The Dartmouth Historical and Arts Society, The Dartmouth Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends, and the New Bedford Whaling Museum will sponsor a “book launch celebration” at the whaling museum on Saturday, July 22 with a lunch and a function to recognize the successful completion of a substantial project preserving and publishing primary records of the Dartmouth Quakers for the period 1699-1785 in a two volume hardcover book. There will be a book signing for owners of the books brought to or purchased at the function. The event is not open to the public, and is solely for volunteers and supporters. 

This party will celebrate the outcome of the extensive project undertaken by DHAS to preserve, transcribe, and disseminate the records of the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting of Friends and the diversity of Dartmouth history. While centering on the publication in hardcover form of the two volumes of Minutes of the DMM 1699-1785, the launch will also celebrate the successful efforts of all 6,000+ pages of the Quaker records and their transcription being published on the internet.

The work is dedicated to original project manager, Dan Socha, who led the way and had major directional influence on the whole system used to accomplish the goals of the project. Dan tragically passed on December 29, 2020 and DHAS hired a successor, Andrea Marcovici, who had been an active volunteer prior to Dan’s sudden passing.

The event will have a program of speakers to briefly share their points of view and to provide a wider understanding of the work’s context. Speakers will include project manager Marcovici, Elton “Toby” Hall representing the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, editor and annotator Thomas D. Hamm, researcher and author Jane Fletcher Fiske, President of the American Society of Genealogists David C. Dearborn and content acquisition manager for FamilySearch Manuel Sanhueza.