2026 Annual Letter of the AAHS

AUGUST, 2026

GREETINGS FROM ALBION,

The Albion Academy Historical Society will hold its Annual Meeting on Saturday, September 19,  from 2 – 4 pm at the Albion Town Hall.  We are excited to have  as our speaker Richard Moen, Rockdale Historian.  He will be talking about Henry Hendrickson, a Norwegian immigrant, who was an amazing businessman – he was blind!  Henry came to the USA in 1847, lived on Albion-Koshkonong Prairie and even attended the Albion Prairie Primitive Methodist Church.  Join us for this informative, educational and entertaining presentation!

We have updated our Bylaws: increase the # of Board of Directors to 20 and list our monthly meetings in  April, May, June, July, August and September.  Copies will be at the Town Hall, and we will vote to accept the changes at the Annual meeting following the Speaker's presentation.

This summer we are  painting the tobacco exhibit room.   New windows have been added and items are waiting to be displayed:  axes, lathes, spuds, cigar mold, color photos of tobacco harvest, tobacco warehouse sorting table and tobacco rack (toy-size).  If you have other items, please give us a call or stop by on a Sunday afternoon in August. We need actual items, photographs (we can scan them and give them back!), news articles, etc.  Call Nancy 608-774-4339 or Kent 608-921-9336.  Thank you!

Here are some of this year's donations: Confirmation dress worn by Lillian Dahl Page, who was an AA student in 1915 when Ladies Hall burned; carriage foot warmer; WW II woman's uniform; 1905 Chalk Drawing of Gertrude Smith Whitford AA1899; Cnut Matson information, AA 1860, roommate and boyhood friend of Knute Nelson, and Sheriff of Cook County (Chicago) IL; embroidered pillow cases c. 1940; textbooks used in one-room schools; Military History of WI (Civil War), c. 1866, including information on the Soldiers' Orphans Home in Madison.

We also introduced a “Historic Walking Tour of the Village of Albion” booklet that is currently available at the Town Hall.  This is our way of celebrating the 250^th birthday of the USA.  Fifty years ago during the Bicentennial, Svea Adolphson's A History of the Albion Academy debuted.   It is still available for purchase.

Your 2026 dues are now payable.  There is a form enclosed with this letter.  There will be refreshments after our speaker on September 19 followed by the Annual Meeting.  If anyone is interested in joining us as a Board member, please let us know at the meeting.  We appreciate YOU and look forward to your presence at the Albion Town Hall with Richard Moen.

AAHS BOARD:                                                                                 Docents:

Gary Durgin, President                   Deb Stoddard                    Janet Hoeft                 

Thad Andrews, Vice-President                   Eric Baker                          Sue Shemanski

Nancy Durgin, Secretary                         Kent Marsden                     Lynne Severson

Kirsten Almo, Treasurer                            Amy Michels