More than 70 people came in 2023 to look through folders full of old photos and help the Westfield Athenaeum identify photos of the city and surrounding areas in its collection.
Reminder Publication of the submitted photo
WESTFIELD – The Westfield Athenaeum is once again asking Westfield residents to “take a trip down memory lane” to help the library identify photographs of the town and surrounding area in its collection.
The library is asking the public for help identifying thousands of photos in its archives. Last year, more than 70 people came to look through folders full of photos. The event, called the “I-Spy: Photograph Identification Event,” is a joint idea between Max Vivacqua, the Athenaeum’s archivist, and Heaven Pajala, the local history and reference librarian.
“This is the second year the Athenaeum has hosted the event. Last year’s event was so successful that we decided to make it an annual event because of the support we received from the Westfield community,” Pajala said.
It’s free and no registration is required. Participants can simply show up on August 27 between 10 a.m. and noon. The event will be held in the Elizabeth Stewart Room and Athenaeum staff will be on hand to hear stories about the photos. The Athenaeum is located at 6 Elm St., Westfield.
Pajala said the 10 folders of photos will include some of the same photos from last year’s event, but also new photos from the Atheneum archives selected specifically for this event. Among the photos will be collections from former Westfield residents Bob Watson and Donn A. Robinson.
Watson lived in Westfield beginning in the 1940s. He owned the well-known Bill and Bob’s restaurant on East Main Street and also the Hillbrook House on North Elm Street. Robinson was the last professional photographer in Westfield, renting the studio above Ross Conner’s stationery store downtown.
“Bob was a photographer whose collection shows what life was like in Westfield in the ’60s and ’70s,” Pajala said.
Vivacqua said the Athenaeum does not have much information about Robinson other than a folder of photos marked by a former employee as those of Donn A. Robinson, who needed to be identified.
“We know that Donn worked extensively with local newspapers and that many of his photographs in our collection relate to political groups and various community organizations of the 1950s and 1960s,” Vivacqua said.
Pajala said there were about 400 photos in the folders, but an unknown number had already been identified.
“Our collection also includes numerous photographs from the archives depicting parades and other community events in the 1960s and 1970s,” Pajala said. “All of the photographs were donated to the Athenaeum, including the Watson and Robinson collections, which were donated specifically in the hope that the photographs would be identified by the community.”
Vivacqua said the Athenaeum is fortunate to have collections from newspaper and event photographers. “The photographs are quite detailed and extensive. We also have a large selection of historical photographs that go back to much older formats, such as daguerreotype portraits,” he added.
There are also many photos and portraits from before the 1920s that are currently unidentified, but Vivacqua said the many World War II military photo albums in the archives complement the wider range of photos in the collection. He noted that because of the success of last year’s identification event, the number of still-unidentified photos from after the 1950s has dropped significantly.
Pajala said the ability to identify people and places in the Athenaeum’s photo collections will help the library link them to some of its larger photo collections, such as parades or family histories.
“The goal of every library and archive is access and information and access to information. Building these connecting bridges within our collection will help every future community member more easily find an ancestor, relative or forgotten place,” she said.
