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About the Archives
The Beverly Educational Archives is located
in a large room within the Beverly High School Library. The
archives contain documents dating from 1763 to present. Records
collected by the archives include yearbooks, student publications,
school committee reports, municipal documents, census records,
letters, meeting minutes, microfilmed newspapers, and more.
From its conception, the Educational Archives
has been a collaborative effort. The existence of documents
in detrimental environments throughout the community led to
conversations between social studies teacher Dean Eastman
and myself over the form and function of such a facility.
We enrolled in workshops sponsored by the Massachusetts Historical
Society and run by Greg Collati, archivist of Tufts University.
Through these sessions we began to realize that our situation
was unique, not only in that we had a rich history, but also
in the fact that we might be breaking new ground with this
project. Our idea was to use archives as an educational tool;
to use the archives as a laboratory in which students could
learn the methods of determining historical value, how to
properly handle unique and primary documents, with a goal
of understanding the worth of archives and the greater worth
of preserving our cultural heritage. Students would have as
their own this laboratory in which primary research yields
a treasure, and their own significant contribution, in the
form of a research paper, to interpreting local history.
In 1998, I was approached by members of the
class of 1994 with a monetary gift for the expansion and construction
of a room adjacent to the library for the purpose of creating
an archive for students, alumni, and the public. The civic
virtue of these alumni, including Meredith Haviland, was instrumental
in the archives creation. In the spring of 2001, masonry students
from North Shore Regional Vocation School tore down a cinder
block wall, and reconstructed another wall. These students,
under the guidance of David Collins and Max Seaver, were commendable
in their professionalism and workmanship.
In the spring of 2002, the Beverly High School
library received a grant through its membership in the Northeast
Massachusetts Regional Library System. This online description
grant paid for the services of a professional archivist, Margaret
Cornell. We consider ourselves lucky to have had the help
of Margaret, who, in a remarkable short period of time, completed
a survey of the collection and helped organize and describe
the collection.
Kevin McGrath
To Contact:
Beverly High School
Library
100 Sohier Road
Beverly, MA 01915
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