---

Previous Displays

2012

APRIL
Treasures found in book sale donations

MARCH
100 Years of the Girl Scouts

FEBRUARY
Love your Library

2011
DECEMBER
A Christmas Carol

OCTOBER
Zentangle


JUNE
Reamer Collection of Mary Marsh

Nothing quenches your thirst in the summer like a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. Electric and manual juicers make it easy to squeeze juice faster, and frozen juice concentrate makes providing juice to a busy family in today's society an easier task. But, if you take a look at the June display at the Amherst Town Library, your eyes will be opened to a different world of juicers.

Reamers, also known to many as orange juice squeezers or juicers, are one of the fastest growing collectibles in America today. Reamers were invented over 200 years ago out of necessity when it was discovered that citrus provided a cure for diseases like scurvy. The first reamers were all produced in Europe. Major china companies such as Bayreuth, Miessen, Royal Rudolstadt and Limoges produced reamers for some of the finer tables in Europe.

Reamers come in all type of materials -- woods, glass, metal ceramic, pottery, and most recently, plastic. Shapes vary from round, square, oblong, triangular to figurals, such as clowns, animals and people. There are one piece, two piece and three piece reamers. They come plain, fancy, engraved, embossed, frosted, hand-painted and trimmed in gold and silver. There are advertising reamers, souvenir reamers and regular utility pieces. The number of once available reamers ranges to the thousands.

The reamers in the display will give you a sampling of the various categories of reamers. The accompanying brochure, “What the Heck Is A Reamer?”, will explain the categories and provide a bit more on the history of reamers. They come from the collection of Mary Marsh, an Amherst resident and a past President of the National Reamer Collectors Association (NRCA). The NRCA is an international organization that provides its members with educational information on the collecting, buying and selling of reamers. For more information, visit their website at www.reamers.org

MAY
Student Art Show

APRIL
The April Display Case exhibit at the Amherst Town Library is sponsored by the Captain Josiah Crosby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution which encompasses the towns of Milford, Mont Vernon and Amherst. Captain Crosby was a soldier in the Revolution, having served under Captain John Bradford and General John Starke at the Battle of Bennington. Information from the birth of the Chapter until present will be shown along with various memorabilia. The exhibit will run through May 5.

2010

DECEMBER THROUGH MID-JANUARY
Adult Evening Enrichment students
Mixed media

DECEMBER
12 Days of Christmas




     

NOVEMBER
U.S. Military Regalia

OCTOBER
Japanese Masks

MID-AUGUST THROUGH SEPTEMBER
Historical Artwork Celebrating Amherst's 250th Anniversary

JUNE & JULY
The Allure of Eggs and Nests

“ Every animal starts life as an egg, but only birds have evolved to enclose their eggs in a hard shell, to stock it with massive amounts of nutrients, and guard, incubate, and cradle it in a nest. Nests and eggs vary endlessly, and the innovations in their structure are a feast for the eyes and imagination.”

-Bernd Heinrich

The egg and nest display belongs to Marti Warren. The eggs were presented to her at the age of ten. They were collected by a great uncle, in the early 1900’s when collecting eggs was a sport and legal! It is not legal to collect or bother bird eggs or nests now. There are laws in every state to protect birds. She has applied to the government for a permit to keep the collection. Over the past years she has taken it to schools and groups to see and lean about birds, and their eggs and nests.

MAY
Annual Student Art Show

APRIL
Two and Three-dimensional art in various mediums will be
exhibited by art teachers of Amherst and Mont Vernon Schools.

MARCH
History of the Amherst Town Library

FEBRUARY
The Friends of the Amherst Town Library

The Friends of the Amherst Town Library were awarded the "Sue Palmatier Award for Outstanding support by a FOL Group" by the NH Library Trustee Association in 2009.

JANUARY

A collection of insects from French Guiana (Devil’s Island), South America belonging to Brooke and Conor Murphy. The insects were acquired by their father on trips to French Guiana.

2009

DECEMBER
Winter display inspired by Robert Frost's poem
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

NOVEMBER
Military Items from World War I

The United States entered World War I (then known as The Great War) by declaring war on Germany on April 6, 1917 and joining the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France and Italy. Forty four Amherst citizens served America in this war, while 17 served more than a year and 14 fought in combat in France. Two died in uniform, Pvt. Paul G. Blandin USMC was killed in action in France during the July 1918 Offensive. Percy N. Davis of the Regular Army died of pneumonia in Texas and was buried with military honors. Two soldiers from Amherst, Guy Kidder and Elmer Hodgman were honored and awarded the Coix de Guerre medal by the French government. At home citizens were asked to join the National effort to conserve food, fuel and all kinds of materials so that we might supply not only our wartime industry and fighting men, but also those of our allies. After much sacrifice, and millions of deaths this “Great War” ended on November 11th 1918 with an Armistice. Regretfully this terrible war was followed just over twenty years later by another world war, which came to be known as World War II.

This display was coordinated by Colonel Charles J. Pyle USMC (Ret) of Amherst. The military items from WW I were on loaned from Paul Levasseur, a collector and historical re-enactor.

OCTOBER
Pig Collection

When I was a litte girl I thought piggies were cute, perhaps because my mother did. I do not remember when I first started collecting, not do I remember which was my first- I just realized one day that I was collecting pigs. My goal was to do so without spending much money, so few in my collection are of real value, except to me! And they became a common gift for travel, birthdays and at Christmas time.

