Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/2/2023
PALMER — Palmer villages, Palmer voices is an ongoing project that seeks to preserve the town’s history through stories, artifacts, and more, gathering up information on everything from everyday life to clothing to exploring old cellar holes — nothing is off limits to get to the bottom of the town’s past.
The project is spearheaded by Collection Development Librarian Helene O’Connor and Adult Services Librarian Amy Golenski. Through collecting digital artifacts and diverse personal accounts of life and experiences from each generation in town, the project puts together a yet unseen and unheard of record of the town’s history.
The project is being made possible by the collaboration of the Palmer Public Library, Palmer Cultural Council, Massachusetts Cultural Council, M-PACT TV, Palmer Historical and Cultural Center, Palmer Historical Commission and the Elbow Plantation Historical Society. It is funded in part by a grant from the Palmer Cultural Council.
“Stories of ordinary people are extraordinary,” the library’s webpage on the project reads.
“Anybody with a Palmer memory or story or artifact is welcome,” O’Connor said. “Every story that approaches us is unique.”
All ages and all kinds of stories need to be shared, say the coordinators. They are also looking for artifacts of all kinds, for example, sports uniforms from the town. They will be scanning these items and making a record of them, then returning them to their owner.
Golenski said, “Over the many years we’ve heard people say, ‘We had this cool thing but we threw it away because we didn’t think anybody would be interested in it.’” This prompted O’Connor and Golenski to start a record of items that have historical significance — these could be any number of surprising objects, they said — and ask people to bring in what they have even if unsure it has a place in the project.
As of now, the project has three completed interviews that were filmed and now available to watch at palmerlibrary.org/palmervoices. They are working currently on their third episode, which, O’Connor said, is so large in scope that it might actually end up being three or four episodes in itself.
The current project focuses on community history, O’Connor said, and uses a painting to provide the landscape for exploring history, The library has a large painting by folk artist Jacob Knight, commissioned by the Historical Commission that was started in the late 1980’s and finished and hung in 1994.
The painting, according to O’Connor, “is made up of 27 frames of small vignettes that tell stories from all the four villages of Palmer. It has historical figures, buildings that are still there and some that aren’t there anymore, a whole variety of stories spanning across the town’s 300 years of settlement here.” It is now the focus of the fourth segment of the project.
Each frame has an explanation, written by the Historical Commission in a booklet, O’Connor said. The plan is to expand on the frames in some way — which is where the public brainstorming sessions come in, Golenksi said.
The brainstorming sessions are a way for the public to meet and figure out what to do next with a project and come up with ideas, communicate together, and build creative momentum around future plans. The organizers said there is a core group of people developing who come to these meetings, and “are essentially becoming ambassadors to the community,” in getting the word out about the project.
Golenski and O’Connor also said they are putting out a call for student summer interns interested in media, broadcasting, filming, and recording. The project works closely with local television producer M-PACT, and is looking for students who would have an interest in this field.
The Historical Interest Group Meeting times and dates can be found on the Palmer Voices page of the libraries website. An RSVP is required, but everyone is welcome.
One of the things the organizers said they have found to be fascinating is that each story they hear is different and can be very surprising. For example, they ask, how many people locally have heard of or remember “Doug Danger?”
Danger, who is sharing his story in the project, was a motorcycle stuntman from town who managed to gain national success and fame. Golenski said Danger told them he started to get national attention for the first time when he “jumped with his motorcycle off a 65-foot ramp, landing in Forest Lake.”
Danger does not have video footage of this, and the organizers are eager to find someone in the community who happens to have a recording of this event, which occurred on Memorial Day in 1984 — so if that’s you, contact Golenski or O’Connor.
This is an example of some of the rich history people can bring to the project, the organizers say. For those interested in telling their story, there are guidelines on how to start this process on the library’s website at palmerlibrary.org/palmervoices, and any questions can be directed to O’Connor or Golenski by calling the library at 413-283-3330.