n the basement of the Town Office building most Saturday mornings for the last year and a half, three young women have been enthusiastically donating their time, archiving the Historical Society's large collection of materials. Sara Dodson and sisters Julia and Heather McCurdy grew up down the road from each other in Killingworth and share a common interest in history, architecture and preservation. The trio is in the process of identifying, preserving, and cataloging every document, photograph and object in the collection, then entering the information into a database that will eventually be available on a Historical Society website.

Sara Dodson, Heather McCurdy and Julia McCurdy at work.

Sara, the daughter of Killingworth Land Trust Board member Bruce Dodson, grew up surrounded in history in the 1822 Gideon Lane House right next door to former Historical Society President Tom Lentz.  She said she got the idea to volunteer for the project after reading Lentz's book, A Photographic History of Killingworth. "I wanted to figure out a way to get involved in the Historical Society and knew Heather and Julia would be interested as well." She remembers Heather was especially excited at the idea and joked that she wanted to be in charge of the white gloves.

Tom Lentz said he had no reservations about letting the women undertake the project. He said it is a tremendous service to the Society and the Town. "The Historical Society is very appreciative of their hard work and dedication." Many Society members first heard about the project earlier this year when the women made a presentation at a monthly meeting. The members were enthusiastic about the project and very interested in seeing what they had uncovered.

Hugh Lofting's Stradivarius violin

The women spent the first five months exploring the boxes and cabinets that crowded the small storage area and deciding on a plan of action. Using their personal laptop computers and preservation materials purchased with funds from the Society, the three set up an efficient work area and dug in. File cabinets, closets and boxes were bursting at the seams with unorganized documents and artifacts. In some cases the boxes had little or no identification, so a large part of the job involved researching the origin of the materials. Julia says they are not at a stage where they can estimate when they will finish, but she says it will be satisfying and yet sad when it is completed.

Heather says she expects they will go through all the materials several times. "We are learning by doing". Each pass through teaches them more about the materials and the process. Both Sara and Julia say Heather is the "enforcer". She keeps them on track and moving, though it is clear they all enjoy pausing over particularly special finds like the top hat and broken Stradivarius violin of former resident Hugh Lofting, author of Doctor Doolittle,  an ancient stone tool found in a box of donated flags, or some original blueprints from the 1950's tourist attraction 'Cowboy Valley'.

The three seem destined to work on this project. Sara is an architect in Centerbrook and majored in historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania for her Masters.  Heather studied archeology and anthropology at Colgate and currently works in sales administration. She sees this as a great way to pursue her interest in history and hopes to go back to school to further her studies in this area. Julia studied architectural design at Parsons School of Design in New York and currently works as a designer for an architectural firm, in Old Saybrook.

Though they have all moved away, their parents still live in Town and the women say they still consider Killingworth home.  All in their mid-twenties, friends and co-workers think they are crazy to spend several hours a week in a basement sifting through boxes and stacks of papers. But within minutes of meeting them, it is clear these friends of twenty years are enjoying the work, and the time together.

Various diaries, letters and artifacts in the collection

The Historical Society has been completely supportive of the project by providing preservation materials and work space, but as the project grows, so does the wish list. If you are interested in helping preserve these valuable materials, or have materials you wish to donate to the Society, please contact Historical Society President Bob Broach at 663-2360. The wish list for the project includes a new computer, a flash drive (256MB minimum), work tables, a dress form and funding for various preservation materials such as acid free tissue paper and envelopes. The women also plan to look into historic preservation grants to further fund the project.  Support in this area would also be appreciated.