The Historical Herald The Quarterly Newsletter of PO Box 514 Bartlett, NH 03812 The Bartlett The Bartlett Snow Roller—Restored 2015 www.BartlettHistory.org Fall 2020 Edition (2020:4) Historical Society The Campaign Continues…Thank you for your Continued Support Thank You. Two simple words that have so much meaning. We have several major milestones in our project plan to fully renovate and reopen the former St, Joseph Church building as our Bartlett History Museum. In August, we hit two of those milestones – the installation of the new roof on the building and the completion of Phase 1 of our renovation project. Our ability to meet these two milestones is a direct result of the generosity and support of over 350 donors for this campaign. To those who have donated so generously, we sincerely thank you. This roof would not be in place without your support. With Phase 1 complete, we now turn our attention to Phase 2 of the project – the renovation of the interior with some additional exterior work. Phase 2 key components include: Framing for new walls to define the lavatory, curator work space, archive area, and closets Installation of the mechanical systems of the building (e.g. electrical, plumbing, HVAC) Installation of new exterior windows to provide insulation as well as protect the stained glass windows Installation of new front steps and sidewalk plus work on the front foyer of the building Installation of a new handicapped accessible lavatory and exterior ramp Installation of wall insulation, wallboard and trim work Sanding the floors of the building to allow them to be finished Completing all of the finishing details (e.g. hanging light fixtures, painting and staining the walls and trim, and many other finishing details) Finally setting up the museum for a ribbon cutting and grand opening celebration. There’s a lot of work listed here but with the continued support from our membership and other donors, we can and will be successful! We’ve included another museum supplement with this newsletter to show the path to the new roof, give you a look at our new front walk and steps and add more detail to our next steps. To complete Phase 2 of this project, we estimate we need about $300,000. With the cost of materials rising faster than one can imagine, the sooner we can raise this money and complete the work, the better off we will be. If you would like to talk more about this museum and how you can help bring it to reality, please contact Phil Franklin, BHS President and point person for the project, at Phil @BartlettHistory.org. Campaign Progress: To date, through the generous donations of 359 people, grants and businesses, many have made multiple donations, we have raised $237,729 out of a $525,000 renovation estimate. To do the work for the hazardous materials removal and a few other tasks, we have spent $94,437 plus another estimated $90,000 for the roof (final invoice pending) and $24,000 in other miscellaneous museum expenses. We are always searching for additional support for Phase 2 of the renovation to complete this project. If you know of anyone who is interested in adding their name to our growing list of donors, please contact Phil Franklin, at [email protected]. Thank you. Donors from 07/01/2020—09/15/2020 * In Memory of Bert George Lloyd Chandler* Robert Holmes* Donna Osgood* Bartlett VFW* Roxann Cox* Brenda Keir* David & Patricia Pomeroy David & Cheryl Alander* Nancy Crowther Gary Kezerian (& other grand- Ray & Arden Schoen Richard & Diana Allen* Dean & Nancy Davis, honoring children of Hattie Evans Edward Stowell* Donald Aubrecht & Mary Nodine Norman & Kathleen Head memory of Hattie) Irene Szymanski Darlene Barrett* Stefi & Peter Hastings Louis & Margaret Lavender* Tom & Cori Troon* Jean Mollicone Howie Wemyss President’s Message I hope this newsletter finds everyone safe and in good health. As we move into another fall season here in the White Mountains, the leaves are turning to their brilliant red, orange and gold; the air is crisp, especially in the early morning. Looking back over the past quarter, we have accomplished several things that have advanced the renovation work on our museum project and furthered our involvement in the community. I’d like to share a few highlights with you. Let’s start with the big news about the museum project. As you read on the cover page and will see in the enclosed Museum Project Supplement, we have a new roof on the building! Our thanks to Bill Duggan, our friend and general contractor, and his crew for successfully completing this major step in the renovation process. Let’s keep the project moving forward! With the COVID-19 pandemic causing the major economic shut down in March, we were forced to cancel all of our fundraising events including three quarterly presentations and our golf tournament. In