By late Spring we had to switch our attention to work on a Summer exhibit. We decided that the first exhibits at the Upton-Chandler House Museum would be "The Story of This Old House" (a history of the Upton-Chandler House, its restoration, and its occupants) and a small exhibit on "The Pine Grove Cemetery Association’s 150^th Anniversary." Rebecca and I spent an intense, concentrated 2 months researching, writing, duplicating photographs, cutting and spraying foamcorp, mounting the exhibit, and getting the house cleaned for the grand opening on July 4, 2005. We just barely finished before the opening and could certainly use some help in mounting future exhibits.

This past August, Rebecca created and mounted an exhibit on "One Room School Houses in Warner" for display at the Simonds Elementary School.

In April, after acquiring last year some 50 Civil War letters written by Warner resident Joseph S. Rogers, the Warner Historical Society hired Stanley Warren, a writer, English professor, and previous owner of 10 of the letters, to write and edit a book about the letters. The book will include a brief history of the town at that time, a history of the Rogers Family, a short history of the 11^th New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment, and the letters, with additional maps and addendum. Jean Grandy of Warner transcribed all the letters and Rebecca is assisting Mr. Warren with the editorial work, providing historical comments and explanations about Warner references and her people. We hope for a 2006 publication date. All proceeds will benefit the Collections Fund for the continued purchase of conservation supplies.

Also in April, the Society decided to purchase a graphics printer and scanner that would enable the staff to do in-house developing of odd-sized negatives, slides, etc. The purchase will allow us to save money on expensive duplication costs at commercial photo shops. George Packard and Richard Cutting offered their advice on the equipment, and "Cut" volunteered to scan and print 200 plus Ralph Pratt negatives (owned by his father Robert Cutting) that were discovered last year in Dean Smith’s barn. Additional projects include negatives and slides from the Nellie Dow and William Cogswell collections, as well as miscellaneous items. This project will provide the Society with a computer back-up file as well as prints for the collection and future exhibits.

Richard Cutting continues to add photographs and reports to the Society’s web site. This past August Rebecca created the Society’s summer newsletter using an updated version of Microsoft Publishers software with scanned in photographs, thus allowing us to load the newsletter electronically on our website – the first newsletter available on-line! Ah – trying to keep pace with technology!!

This past Fall, I attended a textile conservation workshop at the New London Historical Society, presented by the Textile Conservation Center of the American Textile History Museum. And just this past week Rebecca attended a preservation of photographs workshop sponsored by the New Hampshire Historical Society.

In addition to our website, this past year found continued publicity of Society programs, events, and projects in the Warner’s New Paper. George Packard wrote numerous articles about the documentary movie project; Rebecca Courser wrote an array of articles about historical events and Warner people, and gave background information about Society programs; Arlene Zalenski wrote enticing articles about the Barn Sale; and I included a couple of short articles about the Joseph Rogers letters and the Upton-Chandler House. Newspaper editor Richard Senor covered special Society events, including the opening of the Upton-Chandler House, the unveiling of the Waterloo Historic District marker, and the presentation of the 1999 Simonds Reunion Fund donation. The Argus-Champion newspaper ran a huge article on the documentary movie project, and Rebecca was interviewed for some historical background information for the Boston television program "Chronicle Magazine" Rebecca continues to do spot commentaries with MainStreet BookEnds’s Jim Mitchell for the cable Kearsarge Magazine about up-coming programs and events. Rebecca and George have also presented programs about the movie project to the Men’s and Women’s Clubs of Warner. So, needless to say, the Historical Society is very active in informing the public about our town history and the Historical Society’s work.

In July of this year, the Simonds Reunion Committee of 1999 decided to disband and donate the remaining $3438.57 to the Society’s Collections Fund, designated for the purpose of conserving and exhibiting the Simonds Free High School Collection of photographs, documents, records and other memorabilia.

As the Society’s collection continues to grow, the Collections Committee members still work year-round on Tuesday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00PM and cover the Office on Saturday mornings during the summer from 9:00 to 1:00PM, from Memorial Day to the Fall Foliage Festival weekend. To Bev Hill, Sylvia Blanchette, Shirley Lake, Jean Grandy, Rebecca Courser, Fernanda Harrington, and Carol Howard, a hearty thank you as you continue to preserve Warner’s history and assist patrons in their research. But – as always, we are constantly looking for more help, so please join the Collections Committee!!

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Cogswell

Chairman