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About the Museum

The Museum hosts an annual open house the day of the Christmas Tree Lighting on the town common. The rest of the year it is open by appointment. Please contact one of the Trustees to make arrangements.

The Armstrong Building originally housed the Nesmith Library. After the library moved to its current location on Fellows Road, the interior of the Armstrong Building was restored as closely as possible to its original state. Since then, the Museum Trustees along with volunteers from the Windham Historical Society, have worked to restore the Museum artifacts and create displays to showcase and secure these historic items. The final stage of the project, which is ongoing, is the cataloguing of the entire collection using a software system called Past Perfect, which is specifically designed for museums.

The Museum’s collection comes primarily from four sources, and originated over a century ago with a collection of artifacts gathered by the Antiquarian Society. The Society was active from 1900 to 1908, and its purpose was to "solicit and collect articles of historic and antiquarian interest, to be preserved by the town." The sixty-six artifacts in this collection were stored for years in the basement of the Searles School, and their restoration has been a lengthy but rewarding process.

Museum Trustee Dennis Root has scanned/enlarged seventy-five antique post cards from his personal collection, which have been matted for display, that depict a wide range of historical images of Windham.

Alan Campbell’s family has loaned the museum seventy-five books, along with old town reports, a bookcase, some antique eyeglasses, and an old typewriter. Among the books on loan are several Campbell family diaries. The Campbells were one of the founding families of Windham.

Finally, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Molly Stark Chapter, contributed artifacts which were directly related to Windham’s history when the DAR Museum in Derry closed. Overall, the Windham Museum's current collection is quite extensive, and as Trustees we want to share it with the residents of Windham.

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