STOUGHTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDED 1895

Volume II, Number -  12 - January 1972

OUR DECEMBER MEETING was, unfortunately, postponed one week due to very icy conditions on December 20th. However, the wait was well worth the while as Mr. Frank W. Reynolds' presentation of homemade glass slides was one of the more interesting programs of the current season. More on that later.

CARL L. SMITH, 1st Vice-President presided at the meeting as our President, Mrs. Phyllis Batchelder, was bitten by the flu bug and was confined to her home. After the usual business was taken care of Mr. Smith called on the Chairman of the Nominating Committee for their recommendations. Chairman Robert Benson and his aids, Henry Herbowy and Clyde Holmes presented the following slate of officers for 1972: President, Edward Meserve; 1st Vice-President, Carl L. Smith; 2nd Vice-President, Phyllis Batchelder; Treasurer, Angeline McEachern; Recording Secretary, Norma Sullivan; Corresponding Secretary, Esther Hill; Curator-Historian, Gustav T. Winroth; Trustees (alphabetically) Robert Benson, Fred Graham, Henry Herbowy, Esther Hill, Clyde Holmes, Fred Kelleher, Amy Terrell, and Gustav T. Winroth. (Our Board of Trustees includes, besides some new blood, two past presidents and three former trustees... a very promising combination for action in 1972.) The Secretary cast the customary single vote indicating acceptance of the nominations by the members present and voting. Installation will be in January on the 17th.

GUESTS in December were Mrs. Linda Weiler and Mrs. Lee Wheeler; Mr. Carl Anderson and Mr. Howard Hansen, who were guests on the 27th, also_; were accepted as members before they departed. We welcome the new members and have hope that the other guests will join us.

DUES. . . DUES. . .are due and payable to the Treasurer at the next annual meeting in January. You may send your dues to her at Box 349, Stoughton, Mass. 02072 if you wish and your new membership card will be waiting for you at the door on January 17th. Bring a new member with you...the annual meeting is a very appropriate occasion for us to welcome them.

ANONYMOUS DONATIONS came to us in the form of a framed poster advertising the Chicataubut Follies of 1915 (participants' names are left and right on the poster), a copy of the history of the Old Stoughton Musical Society published by them in 1929, and group pictures taken on the steps of the Lucius Clapp Memorial Building the day of the 1971 Pilgrimage; other donations included the 150th Anniversary Booklet containing the history of Mt. Zion Lodge, A.F.8A.M., given by Howard Hansen, and an aerial photo of Stoughton center taken by and presented by Chet Cohenno, local photographer of note.

JANUARY BIRTHDAYS, besides President Fillmore, Pres. McKinley, Pres. F.D. Roosevelt and Pres. Nixon, include Carl Smith, Henry Herbowy, Clyde Holmes and Esther Snowdale. Happy Birthdays.

HOSPITALITY HOSTESSES for the most recent meeting were Grace Dillon and Sadie Kasupski who served us home-made cookies, cakes and cider from a tastefully decorated table in tune with the festive Christmas season.

RETURNING to the subject of Frank Reynolds' very rare and witty presentation -art- the December 27 meeting: We learned much of the unusual talents of the immediate family by way of his incidental comments and it might be appropriate to mention them now rather than recall the entire illustrated program. Both Frank and his sister Bertha, former long-time Secretary of our Society, are accomplished writers and their works are in our archives. Their mother and aunt Bessie Capen were teachers and introduced a course in photography around the turn of the century. In order to earn money for materials the two ladies outfitted grandfather's wagon as a dark room and traveled about taking and processing their own work. Some of Mrs. Reynolds' glass slides were shown along with much of Frank's own fine work. Frank Reynolds' father and grandfather were both organ builders of note (!) and some pictures of their beautiful accomplishments were shown. Further, in the course of Frank's most interesting commentary, we learned that another aunt was an artist when a picture in the background of an interior photo was identified as her handiwork. Mr. Reynolds, Treasurer of our Society from 1945 to 1970, began early in life to exercise his ingenuity and patience when, about 1911, he built his own "magic lantern" with which to view his slides, some of which we had hand-colored with water colors quite effectively. This first lantern was made from three wooden boxes, a kerosene lamp for the light source; two baking powder tins formed the chimney for the escape of excess heat; a glass paper weight was utilized as the internal lens and a reading glass was used to project a 30"x30" picture on a satin "screen". Mr. Reynolds used this home:-constructed magic lantern until 1926 when he purchased a "modern" machine. ...the very one, in fact, which he used in his program. (An excellent account of the actual program appeared in the Brockton "Enterprise" on December 28 if you care to get more details.)

ON JANUARY 17 we should have an equally interesting program. Our speaker will be Mr. Edgar Malcolm with films of recent world tour enjoyed by him and his wife. Come and bring a friend.

WE CONTINUE TO ASK for your name, month and day (not year) of birth to be sent by card to Box 349, Stoughton. And we further remind you that we still welcome Birthday Bags at all meetings. We have already made a necessary purchase with a portion of the money received.

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