From August through October historic images will be ‘popping up’ throughout downtown Peterborough! Walk through town and discover a vintage photograph placed in its historic location. In this exhibit, explore the ways Peterborough has changed (and stayed the same!) and see the evolution of the community and its architecture through imagery from 50, 100 and […]
A local story of the Revolution contributed by Tim LaPierre It can sometimes seem like history is dominated by famous, distant figures: generals, politicians, scientists, and the like. On occasion we hear of what life was like for the average commoner. But the opportunity to learn about the lives and stories of real people from […]
The Peterborough Holiday Tree Lighting celebration on December 7 is a part of a long tradition of Peterborough holiday festivities. This photograph shows the town’s holiday tree on December 24, 1915. Three years earlier the townspeople inaugurated a town wide holiday celebration with a tree and caroling. Peterborough photographer Ernest Townsend made this photograph and […]
Early manufacturing in Peterborough was focused on textiles but by the end of the 19th century, the town was producing a myriad of products ranging from thermometers to baskets to shoes. This was due in part to the increased demand for consumer goods but also to the efforts of the town fathers to bring more […]
This little homemade notebook reveals the complexity of the world economy in the 1830’s. The book, labeled “Receipt Book 1835,” belonged to Ebenezer Jones (1804-1878). Jones began his early working life in Gilsum but later moved to Peterborough to keep a store. In his early years, he was active in mill work and purchased the […]
November 11, 2014 marks the 60th observance of Veterans Day, an annual event first proclaimed by President Eisenhower that honors all Americans who have served in the United States Armed Forces. The tradition was preceded by “Armistice Day”, first proclaimed by President Wilson 95 years ago on November 11th to commemorate the ceasefire on the […]
[reposted from the Library of Congress: In the Muse Performing Arts Blog] For five days in August in 1914, thousands of people descended on the tiny village of Peterborough, New Hampshire to attend the fifth summer festival of music and drama produced by the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association. Inaugurated in 1910, these annual festivals were […]
The products of Peterborough’s industrial past form an important part of the Monadnock Center’s collection. This screw- style piano stool was produced by the Brigg’s Piano Stool Company between 1870 and 1891. Joshua Briggs (b. 1825) began his career as a carpenter and soon produced piano stools as odd jobs for folks in town. In […]
The Monadnock Center has a large archive of military materials including letters and diaries of Peterborough Civil War soldiers. The following letter was written by John Addison Cummings (1838-1887), a young Army captain. He mailed this letter from Antietam Creek on September 28, 1862 “Dear Mother: We are lying in camp here on the bank […]
The Monadnock Center for History & Culture preserves four historic buildings at its downtown Peterborough campus including the District #8 Schoolhouse. This brick one-room schoolhouse was donated to the Center in the 1990’s. The school was built in 1824, one of several brick schoolhouses erected that year. Peterborough was unusual because the town chose to […]
The Peterborough Pageant 1910 & 1919
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