The Mass. Memories Road Show is coming to Bellingham!

What is the significance of the Mass Memories Road Show coming to town? The Open House scheduled at the Bellingham Public Library for Saturday, Jan. 11, 10:30 am-12 pm, will explain more about the program. Learn how you can be a part of Massachusetts history and share your Bellingham story.

The Road Show will be held in April, but there is preparatory work to be done, and spreading the word to residents is probably the most important job, along with recruiting volunteers to help on that day, and here's why. 

The mission of University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston is to collect, preserve, and provide access to archival materials of enduring historic value to support the teaching, research, and service of UMass Boston’s diverse community and the general public. 

UASC is committed to working with, promoting, and assisting community archives in the Greater Boston area through facilitating cross-organization collaboration and access to informational, educational, and practical resources relevant to archival procedures and best practices. (To learn more, visit blogs.umb.edu/archives.)

The Mass. Memories Road Show is a statewide, event-based participatory archiving project that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. Archivists and public historians at the Healey Library at UMass Boston collaborate with local planning teams and volunteers to organize free public events where individuals bring photographs to be copied and included in a digital archive. 

Contributors are invited to describe the photographs in their own words. In addition, they may choose to share “the story behind the photos” on video, have their own “keepsake photo” taken, receive advice from professional archivists and historians on caring for their family photos, and learn from one another about the history of their community.

Currently, this collection includes more than 11,000 photographs, stories, and videos from throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. To explore materials from specific Road Show events, or browse the entire collection, visit https://openarchives.umb.edu/digital/collection/p15774coll6/search.

If you are thinking you'd like to volunteer to help out on Road Show day in April or would just like to know more about this effort, mark January 11 on your calendar and attend the Open House at the Library. In the meantime, please sifting through family photos and select around 3 for permanently entering into Bellingham--and Massachusetts--history.