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Simsbury archivist showcases Ensign Bickford papers, asks for volunteer and grant support
Summary
At a Simsbury Free Library continuing-education event, trustee Jim Flynn traced the town-making history of Ensign Bickford and archivist Sarah Neeboy described the library’s collection, access policies and a need for volunteer help and grants to digitize and process donations.
Jim Flynn, a member of the Simsbury Free Library board of trustees, opened a continuing-education talk on the library’s archives by tracing the town’s long ties to Ensign Bickford, the industrial firm that donated material and helped fund the library’s archival space.
Sarah Neeboy, the library’s archivist, told the session she has managed the archives part time for about 10 years and described how the repository preserves local primary sources — diaries, letters, photographs, ledgers and company scrapbooks — that researchers and residents use for genealogical and historical work. “We archive to provide connection to our common heritage,” Neeboy said, summarizing the mission that guides selection and preservation.
Flynn reviewed the company’s origins, saying William Bickford’s safety-fuse invention in England and Roger Bacon’s U.S. adoption in the…
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