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- a network of colleagues across the region
- a variety of professional development opportunities
- collaborative projects directed by PVHN.
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If you would like to include your institution in our Passport to Pioneer Valley History, download our passport application here. 
 

Projects & Collaborations

Theme Month

Gatherings and Workshops

  CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’:

THE PIONEER VALLEY & THE GOLD RUSH

**NEW**  Read Gold Rush Stories about Pioneer Valley residents who dared to go west!  **NEW**

 Read the Hampshire Life article about this project!

 
With a grant from Mass Humanities , the Pioneer Valley History Network (PVHN) has made an inventory of artifacts, images, and documents in the Pioneer Valley related to the participants in the California Gold Rush. Mass Humanities is a state-based affiliate of theAdvertisement to go west to California National Endowment for the Humanities.
 
The California Gold Rush, which began 160 years ago, was an important phase of American history.  It had an enormous impact on migration, land development, the slavery debate, and the nation’s economy.  Many pioneers from western Massachusetts played important roles in the development of California, and many of those who returned to New England built on their western adventures to achieve positions of stature and importance in our communities.
 
This project has three components:

a)      a research inventory, which has been distributed to MassHumanities and twelve participating museums and historical societies.  The inventory has been posted in six parts:
California Dreamin1: Intro & Objects
California Dreamin2: Diaries, Journals, Logs & Memoirs
California Dreamin3: Letters
California Dreamin4: Other Documents
California Dreamin5a: Images
California Dreamin5b: Images
California Dreamin6: Published Accounts

b)     a spreadsheet of known participants in the Gold Rush with a connection to the PioneerModel of a sifter used by gold miners Valley,

c)      a website, "Gold Rush Stories," that includes images and descriptions of some of the California pioneers from western Massachusetts. 

PVHN has undertaken this project in the hopes that it will bring many historical groups together to demonstrate the power of collaboration and the benefits of working together.
                                                                                                                             
Contact Cliff McCarthy to include your institution's collections in this survey.
 

Summer 2009
Vacationing in the Valley: A Look at Leisure in the Pioneer Valley

This summer, PVHN is bringing together many historical societies, museums, and sites in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties in a collaborative project highlighting the Picnickers overlooking the Connecticut Riverhistory of leisure activities in our area.  This initiative challenges each historical society or museum to develop an exhibit, display, or event that features a leisure activity in their town.  This could be an exhibit of historic photos of a local lake or park or just a handout that highlights artifacts of leisure activities already on view at the museum.  It might be hosting an open house with lawn games like bocce or croquet.  PVHN is helping publicize the exhibits and events throughout the Valley. 

Visit the following locations to explore the theme:

  • Stone House Museum, "Stepping Out in Belchertown" (On View June-August)
  • Holyoke Community College Library, "Highlights from Frank Fowler's Postcard Collection" (On View July-August)
  • Holyoke Public Library, "Vintage Maps" (On View July-August)
  • Forbes Library, "Vacationing in the Valley" photography exhibit + a presentation on "Massachusetts State Parks Today" (event to be held on July 29)
  • Memorial Hall Museum, "Old Deerfield's Pageants and Performances"
  • Southwick Historical Society, "Summer in Southwick in the Past" (August 29)

Contact us to add your summertime events to our calendar and Vacationing in the Valley listings.

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