The Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Historical Archives Plans Public Information Meeting on November 14, 2023

The Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Historical Archives plans a public information meeting at the Portsmouth Public Library on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. The program is scheduled for the library’s Levenson Room starting at 6 pm and is free and open to the public.

The purpose of this meeting is to provide an overview of the work of the Task Force since its creation in last year to study the feasibility of a public/private document archive that would provide the City and private organizations with a proper climate controlled and fire protected facility to preserve these records. The City, many organizations, and individuals currently own and store documents and other materials relevant to the history of Portsmouth but the City and those organizations do not have adequate facilities to properly store and preserve these materials.

Chaired by Councilor Vincent Lombardi, the Task Force includes representatives from the Portsmouth Public Library, Strawbery Banke Museum, the Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth Historical Society and other archives professionals and collectors. They will outline the report that considers options to create a public/private archive to protect documents related to the City’s past, present, and future which they intend to present to the City Council before the Task Force sunsets at the end of the year.