Newtown Historical Society Seeks New Members

By Nancy K. Crevier

Spurred on by a March 2, 1962, editorial by Newtown Bee editor Paul S. Smith, citizens of Newtown began to plan for and eventually incorporated the Newtown Historical Society, that year.

“…the time is ripe for the formation of an historical society in Newtown,” wrote Mr Smith. “The town does, indeed, have a rich and colorful past. There are many fine old buildings, sites of forgotten industries, scattered records of important events, and prominent personages of an earlier era — with no central point to gather antique exhibits and collect historic information that, by its very nature, will become priceless over the years…”

Fifty years later, the Newtown Historical Society has accomplished many of the tasks it set forth that year. “As I see it,” said current Newtown Historical Society President Lincoln Sanders, Wednesday, June 27, “the mission of the Newtown Historical Society is to preserve the history of Newtown. We do so by collecting thousands of documents. We’ve accumulated numerous artifacts that relate to Newtown, and we own and operate the Matthew Curtiss House museum, a wonderful old 18th Century Connecticut saltbox home on Main Street,” he said. It is in the Matthew Curtiss House that many of the artifacts reside and the restored home is frequently used for demonstrations of life as it was in Newtown during the Revolutionary era.

“All of the second grade students, from each of the public schools, tours the Matthew Curtiss House,” said Mr Sanders. “It’s a great way to get kids interested in the history of town,” he said. The Newtown Historical Society also hosts a very popular, weeklong History Camp at the Matthew Curtiss House each summer. Documents and papers regarding Newtown’s past are preserved in the office of the town historian, in Edmond Town Hall.

The Newtown Historical Society holds an annual House and Garden Tour, this year on Saturday, June 30, “that shows the diversity of housing here. It’s a chance for people to peek in and see these houses. Most are antiques, but not all of them. People who love history also love contemporary,” noted Mr Sanders. “It’s about houses that have character, not just cookie cutter homes,” he said.

“It’s nice to preserve and understand the past,” Mr Sanders said, “and we get a lot of inquiries, one from Australia recently, about ancestry. We try to help people seeking genealogy information. We try to point them in the right direction.” In understanding our past, said Mr Sanders, we learn to understand our future.

For the 200 dues-paying members, including honorary members, preserving Newtown’s history is important. But for about a dozen members and other volunteers, it is a passion that absorbs a lot of time and energy.

“What we need now,” Mr Sanders said, “is young blood. We need younger people to get interested and become involved [with the Newtown Historical Society]. There are many projects we think would be beneficial to the town, but we need people to organize them,” and often, he added, to provide manpower that some of the older members no longer feel up to providing.

The 14 members of the Board of Trustees meet once a month, eleven months of the year, either in the Matthew Curtiss House or in the town historian’s office. But for the majority of the members, there are no monthly meetings to attend.

The Newtown Historical Society sponsors free public lectures at the C.H. Booth Library during the winter months, said Mr Sanders, and because many of the attendees are also society members, “We do discuss membership issues then and look for volunteers. In May, we announce the new slate of directors,” he said. There are vacancies on the Board of Trustees at this time, he added.

A $20 per year membership fee entitles members to receive the newsletter, The Rooster’s Crow, and to receive updates by e-mail.

There is no need to be an antiques expert, or to own historic property in order to join the Newtown Historical Society, he said. “You just need an interest in preserving history, a desire to offer new ideas, and a willingness to be dedicated to supporting our efforts,” Mr Sanders said. The group is particularly hoping to attract a person skilled in managing websites, to tweak the current newtownhistory.org site and to keep it updated.

Five decades ago, Mr Smith noted the efforts of those who had attempted to publish about Newtown, including the town’s first historian, Ezra Levan Johnson. He concluded his editorial, writing “Whether Newtown ever has an historical society, an historical district study committee, or both, we are hopeful that the town will never lack citizens of the type of Ezra Levan Johnson, who wrote in his own foreword, ‘These papers lay no claim to literary merit, but are plain statements of incidents and happenings, by a plain man in a plain way, in the hope that our young people, with those of mature years, may find at least momentary pleasures in the retrospective.’”

Those interested in continuing the effort to provide retrospective about Newtown may find further information about the Newtown Historical Society at the website, or become a fan on Facebook. For membership information contact Mr Sanders at 203-364-1833, or membership chairman Cindy Glaberson at 203-270-0011.