Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Center: Treasures In The Closet

Treasures in the Closet, September 2018

Everyone has something that has some story attached to it, right? Whether it's a t-shirt you got at a concert to remind you of that time you finally made it to see TSO, or the program to Don Quixote at SPAC, or that hand-painted wooden box from the Russian Festival.....

Chances are that even the I'm-so-not-a-sentimental-person has something that has some meaning to them. Or, at the very least, we've all got that pile of "stuff" that just hasn't been able to get tossed out because there might be something worthwhile in there.

Historical artifacts are much the same way - without knowing a little about where it came from, who owned it, what it was used for, and other details, it's just an item.

That photograph with a bunch of smiling faces -or stoic gazes? Just a bunch of people that got together for something and thought the moment special enough to warrant taking a picture. No names, no places, no events....just people in a photograph.

But there is a possible way to help prevent descriptions like some of the ones in the museum's database for these kinds of photographs, reading "A well-dressed man" (yes...we do have some of these highly informative "descriptions" for photographs, like this one c. 1940s supposedly of a man from the Waterford Lion's Club.)

How to solve this? Simple - talk to one another!

A conversation can go like:

Person 1: "I have all these milk bottles because they were something my family was a part of, so I tried to get one of each kind from over the years."

Person 2: "Oh, that was your family? There's an interesting bottle that we've been keeping in the kitchen for years that we knew had something to do with Waterford, but weren't sure all the details."

Person 1: "Really? I'd love to get a look at it sometime."

Person 2: "Sure!"

So now you have a new friend too (The museum holds no responsibility for the addition of friends you may or may not want to have only as acquaintances; please share history stories responsibly).

Helen Anderson, museum member, shares
family photographs & documents

The Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Center has created the opportunity for you to be able to do just that with your favorite items. It's called our Treasures In The Closet program!

This program is designed to be a discussion forum. You bring in your item or items, and it's your event. Even if you're not looking to have the blanks filled in on a photo or with an item - if you want to bring in those earrings that you like to make, go ahead!

Items brought to these programs DON'T HAVE TO BE HISTORICAL! It might be hard to believe coming from a historical museum, but don't forget we're also a cultural center too. While it's always an added bonus when it's a historical item, you really can bring in that cup that you earned from the Fire House for being a members for however many years. We want to hear your stories!

Identifying who, where, and what are important to help give an outsider context of what's going on in this photograph or what this alien-looking contraption may be (probably for some mundane device - imagine what fidget spinners will be interpreted as by archaeologists 1,000 years in the future...).

Waterford Town Historian, Russ VanDervoort,
shares family photos & his book,
Canal Canaries

But the why is also important and reminds people of the fact that real people made history - a good way to think of this is with the 2008 Jamey Johnson song, "In Color":

"A picture's worth a thousand words.

But you can't see what those shades of gray keep covered;

You should've seen it in color."

So let's add some color to history with our stories! If you'd like to share, contact the museum at 518-238-0809 or at info@waterfordmuseum.com