Now-stalled Lynnfield history project targeted for jumpstart

LYNNFIELD – The Lynnfield Historical Commission?s Spoken History Project got off to a productive start in April 2010, as commission members interviewed long-time residents about their experiences over the years.But after those interviews ended, the project came to what Historical Commission member Linda Gillon called a “grinding halt.”Due to inadequate resources and staff changes in the Historical Commission, Gillon said the Spoken History Project has been stalled for almost two years, but she is looking to get it started again.Eric Hamlin, executive director of Lynnfield Community Access Television, videotaped the first interviews for the project, but he said nothing further has been done because the town does not have a production facility that can accommodate working with the footage.The television station?s current location, he said, is in a small room in Lynnfield High School.?We shot 10 hours of footage, but the stalling is coming in where we don?t have a facility. We don?t have a means to edit it,” he said.In addition, Hamlin said, the unedited footage is on “antiquated” MiniDV cassette tapes and has not been digitized. The town?s television studio does not have the means to complete the conversion process, he said.Gillon, who compiled a list of town residents and made phone calls for the project, said the project?s original leader was Stephen Smith, a former commission member who left in June 2010.?It was his project, so it kind of fell in my lap,” she said. “But I?m involved in other things, so it was just easy to not do anything about it, considering it wasn?t going to be easy to do.”Gillon said the project?s goal is to broadcast the edited Spoken History Project interviews on the town?s cable access station.At the March 5 Board of Selectmen meeting, Town Administrator William Gustus recommended to Gillon, who was giving the commission?s budget presentation, that the commission use money from the town?s cable PEG access account to continue work on the project. PEG stands for public, educational and government, and the account is comprised of money from Comcast and Verizon for equipment purchases and salaries within the town cable access station, Hamlin said.The account is a special revenue fund and not part of the town budget.In a recent interview, Gustus said that the Historical Commission can obtain funds from the cable access account at any time, as long as the money request is for a reasonable amount and being used for direct production expenses, such as equipment or personnel.?Eric [Hamlin] has all the camera skills and editing skills necessary to do all this, but if it does become a burden for him, we can work with the Historical Commission on finding a contractor to do some of this work,” he said.After the interviews for the project are eventually completed, Hamlin said it will take at least four to five months to edit the footage. Because he has other responsibilities and no staff at the studio besides him, Hamlin said he could not devote a substantial amount of time to the Spoken History Project. And since a new television studio in Lynnfield is still a work in progress, he said it would be possible to partner with cable access stations from nearby towns that have more advanced facilities.Sarah Mupo can be reached at [email protected].