End of an era

At the recent Annual Meeting of the Society Betsy Johnson announced her decision to retire as Curator, a position she has held with distinction since 1987. The Board of Directors voted unanimously to honor her with the title of Curator Emerita. President George Fiske read the following statement:Today I have the honor of bestowing on Betsy Johnson the title of Curator Emerita as she steps down from this role which she has filled for thirty-six years. She has been an active member of the SHS for more than four decades, and will continue in her role as our Historian, while completing her book on the History of Sherborn.

Betsy’s work on the physical collection and her intellectual contributions have deepened our knowledge of the town and preserved priceless documentation of the business and social lives of the Sherborn of the past. 

In 1987, when she first undertook the assignment as Curator, which was supposed to be temporary, she found half a century of records and objects in need of documentation and physical care. A daunting job for anyone – and yet she persevered. In her time as curator, Betsy has overseen the 1990’s move of the collection from the 2nd floor of the Town Hall into storage and the subsequent reorganization on the Lower Level, and then again into storage at the outset of the 2020 pandemic crisis. With the collection still largely in storage it is perhaps difficult for some of you to imagine the magnitude of the time and energy that has gone into the arrangement and description of such a diverse assemblage of museum objects, books and archival records. Throughout her long service in support of the SHS she has laid the groundwork for the next generation who will have the task of installing the collection in a new home and making its treasures available to future citizens of Sherborn.