Since early December, the history club has been busy embarking on a trip down Haldane’s memory lane. Although the District Office’s attic may not sound like the most exciting place, it holds lifetimes of news, memories, and information that would have never been uncovered if not for the club’s budding interest.
To many, the treasures located in the attic of the District Office had been merely a legend. However, this legend became a reality when the stacks of artifacts were stumbled upon by students around the same time that the office staff reached out to social studies teacher and history club adviser Michelle Cordaro. There, stacked upon creaky floorboards, countless cardboard boxes hold hundreds of newspapers, documents, and scrapbooks dating all the way back to the early 20th century. Tasked with sorting through the collection to find historical gold among the artifacts of lesser value, the club has met several times during tenth period since the opportunity arose.
The club also gained insight from local historians who are well-versed in the extensive process. “We did get in touch with the Putnam Historical Museum and met with resident historian John Duncan, who showed the history club all the different steps to gathering, archiving, and designing collections to help serve a purpose for the community,” stated Cordaro. The club has prioritized determining which papers are relevant before any further action can be taken, including putting together an exhibit similar to one a museum may showcase.
Discovering historical relics while helping clear out the attic has created a new learning opportunity for seasoned members of the history club as well as students who might not have imagined pursuing historical extracurriculars. Reading through articles centered around past decisions made by the school, or events that had taken place, helps students understand more about Cold Spring during that time– especially by connecting them to current events or hot topics.
Numerous students not currently in the history club have caught word of the “attic adventure” and tagged along with friends. Other new club members have simply been curious about the Hudson Valley’s past. “I just think it’s really fun to look at old things and make assumptions about them,” remarked history club member and sophomore Alexa Arcigal. “Tiny places happen to have a lot of interesting stories if you look hard enough.” Fellow club member and sophomore Dessa Bellamy Tarantino noted, “The preservation of history is essential for the cultural prosperity of any community. Cold Spring is no exception.
Not only are newspaper reports and photographs preserved, but memories as well. “It is fascinating to learn about the past through documents that display the everyday lives of people who were in reality just like us. It’s easy to exalt history, to consider the people of the past irrelevant and unrelatable, but the truth that is made abundantly clear again and again when we organize their papers is that the people of the past were regular people,” reflected Tarantino.
A future goal of the club is to archive yearbooks, articles, and other documents in order to make them easily accessible to the public through digitization. Stowed away in an attic, the past is hidden from successive generations of students, staff, and community members. However, soon, anyone will be able to relive the experiences of 20th-century Hudson Valley and our school without having to crawl through spider webs and dust mites.
This historical time capsule has the potential to help students and residents discover more about where they live. The artifacts can provide historical context for newcomers and foster the understanding of what has changed, as well as what has stayed the same. Who knows what the history club could find further into the dig? “There is nothing more meaningful than to see our students directly interact with the past and future,” Cordaro concluded.
