August 7, 2024

1 War of 1812 American Girl Tea Party

2 MHA Receives Inspire! Grant for Small Museums

3 Black Heritage Trail of NH Marker Unveiling

4 Walking Tour of Pine Grove Cemetery

5 Murder and Mayhem: A Manchester Game of Clue

6 Millyard Museum Featured on NH Chronicle

7 Now on Exhibit: Who Wore It? The Forensics of a Dress

8 Special Exhibit: Legacy of the Manchester Housing Authority

9 Manchester Trivia Questions

War of 1812 American Girl Tea Party

Saturday, August 17, 2024

11:30 a.m.

Millyard Museum

$20 per person

Join us at the Millyard Museum for our popular American Girl summer tea party! This year's theme is all about time period surrounding the War of 1812, inspired by Caroline Abbott. Guests will enjoy crafts, treats, and stories about the War of 1812 in New England. Bring your doll and join us for this special program!

LIMITED SEATS STILL AVAILABLE!

Purchase tickets here

All children must be accompanied by a ticketed adult.

Manchester Historic Association Receives Inspire! Grant for Small Museums

The Manchester Historic Association is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services' Inspire! Grants for Small Museums program. The Inspire! program is designed to support small museums of all disciplines in serving communities throughout the United States.  

The MHA's grant will allow the organization to organize and rehouse its textile collection to improve preservation and access. The collection includes over 5,000 articles of period clothing and accessories from the 18th through the 20th centuries and documents Manchester’s role as a major textile production center and contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. As part of the project, the condition of the textiles will be assessed, and items will be rehoused, cataloged, and photographed.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. They advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov.

Black Heritage Trail of NH Marker Unveiling

The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire and the Manchester Historic Association are excited to announce the dedication of a new marker recognizing and honoring enslaved peoples’ contributions to Manchester’s textile industry. 

The unveiling ceremony will take place on Saturday, September 21, at 10 a.m. The marker will be located on the south end of the Mill #3 building at 200 Bedford Street, home of the Millyard Museum. The location of the marker and ceremony is the site of a three-story picker house where bales of raw cotton were delivered and mill workers separated the cotton fibers from stems and sticks. This was one of the first places the cotton was handled once it arrived from the south. 

Prior to the Civil War, the majority of the cotton used to manufacture cloth at the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester was purchased from southern sources where it was grown and picked on cotton plantations by enslaved people. In 1859, Amoskeag purchased an average of 5,000 bales of cotton per week for its textile production. The cotton was received from cities including Mobile, Alabama; Galveston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Apalachicola, Florida. 

Walking Tour of

Pine Grove Cemetery

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

Join us for a walking tour of Manchester’s Pine Grove Cemetery. Manchester Historic Association staff will guide visitors through the cemetery, visiting the graves of many interesting individuals from Manchester’s past, including philanthropist Frank P. Carpenter, Broadway star Betty George, Amoskeag Steam Fire Engine Inventor Nehemiah Bean, composer Alonzo Elliot, Civil War surgeon Esther Hill Hawks, and four New Hampshire governors.

Pine Grove is Manchester’s only active municipal cemetery. The cemetery was first developed in 1851. Over the years the city made several additional land purchases, until the cemetery grew to around 275 acres.

The tour will begin at the Ursula Chapel. Please note, this tour involves walking on uneven terrain, and may not be suitable for individuals with mobility issues.

COST: $10 Manchester Historic Association members – $15 General Public

Pre-registration is required. Click here to register or call or e-mail today to reserve your spot! (603) 622-7531 / history@manchesterhistoric.org

Murder and Mayhem:

A Manchester Game of Clue

Thursday, October 3, 2024

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Millyard Museum

Join us at the Millyard Museum on October 3rd a for a fun evening of intrigue, murder, and mayhem: A Manchester Game of Clue, featuring 3 distinct historic Manchester murders.

Partnering once again with the Majestic Theater, come experience a first person

reenactment of the events as they unfolded right here in our fair Queen City. Can you solve the case of the Chauffeur in the Kitchen with the poison? How about the Barkeep in the Woods with the Knife?

The evening will include a cash bar and heavy hors d’ oeuvres. Advanced registration is required. This is a 21+ event.

COST: $15 Manchester Historic Association members – $20 General Public

Pre-registration is required. Click here to register, or call or e-mail today to reserve your spot! (603) 622-7531 / history@manchesterhistoric.org

Millyard Museum Featured on NH Chronicle

The Millyard Museum's special exhibit, "Who Wore It: The Forensics of a Dress" was recently featured on NH Chronicle! If you missed it, click below to watch MHA staff give insight into the idea behind the exhibit and show highlights of some favorite dresses!

Also featured in this episode is MHA Trustee Jen Drociak's Manchester T-Shirt line!

Click here to watch!

Now on Exhibit:

"Who Wore It? The Forensics of a Dress"

This special exhibit features 200 years of dresses worn by amazing women from Manchester’s past. These matriarchs of Manchester lived incredible lives as entrepreneurs, philanthropists, doctors, teachers, activists, New Hampshire First Ladies, and homemakers.

Generously donated by loved ones and lovingly preserved by the Manchester Historic Association, these dresses tell the stories of the vibrant women who wore them. Bearing witness to the happiest and saddest moments in the lives of their owners, these dresses witnessed both unspeakable joy and unbearable pain and every emotion in-between.

As you travel though the history of fashion and evolution of design and fabrication, we ask that you imagine the memories these gowns might hold. Motherhood, careers, and the simple tasks of everyday life become immortal through every worn hem and altered seam.

On exhibit through November 1, 2024 

Special Exhibit:

Legacy of the Manchester Housing & Redevelopment Authority

The Manchester Historic Association is pleased to partner with the Manchester Housing & Redevelopment Authority on a special, temporary exhibit that recognizes

80 years of service and work that has shaped the City of Manchester.

Over the past eight decades, the work of the MHRA has touched nearly every neighborhood in the city, clearing unsanitary blight, building affordable housing, supporting veteran families with post-war housing, and facilitating funding for industrial and community projects. This exhibit features dozens of photographs from the archives of both the MHA and MRHA that tell the story of the Housing Authority's work and lasting impact on Manchester.

On exhibit in the Millyard Museum Discovery Gallery

Last Month's Trivia Question:

Who is the only person to serve as Mayor of Manchester, Governor of New Hampshire, and U.S. Senator?

ANSWER: Person C. Cheney

Cheney operated the Cheney Paper Mill in Manchester.  During the Civil War, he served as a First Lieutenant regimental quartermaster of the 13th Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, Union Army. He entered politics after the war, serving as Mayor of Manchester for one term in 1872 and Governor of New Hampshire from 1875 to 1877. 

He was later appointed to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Austin F. Pike, and served from November 1886 to June 1887. 

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This Month's Trivia Question: What Manchester company’s product was selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee for use at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City?

The answer will appear in the next newsletter.