PRINCETON — Volunteers are at the heart of what makes both big and small communities tick, and the Princeton Historical Society is looking for individuals to help do just that.
According to a recent press release, the society is seeking “inquisitive and creative community members to join our active board and one person to become our future curator.” The time commitment can be as little or as much as people are able to do, but the hope is that the new volunteers would be able to attend and participate in its eight monthly Zoom board meetings and work to help “ensure that our historical treasures are available for (re)discovery by future generation.”
Town residents Bus Brooks and Rick Bullock co-chair the all-volunteer, nonprofit organization founded in 1937, which receives no funding from the town. According to the release its purpose is to encourage antiquarian research and historical study and its mission is to preserve, promote, and foster an understanding and appreciation for Princeton’s rich heritage — past, present, and future — and to be a resource for research and education.
The release outlined several projects and activities that took place last year including a program titled Princeton as a Resort Town – 1830 to 1930, assisting people with inquiries about the town’s rich history, continuing to digitize the society’s historical collection and entering it into the online database, adding more than 50 new historical donations to its collection, and more.
“We attempt to create and maintain easy-to-use mechanisms and facilities for safe storage of and public access to Princeton town historical records and artifacts, and we work to generate and maintain a high level of interest in Princeton town history,” Brooks said.
In addition, volunteers expanded the ‘Can You Find It?’ townwide scavenger hunt to 16 locations, with eight more coming July 1.
“Participants follow cryptic clues to discover a historical location, and then by scanning a QR code at that location on their mobile device, they are presented with pictures and the history associated with that spot,” Brooks said of the interactive and educational activity.
He has served on the Princeton Historical Society for more than 25 years, initially as the webmaster and then as co-chair for the past 10 plus years, following “in the footsteps of many previous chairs, who I have tried to emulate.”
Brooks’ family settled in town in the early 1800s, and Brooks has lived in Princeton for the majority of his life.
“I initially got involved to discover my family’s history in town and to do family genealogy work,” he said. “My family dates back to the early 1800s, when Lt. Enoch Brooks moved to Princeton. He was the second son of Samuel Brooks of Concord and realized his older brother was to inherit his father’s property.”
The historical society board currently consists of eight members, down from 13. They are looking to fill the curator position and bring additional members on board, people “with an interest and energy to work on projects and programs,” Brooks said.
Brooks shared that “with advantages in technology,” the board decided they needed a website, which he created as a means to share the town’s history with residents “and anyone else that might find it interesting.” Eventually, with the help of a student intern, they rebuilt the website (princetonmahistory.org) into its current form, which has “expanded the tools they have to share and store Princeton’s history electronically for future generations.”
“Through the years, we, as a board, have worked to offer a variety of ways to experience, share, and store our town’s history,” he said.
He listed off several things the historical society does on a regular basis, including bringing the town’s history to elementary classrooms, monthly ‘Then & Now’ articles emailed to the membership and interested friends, Zoom programs recorded for future generations to experience, and “continuing the traditions and activities of the society leaders before us, and thinking outside the box, to offer a wider range of historical experiences to those who have an interest.”
