For me, the absolutely best part of this 01254.org project has been the privilege of getting to know more and more great people around town. And, of course, the gift packages full of treasures arriving via mail, email, texts, and special hand delivery. All of this experience is a mixture of archeology, cultural anthropology, history, exploration and fun.
For example, among the ‘treasures of antiquity’ which I have been gifted is a 45 rpm record produced by Lon O. Nordeen in 1974 which I recently digitized. Lon Nordeen was one of the earliest advocates for cleaning up the Housatonic River — it’s his name on the Nordeen WMA portion of Richmond Fen. Another treasure, of course, was the loan of the amazing living history audio CDs that Bill Edwards had transferred from the original 1960s tapes. And, Holly Stover gifted me Thomas and Lois Kelly’s personal copy of the 1990 Richmond Pond Diagnostic/Feasibility study. The list goes on, but this evening I wanted to highlight just a few photos and a newspaper clipping that Bill Malumphy and Gloria Morse sent my way. Bill found three photos from the Iron Works and writes of their provenance:
“The only fella I know in these photos is my great grandfather (Maurice Malumphy). He’s front row left in both the photos that are taken at the furnace. These are circa 1900. Most of the crews were Irish at this time…the Italians came a few years later with the other folks from central europe.”
With all the work over this week focused on my timeline and documentation of Richmond’s zoning law history, Gloria, ever generous with her time, sent a few newspaper clippings that were very helpful in filling in some of the blanks. And below is one of Gloria’s gifts to me, a great 1967 article about Estonia’s Gift to Richmond — Charles Kusik — who was so instrumental in Richmond’s zoning, and for so many towns around Berkshire County.
Now, if you have some photos or artifacts highlighting the history of our town you can gift or lend to 01254.org, please send them along!