Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 123968 is a 17 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, Otca model with open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, a keel, and a floor rack. It was built between December, 1937 and August, 1938. The original exterior paint color was dark green or G. S. (Guide's Special) green. It shipped on March 20th, 1939 to Boston, Massachusetts. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and
http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Thanks,
Benson