During the beginning years, membership into the society was determined by vote. Existing members voted on prospective new members by placing a bean or corn kernel into a voting machine. A white bean or corn kernel was a ‘yes’ vote and the black bean or corn kernel (a blackball) was a ‘no’ vote. Only those deemed acceptable by 4/5 of the voting members were invited to join.

From 1891 to 1894, all the meetings of the society, with the exception of the first, were private. For a period of eleven years, from 1895 to 1905, nearly every meeting was public with a large hearing, usually about 100 folks attending.

In 1917, when the Medfield Memorial Public Library was given to the town as a gift by one of the owners of the hat factory, Granville Dailey, it was Dailey’s request that space always be provided for the historical society. From 1917 until 1968 the historical society resided in the back room of the library, in what is today the Periodical Room

At a town meeting in 1965, residents voted to expand the library in order to meet the needs of the large number of new residents moving into the town. The Bravo family home, located between the library and what was the old Needham Cooperative Bank at 6 Pleasant Street, was sold and moved to Park Street to make way for an expansion plan that would have added an addition connecting the library to the bank building. The bank building, which was purchased by the town, would then be incorporated as part of the library.

At the next town meeting, however, a vote defeated the funds to complete the library project and the town was now stuck with the vacant Bravo lot and an empty bank building. With the expansion plan dead, the library made a deal with the historical society. The historical society would move into the bank building on 6 Pleasant Street and the library would use the historical society room in the library for its expansion. Ever since 1968, the historical society has made the bank building on 6 Pleasant Street its home. The bank vault has become a secure holding area for all items of value.

In 1923 the historical society began a grassroots movement to save the historic Peak House, which had deteriorated badly and was facing possible demolition. Thanks to the efforts of the historical society, a grass roots effort in the community and a substantial donation by the president of the hat factory Granville Dailey, the Peak House was saved and restored. It was officially turned over to the historical society on June 27, 1924, and has remained in the care of the Medfield Historical Society ever since.   The Peak House is now operating as the Peak House Heritage Center.

In 1997, when the Dwight-Derby House, Medfield’s oldest house and one of the oldest in the United States, faced demolition and sale, the historical society again took a leading role in saving the house. Brought before Town Meeting by a grass roots effort and put under the care of the Friends of the Dwight-Derby House, the historic Frairy Street house has also been saved and is being restored.

Since its inception, the historical society has regularly hosted informative programs to highlight the town’s rich history and to make the community more aware of the important historic role Medfield holds in both the state and national picture. Over the years, speakers have been brought in and different aspects of Medfield’s history have been showcased.

For over 125 years society curators have collected and preserved Medfield’s history. Today its small headquarters at 6 Pleasant Street, next to the Memorial Public Library, is literally “bursting at the seams” with the town’s history, family and house histories and artifacts and photos of all kinds.  Membership in the Historical Society is now open to all with the membership voting machine, now on display at the Society Museum, a relic of early times.