By Paige Bartello, LMHS Administrative Coordinator

This past spring, the Lower Merion Historical Society put out a call for volunteers interested in helping us inventory, arrange, and catalog our extensive holdings. We’ll be shining a spotlight on our neighbors that stepped up to help and give you a little insight into the behind-the-scenes work happening at the Society. 

Ted Davis joined our cohort of volunteers this past spring, and has taken on the challenge of inventorying parts of our collection that had never before been inventoried. While working on rehousing some of our collection items, he discovered a wealth of additional collection material to be cataloged. 

Ted grew up in the area, attending Cynwyd Elementary, Bala Cynwyd Middle School, and Lower Merion High School. In his retirement, Ted decided to blend his two joys—reminiscing on the past and investigating local history. He found his way to the Lower Merion Historical Society and has spent countless Thursday afternoons digging into the collections.

Ted is an antique map enthusiast and quickly got to work identifying all of our rolled and flat maps. He evaluated the condition of each map individually and compiled a spreadsheet that will help us as we look towards preserving the collection.

Thanks to Ted, you can also expect updates to our collection on Lower Merion Schools, including a 1967 LMHS yearbook that he kindly donated to us. We are currently in the process of cataloging all of our schools-related ephemera and hope to be able to digitize some of this collection in the future.

From putting together storage furniture to cleaning out closets, Ted truly rolled up his sleeves and dove in headfirst at the Society. We look forward to making more discoveries as he finishes inventories of the rest of our collections. Stay tuned to our rotating Featured Collection Item to see more of Ted’s finds!