Exhibit – Page 2 – Local History Collections

2013-11-13

New Exhibit: Are you ready for some football…history?

This month, the Local History exhibit case at the Kingston Public Library features a few football artifacts loaned to us by the Silver Lake Regional High School Library. Recently Coach John Montosi, who led the Lakers football team from 1960 to 1980, donated six scrapbooks to the school. These volumes, created by Montosi’s mother Dorothy, document the coach’s career and the team’s development over two decades which ended with a Division Championship and a Super Bowl win.

The artifacts will be on display through early December. The scrapbooks will be available in the Kingston Public Library through December 31; please contact the Archivist for an appointment. In 2014, the scrapbooks will return to the Silver Lake Library.

Thanks to Linda Redding, SLRHS Librarian, for making this exhibit possible!

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2013-09-07

New Exhibit – School Days

Ring ring goes the bell
The cook in the lunchroom ready to sell

Chuck Berry — “School Days”

For September’s lobby case exhibit, the Local History Room presents highlights from a great collection of photographs of Kingston Elementary School dating from 1952 to 1966. These class portraits and candid shots were collected by Florence Esther DiMarzio, who taught at KES from 1920 to 1958 and served as principal for 34 of those 38 years. In addition to 180 prints, the Local History Room has digital copies of another 20 photographs held in a private collection.

We haven’t identified everyone in the photos, so if you know who some of them are, ask for a photocopy, label the people you know and return it to the Local History Room. We’ll put in their Permanent Records!

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2013-07-03

Go Fourth and Parade!

In 1910, the first of many Fourth of July parades rolled in Kingston.

In honor of this most American holiday, here are a few views of one of our favorite floats from the inaugural year: the “Guardians of the Clam Flats.”

"Guardians of the Clam Flats" float, Fourth of July parade, 1910 — “Guardians of the Clam Flats” float, Fourth of July parade, 1910

Source: LHR General Images IC7 (top two); Hathaway Collection MC21

And now, a word from our sponsors…

If you can spare a moment, please help the Library Needs Assessment Committee plan for the Library’s future by sharing your thoughts and ideas in this short survey. Even if you don’t currently use the Library, we want your input.

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2013-06-17

New Exhibit: Iconic Buildings of Kingston

Delano's Wharf block, 2001 — Delano’s Wharf block, 2001

As part of the celebrations for Kingston’s 275th anniversary in 2001, the Friends of the 275th commissioned a set of blocks depicting eight iconic Kingston buildings: the old Town House, the Center Primary school (now called the Faunce School), the Pumping Station, the passenger station (now the restaurant Solstice), the First Parish Church, the Major John Bradford House, the now-gone Kingston High School, and Delano’s Wharf, shown here from the rarely seen bay side.

Red Cross swimming lessons behind Delano's Wharf, circa 1945 — Red Cross swimming lessons behind Delano’s Wharf, circa 1945

The blocks, along with photographs from the Local History Room, as on display this month in the Library lobby.

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2013-04-16

New Exhibit: The Boys of Summer Start in the Springtime

Stop by the Library this month to see photographs of baseball players in and around Kingston from 1897 to 1961.

Source: The Albion Holmes Collection, MC 25

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com

2013-03-05

New Exhibit: Our “Odd” Neighbor

If you’ve ever wondered why the building at 7 Green Street, right across from the Library, has a sign on the front that reads “Adams Lodge, IOOF, 1900” stop by and have a look at this month’s exhibit.

Odd Fellows Hall & School, Kingston, Mass., circa 1900.

2013-01-30

“This view is beautiful”

Putting together an exhibit for Valentine’s Day, I found this postcard. Cataloging it for our online picture collection (coming soon!), I found this subject heading in the LOC’s TGM: “Courtship. Use for Courting, Flirtation, Wooing.” Yes, I think that just does capture it.

Source: MC11 Joseph Cushman Finney Papers

2012-11-10

New Exhibit: Playing Pilgrim

This month’s exhibit showcases people from Kingston dressing up like their Pilgrim predecessors. In 1920, the spectacle known as the Tercentenary Pageant featured a number of Kingstonians, new immigrants and Mayflower descendants alike, among its 1,300 actors. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Major John Bradford House served as the setting for dramatic vignettes and an educational film, directed by none other than the auteur responsible for Dating Do’s and Don’ts. Stop by and take a look.

2012-08-17

New Exhibit: Old Home Day (and New Old Home Day!)

Old Home Day is a small town New England tradition popular from the 1860s into the 1930s, and later in many cases. In Kingston, the town-wide event, which included clambakes, sports, dancing, singing and parades, was held annually from 1903 to 1908, again from 1933 to 1938, in the 1970s and the 1990s.

This month’s exhibit features programs and photos from some of these events.

And the tradition continues on September 8, Kingston’s new Old Home Day! To get involved, contact the Board of Selectmen now.

2012-06-15

New Exhibit: A few of my favorite things

The things in the exhibit case, June 2012

Instead of the photographs and documents usually on display in the Local History exhibit case, this month we’ve got a bunch of things, or more formally, artifacts, relics, realia.

What kind of things are these, you might ask? If Julie Andrews were here, she’d sing it like this…

A box full of shoe tacks, a piece of bog iron
A stereoviewer, a cat’s paw for prying
A hammer for caulking, a key on a string
These are a few of my favorite things

Well, okay, maybe not.