Historical Westborough Memorabilia Needed!

Tomorrow – Sat Feb 4th is Scanning Day!  Do you have items of historical interest relating to Westborough sitting in your attic, stored in a garage, or lying out on a shelf? The Westborough Public Library is collecting images of these items, so that others can enjoy the story that they have to tell about Westborough and its history.  On Saturday, February 4, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Westborough Town Hall, the Westborough Public Library, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is sponsoring “Westborough: Your Town – Your History,” a “scanning day” where you can bring in up to three documents or items relating to the life and culture of Westborough for us to digitize. We keep the images, add them to the Library’s collections, and post them to the Digital Commonwealth. You return home with your items, the digital copies, and information on how to preserve your historical treasures.

In 2013, Westborough cleaned out its “attic” during the renovation of Town Hall and discovered a trove of historical documents relating to our town. Since that time, some of these documents have been digitized and made available to the world via the Digital Commonwealth (www.digitalcommonwealth.org), a massive online database of Massachusetts historical records from around the state.

Now it’s your turn to add to the collection from Westborough historical items you might have at home!

What kinds of items can you bring to the scanning day? Anything, as long as they relate to Westborough in some way. The items don’t even have to be “historical,” because the objects of today become the history of tomorrow. So look through your house and bring in photographs, menus, t-shirts, memorabilia—anything that will add to our understanding of Westborough history either now or in years to come.

In addition to scanning historical materials, the day will also feature many other historically-related activities. Westborough TV will be collecting “video stories” about Westborough from attendees. Members of the Westborough Historical Society will be available to answer any of your questions about Westborough history or your items. Representatives from the Art & Frame Emporium and the Northeast Document Conservation Center will be offering advice on the best ways to preserve your historical treasures. And there will be a display of historical documents discovered in our Town Hall vault. So even if you cannot find an item to scan—but we bet you can!—there will be plenty of reasons for you to attend this town-wide celebration of Westborough history.

Westborough is your town, and you are a part of its history. Be creative and think about how you want to shape that history through the objects in your house. Have questions about what you can bring or anything else about the program? Visit www.westborougharchive.org or contact Anthony Vaver, the Local History Librarian, at avaver@town.westborough.ma.us.

So watch the PSA and come to Town Hall on Saturday and ask Anthony about the meaning of life.