Farmington Historical Society Vice President Jane Woodman at the Titcomb House on Academy Street in Farmington with her Inventors’ Notebook which includes 38 Farmington-native inventors. The coffee maker on the stove is the 1889 design of inventor Frank Augustin Hovey. Andrea Swiedom/Franklin Journal

FARMINGTON — On Academy Street in the kitchen of the historical Titcomb House, Jane Woodman flipped through self-laminated pages in a thick binder that she refers to as the “Inventors Notebook.”

Woodman has documented 38 Farmington-native inventors in this collection such as Leonard Atwood, born in 1845, whose elevator pattern was sold to Otis Elevator Company. Of course, there’s also the infamous Chester Greenwood who invented the earmuff in 1873, and some lesser unknowns such as Frank Augustin Hovey who designed an improved woodstove coffee pot in 1889.

The stories of these inventors are shared every year with Cascade Brook School fifth-graders who study the 1850s in Barbara Marshall’s class.

“They can’t forget us,” Woodman said about the young students who will hopefully remember the historical society as they become adult residents of Farmington.

While there are few members of the Farmington Historical Society (FHS) who are not of retirement age, the group is intent on ensuring that the FHS will have a thriving future and a growing membership. During the first few months of the new year, FHS has been working on a master plan, projecting how the group will look in 2036.

“We’re very much aware that our buildings are in need of help,” Woodman said.

FHS currently cares for three historical buildings in Farmington, the Titcomb House, the Octagon House and the North Church on High Street. The group is also constantly sorting through the 3,000 artifacts in the FHS’s ever-growing inventory that range from tools, carriages, housewares, toys, photograph negatives and glass plates, to name a few.

“I’m finding negatives of buildings that no longer exist,” Woodman said about the five filing cabinet drawers full of negatives that the historical society is able to scan and digitize.

While there’s a handful of motivated volunteers to organize these artifacts, there is a dire need for space to properly store and display these items. As FHS secures grant funding for building improvements, Woodman explained that the Titcomb house will become more suitable for these artifacts.

A bound collection of The Chronicle, Farmington’s newspaper from 1850, the earliest precursor of the Franklin Journal, on display at the Titcomb House on Academy Street in Farmington. Andrea Swiedom/Franklin Journal

FHS most recently received a Davis Family Foundation grant to go towards the further binding and preserving of The Chronicle collection, the area’s earliest newspaper with issues dating back to 1850. The papers are currently stored in the Titcomb House carriage house which Woodman would like to see improved for better climate control to further ensure their preservation.

Another project that FHS has its sights set on is restoring the Titcomb’s House sun room and establishing it as a research center where other historical societies in surrounding towns could collaborate with Farmington.

“We have a friendly relationship and it could only be more useful,” Woodman said about neighboring historical societies.

As FHS continues to develop its 15-year master plan, it will also address how to increase community engagement and how to recruit more members.

“It’s brought some questions among us which is not a bad thing,” Woodman said.

Farmington Historical Society will host its annual pie sale at the Octagon House on High Street in Farmington on April 1 at 10 a.m. Pies will be available until they’re sold out. Photo Courtesy of Jane Woodman

As far as community engagement, the society typically works with school teachers and professors at the University of Maine at Farmington, provides access to preserved artifacts and records, participates in town events such as Chester Greenwood Day and offers educational programming to Gold Leaf, 4-H and local radio station KTJ. The society also provides internship positions for students.

The Titcomb House museum is also open to the public by donation and run by volunteers and will open this year on May 1. On Saturday, April 3, FHS will host its first fundraiser of the year, a pie sale at the Octagon House. A variety of pies will be available at 10 a.m. until they’re sold out.