The box—not very large, but large enough—began its journey to the FRHS dispatched from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada—though in point of fact, the contents left Fall River decades ago and were, in a sense, coming home.
Printed on the Customs Declaration: “Old Yearbooks.”
An attention-grabbing inscription, that, especially because there has been rather a concerted effort on the part of the FRHS to build its collection of Fall River high school yearbooks—public and parochial—and to complete the run of volumes from B.M.C. Durfee High School.
As such, I was eager to open the box—rather surprising because I am not a person particularly disposed to opening boxes, usually leaving that to anyone else so inclined.
In this case, my eagerness was rewarded.
Very much so.
In my last posting on the subject I mentioned that the FRHS was lacking nine editions of the Durfee Record in its library—1913; 1914; 1920; 1941; 1951; 1952; 1953; 1954; and 1976.
Thanks to the box sent from Canada, we are now down to eight.
In addition to the “Old Yearbooks” mentioned on the customs sheet—there were four of those, two out-of-field, and one already represented in the collection—the box contained an assortment of material pertinent to Fall River history, including souvenir booklets, postcards, newspaper clippings of various sorts, and snapshots of the Fall River Line steamers Pilgrim and Commonwealth.
Enveloped in a protective layer of bubble wrap: a miniature art-nouveau-style souvenir vase, circa early 20thcentury, depicting the “Library, Fall River, Mass.” The FRHS collection contains a large selection of souvenir china, and fortunately, this particular example was not already represented.
There was a note from the donor:
“I hated to throw these things out in case they could be useful to you. They belonged to my great aunt, my mother’s sister. They were brought up in Fall River. If you can’t use these items, I leave it to you to dispose of them. I visited the lovely house on Rock St. about 30 years ago and liked it very much.”
Yes, “these things” are “useful” to the FRHS—especially one item in particular, a single volume that the FRHS had been coveting … for quite some time, actually.
The item in question?
The 1920 edition of the Durfee Record, one of the nine volumes needed to complete the FRHS’s run of Durfee yearbooks.
Eureka!
The thrill of the acquisition—scratching another volume off the list —can be very rewarding.
Many sincere thanks go out to our Canadian benefactor—your foresight and thoughtfulness is much appreciated!
So, now the FRHS Durfee Record “want list” is down to eight volumes: 1913; 1914; 1941; 1951; 1952; 1953; 1954; and 1976.
The countdown continues.
Can anyone help?
