What and who are the makers of Brockton’s history? What stories are woven together that help us make sense of, remember, and celebrate Brockton’s vibrant past—and the present on its way to becoming the past? These are just some of the questions this project seeks to answer.
This is a crowd-sourced museum created by the people of Brockton. We have asked Brockton’s residents to bring us one thing—a photograph, varsity jacket, painting, poetry, song, newspaper clipping, yearbook, wedding announcement, shoe, pencil sharpener—anything that has a personal story and that somehow relates to their time in Brockton. Less about Brockton history and more about the people of Brockton, less about objects and more about the stories and meanings these objects hold, the People’s Museum celebrates the diversity of perspectives and people who call Brockton home.
Everyone completes a submission form that indicates the significance of the item and the reasons it was chosen to be part of the project. Items already submitted have been curated into an exhibit at the Gallery at Enso Flats but collection continues.
Help us make history! If you live in Brockton and want to contribute to this exciting community project:
- Bring a personal object or keepsake to the Gallery at Enso Flats, 50 Center Street, Brockton
- Fill out a submission form
- Tell us your story
Your story is important to us!
For more information, contact Kara McCormack at 617-686-4113 or kara@karamccormack.com.
Click here to visit our Facebook page and to see photos from our closing reception.
How this Project Came About
While driving in downtown Brockton in the summer of 2016 in search for a particular store, I realized how different the landscape of downtown is from how it was when I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Gone are the Polynesian restaurant, the high-end women’s boutique, and business offices. In their place are empty storefronts and abandoned buildings, but also vibrant restaurants and specialty stores, serving an ever-diversifying community in the “City of Champions” and outside my own memories as a child here.
My family moved to Brockton from Stoughton, Massachusetts, in 1968. My Irish-American parents were both born and raised in Boston. My mother, Anne, grew up in Jamaica Plain, the daughter of an Irish-American police officer and Irish-Portuguese-American department store employee. My father, Bob, grew up in Dorchester, the son of a U.S. southern-born Irish-American roofer and an Irish-Canadian-American homemaker. My parents decided on Brockton because of its opportunities for raising a family: good schools, affordable homes, and easy access to the highway. They had no real connection to the 19th century history of this world-famous shoe-manufacturing city, although we did buy our shoes at the Taymor Shoe Company on Montello Street. That building is now gone.
The cityscape of Brockton seems to be in a continual state of transition, with questions about how to define its public identity as well as its public space, which appears to some to be in a state of decay, with higher crime and poverty than in the “old days.” Old timers might look nostalgically on the days when manufacturing and industry defined the city, imagining a past that far outshines the present. This is the image of Brockton that dominates its official history, which mostly focuses on Brockton’s preeminence as shoe manufacturer during the Civil War, the industry that would attract immigrants from Ireland and Italy and other European countries well into the 20th century. The official popular history also points to Brockton as “The City of Champions,” with a nod toward its most famous residents, Rocky Marciano and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, both of whose tenacity and willingness to fight have defined the city in the modern day.
The industry that served as the foundation for the city’s initial prosperity is mostly gone. But in its place is a thriving city that offers hope, opportunity, and community to an ever-shifting population. Still a city of immigrants, the face of the city is an always-evolving, dynamic place of diversity and vitality.
By the People: The People’s Museum of Brockton celebrates the constantly changing face of Brockton, generates local pride, and inspires the community to consider what gives them a sense of place and belonging. Located at the Gallery at Enso Flats, this community project features personal objects and their histories donated by citizens who have a particular story to tell about their connection to this city and their own lives. The resulting crowd-sourced collection demonstrates and celebrates the diversity of cultures and perspectives that tend to be absent from official histories of Brockton.
Archeology of the Present: Recording the present on its way to becoming the past
This project seeks to address the following questions: What and who are the 
makers of history? What stories are woven together that help us make sense of, remember, and celebrate the past? How does one’s personal history define his or her relationship to place? How do artifacts and keepsakes memorialize and mediate the past? Further, what happens in the process of “museumification” of what may seem like ordinary “things”? And how important is it for citizens to see themselves reflected in the official history of the place they call home?
How It Works
This is a crowd-sourced people’s museum. In order for it to work, we ask 
Brockton’s residents to bring us one thing—a photograph, varsity jacket, painting, poetry, song, newspaper clipping, yearbook, wedding announcement, shoe, pencil sharpener—anything that has a personal story and that signifies their connection to Brockton. Less about Brockton history and more about the people of Brockton, less about objects and more about the stories and meanings these objects hold, the People’s Museum celebrates the diversity of perspectives and people who call Brockton home.
Everyone completes a submission form that indicates the significance of the item and the reasons it was chosen to be part of the project. Items already submitted have been curated into an exhibit at the Gallery at Enso Flats but collection continues.
All pieces are on loan to be returned at the conclusion of the project.
The project will culminate in an opening reception at which everyone who submitted something along with city officials and leaders in the arts, humanities, and history all mingle and discuss what the exhibits reveal about ourselves, our relationship to each other, and the meaning of the city itself.
Download the Artifact Submission Form here.
Media:
Enterprise News, August 15, 2017
WATD’s Kevin Tocci speaks with Kara McCormack about the People’s Museum, August 14, 2017