Saving Women’s and Family History: a three part series presented by Angela Todd
May 8 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Angela Todd, local archivist and historian, will give three workshops on Saving Women’s and Family History at Norway Memorial Library on Thursday, May 1, 8, and 15, 2025, 6:30-8:00 pm. Participants are welcome to attend individual sessions or all three.
Angela says that in her experience, most women don’t think they are worthy of a legacy. They say: “No, not me. I haven’t done anything. I’m just an ordinary woman.” So, she has developed a juicy 3-part series to show some history that women made, guide them in building a legacy, and help them see what they do have on hand that is worth saving.
Session One: Ordinary Women Make History, May 1, 2025, 6:30-8:00 pm
Angela will show the collections of three clients: women having a LOT to show and teach. Each collection has made new historical information available from “ordinary women:”
- their individual lives
- the different times and places they lived
- precious details about something lost to history
- an experience from an unrecorded position.
Participants will see in detail how the legacies of ordinary women and families make powerful social history. She ends with a writing exercise that intervenes in the “No, not me” trend to get at some things that participants have done and get them on paper.
Session Two: Save, Toss, Decide, May 8, 6:30-8:00 pm
The second session covers what NOT to save (and exceptions to the rules), what TO save when building a family or personal legacy, and how to decide about items. Learn about two different ways to collect and build on a legacy. This session ends with an invitation to write about what activities the participant wants to include in their legacy.
Session Three – Preservation and Placement, May 15, 6:30-8:00 pm
The third session is about saving, do-it-yourself preservation, and the three rules for it. Participants learn the four categories to consider when deciding if and where to publicly house a family legacy. They will be given examples of different kinds of donation sites and lists of existing archives. Session three ends with an invitation to write about the items they want to save.
This program is free to attend and open to the public. Participants are asked to bring a journal or notebook and a favorite writing tool. Registration is not required. Norway Memorial Library is located at 258 Main Street, Norway, Maine. Please call 743-5309 ext. 1, stop by the Information Desk, or e-mail norcat@norwaymemoriallibrary.org with questions.