Melville Museum
Thank you for another great season! Melville Academy Museum is currently available to visit by appointment only, please request via email here. Melville Museum looks forward to welcoming visitors again for the 2025 summer season next July and August.
Hours
2pm -4pm, July & August weekends.
Available to visit by appointment only until 2025 summer season.
Melville Academy serves as a Museum whose mission is to preserve and communicate the history of Jaffrey, the Academy, and the Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society.
Visit the Melville Academy Museum and become familiar with the life of yesteryear in Jaffrey Center. On the first floor are displays of many items and pictures that tell the story of Jaffrey Center’s notable people, its inns, including the implements that they might have used. Two especially outstanding exhibits are the Hannah Davis band boxes and the old Jaffrey Center Post Office Boxes. The original school room of this one room schoolhouse is on the second floor. There you will find many maps and other information that relate to the sense of Jaffrey as a place.
The Melville Academy Museum contains a collection of hundreds of items dating from the 18th century to the present day. The initial collection of artifacts was started in 1920 when the Jaffrey Village Improvement Society became guardian of the building. These objects all relate to the life and times of Jaffrey Center and the people who have dwelled and worked here. Almost all of the items have been donated to the museum over the years. Melville Academy Museum is owned by the JCVIS and is run solely by volunteers.
Current Exhibitions
History of Melville Academy Museum
Built in 1833 as a private academy, Melville also served as a public elementary school for the town of Jaffrey and was acquired by the VIS in 1920. The Jaffrey Village Improvement Society was allowed to rescue and renovate the Melville Academy building in 1919. On Aug. 4, 1920, the VIS opened the local museum that enhances Jaffrey Center today. The existence of Melville Academy Museum is a testimony to the importance of a sense of place. It has a distinguished collection of art and artifacts, documents and objects that fulfill the mission and purpose of the Museum adopted in 1996.
The Melville Academy Museum of the JCVIS contains a collection of hundreds of items dating from the 18th century to the present day. The items have been given to this museum by Jaffrey residents and people with connections to the village of Jaffrey Center and the town of Jaffrey, by people with a keen desire to preserve the history of the village, the town and the Academy, for the education of its current residents and for future generations. This local history museum contains a sampling of meaningful artifacts depicting the life and times of our small, iconic New England community.
Upcoming JCVIS Events
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