So what’s up with all these menus – I thought we were doing history here?
Well, yes, the History Project is collecting and sharing materials from Hopewell’s past, but there’s also the future history to think of – preserving the history of our own time for the next generations.
== View 2000s Hopewell Menus in the Pamphlet Collection ==
So this kind of collection of menus provides a great snapshot of our time and place. They bring back memories of good times and favorite meals. And from a historic view, they show how culinary trends (and prices) have evolved over time.
- For example, we also have historic menus from Aunt Chubby’s and its predecessors.
So what else should we be preserving today? Here are some examples, but what else are we missing?
- There are traditional town events that we photograph and video, such as the Hopewell Memorial Day parade and Pennington Memorial Day parade (video), and the Hopewell Harvest Fair. And there are special events that are captured in commemorative booklets, like town and organization anniversaries.
- There are local institutions that we can learn more about and preserve their current-day stories, including the Quarry Swim Club, other Hopewell Valley quarries, and Howell Farm.
- We also have seen some extraordinary events including the major flooding in 2021 from the Henri and Ida hurricanes, and of course, the impact of the COVID shutdown on local communities.
But another aspect of history is recording the daily lives – the look of the towns, daily activities, and current organizations and businesses.
- The Image Gallery has over a thousand photos from the 2020’s, including buildings and streetscapes, construction projects, and town events. We also are recording changes to the town such as mementos from the Hopewell Inn.
And beyond photos there is also “ephemera” – printed materials like flyers and booklets that were originally created for a short-term need – including menus, of course.
- The Pamphlet Collection has a hundred such scanned documents from this century, including an almost complete set of Harvest Fair programs, plus municipal flyers and local events.
Please contact us if you have these kinds of photos or other materials for our local past – or future – history that can share. We also can help preserve them for the next generations in the digital and physical archives of organizations including the Hopewell Museum and the Hopewell Valley Historical Society.
