Our Story

In 1958 the Jaffrey Historical Society was founded by a group of citizens who desired to preserve Jaffrey’s history for future generations. The new society’s first order of business was restoring Schoolhouse #11, now the Little Red Schoolhouse. Though owned by the Town of Jaffrey, the JHS operates and maintains the building at our own expense.

For nearly seven decades the JHS has collected, mostly through donation, more than 8,000 artifacts pertaining to Jaffrey history. These include historic signs, antique maps, photos, diaries, photographs and postcards, tools, and artifacts that Jaffrey residents have produced over the past 250 years.

We oversee and maintain the Monadnock #4 Firehouse in Jaffrey Center as a museum of Jaffrey firefighting history. We present numerous historically-themed talks and presentations a year, and have produced walking tours of all of Jaffrey’s cemeteries. We have helped fund numerous community projects over the years, including Jaffrey 250 and Meetinghouse restorations. We sponsor a Christmas Village every year, take part in the Currier and Ives Cookie Tour for charity, and co-sponsor the Conant Robotics Team.

Growing Pains

As with many thriving organizations, we outgrew our original space. Our capacity to process, catalog, and display our collection was becoming severely constrained by the limitations of the basement of the Civic Center, our home since 1966. Additionally, we could not safely store our most valuable items in our Archives. It occasionally flooded, and the vault was too small. Our space was not handicapped-accessible and was not the community resource we strive to be. Many people in town didn’t even know where we were located!

Our Board of Directors, officers, and general membership resolved to address these issues with a new space. The vacated former Town Offices at 10 Goodnow Street presented a great opportunity for us to accomplish this goal. After negotiations with the Town of Jaffrey, we signed a lease on the lower floor of the building in June 2026. Our new home has been found!

Our Plans

Our new home provides us with twice the display space and a vault three times larger than our old quarters. We will be able to offer more programs, displays, and exhibitions. Most importantly, we can help the educators and youth of Jaffrey learn more about their town and its heritage. This space is much more publicly visible, ensuring our ability to become a facility and resource we and the people of Jaffrey deserve. Our long-terms goals include building a “hearse house” addition, to contain Jaffrey’s two historic horse-drawn hearses. As the proud custodians of so much of our town’s history, we are proud to continue the mission started by our original founders so many decades ago.

Costs and Funding

Needless to say, expansion and renovations are not inexpensive. Although our Society has adequate funds to maintain normal operations, additional funds are needed to make our dreams a reality. We estimate our one-time costs to be approximately $75,000 to cover remodeling, painting, new carpeting, furniture needs, electronics, appliances, and other various items. We intend to raise these funds through donations from society members, friends, and charitable foundations.

Your generosity can help us achieve our goal!

Gifts & Donations for Capital Campaign

We appreciate all donations during this special fundraising campaign. All gifts will be gratefully and publicly acknowledged. The JHS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and all donations are tax-deductible to the extent the law allows.

Tier Level	Donation	Benefits
George Jaffrey	$1 - $100	Public Acknowledgement
Willa Cather	$101 - $500	The above, plus a 2026 JHS calendar
Laban Ainsworth	$501 - $1000	The above, plus a set of 12 Little Red Schoolhouse notecards
Hannah Davis	$1000 - $5000	The above, plus donor’s name on a dedication plaque at the Society
Amos Fortune	Over $5000	The above, plus naming rights to a display case or room. Contact us for details!

Contributions can also be mailed to:

Jaffrey Historical Society

Attn: Capital Campaign

10 Goodnow St

Jaffrey, NH 03452

Thank You for Your Generous Support!

New JHS Capital Campaign

Support a new home for the Jaffrey Historical Society!