The Hale Johnson Boxes (Estate)



----------------by Dave Allen  Feb 17 2024-----------------------------------
Sarah and I reviewed 4 boxes of Hale Johnson material which came to CHS from his estate last summer. 

 It appeared to us that this material was most likely collected by Hale's mother , Louise Hale Johnson, and that it should be kept at CHS. Louise's roots are deep into Colrain, and she was a founding member of the Colrain Historical Society.
Once we were convinced of the Colrain historical value, we decided to catalog all the boxes. This took several days, (including a lot of scanning) but it was a good February task.
There are 70+ Airtable catalog entries.  Catalog entries can be a single piece of paper or an object like a bible, or a set of objects/papers, like "5 small framed photos".  We use that "set" scheme to save cataloging time when there are several similar items.  However, in the case of the set of photo albums , we cataloged each as separate items as each covers a different subject and has many pages.

Louise's ancestors include the Hales & Slates of Bernardston and the Millers of Colrain.  There are numerous Miller items such as ca 1900 schoolbooks, 1880s era photos , two genealogical charts and family tree typescript.

Miller Genealogy page by Louise (see bottom)

Hale's landholdings on Franklin Hill Road are outlined on his copy of the 1945 USGS map of Colrain. (below  #2454-14).

Hale Johnson's land - as outlined by him?

The largest items to store are 10 photo albums covering approx period 1880-1960. They take up one 12x18 storage carton. Many of the older pics are not identified, but are likely of Louise' forebears, and we feel these should be kept for further review. 5 albums are 1920s-1960s albums of Hale's parents and his youth.

Colrain 1st Meetinghouse Stone in a
Hale Johnson 1950s album

While only a smattering of Colrain pictures were found within these albums, they shed light on Hale's family.  These could be de-accessioned, but we suggest keeping them at present. Let future curators discard if they wish. 

The boxes had several framed pictures which we removed from frames to save space. Before removal each was photographed front and back to "preserve" the pictures as they were (presumably) hung in Louise's house. Framed photos were obviously special. 

Item #2454-41 before frame removal

Closeup of the fellow in the frame
The "fellow in the frame" was identified on the back of the photo as Herbert A. Hale 1893 (23 yrs of age).  Louise Hale Johnson's father.

There are now 3 small boxes (5" thick "Document Boxes") and one larger carton with photo albums (12x18x10). 4 boxes total.
Sarah and I feel that this is not much material to store considering the subjects, the fact that Hale Johnson was a major benefactor of CHS, and that Louise Hale Johnson was a founder of CHS. Here is the airtable link to the Hale Johnson material

https://airtable.com/appZT73u0VhiS67ZX/shrlusogpzfoTJRva

Dave


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