In recent issues of Granite State Libraries, including this one, there have been informative articles on genealogical research by Mr. Edward Holden (see page 4). You may have seen Mr. Holden advising and assisting patrons doing family history at the State Library, and you may have wondered just who this energetic and cheerful gentleman is.

Edward Holden was born in Michigan and moved to New Hampshire when he was only three years old. He went to high school in New Jersey and from there to the Aroostock State Normal School at Presque Isle, Maine. His studies were interrupted by the Second World War during which he served three years in the Air Force. While he was in the service, Mr. Holden earned the equivalent of two years of college at Hamilton (NY) College in forty eight weeks, with a major in math and a minor in physics. When he returned to civilian life, the adaptable and multi-faceted Mr. Holden earned his BA degree from Boston University with concentrations in English and Social Studies.

For five years he taught physics at the high school in Presque Isle. From there he moved to Greenwich, Connecticut where he taught U.S. History and became principal of the junior high school. Following his retirement from teaching in Connecticut, Mr. Holden moved to New Hampshire where he taught physics at Pembroke Academy before a sojourn in Richmond, Virginia where he taught both math and physics. He returned to the Granite State, taught computer courses at Henniker High School, and worked part-time at the Geisel Library at St. Anselm College. Somehow or other, the industrious Mr. Holden found time to volunteer at the Bedford Public Library while working as a volunteer genealogist at the State Library. He worked in that capacity from 1981 until earlier this year when be became a paid part-time member of the staff Mr. Holden is the editor of The Shallop, New Hampshire Mayflower Society Newsletter; an active member of the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists; a director on the Committee to Preserve the Documentary Heritage of New Hampshire; and a regular instructor of Elderhostel students on genealogical resources in New Hampshire.