SWAMPSCOTT — An assessment commissioned by the library, Historical Society and Historical Commission has shown that the former police station building on Burrill Street would be the best place for the town to store its historic documents and other materials.
The assessment, which was paid for by a Library Services and Technology Act grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, evaluated the 86 Burrill St. property, the library, Town Hall and the Humphrey House on Paradise Road. Those four buildings currently house the archives of the town, Historical Society and Historical Commission..
In a presentation Thursday, Donia Conn, a conservator at Simmons University who conducted the assessment, said that with some renovations, the former police station could be an ideal location for the town to house one central archive.
“I was so excited when I saw the former police station because it really had some fantastic space that the town could use to create a central location for its archival collections,” Conn said. “The library, Historical Commission and Historical Society have such wonderful materials, predominantly archival materials, that showcase the history of the town, and seeing the police department opened up a lot of great ideas for accessibility.”
She added that materials are currently packed into the other three locations, and moving them to the police station would allow more space. She also suggested that the jail cells in the building could be used as climate-controlled vaults for fragile documents.
Currently, the second floor of the building is being used for archive storage, while the first floor is home to Cataldo Ambulance and Anchor Food Pantry.
Earlier this year, the town began indexing the materials stored at the former police station, a step which Conn said can easily be jumped off from in order to create a central database of archived documents. The library’s materials are already cataloged.
Conn said that even if the police station building cannot be used for a central archive because of the importance of its current occupants, creating that database would be a big step toward opening up the town’s historic materials for public use and research.
“One of the benefits that you’re not going to see right away, but will come as central repository gets more formalized, is people will feel more inclined to donate things knowing there’s something more formal going on with the collections of the town,” Conn said. “They’ll feel more comfortable turning it over and know that it’s going to get cataloged and people can see it.”
