We had a very successful Family Day last Saturday. It was great to have kids (and some parents) playing “olde time” games on the Centre Common. We also had activities in all of our buildings and kicked off the day with our most profitable yard sale to date!
Thanks to everyone who came and also to those who donated their items to the yard sale. We’ll see you next year!
Michelle McElroy
Operations Manager
Last week someone stopped in looking for old pictures of the original Shoppers World soldiers being built. He is part of a carpenters’ union whose members are volunteering their time to build replicas of the soldiers. The town is providing the materials and workspace while these generous men are donating their skills and effort. They were asked them to make 6 soldiers to better balance the amount of soldiers displayed throughout town during the holiday season (most soldiers are placed downtown and around the south side)
I was kindly invited to the shop to check out the progress since I was such a big fan of the original Shoppers World. It was a real treat to get to see this project in action. There are two original soldiers that they’ve taken apart to investigate all the support beams and angles. These guys are replicating every inch of the interior and exterior to make them look and hold up just like the originals.
Here are some pictures from my visit.
On a related note, we’ll keep you posted on our upcoming Shoppers World exhibit
Michelle McElroy
Operations Manager
At the annual Family Day on the Common event each spring we set up a “yard sale” to sell previously-loved items and use the proceeds to support the History Center. If you would like to donate items for the yard sale please call Susan Silva at 508-877-8465 or Jemi Miceli at 508-626-2649. Susan can also be emailed at susansilva@verizon.net.
The FHC is pleased to announce that it has received a $5,000 grant from the Framingham Co-operative Charitable Foundation matching a previous donation of $5,000 from Foundation for Metrowest. Both of these donations will fund our Civil War in Framingham 2011 initiative. Last week a group of 30 volunteers convened at the Edgell Memorial Library to begin planning for the Civil War Sesquicentennial which kicks off in April of 2011. A museum education consultant will be hired with this grant funding to help volunteers and staff develop Civil War exhibitions and programs using the FHC collections, buildings, and stories as well as the town’s sites related to the era of this great conflict.
We recently had a couple of items restored and were happy to have them back.
The first was an ox yoke from the colonial period.This piece was really heavy but our crew which included our very hands-on Executive Director, Annie Murphy and Researcher, Kevin Swope helped finish the job. At one point there were 5 of us lifting and adjusting (I wish I set the camera on timer mode to capture that) but it’s up and hanging in its rightful spot at the Academy Building.
We also had a pair of benches restored that reside at the Edgell Memorial Library. If anyone has had the experience of sitting on one of these you might have had the feeling of being on a ship since they were in pretty rough shape.
These former church pews have slowly been deteriorating to the point we could no longer have people sit on them, but we’re happy to report that they are back and ready to provide rest for all those who seek it when visiting Edgell.
Thanks to Paul Reidl of Reidl Restorations Services in Framingham for doing such great work!
Michelle McElroy
Operations Manager
This past Sunday was our “Bank On It” program. Arthur Fitts came in to talk about Framingham Banks and the history of local currency. It was a great talk about how the National Bank issued its own currency and Arthur pulled a lot of Framingham bills out of his pocket for display. It was fascinating to learn how this evolved into the currency we use today. We displayed some items from our own collection as well as items form Arthur’s collection.
We also did some re-arranging and are happy to report that even with a full-house, everyone had a seat for the program.
Thanks to Arthur for taking the time to come in and share his knowledge and to everyone for joining us!
Michelle McElroy
Operations Manager
African American History Roundtable
Thursday, February 18th 6:00pm
Edgell Memorial Library
3 Oak Street, Framingham
Our African American History Roundtable discussion begins at 6:00 pm tomorrow evening at the Edgell Memorial Library. This will be an informal gathering of interested parties to discuss the full range of our local African American History. While we will review what we have in the FHC collection to illustrate known stories and people, there is more that needs to be collected, researched and shared. Bring your interest in or knowledge of Framingham’s African American community – past, present and future and join the discussion.
Bank On It!
Sunday, February 21st 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Edgell Memorial Library
3 Oak Street, Framingham
Come and learn about the history of banking in Framingham from coin and currency collector Arthur M. Fitts III. Fitts’ long-standing interest in Framingham history, especially memorabilia, will enrich this program featuring Framingham paper money through roughly the past 200 years. He will also cover early banks in Framingham and by association the evolution of banking nationally.
