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Donation Procedures

Amesbury Eats is an initiative seeking to document, interpret, and preserve the food and drink culture of Amesbury. In collaboration with the Amesbury Chamber of Commerce the library is offering a slate of programs and events beginning in 2018 exploring the role of restaurants, food, and drink establishments in the city. <p>We are looking to document the landscape of food and drink in 2018 by collecting, scanning, and providing access to material from restaurants and food related businesses operating in Amesbury in 2018.

Complementary to this initiative we are also reaching out to the public to identify archival material to enrich and expand the narrative about the people of Amesbury and what they have eaten and drunk over time. The Amesbury Public Library seeks material from the public related to food and drink culture in Amesbury from any time period.

Material types and examples include menus from restaurants, bakeries, and eateries, photographs of interior or exteriors of restaurants, grocery stores, markets, food pantries, or farms. Cookbooks produced by community organizations in Amesbury or Salisbury. Photographs of family and private gatherings involving food and dining (picnics, family dinners, parties, and functions). Manuscript material including ledgers, grocery lists, records of local food and drink purveyors. 

Material will be made available to researchers at the library and online through our digital library. Donations can be made during normal business hours at the Amesbury Public Library. Donors will be asked to fill out a short deed of gift form transferring ownership of the material to the library. For anyone not quite ready to part with her material we are also offering an opportunity to contribute digital surrogates of material to our online Digital Library. 

Appointments and consultations about collections are available. To discuss this or with any other questions please contact Meghan Petersen, Archivist mpetersen@amesburylibrary.org.