Springfield Town Meeting, Article 24

Dear Editor,

When filling out your ballot, please vote for Article 24: $9,500 for the Springfield Art and Historical Society. The society has no paid staff and its sole purpose is to preserve and share the history of Springfield. This takes many forms.

Receiving artifacts, which are cataloged on the computer and they are stored in archival containers. If necessary an artifact may be sent to a professional conservator. Of course, our largest project to date is the sorting and cataloging of the Bernie Lashua negatives.

Sharing the history is more visual to the public, like the weekly picture in the Springfield Reporter, our in-house displays, and monthly programs before the Covid-19 pandemic. We also do outreach with many organizations including the schools, elementary in particular; Springfield on the Move, providing historical information; the new trails group, developing historical waypoints for their new trails project; and the Army Corp of Engineers on the Valley Street Pool Removal initiative, relating the history of the old swimming pool, to name a few.

Sharing information with people is a large part of our efforts. People contact us often looking for their roots – genealogy information, information or pictures of ancestors, the old family home, or a specific time or place. Researching questions like these, we have discovered so many new and interesting things about Springfield and its citizens.

The historical society has a budget of over $25,000. We raise this money through memberships, donations, grants, the sale of our calendar, and the yard sale – when we can have it. But, far and away, the $9,500 contribution from the citizens of Springfield is our most important income. We thank you for your past support and ask you to please, once again, vote “yes” on Article 24.

Thank you,

Rosanne “Bunni” Putnam, president

Springfield Art and Historical Society

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