Last Wednesday night, we held our second ever “Open Archives Night” featuring collections related to the history of Fairhaven’s coastline.
The goal of Open Archives Night is to give all members of our community the opportunity to interact with archives directly – to allow patrons to view, touch, and interpret records and artifacts related to Fairhaven history. Patrons are encouraged to turn pages and view objects close-up. Nothing is behind glass; everything is laid out on tables for examination. These nights are a reminder that our historical collections exist for our patrons to access and to learn from.
At Wednesday night’s event, subtitled “30 Miles of Fairhaven Coastline in 30 Objects,” patrons had the opportunity to view a variety of materials from across our collections, including a 19th century whaling log, a scrapbook owned by Mark Twain, and old photographs of Fort Phoenix.
The evening was organized by Special Collections Assistant Bob Demanche, whose knowledge of our town’s history is a great asset to our library and our community. For Bob, it was important to have items on view that would represent the entirety of the town’s coastline, from North Fairhaven to West Island. He didn’t want to just focus on Oxford, the area of town that tends to get the most attention at events like these. His efforts paid off, as patrons walked around the room and were excited to discover items related to where they grew up or now lived.
Many patrons who came to the program gravitated toward items referencing town businesses or events that they could personally remember. Some shared stories of their own experiences in the 1954 Hurricane, or of their parents’ experiences in the even more devastating 1936 hurricane. Others connected with business records from the maritime industry, including from Union Wharf and Pierce and Kilburn.
We want to thank everyone who came out on a hot and humid evening to explore the history of Fairhaven’s coastline. We hope you will make it to a future Open Archives Night! If you have ideas about what our next topic should be, please reach out to us: vhurst@sailsinc.org 508-992-5342.