Focus Groups (from Ashfield News, June 2007)

At the History Project's kick-off party on April 22, Walter Zalenski reminded us that the police department has not existed forever. It was created in the mid 1960s. Walter himself was the first chief of police in Ashfield, and for many years our sole paid officer. (Elected constables had always attended to certain responsibilities, as they do to this day.)

This summer, following up on the energy displayed at the kick-off party, we will organize several focus groups. Each group will have a scribe who will take notes and write up a summary. Meetings will be posted, and we will try to insure that key people are invited. But we strongly encourage anyone interested in a topic to attend these meetings.

One such group will be devoted to the police department. What led to its establishment? How were duties handled? What kinds of crimes were most common then? How has the situation evolved.? When and how did policing become professionalized? What growing pains were experienced? How did we cope with them?

Another group, taking Phil Nolan the Younger's suggestion, will consider the town dump (or whatever euphemism you prefer). We recently obtained some file cases there, left by some kind soul for recycling. Where did trash go before we had a dump? (Why do we have so much more of it now?) When were fees introduced? When was it regionalized? How did the dump begin to serve as a meeting place, a book exchange, a place for fund-raising for Mohawk's sports teams?

Several people have expressed interest in “Save the Hills,” the project that blocked the Pentagon's plan to build guidance towers on potato fields on the Ashfield-Hawley line. The citizen uprising was reminiscent of Daniel Shays' rebellion. We need to make a record of that event.

Schooling is a huge topic. We would like to start by looking at the emergence of a preschool toward the end of the 20th century. What created the need for such a school? Who organized it? How did it evolve? How was it financed? What skills did the teachers bring? How would we measure its success?

No doubt other groups, following other stories, will begin to emerge, more or less formally. Let us know if we can help. Together we can build a strong archive, the basis for the history of the past 50 years we will soon begin to compose.

by Don Robinson