The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-03-10
A LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Suggestion That Steps Should BE
Taken to Preserve Valuable and In
teresting Relies.

teresting Relies.
1t has been suggested by several
people in the past few weeks that
some steps should be taken without
loss of time for the preservation of
much valuable historical matter and
many historical relics that are grad
ually disappearing.
When the old block at the corner
of Main and State streets was torn
down few years ago to make room
for the present Langdon block a little
historical material of value was re-
covered, but it is probable that much
more was lost. The upper floor of
the block had been the meeting place
of numerous organizations In years
gone by. The old band and the first
fire company, for instance, had regu-
larly held their meetings there, and
moving to some other place their old
records had been abandoned. All the
old accumulations of half a century
were thrown out as rubbish when the
work of demolition began. One man
idly looking over quantity of it dis
covered some papers of value and re-
covered them. Search was then made
among what remained and some relics
City Clery has preserved a few of the
documents that were saved at that
time. But a great deal had been
thrown away before any effort was
made at salvage. 1t is possible that
priceless material for the future his
toran, material that many people
would have paid largely to have pre-
served, was destroyed at that time.
How much of such material is stor-
ed in old attics and in forgotten places
cannot be known until search is made
for it, and often the search is made
too late.
There are in private hands, exposed
to the danger of destruction by fire,
papers relating to early real estate
transactions in the town, bearing the
signatures of prominent men in the
early history of the place, which ought
to be placed in some building where
they will not only be safe from fire
but where there will be no danger
that they will be thrown in the rub
bish heap when the present owners
have passed away, when neirs living
at distance, having no personal in
terest in the affairs of Montpelier
and no realization of the value of such
documents come to examine them, or
may even cast them aside without
stopping to examine them.
There are battle Hage and side arms
with record of glory, military COM
missions that attest to the sacrifices
made and honors won by Montpelier
men, military records that testify to
the valor of the men who went out
from here on various occasions that
not only should be placed where their
safety can be assured but should be
placed where they can be seen, that
the young men derive inspiration from
examining them and the aged pleas
ure from recounting the story that
goes with them.
Portraits of General Farley Davis
and his wife hang in private house
and have passed from the possession
of the descendants of the general On
the wall of the police station hangs
an early portrait of Montpelier men
who served in three wars.
This is merely a suggestion of the
great amount of material, interesting
preserving, that remains, often uncar-
ed for and even neglected, in danger
of destruction by fire or of dissipa-
ton on the death of the present own
ers.
The history of Montpelier is singu-
larly deficient in details. Thompson
and Walton both leave great gaps.
Whoever undertakes to write the his
tory of the town as a whole, down to
date, must also leave great gaps for
the material that might have been
used has been destroyed or has been
scattered and removed to distant
parts of the country as the old famil-
les have been broken up.
To those who are interested in his
torical matters it seems very desir-
able that whatever can be done should
be undertaken as early as possible, to
preserve whatever OF such material
may still remain and to prevent its
removal or destruction.
The Vermont Historical Society has
done good work in the years of it's
existence and in it's collection at the
State House has great deal of ma
terial whose existence is hardly sus-
pected and which it has not in its
present limited quarters, an oppor-
tunity to display, so that people may
have ready access to it. That society,
too. is concerned more largely with
historical matters relating to the State
as whole than with those relating
to individual towns While Montpe-
lier as the capital of the State, de-
serves and receives attention from a