Westborough Library Gets Grant for 'Digitization Day'

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced the recipients of its inaugural “Common Heritage” grants, and the Westborough Public Library is among the awardees.

Thirty-eight grants were awarded by the NEH, and the Westborough Public Library was one of three organizations in Massachusetts, and one of only six public libraries across the country to be awarded this grant.

The grant will allow the library to hold a ”digitization day” and public programming centered on the theme, ”Your Town – Your History.”

The theme builds upon the discovery of a trove of historical town documents during the renovation of the Westborough Town Hall, and aims to showcase the continuity between these documents and the history that Westborough residents are creating every day, said the announcement.

“Your Town – Your History” allows Westborough residents to do what the town essentially did: look through their basements, attics, and houses for items and documents that represent social and cultural life in Westborough - whether in the past or in the present - and bring them to a daylong event where they can be digitized.

After the event, residents will go home with digital copies of what they bring in, and the generated images could be included with the town’s historic documents in what will eventually be the Library’s new Digital Repository. At a follow-up event, an historian of New England life will discuss how the images collected on that day add to our understanding of Westborough history. A film produced by Westborough TV as a part of the digitization day will be unveiled, along with an online exhibit of the collected images. All of these activities will be coordinated to take place during Westborough’s 300th anniversary celebration in 2017.

Visit Westborough Patch for updates on this event.