The picture with this week’s article is of the covers of the first of four Rochester Journals (which can be purchased from the Friends of the Library or at the Rochester Historical Museum). In 1999, Librarian Lucy Loomis, using grant funding, reached out to Rochester residents to contribute memories of life in Rochester. Called “Diary of a Hometown,” it included “life stories” about school days, childhood chores, families, sports, poems, old deeds, letters, and as the preface states, the pieces contributed have ” no common thread. Instead they encompass personal and civic history”. The first journal contained pieces from 21 current and former residents. The three other journals cover different aspects of local history.
These journals, along with memoirs of long past residents, contribute so much to our sense of Rochester’s history and add meaning and context to collections of deeds, town meeting records, and newspaper reports. This week we’re asking people to add to the files of the Historical Society by sending in pictures, paragraphs, stories, or even artifacts that will give the future a sense of our journey through the Pandemic of 2020. Perhaps an event, a feeling, or interaction, either positive or negative, would help those in future Rochester understand this time that we have all lived.
You can email it to eshbach2@aol.com or mail it to Rochester Historical Society, P.O. Box 322, Rochester, MA 02770, or even arrange to stop by the museum on County Road. Thank you to those who have already contributed and to once again quote from Lucy Loomis, “All history, like news, is local and personal, but so often overlooked when we explore the past.”
By Connie Eshbach