METHUEN — City officials are waiting to hear if they will receive a $3,000 grant to preserve an artifact Robert Frost signed during his teaching stint in Methuen.
The 1893 attendance register from the old Second Grammar School shows students' attendance from Jan. 2 to March 24, 1893, and the iconic poet's signature is on it as the teacher. "It's an important piece of history for us and it's really the only physical link we have to Robert Frost and his time in the city," said Matthew Kraunelis, Mayor William Manzi's chief of staff.
Kraunelis said he expects to hear whether the city will receive the grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in March. In the meantime, the Historical Society donated $50 to the cause and is soliciting more donations.
Preservation experts at the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover estimated that it would cost $3,245 to spruce up the register.
"They would go in, clean it, restore it, make sure the bindings and everything are tight and put it in a better box than we have now," Kraunelis said.
The group would also create a replica of the document, so the city could use the replica for public showings and limit the number of times they take out the original artifact, thus reducing the risk of damage, Kraunelis said.
"Then for special occasions, we take out the book," he said.
"We see lots of things that are in worse condition than this is," said Deborah Wender, director of book conservation for Northeast Document Conservation Center. "At the same time, it certainly has enough going on in terms of the chemical makeup and condition of the paper that it would be a really good thing for them to treat it."
Frost attended Dartmouth College after graduating Lawrence High School. He left after a semester and came to Methuen to help his mother, Bell Frost, a teacher who was having trouble with her students. The school was located at the corner of Lawrence and Park streets, which is now the parking lot for the Methuen School Department's administrative offices.
The register is in a safe at City Hall, in an "archival box" that helps preserve it, Kraunelis said.
Frost's granddaughter, Lesley Lee Francis, a foreign languages professor from Arlington, Va., saw the document while she was in the area giving a presentation to teachers at Lawrence Public Library.
"I think it's very nice," she said during an interview. "These are the kinds of things that make the study of Frost's biography very fun."
The city has not had the document appraised.
"I think eventually we would want to get it appraised, just for insurance purposes," Kraunelis said. "It's essentially priceless because it's a one-of-a-kind document. We would never sell it."
Anyone wishing to donate to the restoration project can send a check made payable to Methuen Historical Society, Frost Account, c/o the Mayor's Office, 41 Pleasant St., Suite 306, Methuen, MA 01844.
