heavy snow.  “We thought they were going to cancel the photo shoot, but they didn't,” said Grady.

After trudging through the snow to get to training equipment set up throughout Memorial Field, Eisenstaedt photographed hundreds of women adorned in not-so-weather-appropriate shorts and short-sleeved shirts as they navigated through the obstacle course. The Alumnus article stated that the women initially wore coats and pants during the trek through the field, shedding them when Eisenstaedt was ready to begin taking pictures.

On January 11, 1943, a seven-page spread of Eisenstaedt's photographs and an accompanying article titled “New Hampshire Coeds Toughen Up for War” was published in LIFE Magazine.

Read the article by Laurenne Ramsdell in the Foster's Daily Democrat at http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140116/GJNEWS04/140119638/-1/ROCtimes

Learn More

Call to Action A World War II fitness program put UNH in the limelight in UNH Magazine
http://unhmagazine.unh.edu/w10/call_to_action.html

The Saga of Life in the UNH Alumnus  http://unhmagazine.unh.edu/w10/images/about_life_magazine_story.pdf

  

Image Credits:

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140126/GJNEWS_01/140129463/-1/newsletters

http://www.americanantiquities.com/life%201943.html

Farm Museum restoration boosted by LCHIP grant

The NH Farm Museum in Milton is the former Jones Farm.

The New Hampshire Farm Museum received good news in the New Year! The Museum was awarded a grant of $50,000 from New Hampshire’s Land & Community Heritage Investment Program for repairs and restoration of the Jones Farmhouse stone foundations, sill replacement, mold remediation and drainage work.

This work is part of a larger Jones Farm restoration project which began a few years ago with an Historic Structures Report which outlined the essential work needed to restore the connected structures of the Farm. A new roof for the entire 275-foot long collection of buildings was installed last winter by New England Roofing of Rochester and funded by many donations from local people and a previous LCHIP grant. This past summer the entire front facade of the Jones Farm structures was painted its original tavern colors of mustard yellow with evergreen trim and crab apple red window sashes by local painters Billy McGowan and Ken Whelan who specialize in painting historic buildings.

This new grant award will allow the museum to complete another phase in the restoration of the Jones Farm. The Museum will begin to raise the matching funds which the grant requires and plans to begin work by June of this year. 

Read the article by Kathleen Shea in the Rochester Times at http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140116/GJNEWS04/140119638/-1/ROCtimes

Learn More

Robert Edmund Jones: From Milton Farm Boy to Hollywood Producer on the Farmington Historical Society
http://www.farmingtonnhhistory.org/2011/09/upcoming-meeting-friday-october-7.html

The NH Farm Museum on the Web at http://www.farmmuseum.org/

Discover Rural New Hampshire on Fun Farm Tour in the Nashua Telegraph at http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/living/travel/837298-224/discover-rural-new-hampshire-on-fun-farm.html

  

Image Credit:

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/living/travel/837298-224/discover-rural-new-hampshire-on-fun-farm.html

Reorganizing in the Museum

Recently, members met to clean and do some rearranging in the museum.  More work still needs to be done, but the President and Curator are working to organize the cases and artifacts to produce a more pleasant and welcoming atmosphere in the room.

Matching cases now line the back wall.

The bird display now has a new home in the opposite corner with better lighting.

Close up of one of the short cases on the back wall.

Cases organized in the back corner.

Close up of the other short case on the back wall.

Close up of the bird display in the back corner.

More reorganization is planned in the upcoming weeks.  We'll be ready to welcome everyone into our newly organized museum for our first presentation event this coming spring.  

December 6: Sounds of the Seacoast with The Usual Suspects

"A Capella Sounds of the Seacoast"

Friday, December 6th

7:00 pm

Goodwin Library

Second Floor Woman's Clubroom

presented by 

The Usual Suspects Quartet

Acapella Quartet

The quartet is a women's a cappella quartet comprised of four unusually suspicious women who all belong to Sounds of the Seacoast Chorus of Harmony Incorporated.  The Portsmouth-based Sounds of the Seacoast women's a cappella chorus is a diverse group of over 40 women all ages and walks of life from many communities throughout  the greater Seacoast area.   The group performs at a number of outdoor festivals and special functions throughout the year.  They also host their own annual concert every spring and a Christmas Cabaret in December.  Founded in 1978, and in keeping with the style of barbershop music (unaccompanied, four-part a cappella harmony), the Sounds of the Seacoast Chorus enjoys singing and performing a variety of music from standards to gospel songs to more modern pieces.

Sounds of the Seacoast also enjoys traveling to and competing at two contests each year -- Area in the spring and International in the fall -- as a member of Harmony, Inc., a larger International organization of women barbershop singers devoted to the education and promotion of acappella singing in four-part harmony known as barbershop.

The show put on by The Usual Suspects was excellent and joyous.  The songs ranged from the melodious, wonderfully arranged, Carol of the Bells to the quartet's hearty rendition of It's Raining Men.  Following the show, there was a lot of tasty snacks and goodies on hand to refresh the attendees and singers alike.  Below are a few photos from this lively event.

Vice President, Dottie Bean introduces the Usual Suspects to the eager audience.

The Usual Suspects Quarter sing their harmonious songs in the Woman's Clubroom.

There was a nice group in attendance and everyone enjoyed the performance.

As usual, the refreshment table was brimming with wonderful goodies, coffee, and punch.

There was lots of mingling and the members of quartet answered questions and enjoyed some good cheer.

Watch the entire Sounds of the Seacoast Group perform in 2008.



Learn More

Visit the Usual Suspects Quartet on Facebook and "Like" them at https://www.facebook.com/TheUsualSuspectsQuartet 

Visit Sounds of the Seacoast on the web at http://www.soundsoftheseacoast.org/

Francis Mooney Receives Mooney's Mill Memorabilia

Francis Mooney and Jim Horgan

Mooney’s Mill, which opened in Farmington in 1916, by Francis Mooney’s grandfather and thrived for many decades, turned out wooden handles. The factory rejects could be bought by the barrel for just 10 cents.  They were often used as kindling for fires. Dottie Bean, Farmington Historical Society Vice President, inherited a pile from her father and still burns them!  Jim Horgan, Historical Society President, recently presented Francis with a few keepsake handles made at the mill, on behalf of the membership. Francis Mooney, now age 97, is also a Farmington resident.

Learn More

The orginal photo and story, We Can Handle These,  appeared in the November 7 issue of the Rochester Times at  http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131107/GJCOMMUNITY04/131109480
Photo Credit:  John Nolan, Rochester Times