President's Message
Dear Members and Friends,
We hope you have "wintered' well and that you are ready for another productive and "historic" year! Your BHHS History Center OPENS on Saturday, April 2, 2016 from 9 A.M. - Noon for the 2016 year! Check our program listing in this newsletter and our website calendar for the year's exciting schedule of events.
Our program line up is looking great once again this year! From debunking genealogical myths to sponsoring a Victorian White Party and Maypole Dance at Quillcote; from a Maine Humanities Council published inquiry into how Kate Douglas Wiggin journeyed from worldwide celebrity to obscurity to kayaking the Saco; from the Box Lunch Auction fundraiser to the Dorcas Fair and Hollis Pirate Fest; from the symbolism of stone rubbing to historic and evolving funeral customs, 2016 promises to have something for most everyone! We are especially looking forward to our November Annual Potluck Dinner Meeting where slides of our first major exhibit "All Roads Lead to Bar Mills" will be presented! Those who have not already done so will have a chance to tour the exhibit. Although this first major exhibit effort is still in the works, lots of progress has been made! Be watching for our exhibit opening announcement.
Breaking news! Because of our work to save the Bar Mills School and the old Hollis High School from demolition, BHHS has been asked to participate in a four team panel on "Success Stories: How Mainers Saved Four Remarkable Endangered Places" at Maine Preservation's Annual Meeting in Augusta on April 30! Chris Closs, MP Field Service Adviser, wrote in a recent email that we "were the poster child for non-profit intervention and successful advocacy in Maine!" He continues to share that MP "wishes to publicly project the honor that these successful campaigns deserve." Naturally, we are excited and honored to be recognized! A few of us will be traveling together to this meeting. If you would like to join us, please let me know.
During the winter, we have been catching up on accessioning items donated in 2015. We have a number of other projects we would like to work on in 2016, too. If you have some time on your hands, we would welcome your assistance with any of the following projects that might sound interesting: moving files to an additional file cabinet, completing finishing touches of the Hollis Comprehensive Building Survey, acquiring more Buxton & Hollis census reports (after 1890), beginning to sort and file contents of storage boxes packed when we moved from the old Buxton Town Hall, working on various capital improvement projects, and cutting out and filing obituary articles. In 2016, we hope to begin a new long term project of scanning and cataloging all images in our files!
On another subject.....As I listen to the evening local, state and national news, I am frequently appalled at the crazy, increasingly crude speech and dangerous behavior of some of our nation’s citizens these days. I often wonder how to effectively make a difference and bring a little sanity to the world. Do you ever feel that way? I try to stay positive by focusing on my own attitude as much as possible. (It is only there, I reason, that I have any element of control.) Recently, while reading through some historical society info, I found this little poem below dated March 1902 (author unknown). It is simple, yet it reminds and encourages me to strive to make conscious choices based in kindness in all situations of my life. Perhaps it will cheer you a bit, as it does me, in these often disturbing times....
Good Cheer!
Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on.
'Twas not given for you alone--
Pass it on.
Let it travel down the years.
Let it wipe another's tears,
'Til on all the Earth (as in Heaven)
The deed appears!
Happy Spring Everyone!
Jan Hill, President
We hope you have "wintered' well and that you are ready for another productive and "historic" year! Your BHHS History Center OPENS on Saturday, April 2, 2016 from 9 A.M. - Noon for the 2016 year! Check our program listing in this newsletter and our website calendar for the year's exciting schedule of events.
Our program line up is looking great once again this year! From debunking genealogical myths to sponsoring a Victorian White Party and Maypole Dance at Quillcote; from a Maine Humanities Council published inquiry into how Kate Douglas Wiggin journeyed from worldwide celebrity to obscurity to kayaking the Saco; from the Box Lunch Auction fundraiser to the Dorcas Fair and Hollis Pirate Fest; from the symbolism of stone rubbing to historic and evolving funeral customs, 2016 promises to have something for most everyone! We are especially looking forward to our November Annual Potluck Dinner Meeting where slides of our first major exhibit "All Roads Lead to Bar Mills" will be presented! Those who have not already done so will have a chance to tour the exhibit. Although this first major exhibit effort is still in the works, lots of progress has been made! Be watching for our exhibit opening announcement.
Breaking news! Because of our work to save the Bar Mills School and the old Hollis High School from demolition, BHHS has been asked to participate in a four team panel on "Success Stories: How Mainers Saved Four Remarkable Endangered Places" at Maine Preservation's Annual Meeting in Augusta on April 30! Chris Closs, MP Field Service Adviser, wrote in a recent email that we "were the poster child for non-profit intervention and successful advocacy in Maine!" He continues to share that MP "wishes to publicly project the honor that these successful campaigns deserve." Naturally, we are excited and honored to be recognized! A few of us will be traveling together to this meeting. If you would like to join us, please let me know.
During the winter, we have been catching up on accessioning items donated in 2015. We have a number of other projects we would like to work on in 2016, too. If you have some time on your hands, we would welcome your assistance with any of the following projects that might sound interesting: moving files to an additional file cabinet, completing finishing touches of the Hollis Comprehensive Building Survey, acquiring more Buxton & Hollis census reports (after 1890), beginning to sort and file contents of storage boxes packed when we moved from the old Buxton Town Hall, working on various capital improvement projects, and cutting out and filing obituary articles. In 2016, we hope to begin a new long term project of scanning and cataloging all images in our files!
On another subject.....As I listen to the evening local, state and national news, I am frequently appalled at the crazy, increasingly crude speech and dangerous behavior of some of our nation’s citizens these days. I often wonder how to effectively make a difference and bring a little sanity to the world. Do you ever feel that way? I try to stay positive by focusing on my own attitude as much as possible. (It is only there, I reason, that I have any element of control.) Recently, while reading through some historical society info, I found this little poem below dated March 1902 (author unknown). It is simple, yet it reminds and encourages me to strive to make conscious choices based in kindness in all situations of my life. Perhaps it will cheer you a bit, as it does me, in these often disturbing times....
Good Cheer!
Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on.
'Twas not given for you alone--
Pass it on.
Let it travel down the years.
Let it wipe another's tears,
'Til on all the Earth (as in Heaven)
The deed appears!
Happy Spring Everyone!
Jan Hill, President