Recently the Deloraine-Winchester Historical Society received the keys to their new home, thanks to the generosity of Deloraine resident, John Hasselfield.
Being gifted a building to call their own by John Hasselfield was something society member, Jan McClelland says was badly needed to store, and display, research papers and artifacts of those early settlement years of their area. The new home for the historical society was the original MTS building built in the 1930's located between the library and the local theatre.
The building has seen different tenants over the years, most recently being the art studio of Susan Hasselfield who has passed away. Her husband John donated the building to the RM of Deloraine-Winchester to be given to the local historical society. The group is leasing the building over the next 5 years to eventually assume ownership.
"We're very excited about that and we just can't thank John enough! We will be moving into that building this spring," shares McClelland.
One of the projects the committee is eager to delve into is to establish their archives of Deloraine-Winchester's rich history.
"And one facet of that will be the family archives," she explains. "And so, if a family in town has papers and photographs and artifacts that they don't know what to do with, or their children aren't interested in those things right now, or it has pertinent information that speaks to the life and times of Deloraine-Winchester, they'll be able to open a family font and stored under their name," she adds.
Rather than having a static museum, the committee will continue to have a display focusing at their new building on Mains Street on a specific theme or topic from May to September in the new building, and then to share a new theme the next year, and so on and so forth.
Please listen to more with Jan McClelland below!