While reading From Settlement To City by Carol McMacken, I have reflected upon the many stories that have been compiled by Carol as she researched the history of Brighton from 1832 to 1945. Over 10 years of research provides the basis of the reflections into our communitys past. These anecdotes allow the reader to visualize the personalities of our early settlers.
This book has multitudes of photos that show the early days of Brighton. The faces, clothing and setting allow us to interpret the stories frozen in the camera shots from the past.
As time passes, we start to lose these valuable memories of our past. Anecdotes fall silent if not collected. Photos disappear if not preserved.
As a society, we must try to preserve our past. The Brighton Area Historical Society is starting a new project to preserve those old photos in our archives by digitalization of those images. Our images of the past will be present for future generations to study. We need your old family photos that document the themes of the past.
We will only need your photos for a few minutes while they are scanned into the computer. You can bring your photo albums for us to scan while you wait. Once scanned, your family photos will become a permanent record in the archives for everyone to eventually access.
Our goal is to have all this information available on-line so that anyone can search our database and learn about the families of Brighton. Initially, we are focusing on the pictures from the past. I hope that in the near future, we can focus on Brightons current families.
Please contact me by phone or email to start this process. We are looking for old photos and volunteers to scan this information. Your participation will help preserve those images of the past, which are indeed worth a thousand words!
Jim Vichich