PLYMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — As it prepares to open next month, a museum dedicated to New Hampshire's White Mountains has received a 6,000-volume collection of books, maps and historical material.

The donation to the Museum of the White Mountains at Plymouth State University comes from Jack and Anne Newton of South Natick, Mass., who said they want the public to enjoy and understand the region's rich history.

The couple started collecting White Mountain material in the 1960s, when they acquired an old farmhouse property in Lancaster, which Anne Newton's ancestors helped settle in 1816. Jack Newton, who served in leadership positions with the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Mount Washington Observatory, says he used to visit antiquarian book dealers on the lookout for obscure, undiscovered items.