#Archive Cabinets #Museum Of #FarmingtonNH #History

One of the significant purchases the Board of the Society authorized over the summer months, this year, was the purchase of several, large, fireproof cabinets. Our permanent, protected storage space in the physical museum was limited, especially with all of the new, large scale donations over the past few years.
 
I really wanted this to be a priority because, as a town, we have lost most of our historical record and a sizeable number of artifacts in two fires and two floods over the years. In particular, the 1928 fire at the Farmington Opera House was one of our largest tragedies, when loss of human life is not being considered. It wasn't just the loss of the building, which was our opera house; it also housed town offices and the library, which housed documents, large numbers of books, and finally artifacts from the early days of Farmington.
 
I looked into what would make sense to both provide sturdy archival space and offer protection from fire and moisture. I chose large fireproof safes that not only provide substantial shelving, but also protect against fire and  moisture. They also offer some protection from water, such as the water used to extinguish a fire. Of course one of the best benefits is that they also shield everything in the case from light, ambient or natural that fade or alter everything from documents to photos, to fabric and wood. 
 
I chose to move some of the most vulnerable items into these cases. Among those items are our photographs, old tintypes, glass negatives, newspapers, and many, many documents and scrapbooks from various eras. I also moved the original copies of the Puddledock Press and our trove of original Farmington NH Town Reports; the collection of reports extends from the late 1800's through the present.  I also moved the handful of Farmington High School yearbooks we have into the cases, along with many other important items.
 
We look forward to taking care of your submissions and future donations to the Farmington Historical Society and the Museum of Farmington History. Please consider making large scale monetary donations to the Society to help future efforts like this, which are incredibly expensive, as well as thinking about the long term survival off the Society via monetary bequests. 
 
These purchases would not have been possible had townsfolk not thought of us in the past and made large scale donations and bequests. Thank you in advance for your continued support.
 


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