"We're no longer talking about saving the Libby," Select Board chair Paul O'Brien said after the September vote, as reported by the Conway Daily Sun. "We're talking about reopening the Libby under new stewardship."
Seven weeks later, the building on North Main Street is staying up, and that decision brought its own problem. The museum's alligator, moose, skeletons and polar bear are still inside a structure that has been closed since 2024. Three moving companies have looked at the collection and declined the job. The building everyone fought to save is the main reason the collection is so hard to get out before snow.
What the September vote settled
The Libby opened in 1912 as a legacy of Dr. Henry Libby. It is the state's oldest natural history museum, on a stretch of Lake Winnipesaukee shoreline. In the 1950s, Libby's relatives asked the town to serve as trustee. The town shut the museum in 2024 because of mold, structural deterioration and deferred maintenance.
Demolition was a real option until late summer. Two public hearings, on August 5 and August 19, drew strong support for keeping the building. On September 2, 2026, the Select Board voted 5–0 not to demolish it. In a second unanimous vote, the board asked for a meeting with the Charitable Trusts Unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, the Friends of the Libby Museum, and the Libby Museum Preservation Society.
The Preservation Society formed in June as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It plans to become successor trustee through the Carroll County Probate Court. At the August 19 hearing, chair Suzanne Ryan asked for 18 months, with a possible six-month extension, to build a plan acceptable to the court and the Charitable Trusts Unit. According to the Conway Daily Sun, the society plans to use private funds to restore the building, or rebuild it as a replica, and keep running it as a natural history museum.
None of this happens quickly. According to the town's July 21 Economic Development Committee minutes, any change of trustee, use or disposition needs approval from the Charitable Trusts Unit and the court, and the town cannot transfer the trust by itself. That process will take months. The collection has to be dealt with before winter.
Why the movers keep walking away
At the October 7 Select Board meeting, Selectman Brian Deshaies said three movers had come to the museum and then backed out. They were worried about how stable the collection is. The glass in the display cases is not tempered, and the skeletons could fall apart in transit. The skeleton cases are built into the building.
The building itself is what makes the collection hard to move. A case built into the wall can't be lifted onto a truck. Old glass can't be wrapped like a modern vitrine.
The deadline is plain in the minutes. Deshaies said that if the artifacts don't leave before winter, they will stay in the building another winter, "and that is not good for them." The Preservation Society inspected the collection on July 23, 2026. It found most items in good condition but warned that the lack of environmental controls threatens them.
The board's frustration is on the record too. Selectman Linda Murray said the town has wanted the artifacts out of the museum for at least two years. O'Brien said two years of letters back and forth had not gained traction, and that the collection "needs to find a way out of the building, or it needs to stay in the building." The Friends of the Libby Museum had already put an offer to help in writing. A January 21, 2026 letter reaffirmed a November 19, 2025 commitment to help clean the collection and move it somewhere safe.
Where the pieces could land
With movers unavailable, the board's working plan is to split the collection up. Deshaies called museum organizations around the Northeast looking for places that would take large items, keep them safe, and still let the public see them. The items would go out on loan, and the Libby could get them back. By October 7, he had a list of institutions that had shown interest:
| Libby items | Possible temporary home | Status in the October 7 minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Alligator and the large snapping turtle | New England Herpetological Society | Said it would take them |
| Skeletons, the moose and the polar bear | A Dover museum, recorded in the minutes as the "Dover Woodward Museum" | Showed interest |
| Firearms | Clark Museum, Wolfeboro | Could potentially take them |
| A set of 8 to 10 oriental fans | Wolfeboro Library | Interested |
| Fragile items | A container with electricity, heat and cooling, placed behind the Libby | Proposed option |
Deshaies called these potential solutions, not agreements. A later Conway Daily Sun report on the race to move the collection said officials were still looking for storage, and it described the climate-controlled container as an option under consideration. It reported no moving or storage contract.
If the plan works, the Libby could spend the winter in pieces in several places. The turtle and alligator would be with reptile specialists, the big mammals in Dover, and the firearms a short walk from Clark Park. Some objects that Wolfeboro has only seen in one lakeside building could end up on display somewhere else.
The money behind the move
The figures are small next to the job. On October 7, O'Brien said the Libby capital reserve stood at $80,000. At the September 2 vote, the Conway Daily Sun had reported about $110,000 left in the reserve. The same article estimated about $12,500 to move the non-taxidermy part of the collection into storage. That estimate does not cover the mounted animals, which are among the hardest pieces to move.
The value of what's inside is still being worked out. About 3,000 artifacts are being appraised for insurance replacement. The July 21 Economic Development Committee minutes estimated the collection's market value at $200,000 to $300,000, against about $440,000 in insurance coverage. The appraisal was expected in October but slipped because the appraisers found many more artifacts that needed research. The new date is November 11, 2026, and Deshaies said the results will show which items matter most and should come first.
The long-term bar is much higher. The same July minutes put the cash and expertise a successor trustee would need to show at roughly $3 million to $4 million. They also note that past fundraising at that scale fell short. The Preservation Society takes donations by check and online and offers memberships through savethelibby.org. It has not published a fundraising total.
Three groups, one moving job
The October 7 meeting's answer to the stalled move was organizational. The board approved a letter to the Friends of the Libby Museum and the Libby Museum Preservation Society proposing a subcommittee with one member each from the trustees, the Friends, and the Preservation Society. The three groups would "share expenses equally as we finalize a plan to move and store artifacts." The board named Deshaies as its representative.
The legal track is moving more slowly. In late September, the board asked Town Counsel to contact the Charitable Trusts Unit. That conversation happened, and the unit is consulting the Attorney General about next steps. The Conway Daily Sun reported no word yet from the Attorney General's office on future stewardship.
These are the dates to watch between now and the first real snow:
- October 21, 2026, 6 p.m.: A joint meeting of the Select Board and Libby Trustees. The agenda listed the collaboration letter as "Final ready for signature."
- November 11, 2026: The appraiser's new deadline for the collection valuation.
- November 12, 2026, 4:30 p.m.: The next scheduled board meeting of the Friends of the Libby Museum, after its October 8 meeting was canceled. Only members in good standing may attend the general session. A Friends representative told Deshaies he would bring the subcommittee proposal to the group in November.
- No date yet: A meeting with the Charitable Trusts Unit, and any Carroll County Probate Court filing by the Preservation Society.
Meeting minutes and agendas are posted in the Town of Wolfeboro Agenda Center. That's where a signed letter, a storage contract, or a first truck at the museum door will show up first. The museum's own site, libbymuseum.org, still shows a notice about staying closed for summer 2025. Use the town minutes for current information, and look for the alligator and the polar bear on loan elsewhere this winter rather than on North Main Street.
At Meredith Connor, I follow Wolfeboro's landmarks the same way I follow its shoreline, one meeting and one season at a time. If the Libby is part of why this stretch of the lake matters to you, I'm glad to talk about the town over coffee, whenever you're ready. Let's Connect — Find Your Lake Life.
