What three photos are you bringing to the Mass. Memories Road Show?

The Mass. Memories Road Show is coming to Malden! The event will be held on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Malden Senior/Teen Community Center. All community members – past or present – are invited to come and bring up to three photos to submit to a statewide digital archive that will provide a “snapshot” of the Malden community for future generations. Whether you’ve lived in Malden your whole life or you just arrived a month ago, your story is important to the history of this city.

The Mass. Memories Road Show is a free, event-based participatory archiving program that documents people, places and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. Archivists and public historians from UMass Boston’s Jospeh P. Healey Library collaborate with local planning teams to put on these events. The collected photographs and stories are included in a digital archive at openarchives.umb.edu.

How do I participate?

Plan in advance what photographs you would like to bring and think about why these three photos are important to you. Your photos can be old or new, digital or print, submitted as a hard copy, or on a cellphone or flash drive. The photos will be scanned and returned to you at the event. You will be asked to describe the photographs in your own words for inclusion in the archive. You’ll also have the option to share the story behind the photos on video, receive your own keepsake photo of the event and receive advice from professional archivists and historians on dating and caring for your family photos. Arrive anytime between 10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. and plan to spend at least 30 to 60 minutes. There will be other fun activities and a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. This event is part of Malden’s 375th anniversary year celebration.

The local planning team for Malden includes the City of Malden, Malden Reads, Urban Media Arts and the Malden Public Library. Volunteer opportunities are available for the day of the event, with training provided on Friday, April 26 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Volunteers help with welcome, check-in, scanning photographs and assisting with descriptions. Contact Karen Phillips at ka************@***il.com if you are interested in volunteering.

The photos accompanying this story are from Malden’s digital archive that was started during Covid. For complete information about this event and to see more samples of photos already in the Malden archive, visit urbanmediaarts.org/malden-mass-memories-road-show/.