Leominster Public Library

The Leominster Public Library offers the community a way to connect to its past with an archive containing over 100 years of local history from various titles. The archives provide free access to:

Diane M. Sanabria, the Local History and Genealogy Librarian, says, “The feedback is overwhelmingly positive from our patrons; the only complaint I’ve received is, ‘Can you please hurry up and get more years digitized?’ I had one patron tell me that if he won the lottery, he was going to donate to the library so we could get more work done!”

Diane further explained, “The digitization of our local newspaper, the Leominster Enterprise, was initially used solely for in-house research at the library. When our website was redesigned, we added a link to the Community History Archive so our patrons would have remote access to the Enterprise. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and I, for one, cannot imagine doing my job without it. I am currently working on a history of Leominster’s New England Novelty Company for a woman in Michigan who contacted me for information; she was wondering specifically if we had any catalogs or pictures of the items they made. New England Novelty was a plastics manufacturer from 1923 through the early 1950s when it merged with Commonwealth Plastics. A search of the Enterprise using “exact phrase” revealed a wealth of information, including the exciting connection between the company and actress Martha Sleeper to produce her jewelry designs in wood, Catalin/Bakelite plastic, and metal. Sleeper’s jewelry was featured in LIFE magazine and was collected by Andy Warhol. Her pieces can range in price from a few hundred dollars for lapel pins to thousands of dollars for necklaces. Who knew? I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for being able to search the newspaper archives! There are so many stories like this where our Community History Archive has made all the difference.”

She goes on to praise for Advantage Archives “I cannot sing the praises of our Partnership Manager, Grant Kaestner, highly enough. He responds almost immediately to any questions or concerns; he tracks the shipment of our incredibly precious resources, so we know where our microfilm reels are, start to finish, and he has always worked with us to give us the best price possible. His knowledge and experience are invaluable; for example, taking the time to explain why we might need to look at a different digitization process as the paper expanded to using more original photography in the 1950s or looking ahead to the merger of the paper with the Fitchburg Sentinel in 1972 and checking with them about rights to remote access. I like the fact that he touches base with us several times during the year to see what our budget looks like and what we may be able to accomplish in any given fiscal year. But he is never pushy: always just so personable and helpful.”