| The Longmeadow Historical Society, in conjunction with the Historical Commission, recently submitted a grant proposal to the town's Community Preservation Project. The Community Preservation Committee and the Finance Committee have recommended funding of the proposal, which is up for vote at Tuesday's town meeting. The purpose of the grant is to preserve approximately 300 glass-plate negatives taken in the early 1900s by town resident Pasiello Emerson. These pictures provide a unique record of Longmeadow in the period of 1910 to roughly 1925. The pictures include townspeople, houses that have since burned down, landscaping, horse and carriage scenes and other fascinating images. These negatives are deteriorating because of inadequate storage facilities at the Storrs House, where the Longmeadow Historical Society collection is housed. In order to protect the negatives from further deterioration, the proposal includes funds to digitize the photos, perform minor retouching of any damage, and then convert to film negatives. The new film negatives will be of high resolution and quality and will be used to produce reprints without having to touch the glass-plate negatives, which will further preserve the originals. As stipulated in the proposal, the digitized photos will be accessible to the public through the Longmeadow Historical Society Web site (www.longmeadow.org/hist_soc/histsoc_main.html). Please help to preserve these images of Longmeadow's history by voting to support Article 27. The Longmeadow Historical Society |
