Museum of the White Mountains Taking Shape

[Waumbek]

Plymouth State is taking steps to form a White Mountain museum. They've just received the bequest of an extensive collection of relevant materials from Daniel Noel of Intervale. It is hoped that Noel's gift will form the nucleus to attract further bequests. I'm very pleased to see this development in Plymouth on the edge of the North Country and in a public institution. It's a good fit for PSU and its recent efforts to form regional partnerships with the North Country.

http://www.plymouth.edu/news/fullstory.php?number=6804

 

[erugs]

It's an interesting idea and I'd like to see collected works kept more together than they are now. For example, a late friend of mine donated the work of her late husband on the Bretton Woods Boys Choir to Dartmouth College. I bet, as a graduate from Plymouth, she would have liked to see their collections at Plymouth. (He was a Harvard grad, so I don't know why Dartmouth was selected for his papers.) The choir camp was on the road to the Cog base station and they "sang for their supper" at the resort hotels. In addition, I remember "Uncle Frank" talk about his hikes in the mountains, and if I remember correctly, he slid down the tracks once.

 

[Waumbek]

(He was a Harvard grad, so I don't know why Dartmouth was selected for his papers.)

Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth has perhaps the most substantial collection of White Mountains holdings--books, papers, maps, ephermera, etc--and the custom is to donate papers to libraries that have similar holdings regardless of your alma mater. It gives them more prominence, and researchers are more likely to use them. But Dartmouth does not have substantial holdings in the other kinds of materials that PSU is apparently willing to archive. They're going to get the corner on a new market that has been largely the province of private collectors. It sounds like PSU also wants to develop other kinds of educational outreach associated with the White Mountains that no one is doing now. They are definitely focusing on connecting with the NH public on this issue. Dartmouth does not. It's not its niche. Good for PSU!

 

[erugs]

I appreciate the feedback about the process. Good for PSU is right! I hope it becomes a great niche for them.