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This event is part of our summer reading program, Find Your Voice, and is made possible by the support of the Friends of the Athol Public Library and/or the Athol Cultural Council
FINDING HISTORICAL VOICES is a two-part event to be presented on July 12 and 15, 2023. The first part, at the Athol Public Library, 586 Main Street, in Athol, will take place on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 6:30 PM, with a presentation about genealogy. online research, and historical sources.
Participants are encouraged to bring to the library event a pre-1970 photograph or small artifact.
J. A. McIntosh, a local author, has written several contemporary mysteries and is now working on a novel, Swift River Secrets, that combines a present-day crime with roots in the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. She finds she gets lost in the history. “I often spend time just looking through archives and other old records,” said J.A. McIntosh. “I’ve developed a fascination with ice harvesting, heirloom plants, and other past practices that I never knew existed.”
Elena Palladino moved into a new home in Ware, Massachusetts and became intrigued with its past when a neighbor put decades-old pictures of the house in her mailbox. After doing some research, she found that the house had been owned by Marion Smith, a resident of Enfield, Massachusetts, now under the Quabbin Reservoir. Some parts of the house, including floors, a staircase, and pocket doors cam directly from Miss Smith’s Enfield home. She wrote a book, Lost Towns of the Swift River Valley: Drowned by the Quabbin, that talks about the last days of Miss Smith. "I've always loved old houses and the stories they tell" she said. "Every piece of research about Marion Smith and the Quabbin led to the next, as if the book was meant to be written."
Judy and Elena will talk about genealogy, how to use online sources such as Digital Commonwealth, how they got started with their research and writing, the value of local history.
The second part of the event will take place on Saturday, at the Swift River Valley Historical Society, 40 Elm Street in New Salem, and will emphasis primary sources and hands-on work with town and organizational records from the Swift River Valley, now under the Quabbin Reservoir. Both parts will focus on allowing the researcher to get a feel for the times, the thoughts, and the actions of the past.
Supported by the Friends of the Athol Public Library.
Free and open to the public.
