Wanted: old pictures of Williamstown

By Linda CarmanPrint Story | Email Story
Main Street, Williamstown before pavement arrived. (Photo curtesy of House of Local History)
WILLIAMSTOWN — Williams College students in Professor Henry A. Art’s winter study course are calling on residents in the region to bring in their old photographs of Williamstown landmarks or events to be included in a collection – and exhibited – as a culmination of the town’s 250th anniversary celebration. “Images help us to imagine the past and preserve our shared cultural history,” Art said. “A significant amount of this history of Williamstown and Williams College lies hidden, and often deteriorating, in shoe boxes and closets of members of our community.” Students in Art’s course, “Picturing Our Past,” are asking residents to bring in images that are more than 25 years old to be scanned by students between Jan 10 and Jan. 22 for incorporation into a digital image database and public exhibition. The owner of each image will be asked to provide information about it, along with an audio caption for inclusion in the database. The images will then immediately returned to the owner, along with computer-printed enlargements. The digital copy images will reside in a database available on the World Wide Web and at the Williamstown House of Local History and the Williams College Archives. The owners of the images will retain legal copyright to them and will be able to put conditions on uses by the public or by researchers. From late January through mid-February, many of the images will be showcased in a community-wide exhibition. The exhibition will cover historical topics such as schools, churches, farms, mills, commerce, families and neighborhoods and will take place at a variety of venues on campus and public spaces around Williamstown. For more information, or to make an appointment to have images scanned, call the Williams College Center for Environmental Studies, 597-2346. “Picturing our Past” also has a Web site: http://contentdm.williams.edu/picturingourpast/ According to Art, students are particularly seeking images of the following: Consumption Hill, Mount Pleasant, Mount Hope, Charityville, Cole's Grove, skiing on Sheep Hill, Girl Scout camp on Northwest Hill, Boys Club camp in Ford Glen, Starch Mill, Twine Mill, textile mills, tanning mill, Blackington when it was part of Williamstown, blacksmithing, the Red Bridge and Green River Mill. Also, the White Oaks neighborhood, The Twin Oaks poultry farm, the Berkshire Street Railway, the Boston & Maine railway station, working at the Station Mill, working on the railway, working at Williams College, Williamstown soldiers at war, keeping the peace at home, family picnics, historic floods, big storms, big fires, making charcoal, old water and sewer lines, life on the farm, life in the village, “high jinks,” high school, school days, Sunday schools, road work, interiors and exteriors of college buildings, student life at Williams, bee hunting and bear hunting.
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Senior Golf Series Returns in September

Community submission
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Berkshire County Fall Senior Golf series returns in September with events on five consecutive Wednesdays starting Sept. 18.
 
It is the 22nd year of the series, which is a fund-raiser for junior golf in the county, and it is open to players aged 50 and up.
 
The series will feature two divisions for each event based on the combined ages of the playing partners.
 
Golfers play from the white tees (or equivalent) with participants 70 and over or who have a handicap of more than 9 able to play from the forward tees.
 
Gross and net prices will be available in each division.
 
The cost is $55 per event and includes a round of golf, food and prizes. Carts are available for an additional fee.
 
Golfers should call the pro shop at the course for that week's event no sooner than two weeks before the event to register.
 
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