Amherst’s history finds room to grow: Historical Society expanding into new center downtown

When restoration on an authentic white dress worn by Emily Dickinson is complete, the public might get the chance to see a textile expert place the garment on a modified mannequin, which will be displayed inside a protective cabinet in a prominent spot inside the Amherst History Center at 45 Boltwood Walk.

While the dress is possibly the most significant of 8,000 objects in the Amherst Historical Society’s collection, other visitors to the new history center may be fascinated with the historic post office postal window, featuring a teller’s cage, post office boxes and a mail slot to deposit letters, which might also function as a place for children to send mail to Santa Claus during the town’s Merry Maple event.

For the first time in the 126 years since its establishment, and 109 years after it opened a museum in the Strong House at 67 Amity St., the historical society is expanding beyond the confines of its home base.

“We want this to be a place where history is happening, and being preserved,” says Historical Society Executive Director Liz Larson.

Originally built for the Knights of Columbus in 2008, the Amherst History Center building in recent years has been home to a vintage clothing store. The Historical Society is likely to use the rented space for the next two to three years, before eventually reopening the Strong House to the public, possibly following improvements to its HVAC system and accessibility.

With high ceilings and lots of wall space, some of the large sign boards for legacy businesses, such as the Amherst House that burned down in 1926, can be displayed rather than kept in storage.

Already, on one wall is a huge painting of Frazar Stearns, an Amherst College student and son of the college president who died in the Battle of New Bern during the Civil War. The portrait was painted by Richard Morrell Staigg, a 19th century painter.

“This had just been in an upstairs room and not on view because we don’t have space for it,” Larson said. “We had no place to put him.”

There will also be space for displaying the Conch shell, or Ye Old Conk, used in the 1700s to call residents to town meeting and worship and which, since 2007, has lent its name to the nearly annual presentation of the Arthur F. Kinney/Conch Shell Award.

Setting up the history center in advance of its opening is still a work in progress, but already there is a display of campaign buttons, both for presidential candidates at the national level as well as for local causes, the original membership roll of the historical society, Civil War uniforms and a large hay hook reflecting the town’s agricultural heritage.

One case will feature recent acquisitions, including a china plate that was used, until the early 1970s, at Amherst College’s Valentine Dining Hall. Like teacups and other utensils from which students ate their meals, the plate depicts Lord Jeffery Amherst chasing and threatening harm to Native Americans and the French.

Larson said the museum doesn’t shy away from the town’s controversial past, enlightening visitors in the way Ancestral Bridges, a museum focused on the Black and Afro-Indigenous experience in Amherst, does.

In a 1952 publication, Stanley King, a former college president, wrote in “The Consecrated Eminence: The Story of the Campus and Buildings of Amherst College” that he and his wife commissioned Jones, McDuffie & Stratton, of Boston, to create the design 11 years earlier.

“Our china made a conversation piece, and we knew that the students would frequently have their dates as guests for lunch and dinner,” they wrote.

The space will also be used for this year’s special exhibit titled “Amherst Then and Now: 125 Years of the Amherst Historical Society.” On several partitions set up in the middle of the room will be prints of historic photographs side by side with pictures of the same sites, or related themes, taken by Amherst Regional High School students this past school year. The idea is to show how the perspective of a photographer from long ago is juxtaposed with contemporary images.

Meanwhile, last year’s Cambodians in Amherst exhibit, which was displayed at the State House in Boston, is in storage in the building’s basement, but is expected to be shown at Frost Library at Amherst College.

Part of the space at the Amherst History Center will be used by interns and staff for labeling and cataloguing items to make it easier for researchers, and for photographing objects.

Summer interns have already created new posters for a small room that pays tribute to Mabel Loomis Todd, the founder of the historical society. The room recognizes her and other “power women” of the town. There are also some items borrowed from Jones Library’s special collections, including an elaborate diorama of Emily Dickinson’s bedroom.

In addition to special programming, Larson said the hope is to put on children’s programs, as well.

“Having space we can have people in has opened up so many opportunities,” Larson said.

Larson said the history center relied on a gift from residents Elizabeth and John Armstrong and will allow for year-round programming, which due to the historic building’s lack of heat and air conditioning, has only been open during the spring, summer and fall.

The history center expects to be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.