b'archivists often get calls asking whether they are interestedinadocu- Millburn Campusment or item. A coupleMILLBURN@AOPSACADEMY.ORG(862) 206-4667of years ago, a womanDiscover the Difference: from Michigan wrote toGet Ahead This School Year withask if the archives wouldAoPS Academy Millburnbeinterestedinsome CHSstudenthand- Innovative after-school,books from the 1940s,weekend, and summerenrichment in math andwhichshehadfoundlanguage arts for grades 2-12.CHS memorabilia, such as this megaphone and varsityatahousesale.Petral- Reach out to AoPS Academyjacket, stand atop file cabinets in the archives new homelia eagerly said yes. TheENROLL TODAY Millburn today!in the renovated media center.archivistsactivelyseekAS SEEN INdamagedordestroyedmanyboxesmaterial, especially about CHS sports ofmaterials,mostlythosecontain- and sporting events.ing bound copies of the Columbian.Petrallia and Edelman say the ar-Principal Frank Sanchez quickly or- chives has changed their perceptions chestrated an effort to move every- ofColumbia.Edelmancomments thing into his office meeting room,thatnotesfromboardmeetings securedadehumidifierandclearedstoredinthearchivessuggestthat space to open and dry the damagedthe arts played a significant role in boundnewspapers,pictures,filesthe school district from the outset.and other boxes of material. His of- Petrallia adds, When we go back fice became the drying zone. Wear- to these early books . . . [we see] the ing masks and gloves, the archivistsschool always had concerts, they had started salvaging what they could. a band, they had an orchestra. They Social studies teacher J. D. Rob- learned from the archives that every insonimmediatelyhelped.Hestudent class had to write and pro-showed the archivists how to insertduce a play. Students also had to write cleansheetsofprintingpaperbe- essays,whichtheirfellowstudentsSCHOOL AS IT SHOULD BEtween the wet pages of documents tocritiqued, sometimes quite critically.absorb the dampness. Every day, theThefourarchivistsarestillgo-fourarchiviststurnedpagestoac- ing through material and organizing celerate the drying process, and theyand cataloging it. Occasionally stu-carefullyremovedruinedbindingsdents and faculty ask for help with from bound volumes with an Exactoresearchingthearchivesmaterials. knife.We have worked many hours with Fortunately,theyearbooksfromour students, Petrallia says. Thats the archives had escaped damage be- our greatest joy. We may be retired, cause they had been stored in anotherbut we still love teaching!room, but numerous bound volumesFornow,thevolunteersplug of the Columbian and copies of theaway, uncovering more information Guildscriptweredestroyed.SeveralandinsightsaboutColumbiaand administrators donated their copiesthedistrict.Thisisunpaidwork, of past issues of the Guildscript, andwhich they are doing as a labor of the four archivists hope to replenishlove,thoughtheAchieveFounda-the full collection of the student lit- tion and the PTA Presidents Coun-erarymagazine.Thearchivistsandcilhaveprovidedfundsforboxes additional helpers continued to me- andothersupplies.Thearchivists thodically insert clean paper betweenbelieveinthevalueoftheirwork, each damaged page. Six weeks in,knowing they are stewards of a rich says Petrallia, we knew we were go- archival collection for a school that ing to save some things, but it tookhas shaped so many lives and played six weeks to get it to [that] point.a vital role in our two towns. All told, they lost eight boxes of ma- HarrietSigermanlovesresearching terial out of a total of 52. AmericanwomenshistoryandhasAGE 3 - GRADE 8Former teachers and students havehappily spent time in several archivesFARBROOK.ORGcontributed items to the archives. Theon the East Coast.feature story /29'