Liz Overholt, Amherst

Some are wood, semi-precious stone, porcelain, rubber, plastic, glass ceramic, fur, or unknown

Look for
Jade from India
Blue Delft from Holland
A Dansk pig
An Irish pig with shamrock decoration from an Irish friend
Two little rubber ones from king cakes one Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is good luck to be served the piece containing the pig (or pea, bean or baby Jesus)
A slightly larger little rubber one that cost 5 cents
Glass pig from Germany with dice in it
Boy leaning on pig from Taiwan
A Swarovski crystal pig and piglet
Wood carving from a friend

SEPTEMBER
Antique signs

MID-JULY THROUGH AUGUST
Joan Kitchell, Book Illustrator

JUNE THROUGH MID-JULY
The Art Archives of the Amherst Town Library;
Gifts and Acquisitions from Over the Years

APRIL
Steve Morgan's Coin Collection

Grandmothers seem to be the instigators of coin collecting. My start was no different. My grandmother would send or deliver a coin or two every year when I was very young. It would be a stretch to classify me as anything but a part time, amateur collector. However, I do find it fun and revisit the collection from time to time.

While no one coin here is particularly valuable, they are a great way to learn more about the history of our country.

Most collectors narrow their interest to a subset of coins. My daughter and I have focused on WWII silver nickels. There are 11 coins which comprise the set. Over the years we have gradually upgraded each of the 11 coins. My goal is to continue to upgrade them to better and better examples. We have a long way to go, but the chase is part of the fun.

Tom Levesque, an Amherst resident and proprietor of Gate City Coin in Nashua, has graciously contributed many of the coins displayed. He also contributed the “notes” that are in the front right side of the case.

Notice that the number of coins in the proof and uncirculated sets from 1979 to 2008 has increased significantly. The 2000 proof and uncirculated sets display the NH quarter.

I have created a facebook page for coin collectors in the area. The page is “New Hampshire coin collectors” and is a work in progress. If you have contributions that would be of interest to other collectors please feel free to add them onto the facebook page.

MARCH
Treasures from the Transfer Station

I LOVE TO SHOP!!! and one of my favorite places to shop is the
Amherst Transfer Station ... ..a.k.a. "THE DUMP"!!!

You are looking at a very small representation of the treasures I have discovered there. Absolutely everything in this display comes from the dump!

I can be found shopping at my "favorite boutique" at least several times a week. It's truly amazing what wonderful "stuff' that's dropped off in the swap area where one can feel free to take or leave as much as one wants. If you are cleaning house and have an item that you no longer have a use for you can drop it off for someone else to enjoy. There is a challenge, however, and I have seen this over and over again ... folks tend to stay and shop and wind up bringing more home than they drop off. Be forewarned... shopping at the transfer station is contagious and habitual!

I work with the elderly who live in subsidized housing. New and nearly new items find their way into gift baskets for them, become bingo prizes, provide household and decorating accessories, and keep them well supplied with an on going variety of puzzles.
I also have four young grandkids and in the past few years have never had to buy an outside riding toy. ... and when they outgrow it I bring it back and upgrade to something else!!! The return policy is just wonderful!!!

If you are an Amherst resident and haven't "shopped" at the dump, then you are really missing out on a fun experience where you'll find recycling at its best!

...Oh and did l mention that it's all free????

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2009
Vintage Costume Jewelry

Costume jewelry came into being in the 1930s as a cheap, disposable accessory meant to be worn with a specific outfit, but not meant to be handed sown through generations.

Costume jewelry also existed prior to the 1930s. Paste or glass jewelry dated as far back as the 1700s. The rich had their fine jewelry duplicated for a variety of reasons, using paste or glass stones.

By the mid 1800s, with the growth of the middle class, there were now different levels of jewelry being manufactured using fine, semi-precious and base materials. Fine jewelry of gold, diamonds, fine gems such as emeralds and sapphires continued to be made.

Jewelry from rolled gold, which is a thin layer of gold attached to a base metal, entered the market for the middle class. This jewelry was often set with semi-precious gems such as amethyst, coral or pearls, and was much more affordable.

And there was jewelry that most anyone could afford, consisting of glass stones and base metals made to look like gold. All three types were intended to be passed down to future generations.

There are usually clues that can help one identify what era a piece of jewelry is from- style, material, and the type of piece. For example, dress clips came in during the 1930s and were out of style by the 1950s.

Jewelry reflects styles, designs, colors and stones of an era. For example, from 1910 to 1930 silver was the favorite color for metal, so jewelry was found in platinum, white gold, silver, or a base metal color to look like silver. By World War II, gold was popular again but in short supply, since it was vital to the war effort. The gold that was available was made into very thin sheets and usually bonded to silver (called vermeil) before being turned into jewelry.

By the mid 1930s rhinestone’s popularity was ever increasing in Europe. It was not available to the Americans until the 1940s.

Costume jewelry styles of past years are now become very fashionable, and many are being reproduced. Even among costume jewelry there is a difference in quality. Many of the new pieces do not have the vibrancy in the stones or the weight of the older pieces.

No longer is costume jewelry simply “collectible.” It is “in style,” and “fashionable,” and a terrific conversation starter.

Many similar pieces are available at local antique stores such as Mayfair Antiques and Salzburg Square.