An Extraordinary Summer

By Annie Murphy, Executive Director 

Our busiest summer on record kicked off with 20 local teachers attending our three day Civil War Teacher Training workshop just after the 4th of July and ended with heartfelt thanks and goodbyes to our many volunteers and interns who helped us sort through boxes and boxes of newly-arrived Dennison archives.

Sometime in between, 61 new families came through our doors to experience fun filled children’s activities on five Farmer’s Market Thursdays and hundreds more visitors took in the Shoppers’ World exhibition.

Hosting a room full of educators in the Edgell Memorial Library as they soaked up Framingham’s remarkable Civil War history through a well-choreographed presentation of our artifacts, publications, local authors, presenters, and visiting scholars was truly a highlight of my work here. Our collaboration with Framingham State University, and Dr. Sarah Adelman, Associate Professor of History could not have been better and the teachers gave us rave reviews. We’ve created a buzz of anticipation for next summer’s workshop which we have already started planning.

I cannot think of a better way to ensure that future generations of students connect to their  local history than to pass it on to elementary, middle and high school teachers.  I want to thank the Foundation for Metrowest, Mass Humanities, and Impact Framingham again for their foresight in supporting this workshop.  We hope to make teacher training an annual summer event here and are already planning next year’s syllabus.