We are moving ahead!

We are so very grateful for your membership, friendship, and support while we enter a new phase of growth.  Starting in January, we will be closed at our Milne Library location at 1095 Main Street in order to move to our new location at the South Center School, located at 32 New Ashford Road. We are excited about our move and look forward to being a vibrant history center for the entire community to enjoy for years to come. We invite you to make an appointment to visit the WHM at our Milne Library location over the next several weeks to get a final look at our current galleries and research area.  Our phased move will take several months.  Our collection will move first, followed by our research room and office areas, and our permanent exhibit will be moved last.  You are invited to call or email during during our move to make an appointment to use our research materials or visit before the exhibit is moved.  In the spring we will officially open at our new location, though you may drop by earlier or make an appointment to look around as we move in and organize ourselves.

As we are proceeding with the renovations at South Center School, we have also begun to raise funds for the project and are making good progress toward our $75,000 goal. We will launch our campaign to our general membership and other townspeople very soon.  If you would would like to make a donation now, please contact our office at 413-458-2160 or go to our donations webpage by following this link https://www.williamstownhistoricalmuseum.org/membership-2/join-us/.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

South Center School Class, 1907-1908, Teacher:  E. Belle Smith

The Transcript:  A Voice in the Hills

Originally presented on Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 11 am at Sweetwood of Williamstown, Hulda Hardman Jowett’s lecture on the history of the Transcript can be viewed on WilliNet.  Thank you WilliNet!

Please click the link below to view the lecture online:  

http://willinet.org/content/williamstown-historical-museum-presents-transcript-voice-hills-hulda-hardman-jowett

 

The Transcript was the voice and conscience of northern Berkshire for over a century and no matter whether the topic was local or national, there was always a well thought out opinion, and locals were encouraged to comment on it.  From wars to mayoral elections, even constitutional amendments, The Transcript had an opinion.  This talk will include personal remembrances of VJ Day, the dropping of the Atomic bomb, and will include some stories about things that occurred when her father, uncle, grandfather and great grandfather were at the helm of this award winning newspaper. Questions are encouraged during this illustrated talk.

Born and educated in North Adams, Hulda Hardman Jowett attended local schools, graduated from Skidmore College with a BA in history, and did graduate work at UMass and at Williams where she was an NDEA/John Hay Fellow.  She taught history for many years and is a student of local history and an amateur genealogist.

 

The Williams College Archives – An Introduction

Saturday, October 22, 11 am

Milne Public Library

Katie Nash, Williams College Archivist and Special Collections Librarian will presented a visual lecture where we will learned more about what the Archives hold and how we can access its excellent collections.  Katie provided the audience with stories of interesting pieces and will help us learn how we can discover more about our town and the college.

View the video here:  The Williams College Archives

Katie Nash is the College Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at Williams College. Prior to her moving to Williamstown in October 2014, she was a long-time resident of North Carolina and worked at Elon University for a little over nine years as their first full-time University Archivist. She received a BA in Anthropology with a minor in Sociology from Appalachian State University. Her Masters in Library and Information Science degree is from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Katie became a Certified Archivist in 2011 and is active in the archival profession and serves on a number of committees and boards, primarily with the Society of American Archivists and New England Archivists. Even though she’s new to the area she has a deep interest in local history, especially in how places and people overlap with aspects of Williams College history. She volunteers with Take and Eat, Inc. and delivers meals to seniors who are house bound. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, biking, watching movies and exploring Berkshire county and beyond.