I am a member of the New Ipswich Historical Society. We often receive donations of photos, letters and other artifacts from various people, often when they are cleaning out a home of a deceased resident. We had to adopt policy guidelines about what to accept. The items need to be of significance to our town. Other Historical Societies have to grapple with the same issues.

In October of 2021 we received a box of photos and other items that must have belonged to New Ipswich resident Gilbert Thomson. None of the photos are identified by names, dates or locations. These are not of interest to the Society and were to be returned to the donor. However I love old photos and thought it might be fun to post them. Maybe through the magic of the internet, someone might recognize something.

The donor had no interest in the photos so I left them in the library in a box as an offering to the public. I figured someone might want a adopt an old photo. This all took place in 2021 and I forgot completely about it. Four years passed and the society got a message from the library that while they were cleaning up they discovered a trove of photos that they thought would be of interest to us. The photos have returned for a second chance.

I’ll post them again and perhaps we can find a good home for them. Gilbert Thomson was born in Scotland and the majority of the older school and factory photos seem to come from that country. He lived in New Ipswich on Temple Road in a house located on a bonnie brae (Gaelic for “pretty hill”).

Photo Collection