LYNDEBOROUGH – In 1764, Benning Wentworth, governor of the Province of New Hampshire, signed the charter establishing the town.

A month ago, town officials wondered where that charter was. No one remembered seeing it since the renovations of Citizens’ Hall in 1999-2000.

The charter was brought to mind when Administrative Assistant Dawn Griska found “an object” in a closet she could not identify and asked older residents what it was and should she keep it.

The “object” was a tin cylinder, obviously a case for something. Only part of the faded handwritten label was legible, but it included the name Andrew Fuller.

Fuller (1743-1777) arrived in town in 1765 and served as town clerk and in other offices.

Former Selectman Scott Roper identified the cylinder as the original case for the town charter. It also held a map which has not been found.

But where was the charter itself?

Research disclosed that the Historical Society had the charter framed in the late 1970s using the best preservation methods of the day. An undated picture taken b

y former resident Byron Bromley shows Historical Society President Helen van Ham presenting the framed charter to Selectmen Ken Hall and Tedo Rocca.

They were advised to keep it out of direct sunlight since it would fade. Older residents recalled it hanging in Citizens’ Hall, either facing the wall or draped with a black cloth.

The charter moved to the Town Hall with everything else during the renovations. It was not rehung in the renovated town offices and was apparently forgotten.

Town Clerk Trish Schultz said she was “pretty sure” it was in the back of her closet, “behind a filing cabinet,” a space she could not get to without some assistance moving the cabinet.

Roper, a member of the Renovations Committee, also recalled that the charter had been placed there for safekeeping. Several people assisted Schultz with the search of the closet. The framed charter came out long enough to be photographed.

The tin cylinder is now on display in the town office, but the charter was returned to its dark safe place.

The Historical Society and the Heritage Commission are recommending that the charter be re-framed using current museum preservation methods and a copy be made for display. It was agreed that the “best practices” of the 1970s were not the same as those used now, and the charter should be available for people to read. Few area towns still have theirs.

Costs will be determined and presented to the Board of Selectmen.

The 1764 charter is the town’s third. The first was granted in 1735 by the Province of Massachusetts as Salem-Canada. The second, in 1753, was from the Masonian Proprietors who acquired this part of the state after the state line was established in 1738.