Victor H. Phelps (Vic) has donated the legislative chair of his late father, Victor E. Phelps, to the Andover Historical Society. The family has also donated local school records from the mid-1800s, histories, a ledger, a daily diary kept by Helen Davis Phelps (wife of Victor E.) for five years, an autograph book with many local names, and other papers relevant to Andover history.

Victor E. Phelps served as Andover’s representative to the New Hampshire Legislature for many years from the 1940s through the 1960s. He brought the chair home after his years of service, helped only by the convenience of his pickup truck.

While taking your chair home from the legislature is not a practice by today’s standards, Vic insists it was just something they did back then. “They would buy all new chairs for the new guys, so my father just asked if he could take his. It’s a good thing he had his truck.”

Hardly just a politician, Victor E. Phelps was a renaissance man of Andover, serving as Fire Chief and Water Commissioner for over 40 years, Town and School Treasurer, Fire Warden, Master of both the local Masonic lodge and the Grange, and a member of the Andover Fish and Game Club, all the while making a living as a plumber and electrician. Because of his father’s clout in the community, Vic says the family could expect phone calls at any time of the day. “Back then, there was no 911. You called your neighbor.”

In his free time, Victor E. also managed four cows that would be milked twice a day, as well as a turkey house of two to 300 White Hollands. “What a sound they used to make,” Vic recalls.

As for the chair, it sat in the barn for 30 years before Vic decided to donate it to the Historical Society, mostly because he’s “gettin’ old” and it “might be a good thing” to get it preserved while it’s still in good shape.

When asked about its comfort range though, he’s not as keen. “It’s all right…. It kept those fellas awake, that’s for sure. It’s very hard.”

While the image of a preserved chair does not do justice to a man fervently involved in helping his community, hopefully the history behind it can inspire all of us who live in small towns like Andover to always do more for our neighbors.