Vol. 2, # 4 was a long edition.  But, as I was composing my introduction to it I realized I was getting pretty long-winded myself.  So I have taken the liberty of reserving this issue just to broach ideas.  I welcome feedback on any of them.  As you may know, I believe a good use for this type of communication is conversation, so, jump in anywhere!  And, welcome!

 

iPod Tours

Quilts

Free Advertising

Press Releases

Cable Access for Us?

Our Own Abbreviation

Balloon Payoff for Fun

 

    There seems to be a movement a-foot, to use iPods for tours.  Concord Monitor ran an article in the 01/01/06 edition Travel section (page D-6).  It sounds like something 7 or 8 of us should know about, just in case it takes off and our community would benefit from joining in.  Plus, it sounds fun! 

    I wonder if one of us (that is, "one of you") is, or knows of someone who would be, interested enough in technology to research the subject and become the expert for the NH historical society community?  You could report back via this newsletter or via the Forum on our website.  

    It's not something we need to know about right now, but it would be nice to have some of us studying up on it so when we are ready to experiment we have someone to turn to.   

 

    I would like to put out a special-interest edition on quilts.  We have had an inquiry from Alstead with an assist from Salisbury, and are hot on the trail of the Quilt Documentation Project--which, in its turn, is hot on our trail, seeking to have NH covered (to turn a quilt phrase) equitably for a book they are looking to publish.

    So, what are your questions and comments?  How many quilts does your Society have?  Have they been documented?  Why would they be?  How do you care for them?  Do you have contact information you can share about someone skillful at restoring quilts?  How do you display them?  Do you have any enchanting, poignant, funny stories to share?  Any particular quilt-related concerns?  I look forward to hearing from you!

 

     I am always on the look-out for ways to merge with the emerging heritage tourism field on our behalf.  One thing that occurred to me is to have a little mark to show the location of our historical society buildings/museums on maps like the Readers' Digest Atlas or the DeLorma Atlases, that come out of Maine.

    While reflecting on that I realized we need an abbreviation of our own:  HS is fairly widely used to indicate High School, and Hs to indicate House.  I wonder if we can start a fad (as we used to say in high school) using H/S to indicate Historical Society.  Of course, everyone has society stationery to use up, so it won't happen overnight, but, give it some thought next time you are dreaming through an atlas or planning a vacation.

   

Balloon Pay-Off?   

    (Here is another topic ripe for a special-interest edition or a Forum discussion.)  In line with the idea of abbreviations, I have also given some thought to an idea broached by one of our members at the meeting in Effingham (I think it was)--or it may have been at Annalee's, namely, that we should have a symbol to indicate "family-friendly."  (By family-friendly, I think we meant to imply "kid-friendly.")

    To explore the idea of symbol, I think about the red oval that AAA uses to indicate such-and-such a motel has met their minimum standard for cleanliness & resourcefulness.  Once the approval is won, the motel simply appends the red oval, like a footnote, wherever it prints its own name.

    I wish I could remember who made the suggestion for us, because I think this is a good idea.  Wherever you have a sign for your museum out by the road you could put a little symbol to indicate you have activities for children.  With everyone using the same symbol, the public would catch on in no time!

    To make such a thing happen, we ought to discuss, as a community, three things:

    1)  What symbol?

    2)  What minimum standard?

    3)  What approval system?

      

    You'll be glad to know I have an opinion.  To get the conversation rolling, here are my views on each:

    1)  I have three ideas for a symbol:  a) Standardize one of the State symbols (white-tail deer, ladybug, blue karner butterfly, purple finch...) OR b) an otter--playful, social, and intelligent--a good standards for children OR c) a balloon.  That is, a picture of a balloon.  I envision it with 3 stick figures on it, an adult with a child at each side.  This last has the added benefit of translating to a fairly inexpensive give-away whenever you want to call attention to your family-friendly program.  Unlike white-tailed deer.

    While I hate to encourage anyone else to make a suggestion that may distract from my enchanting candidates, the particularly good thing about an idea for a symbol is that it could be opened up to the people as a contest.  "Submit a sketch and win..."  Well, I'm not sure what you'd win, but it would be fun to see everyone's submission.  And it would be a challenge to our web guru, Richard Hureau, to put the sketches on our website for everyone to vote on, tee-hee.

    2)  To have a scintillating and productive discussion on minimum standard, we could brainstorm activities!  There are several Societies that are already doing fine things with children.  Wouldn't it be great to hear what some of those activities are?  

    To establish a minimum standard, of course, I would discourage dictating exactly which activities to use.  That is, we ought not to say, "here is a Xerox copy of the scavenger hunt used at NHHS; use that."  Rather, we may recommend planning "a scavenger hunt."  Or, better still, (for example) "one paper-and-pencil activity."  The broader the phrasing of the standard, the more readily it can be applied to the broad range of societies that we are.

    Some other questions to consider, in no particular order,

~Do we want to include docent training in the standard? 

~Should there be a time-frame? (For example, if we recommend "gather a collection of artifacts or reproductions that can be handled," should we also say, "to be changed/renewed/updated once-a-year"--or "every other year", or "every 5 years"...)

~How do we distinguish between child-centered (implying we will baby-sit while the adult tours the museum pursuing his own interests) and family-centered (implying we will provide activities the adult can use to engage her child in a discussion of history)?

~Should we leave the whole standard to each Society, saying merely (for example) "If you have some family-centered activity, then we recommend you display this symbol to attract families."

 

    3)  Which brings me to the approval system.  I think, especially to start, there shouldn't be one.  Radical, I know, but so in keeping with our NH motto of "Live free," or, at least in keeping with its near-cousin, "Live freely."  It would be nice to have a consensus about, perhaps, how many activities should be on hand, knowing whatever we know about a child's attention span and such, but, given the consensus, I believe it will be a great step for the community to have a standard symbol and a resource--a source of ideas.  In a way, the idea has its own "policing" built in:  If a Society brandishes the symbol to attract families, but then does not include activities or presentations developmentally appropriate to children, docents will be frustrated and family attendance will be only intermittent.

    Rather, I am in favor of our providing the resource (compiling ideas for possible activities), addressing concerns, and standardizing the symbol.  Then, let's see where we get from there.  What's your opinion?