Mass Memories Road Show is this Sunday, Oct. 25th, at the Hebrew Center!

Share your Martha’s Vineyard memories and help paint a portrait of our community!

The Mass. Memories Road Show, a public history project that digitizes family photos and memories shared by the people of Massachusetts, is coming to Martha's Vineyard. In a joint project of all the Island public libraries, this free program will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25, at the MV Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven. The entire event on Oct. 25 is free and open to everyone. For more information, visit http://vhlibrary.org/MMRS.shtml, or contact your local library.

That Sunday, participants are invited to bring up to three family photos to be scanned and included in the state's digital archive. Contributors can also choose to share the stories behind the photos in a short video, have their own keepsake photo taken, and get advice from professional archivists and historians on dating and caring for their family photos.

The photos you bring to the Mass. Memories Road Show event can be old or new, formal or informal – simply images that are important to you and that you feel are representative of your history, your family or your connection to Martha’s Vineyard.  The photographs can be in any format—prints, digital on a disc or a thumbdrive, or even on your cell phone!  After scanning, which takes only a few minutes, you get the original images back. For examples of photos people have brought to past events, visit the state website maintained by the University of Massachusetts Boston: http://openarchives.umb.edu.

Participants usually spend half an hour or more at community Road Show events. Getting your pictures scanned doesn’t take that long, and people will have enough time to complete their paperwork and linger to look at photos that other individuals have contributed.

Attendees who bring photos to scan can enter a raffle prize drawing for a $100 Bunch of Grapes Gift certificate, very generously donated by the MV Times!

The Mass. Memories Road Show is produced by the University Archives & Special Collections Department at the Joseph P. Healey Library, UMass Boston and co-sponsored by the Patricia C. Flaherty '81 Endowed Fund. Local funding provided by Friends of island Libraries, and a grant from the Martha's Vineyard Cultural Council. Additional support provided by the Mansion House Inn, Twin Oaks Inn, Martha's Vineyard Times, Vineyard Gazette, and Steamship Authority.

Learn About the Mass. Memories Road Show, Monday June 16th 6pm

On Monday June 15th at 6pm, members of the public are invited to attend an outreach and planning session at Vineyard Haven Library to learn how they can participate in the "Mass. Memories Road Show", that will be coming to Martha's Vineyard for a one-time event in October. The planning meeting is open to all and refreshments will be served.

The Mass. Memories Road Show is a statewide digital history project that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. It is an initiative of University Archives and Special Collections in UMass Boston's Joseph P. Healey Library and co-sponsored by the Patricia C. Flaherty '81 Endowment Fund at UMass Boston. Since its launch, the project has gathered more than 6,000 photographs and stories from across the state, creating an educational resource of primary sources for future generations.

University Archives staff work with local planning teams to organize free public events where residents are invited to bring family photos to be scanned and included in this digital archive. Contributors are invited to share “the story behind the photos” on video, have their own “keepsake photo” taken, and receive advice from professional archivists and historians on dating and caring for their family photos.

The Martha's Vineyard Road Show event has been scheduled for October 25th, 2015, and is being planned and sponsored by the Martha's Vineyard Library Association (MVLA) with funding from local libraries, Friends of Libraries, and a grant from the Martha's Vineyard Cultural Council.