Past Exhibits
Signs of the Times
Nov. 1, 2023 – Apr. 19, 2024 Signs surround us in our daily lives and have been doing so for over 5,000 years. They sell us products, warn us of impending danger, promote individuals and businesses, instruct us with tasks, and direct us as to which way to go. In...
Mountain as Muse
May 25, 2024 - September 7, 2024 For almost 200 years artists have focused on the landscape of Mount Monadnock as a subject for the canvases. For these artists, Monadnock has been a source of inspiration for their art. For some artists, the mountain may have...
Chesterfield Archaeological Finds
August 2023 - October 2023 In the Spring of 2022, while partaking in their weekly “woods recess” -a period of free play in Chesterfield Elementary School’s outdoor classrooms- 5th grade students began finding old bottles and other vintage items in their woodsy...
Two Conversations
Dates: February 10, 2023 – April 22, 2023 Art installation opening reception February 10th ~ 4-6pm The Historical Society of Cheshire County is pleased to host an installation of artwork by fiber artist Sharon Myers and printmaker Erika Radich. As friends and...
History of Summer Camps
Introductory VideoExhibit Dates: May 26, 2023 - September 2, 2023 Summer camps for children were introduced during the last half of the 19th century. The camps offered a way for children to escape from an increasingly urban modern life. Famed child psychologist, G....
Finding Home in NH
September 9, 2022- December 16, 2022. Finding Home in New Hampshire features photography, text, and audio recordings that address cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity in the Granite State. Through the contemporary photography by Becky Field, the exhibit...
Nature & Humanity in the Monadnock Region
June 2, 2022 - August 26, 2022. Nature and Humanity in the Monadnock Region People have had a varied relationship with the natural landscape in the Monadnock Region. At times residents of the region have lived in harmony with nature and at times they have exploited...
NH NOW
October 1, 2021-May 20, 2022. New Hampshire NOW: A Photographic Diary of Life in the Granite State. Nearly 50 photographers traveled throughout the state between 2018 and 2020, making thousands of images that collectively create a twenty-first-century portrait of...
The Ghost Army
June 4, 2021-September 2, 2021 During World War II, a hand-picked group of American GI’s undertook a bizarre mission: create a traveling roadshow of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the German Army as their audience. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops...
Dartmouth College Exhibit
October 15, 2020-February 15, 2021 October 22, 2020 marked the 250th anniversary of the first meeting of the Trustees of Dartmouth College, which was held at the Wyman Tavern in Keene, NH. Seven trustees met in the north parlor of the Tavern to initiate the business...
Toys
November 6, 2019- April 18, 2020 Toys: The Story of Toy Manufacturing in the Central Connecticut River Valley examines the development of the toy industry to reveal the technological innovations of its residents, the history of childhood play theory in America,...
Identity and Race in 1940s Keene
January-April, 2019 The story of a radiologist who, after years living as a white person in New Hampshire, including in Keene, tries to join the military during World War II but is rejected after being designated an African-American, is the subject of a local...
Regenerating Fragments
November 2, 2018-January 2019 Regenerating Fragments was a show of quilts by fiber artist Anne Francisco. Francisco creates dynamic quilts from discarded fragments. Her subjects are dragons, spirals, geometric whirls, simple shapes and complex grids. Her designs are...
Hear and Now
October 2018 The Historical Society of Cheshire County co-curated this pop up exhibit with Keene Community Education’s English as a Second Language classes for the festival. Hear and Now is a multicultural exhibit based on oral histories conducted with and by 15...
Marketing Monadnock
February 9- May 5, 2018 “Marketing Monadnock,” illustrates the role Mount Monadnock has had throughout this region and beyond by showing how often it’s been used on marketing materials throughout history. Many artists and authors have focused on the mountain’s beauty...
All Around Monadnock
June- September, 2018 In the Historical Society's art exhibit, All Around Monadnock: The Character and Heritage of the Monadnock Region, over 50 artists submitted artworks to celebrate the natural beauty and cultural heritage of the Monadnock region of New...
Martha Willson’s Diary
January 25- April 21, 2017 Martha Willson's Diary Exhibit was created as a youth-curated project in collaboration with Keene High School’s advanced placement U.S. history class. In May 2017, students transcribed the 1850 diary of teenager Martha Willson of Keene to...
Peddlers, Shopkeepers and Professionals
January 25- April 21, 2017 In connection with the 100th anniversary of Keene’s Congregation Ahavas Achim, the exhibit “From Peddlers to Shopkeepers to Professionals: A History of the Jewish Community in Cheshire County” told the story of Jewish immigrants to Keene and...
Albert Duvall Quigley
January 25- April 21, 2017 Albert Quigley lived in the small New Hampshire hill town of Nelson for almost three decades, from the 1930s to the 1960s. Towns such as Nelson were struggling to survive as the Depression caused economic hardship, agriculture and industry...
Monadnock Memories, a teen perspective.
October 3-October 7, 2016 In the spring of 2016, students in Keene High School’s AP US History, American Studies, and Public Speaking classes collaborated with the Historical Society of Cheshire County, thanks to a Keene Academy Fund grant, to interview approximately...
Gnomes vs. Flamingos: A Brief History of Lawn Ornamentation
July 1, 2016- September 9, 2016 In a salute to our decorative impulses, the Historical Society of Cheshire County presents a showcase of lawn art from the late 19th century through today. The “Gnomes vs. Flamingos” exhibit features approximately 120 individual pieces...
In the Far Pasture: 300 Years of Agriculture in Cheshire County
November 2015-June 2016The nature of agriculture in Cheshire County has changed immeasurably over the past three centuries. The transition from 18th century subsistence farms to organic farming and specialization in the 21st century is a fascinating story of hard...
Treasured Places, Protected Spaces: An Exhibition of Artwork Featuring Conservation Lands of the Monadnock Region
May 29, 2015-September 5, 2015 Treasured Places, Protected Spaces: An Exhibition of Artwork Featuring Conservation Lands of the Monadnock Region This summer art, conservation, and history will come together at the Historical Society of Cheshire County. The featured...
Icons of the Civil Rights Movement
April 10, 2015-May 10, 2015 Icons of the Civil Rights Movement, commemorating those who played roles in the history of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Pamela Chatterton-Purdy’s artwork depicts thirty iconic figures of the Civil Rights Movement in gilded wooden...
An End to Innocence: Cheshire County in the Civil War
December 6, 2014-March 27, 2015 In Cheshire County 150 years ago men went off to fight a war in their own country to preserve the union. Many came back with gruesome wounds or in coffins, and many never returned to the difficult farmland of New Hampshire. [more info]...
Quenching Our Thirst: Archaeology at the Wyman Tavern
October 8, 2014- November 8, 2014 What makes people of varied backgrounds come together to participate in an archaeological excavation? That’s something that the Historical Society of Cheshire County is asking its student volunteers. Two students, Cole Tollett and...
Canvassing the White Mountains: Icons of Place
June 21, 2014- September 12, 2014 Showcasing important works by nineteenth and early twentieth century painters of New Hampshire’s White Mountains and Mount Monadnock, “Canvassing the White Mountains: Icons of Place” tells how the work of the artists impacted the...