You will undoubtedly gain a greater perspective on current banking practices at a time when they seem to be dominating the headlines.
Free to FHC members and $5 for non-members. To purchase tickets click here.
Two of our interns, Steve Lessard and Indiana Jones, were on the local program “High School Quiz Show” on WGBH.
Last summer, Steve worked on 3 Virtual Exhibits: Framingham Illustrated, Postcards of Framingham, and Fabric of Framingham. Framingham Illustrated is the Framingham History Center’s first virtual exhibit and can be seen here. The other two, which are larger and more complicated, are still in progress. There will be over 650 postcards in the postcard Virtual Exhibit when it is completed.
Indiana catalogued our collection of 18th and 19th-century tools in the basement of the Old Academy. The process included photographing, measuring, describing, and researching records before entering the photos and records in our catalogue database.
Congratulations to Steve Lessard and Indiana Jones for doing a great job representing Framingham.
Michelle McElroy
Operations Manager
On Sunday night, at the Danforth Museum, the START Partnership unveiled their economic impact statement with much fanfare. The MC for the evening was none other than our own Executive Director, Annie Murphy who spoke about how the six organizations in the partnership currently impact the local economy and their projected impact over the next 10 years. For example, last year 22,530 people from outside Middlesex County came to Framingham to support the various arts and cultural activities. That number is projected to grow to 264,396 over the next ten years.
The organizations who contributed data to this study were the Framingham History Center, the Danforth Museum, Amazing Things Art Center, Framingham Public Library, the New England Wildflower Society/Garden in the Woods, and Performing Arts Center of Metrowest. Staff and directors were at the event as well and many spoke or hosted presentations by their organizations. Speakers included a full slate of our local representative delegation with State Senator Karen Spilka, Representative Pam Richardson and Representative Tom Sannicandro and Greg Liakos from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
There were mini-performances by the Performing Arts Center, story tellers and musicians as well as a video presentation on how the START Partnership members contribute to the arts and culture of Framingham. It was a great way to see what Framingham has to offer and how it’s only getting better! If you are interested in receiving a copy of the Economic Impact Study, please email me at michelle@framinghamhistory.org
Once or twice a year we have a program called “Street Smarts”, where we focus on the history of a certain part of town. On Sunday we held a Street Smarts presentation about the neighborhood around the Women’s Reformatory.
You may not think “Women’s Reformatory” and “neighborhood” would go together but it actually was the case at one time. Framingham residents Ellen Walker and Martin Mulvey grew up on the prison grounds because their parents worked at the prison and they shared their surprisingly fond childhood memories.
Our fabulous volunteer, Ronnie Cronin, who clocked many hours of research and is also a childhood friend of Ellen Walker, started off the presentation with a brief history of how the The Sherborn Massachusetts Reformatory Prison for Women became the Framingham Women’s Reformatory (dropping “prison” from the title).
Ellen and Martin then spoke about what their childhood was like with acres of fields used by the reformatory for their own vegetable gardens and livestock. Martin remembered realizing why the fence was so much higher around the field with the bull in it (there to “service” the female cows) after he hopped over it. He also recalled playing in the giant bales of hay and eating all the strawberries he and his friends wanted while on the way to the apple orchards. Ellen told us about playing inside the prison with the superintendent’s niece and interacting with the inmates, who were never referred to as prisoners during their “temporary stay”. She was even in a play with the inmates and recalled how lovely and lady-like they all were. She never had a bad experience with anyone inside the reformatory. Below is a photo of Ellen in a prison production of an unknown play.
What I found most interesting was hearing about the Superintendent, Miriam Van Waters who sounded like a remarkable woman. She was a pioneer in criminal rehabilitation. She cared deeply about the inmates, the staff working at the Reformatory and their families.
Below is a photo of Miriam Van Waters and Eleanor Roosevelt during Mrs. Roosevelt’s visit to the Reformatory.
It was such an interesting program and I really felt enlightened by Ellen and Martin’s stories. A big thank you to them and everyone who attended and shared their memories as well.
Michelle McElroy
Operations Manager
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jan | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | |||
