Colrain Archives

 We continue to reduce the "backlog" of uncatalogued items in CHS archives.  Here is a link to 44 "new" items ...from both the "backlog", and old items we have added pictures and new text. https://airtable.com/appZT73u0VhiS67ZX/shr9bgBBNhrx9SAik A few highlights   (11 of the 44 items) 1.   656   Amos Bardwell 19th century documents DETAILS To follow 2.   2341  Arms Academy 1932 yearbook - complete scan available online   3.   2455   Cordelia Maxam "tribute" booklet by her ca 1860 students 4.   2457   Framed Hair Art  "Hairtree of Nancy Donelson from 19th century 5.   2460    2 Carpetbags used by Jeb Stark at the Tavern on Jacksonville Road at Vermont line. 6.   2464  1881 diary of Alice Yaw    DETAILS To follow 7.   2463  24 small cooking booklets to promote Jello, Baking Soda, Crisco, etc.   8.   2465   Oval fram...

  Colrain Historical   Work Bee at Pitt House, March 14.   Today the living room was cleaned . The pile of rugs, after shaking out dirt, was moved to an upstairs bedroom to lay flat.  The last of the loose items on the Piano were sorted and boxed up (Box 10). Floor washed.  Debby took drapes home to be washed. The Pitt family china in the small closet in dining room was packed (mostly) into boxes. There is more to do later. Prentice  reviewed box of books on floor- deaccssioned a few ... he labelled a tray of Pitt papers and objects and stored them in small envelopes in a document box in the library. For now we are keeping the Pitt items separate from CHS items, because Pitt material has not been cataloged. Boxed up 20 volumes of "Women's Relief Corps" ledgers in library and moved to office. Each book numbered in pencil.  A few were cover-photographed. Moved Guy Wheeler's "Barnhart art rack" to the upstairs hallway for future (temporary) storage of pai...

Wednesday June 6  WORK BEE  at the Pitt House: Belden Merims, Prentice Crozier, Sarah Hollister, Dave Allen, Guy and Debby Wheeler and Gail Johnson   1-4:15 Debby and Gail cleaned the front hall and the dining room, floors especially.         What a difference that makes! Guy and Dave removed the Refrigerator (to the outside front porch).           Guy assembled a second wire shelf rack and put it in Kitchen Belden numbered two large photo albums of 1990s "village fairs" so the photos can be removed from the sticky plastic albums. Prentice removed frames from several Pitt photographs and filed prints into archival folders fir future scanning and storage. This frees up wall space and storage space. Sarah and Dave cataloged a few more large framed prints  (Numbered and photographed) for storage upstairs. Gail reviewed and labelled 20 + "Women's Relief Corps" ledgers found on Library shelves.  T...

A FEW  Possible Volunteer  Tasks: 1 --   1392   Photo Album 1997 - Number each page with Sharpie                                 - Identify & label the people in the Village Faire Album on Post It Note                                  - pack away for future "bust apart" and scanning   **** DONE **** 2 ----- 1390   Photo Album 1996 Village Fair      "      "          ***** DONE ***** 3 -----  List all the articles in the 200th Anniversary Newspaper Supplement.  This 10-page item has dozens of separate articles on Town history. ...

 On the 29th, 5 volunteers worked at the Pitt House from 1-4:30, cleaning and sorting;    We discussed possible storage locations for objects we are removing from display.    -  Old upstairs bathroom would be good location for shelving , but it needs carpentry work. Would $5000 expenses + 3 volunteer workers get the job done in a week?  Remove toilet, bathtub. Take down the south wall so the "hidden room" is open. Demo the ceiling lath and plaster. Insulate ceiling and install sheetrock.   THEN, we could install  storage shelving for boxes. This rook is NOT possible for furniture storage due to the narrow entrance door.   We reviewed last weeks' storage boxes up in the Pitt bedroom and listed  items for easy retrieval. We cataloged and boxed up more items in living room and library, such as an old lantern, a Rhoda Shippee photograph. Drawers in the large dresser in Breakfast Room were sorted. Two more "tag sale" boxes were filled wi...

 5 trusty volunteers met at the Pitt House (CHS Museum) Thursday to sort and pack items so that we can be in better shape to welcome the public this season. Dave Allen , Sarah Hollister, Prentice Crosier, Guy & Debby Wheeler and Gail Johnson. What a crew !  We worked together like a well-oiled machine between 1-4:30pm. The goal was to pack away various loose items and free up floor and table surfaces for future more serious cleaning. Guy assembled a shelf unit for the archives room so we can have fewer boxes on the floor. Debby and others looked through the several boxes of not-so-interesting china and agreed that nuch could be disposed of. So that material was taken to the barn and labelled "Tag Sale". 2 cartons with tee shirts and tote bags were moved from the office to the upstairs old bathroom. We labeled and then  moved 2 cartons of small framed paintings etc upstairs to the "little room" at head of stairs.     The Canton Ware china in the closet w...

 Item # 2410 in our archives includes objects and documents from Richard Sessler's US Navy career during World War II. This box came to CHS from his family a year or so ago, and has recently been cataloged, including scans and photos. Highlights include certificates he received after crossing the Equator: Richard was stationed in the Philippines . We also have a photo album of his daily life there. Richard grew up on Nelson Rd. in East Colrain. Curator Sarah Hollister learned to swim at the Sessler family swimming hole on the Green River. The box also contained metal objects . Sarah felt metal objects should not be stored with paper. The  archivists at PVMA confirmed this opinion and the objects were separated. We used archival boxes for paper and metal storage and discarded the original box after photographing it. To see  all the items in this box, click here.