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AHS BEGINNINGS
The Androscoggin Historical and Antiquarian Society, as it was first called, was conceived on June 10, 1922, at a meeting
of the Mary Dillingham Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The meeting was an outing held at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Bryant in South Lewiston, a colonial home containing many historical items. It's reported that talk turned
to preserving such relics and that Mrs. Helen Frye White and Mrs. Alice Frye Briggs, daughters of Senator William P. Frye,
expressed the need for a place where their father's valuable collection could be safely kept.
This was not idle talk, for at its next meeting, the chapter discussed the founding of an historical society and appointed a
committee to look into the matter. As a result, this society was incorporated in November of the following year, and its
first meeting was held on May 13, 1924. "Thus it was," as an early president of the society, James E. Philoon, wrote,
"that the Daughters of the American Revolution became the mothers of this society."
In the beginning, all members of the Mary Dillingham Chapter became voting members of the society, paying no fee. For all others,
membership was one dollar, later changed to one dollar annual dues. The chapter used a fund left by Nancy B. Emery to help outfit
the new society with show cases, tables, and other supplies. Over the years, a close relationship with the Mary Dillingham Chapter
has continued, with current by-laws requiring that one member of the society's board be a representative of the DAR chapter.
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When the society was formed, offices consisted of president, clerk, treasurer, custodian, to be in charge of the collection, and
three directors. First to hold these positions were Mrs. John Sturgis, president; Mrs. James A. Pulsifer, clerk; Mrs. Charles A. Turgeon,
treasurer; Mrs. H. O. Cutler, custodian; and Mrs. B. G. W. Cushman, Mrs. George C. Wing Sr., and Mrs. Franklin W. Packard, directors.
The first quarters were a room on the third floor of the old part of the Androscoggin County Building. Within a year, the society moved to
a larger room on the third floor (later removed) of the Auburn City Building. In 1936, the growing collection was moved back to the third
floor of the County Building, but this time to three rooms in the new part of the building, which the Androscoggin Historical Society still
calls home.
In subsequent issues, we'll write of later years. If anyone has knowledge of society history, including officers, programs, meetings,
events, newspaper clippings, and pictures, please call Executive Secretary Robert Taylor. The society, in preserving the history of our area,
certainly should have a written history of its own.
-- Harold Dutch
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