Shirley Historical Society

We are a certified 501(C)(3) non-profit organization. We have a Museum which has a meeting/display room, gift shop, storage areas, and a research library. We are open Mondays and Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. and other times by appointment. We present bi-monthly programs, maintain a website and a facebook page and answer inquiries. Our volunteers do a variety of tasks from building cleaning and maintenance to building improvements. Some volunteers do xeroxing, cutting, filing, typing, or data entry. Others do research and help design or mount displays. Some volunteers learn how to accession new artifacts, costumes, or papers. Other volunteers are needed to do writing and editing tasks. Other volunteers help with fund raising projects in order to pay for maintenance of the Museum. We can find tasks to meet the interest and time constraints of many different volunteers.

The Shirley Historical Society has as its goals the preservation of books, photographs, papers, and other artifacts relating to Shirley history and the promotion of research into and education about Shirley history. We were founded in 1972 and incorporated in 1980. We met in other buildings until our Museum was constructed in 1982. We have sponsored programs at many historic locations in town, even going into school classrooms or visiting Scout meetings. We lead tours of the site of the Shirley Shaker Village. We have mounted signs at historic locations and our members have served on historic preservation boards. We have had some of our programs and displays videotaped to be shown on our local cable TV station. We recently received a state grant and were able to restore some of the 19th century Shirley Shaker buildings. We cooperate with neighboring towns and organizations to promote understanding of our histories.