June 20, 2013, by Laura Stagliola
April 19, 2013…”We are delighted to offer you the Tom Desilets Memorial Internship position this summer.”
My name is Laura Stagliola, I am a senior History major, Museum Studies minor at Framingham State University, and I am the Framingham History Center’s first Tom Desilets Memorial summer intern.
Finally, after months of searching and applying for summer internships, I came upon a paid summer job. I did not come by this opportunity solely on my own research. In April, Dana contacted me and asked if I would like to apply for the curatorial/archival internship. I was surprised and became extremely excited. The Framingham History Center was not new to me. I volunteered during my sophomore year and assisted in creating a timeline of Farm Pond for a meeting of the town of Framingham. Through that experience, I had the chance to know both Annie and Dana, and they remembered me a year and a half later as a dedicated worker and a hopeful museum employee.
So, it was on June 4th that I would begin my internship, and I would delve into the newly acquired collection from the Dennison Manufacturing Company. Just a brief synopsis of the Dennison Manufacturing Co., for those of you who are as unaware of the business as I originally was. Dennison was founded in 1844 in Brunswick, Maine by brothers, Aaron and E.W. Dennison. The company first began producing boxes, which turned into jewelry and watch boxes. Dennison then morphed into producing paper products such as shipping tags, crepe paper and decorations. It wasn’t until 1878 that the plant on Howard Street in Framingham opened and became the town’s largest source of employment for several decades. The Dennison name was changed to Avery Dennison after the companies merged in 1990. In the center photo are boxes that were gifted to the Framingham History Center to “bring the tags back to Tag Town” from the Dennison history room in Los Angeles, California.
My job now is to organize, catalog, clean, and sort the boxes, with the help of several dedicated volunteers, so these documents, scrapbooks, product samples, company newsletters, etc., are accessioned into the FHC’s collection.
Well it is now my third week on the job and I have begun doing just that. I started sifting through the forty boxes that were moved into the Edgell Memorial Library from the Dennison building. I had the chance to see the building in which these boxes were stored beforehand, and below are photos of the deconsolidated collection that FHC volunteers have sorted through to find Framingham related treasures.
When I am not busy working on the Dennison collection, I have taken on the challenge of keeping up with the multiple social media sites for the Center. Charlene, the Program Coordinator, does a marvelous job of updating the Facebook page, but through my internship, I have been able to reactivate the Twitter page, as well as establish an Instagram and Pinterest account. I find it enjoyable to post about the daily activities of the museum because something is always going on! I have posted about the Annual Meeting, Past Forward events, and the Donor Appreciation Luncheon. There are many more events to come this summer, and I can’t wait to post pictures of them.
That’s all for now! I will continue to write about my experiences and the progress volunteers and I make with the Dennison Archives Collection. Thanks for reading!