June, the state of NH announced the establishment of a NH Non-Profit Emergency Relief Fund. We applied to this fund to attempt to recover our lost fundraising dollars. While competition for the funds was stiff, we were pleased to be awarded $4,177 from this fund, about 75% of the amount we requested. We greatly appreciate the support we received from the state. Fundraising for our museum campaign is still continuing. To assist us in this effort and get our remaining funds raised as quickly as possible, we have engaged several BHS members to assist in the effort. We are broadening our network of personal contacts, expanding our social media presence and relooking at our grant funding options to raise the funds needed to complete the renovation and bring us to a grand opening of the museum. We greatly appreciate your help in this effort. Let’s get this museum open! School started in Bartlett on September 8th. Under normal circumstances, this would signal the start of our Bartlett History Project with the new 8th grade class. However, the school’s new COVID-19 protocols are causing us to relook at how we run this program. Still, in a conversation with Joe Yahna, the school principal, and Jennifer Lord, our main faculty contact, we are all committed to finding a way to make this program work for the 2020 – 2021 school year. We’ll have more on this program as we move forward. We were pleasantly surprised recently when the grandchildren of Hattie Evans contacted us. I met with them and had a wonderful conversation about Hattie and their family. The story of Hattie Evans is very inspiring. She is best known as the mother of four children and widow of a railroad track section foreman who, after her husband’s death on the railroad, continued to live in their house next to the tracks just below Mount Willard. There, she raised her family and cared for the railroad workers who worked for her husband. Her story is told in the book Life by the Tracks by Virginia Downs. We’ll have more on her story in a future newsletter. Finally, we are again at that time of the year when we kick off our membership drive for the coming year. Our 2020 Membership Drive was a great success with another 12% growth in our membership as we thanked our renewing members and welcomed 34 new members. We hope that our 2021 Membership Drive is even more successful. The Board of Directors of the Bartlett Historical Society remains committed to our mission of preserving and protecting the history of Bartlett, NH and the surrounding region and offering educational opportunities for people to learn about this history. Our museum project, 8th grade program, railroad research and growing collection of artifacts are all examples of how we are working to make this the best historical society anywhere. We look forward to receiving your 2021 renewal dues and, if you are not a member, having you join us as an active new member. We appreciate your support. If you have questions about the historical society, please contact me at [email protected]. I look to meeting you. Sincerely, Phil Franklin President, Bartlett Historical Society [email protected] 2 Searching for Nicknames of Bartlett People—Past and Present—Update Snapper, Bullethead, Gomp, Firpo, Lefty, Jeep, Bruddie, Skippy, Hatseed, Moo, Gunbolts, Hedgehog Just a few of the many nicknames that have been sent to us! Response to our nickname request has been great. We’ve received several lists of nicknames, some short, others pages long. One thing that this request seems to have inspired is friends and family members getting together to remember some of the old names and, most importantly, the people associated with the names. While some of those folks have passed on, many are very much alive and well in the neighborhood. We’re still searching for more nicknames of people so if you know them, please send them in. If you think we may already have a name, don’t worry about duplicates. We’ll sort out duplicates and we may find that someone had different nicknames for the same person depending on their school, neighborhood or they outgrew one nickname and grew into another. As we expected, we’ve received a few nicknames where people don’t seem to know the person’s real name! That’s why we decided to ask for your help in assembling the Nickname Roster. We don’t want this type of history to fade into the sunset. We’re looking to include as many people as possible, from the past and in the present, in this roster. We’re asking for the following information about you, people you know or your ancestors: • Their given name—their “real” name How did you get • How you know or knew them or of them—your relationship that nickname?! • Their nickname or nicknames, and • The story (if known) behind the nickname because that’s what adds the color to the moniker (e.g.