The Community Preservation Act Committee has helped fund renovations and new signage at the old Elm Street fire station, now Agawam’s historical museum.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Lederer
AGAWAM — The Agawam Historical and Fire House Museum is in the midst of a project to increase its storage space, protect its artifacts and install new signs.
Project manager David Cecchi said it’ll be done “well before Memorial Day,” which is the museum’s target reopening date.
“We’re just moving along piece by piece,” he said,
Since 2002, the museum in the former Fire Station 3, at 35 Elm St., has been home to thousands of Fire Department artifacts, including helmets going back 100 years and radios used in the 1960s and 1970s. The Agawam Historical Association, a private nonprofit group, owns the collection and operates the museum, which also includes documents and objects related to general Agawam history.
The cost of the “Archive Protection, Preservation Storage & Signage Project” is $12,781.97, according to the association’s Community Preservation Act Fund application. The application requests $7,282.57 from the fund, plus 10% contingency for a total of $8,010.57. Cecchi said the association has chipped in over $5,000.
In a letter to CPA Committee members, dated April 5, Mayor Christopher Johnson expressed support for granting the funds.
“This request would allow for the replacement of the signage at the museum, as it is vital to provide a sense of identity to keep this important building protected and conserve the history of the Fire House for our community and all who visit,” he wrote.
The City Council approved the funding request unanimously at its June 3 meeting.
The project tackles the museum’s inadequate storage space for artifacts, which consists of a closet on the second floor. As the museum’s collection grows, it’s turned half of the second floor exhibit space into storage, Cecchi said. Items in storage include photographs, documents, deeds, 18th- and 19th-century Town Meeting notices, papers from schools, posters and maps.
The project involves installing new flat files and display and storage cases, the latter with the CPA funds, Cecchi said.
“This display cabinet has eight drawers and each drawer has a glass covering, so we can actually have things in storage, but also be able to be displayed,” he said.
The association also had glass doors made for the first-floor display cases, which were originally open to the elements.
The project will also involve fitting the windows with solar shades that block 97% of UV light, in an effort to protect printed materials from fading or being damaged. Currently, the museum uses plastic mini-blinds.
“It keeps some light from coming in, but it also makes the space really dark,” Cecchi said. “Hopefully, these solar shades will let some light in and also protect the pieces.”
Already, the project has produced a new sign over the front doors. There’s also a new “Museum Entrance” sign on the side door and an information board next to the door for a schedule of events or contact information, Cecchi said.
Cecchi noted the association is trying to get a handle on 25 years of donations it’s never documented or cataloged.
“We’re so fortunate that people have come to the association and donated these artifacts, because they’re all important parts of the history of the town,” he said. “It really helps to get a better understanding of what Agawam was like in the past.”
People can support the association by becoming a member. Those who want to help in more specific ways can reach out on Facebook (search for Agawam Historical Association) or to Cecchi himself at 413-786-3236 or at cecco@davidcecchi.com.
