PITTSFIELD, Maine — A small group of volunteers is singlehandedly trying to save Pittsfield’s history. The Pittsfield Historical Society, which has the responsibility of maintaining and caring for the more than 2,000 artifacts in the Depot House Museum and Caboose, is down to just five members.
For the last two years, the society’s greatest support came from Jen Saucier’s eighth-grade class at Warsaw Middle School.
“I can’t say enough about these kids,” society president James Lanzikos said Monday. “They are almost like a junior historical society.”
The children, as part of a community service and history project, donated $500 last year and painted the caboose. This year, after a series of fundraisers, the society was given another check for more than $600.
As grateful as the society is for the children’s efforts, Lanzikos said more volunteers are needed. A series of projects that planned for summer, including the completion of the caboose renovation, will require more effort than the five members can provide.
The Depot House Museum was the local train station, built in 1880 for $5,000. It now holds artifacts donated to the society. The depot is owned and insured by the town and is funded with a small appropriation.
“We try to be good tenants,” Lanzikos said. “We keep the thermostat down to 50 degrees all winter, but any lower and the artifacts would suffer.”
From wooden sleds with wooden runners to the rug from The Lancey House, a landmark restaurant that graced Main Street for 100 years before burning in the 1960s, to rotary telephones to medicine bottles from the turn of the 20th century, the collection is slowly being carefully cataloged by the few volunteers.
Tom Roberts of the society has put much of the information, including the entire contents of Sanger Cook’s book, “Pittsfield, Life on the Sebasticook,” on the group’s Web site, www.pittsfieldhistoricalsociety.org. There are photographs of President Dwight D. Eisenhower at a podium on Main Street, pictures of the horse race-track that was once where the town’s airport now is, antique postcard photos and much more.
“It is an absolute treasure,” Lanzikos said. “But sometimes, with only a handful of us, we feel like we are swimming against the tide. That’s why the kids are so important.”
This summer, he said, the society would like to replace the roof on the Depot Museum, assess the structure’s sills and electricity, scrape and paint the building, and replace a side door. A local contractor, Terry Preble, already has volunteered his roofing equipment, and Lanzikos said that any other contractor, electrician or car-penter who donates services can deduct the cost on their income tax.
It is expected that renovations to the antique caboose, which have been going on for several years, will be completed this spring in time for summer tours.
Lanzikos is hoping to build a bridge between the society and Maine Central Institute and is encouraging any of the school’s seniors who are seeking a senior project, to contact the society. “We have projects here,” he said.
He is seeking a videographer who can take oral history of those who worked at The Lancey House. He also is looking for someone to photograph dozens of locations around Pittsfield for a special book.
Lanzikos encourages anyone interested in volunteering or taking on one of the society’s projects to come to a group meeting. They are held at the Depot Museum at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month.
“We really need some help,” he stressed.
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