Medford Historical Society Donates Books to Schools

Allison Andrews, Medford Historical Society member and Columbus Elementary School parent, Maria D’Orsi, Medford High School librarian, and John Anderson, Medford Historical Society president, in the MHS library with some of the books the Historical Society donated to the schools. Photo by Ken Krause.

Medford Public School students now have a wealth of information about the city’s history at their fingertips, thanks to a donation of Medford books and documents from the Medford Historical Society.

Each of the city’s nine schools received a set of about 15 books drawn from the titles for sale at the Society’s home at 10 Governors Ave. With the assistance of school library specialist Maria D’Orsi, materials were reviewed and selected for appropriate grade levels. With these books, the libraries now have materials for general reference that also support city-wide local history teaching curriculum.

There is a variety of material- factual accounts, personal stories and lots of pictures – recounting the city’s rich history of pre-Colonial days, the American Revolution, the industrial 19th century and continuing growth in the 20th century.

Contemporary local authors represented include Barbara Kerr, Dee Morris, Tom Convery, and Oscar Greene. The youngest authors are the Hobbs Middle School Class of 1996 who produced an illustrated and annotated version of the beloved Medford poem “Over the River and Through the Woods.”

The purchase and donation of these books was made possible by Pyramid Research/UBM TechWeb in Cambridge in their support of local non-profit organizations.

Libraries receiving books were the Columbus, Brooks, and Roberts Elementary Schools; McGlynn School (Elementary and Middle), Andrews Middle School, Medford High School, and the Curtis Tufts School.

Learn more about the Medford Historical Society at www.medfordhistorical.org.

– Submitted by Allison Andrews