Active Collections Success Story: Sharon Historical Society Reopens! 

By Hannah Kirkpatrick

In early August, the Sharon Historical Society reopened to the public after a years-long construction project on their space in the Sharon Old Town Hall. While the floors were being replaced, moisture mitigated, and the walls painted, the entire collection had to be moved out of the building and into temporary storage. This work overlapped with Sharon Historical Society’s participation in the Activating 21st Century Local History Training Program, but the construction didn’t stop them from developing engaging new exhibits and highlighting special objects in their collection.

Here are some insights into successful Active Collections work from the Sharon Historical Society’s recent reopening:

Make Collections Everyone’s Issue: Local historical societies often have just a few volunteers working directly with collections. Share your experiences with the board and your fellow volunteers to make sure that everyone knows how much time and effort collections care takes. While participating in the Activating 21st Century Local History Training Program, Sharon Historical Society gathered multiple board members and volunteers to discuss objects for potential deaccession. During construction work, nearly the entire collection had to be packed and moved out of the building into temporary storage, making it very obvious that space was at a premium. What better time to consider which of your objects are pulling their weight more than others?

Small Changes for Big Impact: While it can be very frustrating to encounter delays in a construction project that upheaves your collection work space, you can still get important work done. Sharon Historical Society members worked to create a scale model of the building and largest objects that allowed easy planning ahead of the move back into the space. New exhibit arrangements were developed that allow visitors to more easily move around the space, while also sectioning off a corner of the open floor plan for collections care work and extra storage space. While previous exhibits required large bulletin boards, the construction project allowed an opportunity to install picture rails on the walls, saving lots of space for object-forward exhibits on the floor. This small change to the space makes a huge difference in visitor experience and will ease future volunteers’ work with arranging future exhibits.

Make the Good Stuff Sing: Sharon Historical Society’s new exhibits include a self-guided tour highlighting some of their most important objects. Active Collections encourages us to, “Make the good stuff sing,” and put our most meaningful and interesting objects forward. Pieces from the collection like the town of Sharon’s weights and measures set purchased by the town in 1793 and original ballot boxes from the 1970s evoke powerful images of what life in Sharon was like in the past.