2010 Displays

This year's exhibit is "Trunks and Travel in the Early Days".

This exhibit was the brainchild of volunteer Paula Schwenk.  Two years ago, when the amazing collection of trunks was originally accessed, she thought, "What a marvelous idea - an exhibit on travel featuring these trunks."  Since then, Paula has been researching the project and has come up with absolutely charming vignettes for each case in our second floor display room.  Each case tells a complete story:  why the person was traveling, what was being packed or unpacked, and who the person was.  It has everything from a widow to a family picnic.  And, each display has not only period-perfect trunks (one dating back to the 1730's) but costumes, personal objects, trinkets and toys that bring the story to life.  Come see the clever and delightful exhibit, and bring your friends and family.

Another addition to our exhibits this season is a photo gallery.  In the small room next to Gallery 2 on the first floor, we  will have a revolving collection from our extensive photo archives on display.  There will be seating to more leisurely examine the photographs which will be exhibited by theme.  Finally our photos will be coming out of the dark files to be seen and enjoyed by all.

As Benjamin Franklin said, "Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. "  We have proof -- this book is a record of Walpole's taxes from long ago.

 



The living room has been converted to Louisa May Alcott's living room on Christmas Eve where a play is in progress.  Notice the embroidery on the purple kimono worn by Louisa May.

 
The clothing exhibit focuses on various activites that took place in Walpole, e.g. the shirt factory, the saddle maker, and folks ready for a trip by train.  Note:  this room used to be the homeroom for all the Walpole High School classes and you can still see where the desks were attached to the floor.

The room used as the foreign language room when the Academy housed Walpole High School is now a permanent schoolroom.

Again this year we are grateful to Carol Christian, Dutchie Perron, and all the volunteers who devote many hours getting the exhibits ready.  Their work provides fresh new displays each year, and they are also cataloguing all our artifacts.

This year many of the exhibits are marked with red stars that indicate more information about the exhibit is included in the Historical Society's new book that will be available later this year.

Walpole Historical Society ♦ 32 Main St. ♦ PO Box 292 ♦ Walpole, NH  03608 ♦ (603) 756-3449 ♦ info@WalpoleHistory.org