New & Events

REV. WILLIAM MORRISON HOUSE RESTORATION

May 2007

Watch our sitie for our upcoming new category. We hope to have photos and information available regarding our construction schedule soon. Please check back with us often.

NEW CURATOR

April 2007

Marcela Smith-Hogan recently agreed to work as our curator to help us organize and refresh our display at the Morrison House Musuem. Marcela formerly worked at Searles Castle in a similar capacity and she was familiar with our need for the additional organization of our artifacts.

Marcela was joined by another new member Whitney Macleay and they have been working non-stop to spruce up the Morrison House. They have been sorting, cleaning and organizing our artifacts and creating ways to display the artifacts we own in an informative and inviting format for the musuem.

I hope you will join us on May 19th and May 20th during the Art in Action program to see their handiwork.

Many thanks to both Marcela and Whitney.

Images of America: Londonderry

The Londonderry Historical Society published, in July 2004, a pictorial history of Londonderry. The photos are from the late 19th c. to 1940. We have been fortunate to have our own collection of photographs and we have also had many photos or images loaned to us by members of the community. Copies of this book can be purchased for $19.99 from the Historical Society during Old Home Days Celebration at the Morrison House Museum on Saturday, August 19th, at the Leach Library, local retail shops or directly from the Historical Society at info@londonderryhistory.org. Individuals or retail shops can order the book directly from Arcadia Publishing . Photo courtesy of Images of America: Londonderry by the Londonderry Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing, 2004.

EARLY PORTRAITS ON DISPLAY

The Londonderry Historical Society presently has on permanent loan at the Leach Library the oil paintings of ROBERT BOYD AND MARY TOWNE BOYD, signed on the reverse “H. Bundy, Painter, Jan. 2nd, 1851.” The Boyds were descendants of Londonderry’s earliest settlers. These portraits were donated to the Londonderry Historical Society by Joseph M. Petrauskas in memory of his wife Priscilla Boyd Petrauskas.

In 1851 Robert and Mary Boyd of Londonderry wanted to preserve their images for future generations. Since photography at this time was very crude and not available for most people, the Boyds hired an itinerant painter named Horace Bundy to paint their portraits. On January 2, 1851 Bundy completed his portraits of the Boyds. Unfortunately, Robert Boyd died only a month later at the age of 62 while his wife, Mary, died in 1887 at the ripe old age of 96. The Boyds were descendants of Londonderry’s first settlers and for whom Boyd Road in south Londonderry is named.

School Involvement

The Society has actively participated with all three elementary schools to provide tours of the Museum as an enhancement for the fourth grade curriculum requirement to study New Hampshire history. The Society continues to welcome the opportunity to continue these tours for the foreseeable future.

4th Grade School Tours

School tours at the Morrison House for 4th graders from South School, North School and Matthew Thornton will be conducted again in 2008 . Member Penny Webster will continue to be the primary guide with help from Bill Bringhurst, our Vice Presdent.