This site is maintained by volunteers and Karen Mason is in need of a website expert. Leonard Schwab responds to many of the queries for information.
The current GHS Board is Joe Fredericks, President; Karen Mason, V.P. & Facilitator; Marty Waldron, Treasurer; John Hirtle, I.T.; Donna Waldron & Bette Hirtle, Program; Alison Mann and Mark Willis, Historians and Advisors.
In May 2017, during the process of writing a proposal for the Common Heritage Grant offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Leonard Schwab and Karen Mason decided to re-boot the historical society because interest in the work of the first GHS remained strong. The first public organizational meeting was held October 12, 2017, and Paul F. Hughes, a founder of the first GHS, was the featured speaker.
The first GHS was founded in 1966 and dissolved in 2015, but the group left behind a wealth of research material on Greenland, NH: pamphlets, photographs, town and church records, sermons, diaries and letters of Greenland families, as well as the unfinished, multi-volume typescript, A Pleasant Abiding Place: a History of Greenland, N.H. 1635-2000 by the father and son team, Paul C. and Paul F. Hughes. Footnotes and an index remain to be done.
Paul passed away suddenly on May 8, 2018 and is still missed by all. His cousin, Robin C. Hughes, executor of Paul’s estate, donated 51 boxes to the GHS, as Paul had wished. The boxes included original work and research of the Hughes family and Paul’s multi-volume history. General archiving of the Hughes Papers became an instant job and digitizing a priority.
We appreciate the interest shown in this site and attempt to respond to requests in good time. The rebooted Greenland Historical Society obtained 501(c)(3) status in March 2018 upon registration with the state of New Hampshire as a NH Nonprofit Corporation. The Hughes Papers continue to be a mine of information for researchers of all stripes.
What People Say
If anyone came to the library with a question about family genealogy or town history, in search of any information having to do with Greenland, NH, Paul Hughes could help them find the answers.
Bonnie Gardner
Past Director of Weeks Public Library
It was the wish of the Hughes Family that their collected papers stay with the Greenland Historical Society.
Robin Hughes
Executor to Hughes Family Estate
Bluebird Storage Unit provided necessary housing for the Hughes Papers until Greenland Historical Society finds a permanent home for them. We owe them a debt of gratitude.
Board, Greenland Historical Society
GHS, Greenland NH 