On October 15, 2023 Ashland Historical Society’s  presentation “A Random Walk through our Collections” by Society Vice President Joel Sparks provided a nice introduction to our collections.  With over 9000 items cataloged in our database he wanted to make it known that the presentation could maybe be subtitled “Not All Things Considered”.  Joel’s presentation included many photographs projected onto our screen in a power point presentation as well as a smaller number of physical items he showed to us.

The presentation was organized around topics which made it very understandable and thought provoking.  Noting early Ashland’s agrarian past he began by showing us a hay rake from the 1800’s and a scythe which he noted are likely ubiquitous in many local historical society collections.  Acknowledging the silage chopper might be something a little more unique in our collection, he showed a tool around the size of a coffee table with a large, sharp, hand operated lever to chop.  Alas there was no actual demonstrating of cutting anything with the chopper because we are no longer an agrarian town with silage to chop.

The next topic Joel used for organizing the collection items present was Transportation & Industry.  He showed photos of Ashland past with horses, carriages, our horse pulled fire engine and trolley cars.  The trolley photos brought discussion of where the trolley lines were in Ashland.  President Cliff Wilson wanted all to know that the Trolley Brook Trail, a recently overhauled trail that is part of the Upper Charles Trail system running from Megunko Road to Memorial Drive was not the site of any trolley line!  If I got my facts right from the conversations, the photo presented was of a trolley on Summer Street and we discussed that there were trolley lines from Framingham to Hopkinton and Framingham to Holliston that went through Ashland.

Some of the photographs Joel showed of areas downtown had people guessing to figure out the specific location though ultimately the audience located it by orientation of buildings still here, such as the Federated Church. He also showed us a picture of the 1878 Holbrook Bell made in Medway, Mass, that was originally on our fire station, then moved to various locations as a monument (not working bell) and we are pretty sure is now at our brand-new Public Safety Building!

Joel made of point of honoring our past as an historical society – before our founding in 1909, the society is an off-shoot of the Home Study Club, which was an offshoot of  The Novelty Club and Imaginary Travel club – showing pictures of some of our founders and early members.  He gave us a good idea of the archival material available in our collections: town warrants, town lists of residents/census, town maps and blueprints, NYANZA documents, newspaper clippings, Ashland High School and Keefe Tech yearbooks.

What about the clocks? We have a lot of them, Joel said representing 222 different models of Telechron (or General Electric) clocks. Joel brought a few to show from our collection and noted a good place to learn about Telechron clocks is a website Telechron.net. As typical, when something is shared about Telechron at Ashland Historical Society, we have audience members who add to the discussion, having worked there or had family who worked there.

We would love to have members working with our collections to have more information available to report.  Did you know Logan Airport was going to expand with a jetport in Ashland and the surrounding areas?  That Ashland had a radio station? What else can we learn?  Joel had a great presentation to expose us to items from the collection, so much so that I asked the programming committee to book him for another presentation.  You won’t be disappointed if he agrees and you can attend.