19 Grove St. ~ PO Box 58 ~ Peterborough, NH 03458 ~ 603-924-3235 

Face masks are recommended when visiting the Monadnock Center. Click here for current COVID Policy.

Archives Research is now by appointment only. Please contact us at (603) 924-3235 to schedule an appointment.

Monadnock Center Blog

Christmas at Our House Long Ago
By December 24, 2021 Read More →

Christmas at Our House Long Ago

Merry Christmas to all! I ran across this charming recollection in the archives and had to share it with all of you. Six year-old Evelyn Balcom moved to Peterborough in 1913 with her mother to lived with her uncle and aunt, William and Mary Farnsworth. They lived above the Farnsworth’s store on Main Street. Here […]

Books with Local Flavor- A Holiday Gift Guide 2021
By December 3, 2021 Read More →

Books with Local Flavor- A Holiday Gift Guide 2021

Holiday Gift Guide 2021 Let’s celebrate the region’s history and culture with gifts that have a local flavor! I love giving books for the holidays (or really, any occasion!) Here is my selection of the best local books to share with your loved ones this year. After each description, I have included a list of […]

Back in Time for Dinner with Thornton Wilder and Fletcher Dole
By June 14, 2021 Read More →

Back in Time for Dinner with Thornton Wilder and Fletcher Dole

You’re probably thinking, “Okay, Thornton Wilder is certainly a well-known person but who the heck is Fletcher Dole?” My guess is unless you grew up in Peterborough, NH in the middle of the 20th century you don’t know Fletcher Dole and how he was connected to Thornton Wilder. Here’s a hint — Howie Newsome. Here’s […]

Back in Time for Dinner with Amelia Earhart
By May 28, 2021 Read More →

Back in Time for Dinner with Amelia Earhart

A few weeks ago there was something on NH Chronicle about female pilots in New Hampshire. I immediately thought of Amelia Earhart, probably the most famous female pilot of all time, and wondered if she was ever in the Monadnock Region. She was. Here’s what we know… In the summer of 1931 Earhart and her husband, publisher George […]

Back in Time for Dinner with Mark Twain
By May 21, 2021 Read More →

Back in Time for Dinner with Mark Twain

A few years ago, I toured one of the most beautiful historic homes I’ve ever visited. It was the home on Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Clemens and his wife Olivia spent 17 years in this 25-room house in Hartford, CT, with their three daughters. At a desk in the corner of […]

Back in Time for Dinner with Calvin & Grace Coolidge
By May 14, 2021 Read More →

Back in Time for Dinner with Calvin & Grace Coolidge

A few years back I visited the boyhood home of Calvin Coolidge in Plymouth Notch, VT. While looking into Calvin’s parent’s sitting room, I could almost picture the morning of August 3, 1923, when Calvin’s father, a notary public, conducted the oath of office that would make his son our 30th president. The ceremony was […]

Back in Time for Lunch with Julia Child
By May 7, 2021 Read More →

Back in Time for Lunch with Julia Child

I wonder if any of you ever got to meet Julia Child during one of several trips she and her husband Paul made to the area in the 1980s and 1990s? The closest I ever got was a glimpse of her as she passed me in the hallway at South Meadow School in 1993, when […]

Back in Time for Dinner with Ralph Waldo Emerson
By April 30, 2021 Read More →

Back in Time for Dinner with Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Before Covid forced many museums to temporarily close their doors, I had the chance to visit Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home in Concord, MA. Emerson and his second wife Lidian lived with their four children in their Concord house for 47 years. Upon purchasing the house in 1835, he wrote to his brother that he […]

Back in Time for Lunch with Eleanor Roosevelt
By April 23, 2021 Read More →

Back in Time for Lunch with Eleanor Roosevelt

Back in Time for Lunch with Eleanor Roosevelt While browsing through the 1936 issues of the Transcript, I came across a blurb about Eleanor Roosevelt driving through New Hampshire and stopping in Peterborough. That got me thinking about how I would have entertained Eleanor if I had the opportunity to meet her. Here’s what we […]

Back in Time for Dinner with Mrs. Tom Thumb
By April 19, 2021 Read More →

Back in Time for Dinner with Mrs. Tom Thumb

Back in Time for Dinner with Lavinia Warren (Mrs. Tom Thumb) I love looking through old copies of our local newspaper. You never know what you will find and often the advertisements are as interesting as the news articles. One ad that caught my eye was from the October 4, 1875 issue which promoted the […]