Have A Hand In The City's History, Or At Least How It's Displayed

FRAMINGHAM, MA- Framingham's History Center is asking residents to help them figure out what items best represent the city's history for a new exhibit.

This is the first time the center is reaching out for the public's input through an online poll to help co-curate the new exhibit. Nineteen items are listed and residents can choose their three favorites. From there, the three with the most votes will be added to the new exhibition which will be on display in October.

The three lead items are a Native American Deed from 1666, a watercolor painting of Framingham Centre Common from 1808 and a slave bill of sale. The center is hoping to have 400 responses before the poll closes on March 13 and it's halfway there with 280 votes, according to Laura Stagliola, assistant director of the center.

The list of pieces to choose from includes recent mementos like a Yvonne Spicer campaign sign and relics like Wallace Nutting's Camera from the late 19th century and the Gookin and Howe map from 1696. Stagliola said it was tough narrowing down the collection to just the 19 pieces, "We tried to think of things that would uniquely draw from Framingham's past," she said.

The exhibit already has a few pieces that the center decided will be displayed and not part of the poll including the famous neon Shoppers World sign, products from the Dennison Manufacturing Company, and two suffragist “Jailed for Freedom” pins.

Stagliola said the poll and exhibit was a great opportunity to connect with the community and bring artifacts forward that residents may not have seen. "Items like the Regimental flag have always been in our civil war exhibit," Stagliola said but other items that may have gone unnoticed were pulled to the spotlight like a letter from Margaret Knight. Knight was an inventor and Framingham resident. She wrote a letter to Frederic Augustus Whiting regarding deceptive business practices.

A personal favorite for Stagliola are the Foster family dresses, "It just has such a touching story attached to it," she said. Made in the 1830's, the dresses were meant to grow with little Emily Foster but she died as a child.

In the future, Stagliola said the center may start an exhibit on immigration and would welcome the same kind of connection and feedback from the community. The center is always welcoming donations as well, she said, adding that many people questioned why the list didn't include items from teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe. "If you see gaps in our collection, it's because we don't have it," Stagliola said.

You can vote for you favorite items until March 13 on the Framingham History Center's website. The results will be announced on the website the next day and the exhibit will open Oct. 24.

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