November 14, 2024

1 2024-25 Annual Appeal Campaign

2 Holiday Open House December 7

3 American Girl Christmas Tea Party

4 Exhibit Opening: Life & Works of Marylou Ashooh Lazos

5 2024 Manchester Holiday Ornament

6 2025 Manchester Calendar

7 2025 Historic Preservation Award Nominations

8 Manchester Trivia Questions

Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to You and Your Family

from the Manchester Historic Association

Please note: 

The Millyard Museum will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28 and Friday, Nov. 29

The Museum and Museum Shop will be OPEN

Saturday, November 30



2024-25 Annual Appeal Campaign

This Thanksgiving, we are so thankful for all of our members and supporters who are a part of our community. 

We are proud to play a part in preserving and sharing Manchester’s unique history and your support makes it possible: from operating the Millyard Museum and Research Center, providing educational programs to school groups in Manchester and beyond, continuing to offer fresh new exhibits, and caring for the Association's important collection of artifacts and documents pertaining to the city's history.

In this season of giving, please consider a gift to the Manchester Historic Association to help us continue our important work.

Please click here or mail your gift to the Manchester Historic Association Millyard Museum, 200 Bedford Street, Manchester, NH 03101. Thank you!

2024 Holiday Open House

Saturday, December 7, 2024

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Millyard Museum

FREE Admission

Visit with Santa Claus from noon to 1:00!

Christmas Music Concert with Northern Voices A Capella at 2:00

Enjoy time spent with your neighbors, family and friends on this festive day of fun family activities and shopping at the Millyard Museum!

Enjoy children's holiday crafts, cookies and cider, and shop for the holidays in the Museum Shop, featuring historical books, locally made products, our 2025 historic Manchester calendar and unique collectible brass ornaments.

Members of the Manchester Historic Association receive an extra 10% discount this day only (at least 20% off all shop items).

Home for the Holidays American Girl Tea Party

Saturday, December 7, 2024

11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

The Millyard Museum presents an, “Home for the Holidays: An American Girl Tea party”, inspired by American Girl Doll Traditions. Guests will enjoy crafts, treats, and stories about how different cultures and time periods celebrated Christmas and other winter holidays. Bring your doll and join us for this special program!

Bring your doll and join us for an American Girl Doll Tea Party! A tour of the Millyard Museum will be followed by refreshments and crafts. 

$20 per person. Space is limited! Click here to purchase tickets.

Please Note: Children MUST be accompanied by an adult with a ticket.

Exhibit Opening:

Manchester Inspired: The Life and Works of Marylou Ashooh Lazos



Thursday, December 5, 2024

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Millyard Museum

Organized by the Manchester Historic Association and her family, Marylou Ashooh Lazos: Life and Works of Manchester explores the local designer, artist and curator who drew inspiration, energy and purpose from her beloved hometown.

Marylou Ashooh Lazos (1957-2024) served the Manchester Historic Association for over 40 years as a volunteer, curator, and trustee. In her position as Curator of Collections, she helped design and open the Millyard Museum in 2001.

This exhibit will showcase a diverse array of her work, from early commercial art and design to later fine art, illustration and assemblage. Each work reflects Marylou’s love of artistic form, utility and purpose.

Manchester emerges as a consistent and significant theme in her work, as the city’s transformative spirit and the resilience of its people deeply inspired her. Her legacy not only celebrates Manchester but illustrates the power of nurturing creativity from within its neighborhoods.

Free Admission. Please RSVP by calling (603) 622-7531 or email history@manchesterhistoric.org

2024 Manchester Holiday Ornament

The Manchester Historic Association is pleased to announce this year’s holiday ornament featuring the Mill Girl statue at Mill Girl Plaza.

The ornament features a colorized depiction of the statue that honors the legacy of the young women who served as the first textile workers of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, beginning in the late 1830s. The statue was designed by sculptor Antoinette Schultze and dedicated in 1988. Just last year, the Mill Girl Statue was re-positioned in a more prominent location closer to Commercial Street as part of a revitalization of Mill Girl Plaza.

Each year the Manchester Historic Association produces an original, limited edition brass-plated ornament that celebrates Manchester’s history. These unique, detailed ornaments are handcrafted in the United States and make perfect Christmas tree decorations or gifts for the holidays and for many other occasions. Each comes in a decorative box.

These ornaments are available for $28.00 in the Millyard Museum Shop as well as at the MHA Research Center. The 2024 ornaments, as well as a limited number of ornaments from past years, can also be purchased online.

2025 Manchester Calendar

Stroll down memory lane every month with this exclusive calendar from the Manchester Historic Association! The calendar features 12 images from our vast photographic collection, printed on high quality paper. Makes a great gift!

The calendars are $18.00 and can be purchased at the Millyard Museum Shop or MHA Research Center.

2025 Historic Preservation Award Nominations



The Historic Preservation Committee is now accepting nominations for the 2025 Historic Preservation Awards.  

The Historic Preservation Awards program recognizes and supports the efforts of individuals, businesses and organizations who have made significant contributions to the preservation of buildings, neighborhoods, traditions and other historic resources in the Queen City.

Over 30 years, more than 250 recipients have been recognized for a wide variety of preservation efforts in 40 different categories. The annual event is the MHA's largest fundraiser to support its non-profit mission of collecting, preserving and sharing the history of Manchester.

If you are interested in nominating a person, organization or business for a Historic Preservation Award, please complete the HPA 2025 Nomination Form by December 7.

The 33rd Annual Historic Preservation Awards will be held on May 20, 2025 at the Matarese Commons at the Derryfield School. Further details will be announced in the coming months.

Last Month's Trivia Question:

Arms Park along the Merrimack River in the Millyard (and Arms Street) is named for the former Arms Textile Manufacturing Company located on that site. Where did the name “ARMS” come from?

ANSWER: ARMS stood for the initials of the four Scheer brothers who owned the mill: Alvin, Robert, Maurice, and Stanley. 

The company was renamed Arms Textile from Philip Scheer & Sons of Philadelphia, which relocated to Manchester’s Millyard in 1937 following the closure of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, occupying the former Amoskeag Mill #9 building.

The mill building was also the location of an outbreak of anthrax in 1957 which infected nine workers, killing four. The source was traced back to a shipment of goat hides transported to Manchester from Pakistan. The building was demolished twenty years later, in 1977. 

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This Month's Trivia Question: On April 28, 1752, John Stark was captured by the Abenaki while on a hunting and trapping trip along the Baker River near present-day Plymouth, NH. He remained in captivity with Abenaki people for one year. Where did his captors take him?

The answer will appear in the next newsletter.