Ruderman with the 1807 document.
(Bill Polo/Globe Staff)
ARLINGTON - History came alive for residents last Thursday with a rare public display of the 1807 parchment that established the town of West Cambridge, which became the town of Arlington 60 years later.
It took more than a year of planning by members of the Arlington 200th Anniversary Committee to make the display possible. "There are certain times and moments in history when history really is made with the stroke of a pen," said committee member A. Michael Ruderman, who oversaw the effort to borrow the document from the Massachusetts Archives. "It's exciting to see the document that formally constituted our town, to imagine the quill pen that was used."
The committee hired a conservator to preserve the document and prepare it for public viewing. The parchment had been folded into four sections and stored for years in an old wood box, and it had to be humidified and gently unfolded before it could be cleaned and pressed for mounting.
Most of the documents in the state archives never leave Boston; someone from the archives had to chaperone the parchment during its one-day stay in Arlington, which coincided with selectmen's presentation of the Arlington Honor Awards to residents and municipal employees who have made outstanding contributions to the town.
BRENDA J. BUOTE
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
