A message from the Board Members

The current members of the board - President Ann Wald, Treasurer Barry Freeman, and acting-Secretary Lorraine German - while passionate about Sandisfield's history, are all looking to transition away from their involvement in the Society.

The officers realize that in order to keep the Society viable, important to the community, and to complete the necessary upgrades to the building, such as repairing the roof and installing a restroom, new and possibly younger leadership will be required.

This is not a criticism of the current board, but merely the reality that they have all served for many years and are ready to turn over the reins.

A conscientious and talented Sandisfield citizen, Wayne Keller, has in the past volunteered his expertise and labor to 1762 Sandisfield Historical Society repair the furnace and has offered to take on other projects. Still, in order for other repairs and upgrades to be completed in our building (a little church that was in fact moved from another location) and to fundraise and govern effectively a leadership team with energy and time needs to be in place.

Not only is the Historical Society looking for new board leadership, it also needs more members willing to help so that when requests for genealogy information and other research are received that those requests can be fulfilled. While the Society has a wealth of documents pertaining to Sandisfield's history such as those (as stated in the Society's by-laws) related to "its exploration, settlement, development, and activities in peace and war; development in population, wealth, education, religion, arts, science, agriculture, manufacture, trade, and transportation," currently the Society simply does not have the humanpower to search through those documents and fulfill requests.

What will happen if no members of the Sandisfield community express interest in assuming the leadership of the Society that houses so much of our town's valuable history?

Per the Historical Society's by-laws, all of its assets (in this case the building) and materials will be transferred to the state of Massachusetts. Sandisfield residents are justifiably proud of their history and the individuals responsible for making that history. Let's help keep that history in the hands of town residents.

For anyone interested in helping to keep that history in Sandisfield and to help maintain the viability of our Historical Society, please contact Ann Wald at 413-258-4415.