The Mass Memories Road Show, a statewide event-based participatory archive program established by UMass Boston, will welcome neighbors to the South Boston branch of the Boston Public Library this Saturday (May 10).
Beginning at 10 a.m., residents will be welcomed to the branch at 646 E Broadway, where they can share two to three print or digital photos to be copied and added to the statewide digital collection at https://openarchives.umb.edu/.
Joanne Riley, the Digital Initiatives Archivist at UMass Boston, said the road show is about “going to a community and collaborating with local organizations to document Massachusetts history through individuals’ stories, photographs, and experiences in that community.”
She added:“It’s different from other kinds of more formal archiving because it’s really going with the voice and experience of the people who come to the event. Whether they live here now, whether their family lived here three generations ago, whether they worked here, went to school here, anything. It’s all made South Boston what it is.”
At the event, which is free, participants will be guided through a series of stations where they will be asked to share information about their photos and connection to the community. They will then have a chance to record a video explanation of each picture.
“To have your own words, it’s not just your photograph but also your own words in your own voice. I think having that is just precious for your family,” said Kathleen Clifford, the branch programs & community outreach librarian. “Even if you don’t think that anyone might care, I think it’s really touching to be able to share that with not just your family but anyone that might be coming after us, who might live here, or work here, and want to know more about their community.”
Clifford and Riley agreed that the photos can be of just about anything. In the past, they’ve received a plethora of pictures showing families, houses, pets, parties, and as Riley put it, “just things that people love.”
“For us, it’s always about the contributor. People bring things that mean something to them,” said Riley. “We don’t need this picture of John F. Kennedy when he visited your neighborhood or whatever, because that’s all more publicly already documented. But this picture of your grandfather in the store he ran in South Boston for many years is priceless.”
As images are collected, they will simultaneously be projected onto a screen until the event ends at 3 p.m. Since Mass Memories first began in 2004, the project has digitized more than 13,000 images and stories from across the state. After Saturday’s event, that number will grow while sharing some South Boston history.
Dani Crickman, the branch’s children’s librarian, said the event is “a very cool way we can specifically support in our neighborhood the larger archiving and world history projects.”
Said Clifford: “I think to have the communities’ voice in their own words is so important. I don’t think we have enough of that.”
After the event, the pictures, videos, and stories will all be digitized and accessible at https://blogs.umb.edu/massmemories/.
