Newmarket Citizens Band member Lawrence Moule is trying to put together something special for the band’s 150th anniversary this year.
Together with a committee, he has been working on producing a document that tells the story of the band throughout history — but it may fall short because of the difficulty finding enough information, he said.
The project hit a snag because Moule said has was unable to access Newmarket’s historical archives, which have been closed for the past three years.
“When trying to fill in some of the gaps in information,” he said, “archives are extremely important. If they are not readily available and well organized, then anybody seeking historical information is going to be out of luck.”
Some Newmarket history enthusiasts are questioning the continued closure of the archives. Run by the Newmarket Historical Society out of the town-owned Elman W. Campbell Museum on Main Street, the archives closed in March 2019 and longtime volunteers were let go. The society followed that up by announcing a fundraising campaign for an archival digitization project with plans to hire a professional archivist and a grand reopening of the archives to come mid-2020.
But the pandemic delayed those plans, society president Erin Cerenzia said. Although she added that work is ongoing, she said the society was following COVID-19 protocols and staying mindful of its mostly older membership.
“We, as a board, are committed to completing this project as soon as we’re able to. That is something that we are exceptionally passionate about as volunteers and so excited to bring this service to Newmarket,” she said.
The effort has included cleaning up the space, plus removing a few items that were copies of things stored in other regional archives, Cerenzia said.
The society has raised more than $50,000 for the project, which is for a temporary employment of a professional archivist early next year. Although she did not indicate a timeline for reopening the archives, she said the archivist would work on the project full time while on a contract, as well as train society volunteers to take over once the contract expires.
“We concluded that it would be better to bring in a paid professional archivist, an individual that actually has archival and museum experience,” she said. “More importantly, someone that can be in there on a very regular basis.”
Newmarket resident and NewmarketToday history columnist Richard MacLeod said his family contributed plenty of material to the archives. He said he is upset by its continued closure and has questions about what kind of maintenance is happening.
“For three years, the town hasn’t had access to the archives, I haven’t had access to the archives, the public hasn’t had access to the archives,” he said, adding that those who donated material to it expected it to be shared. “With it being closed for such a long period of time, I’m very concerned about this.”
But Cerenzia said the society has still been fulfilling research requests, such as with the Main Street virtual art and history tour last spring. She said those looking for material can contact the organization.
“We have continued throughout COVID and throughout this project to meet any and every research request that has come in from the community,” she said.
The archives are vital to ensure historical events are recorded and not lost, Moule said. But he added that he looks forward to seeing the archives redone.
“I’m glad we have a Newmarket historical society. I’m glad they have an archive and I’m glad they are intending to organize it in such a way that it’s of maximum use to people,” he said. “I wish them luck.”
