It was bound to happen: a retired librarian and a retired history teacher join forces to record the previous days in the history of their hometown of Mansfield, Arkansas.
There is a Facebook site where people visit and begin a sentence or two, “Remember when?” Sometimes everyone can recall a time; photo or thought but, sometimes few or none can answer your question. For some reason, people hoard their photos or Family Bibles in fear that a relative might want them. (It happened in my family.) These old friends got to thinking that they should rattle the bushes and shake loose some of those photos people surely had, deep in the bottom of the closets.
Beverly Boyd Jeffery, daughter of Darlene and the late Frank Boyd of Mansfield, was quick to jump headfirst in the idea of a meeting of anyone who might have a memory and wished to share it. With Beverly’s heritage, she knows news and made the rounds to all of the area. I, Jack James, just showed up, pretty much.
At the strike of 1 PM on Friday, March 1, tables began filling up with a vast array of wonderful memories captured by photography! People peppered in and out of the Mansfield City Hall for over two-and-a-half hours looking to share a story or to reminisce about our collective pasts. For a first try at such a project of collecting shareable information, I think we all did a pretty good job!
All of our findings will be shared here at Resident Press. Don’t forget to link family and friends to our site! If you’d like to share a memory or scanned photo with us, you are very welcomed to do so by sending them to: [email protected]. Thanks to the Mansfield City Hall for letting us use a space and to everyone who came and shared!
