By Carla Charter

Wendell town records – including over 30 pages of loose documents dating from 1816 to the 1840s and a 500-page volume of town clerk notes dating from 1953-1969 – were recently returned to the town by the Wendell Historical Society on April 1, in celebration of its first anniversary.

The records included town warrants, reports of selectmen, town reports of expenses, bills to different individuals from the town, lawsuit expense reports, an agreement to build a bridge over the Millers River and the volume of town clerk notes from selectboard and town meetings, according to Edward Hines, the society’s president.

Some of these documents were located by historical society members while doing inventory and archival work at the library, Hines said. The documents archived from the library came from past iterations of the Wendell Historical Society.

“Wendell has had several incarnations of the Wendell Historical Society,” Hines said. “The current one is the first legal historical society of its kind in Wendell.”

Other documents were given to the society from the Greenfield Historical Society, which had received them as part of a gift from the estate of an individual who lived in Greenfield.

“The Greenfield Historical Society were unsure of where to send them,” Hines said. “When they heard about the Wendell Historical Society starting, they sent them to us and we returned them to the town.”

Wendell Town Clerk Anna Wetherby said it was wonderful to have the documents back and read through minutes written by predecessors 100 years ago.

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“What’s fascinating about them (the returned documents) is that they give us a glimpse of what our town was like 200 years ago,” said Hines. “Individual names, whose names we have seen before, we now see in a new context and get a new understanding of their role in town.”

The returned documents will be preserved in the appropriate departments within town, where they will be accessible to the public, said Hines.

As for the society’s collection, Hines said, “The historical society has a diverse collection of objects – books, signs and photographs that are archived. When we open the building to the public they will be on display.”

The date of when the society and its gift shop will open depends on the financial support it receives for the renovations, said Hines. The gift shop alone is expected to cost $15,000-$17,000, which the society is still trying to collect via fundraising.

The society is always accepting Wendell-related historical donations, as well as monetary donations and volunteers, Hines said. More information on the society can be found at www.wendellhistoricalsociety.org.

Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.