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Natick Vintage Camera Museum is a snapshot of history

July 12, 2022 by Duncan Brown Leave a Comment

Camera Museum

Tucked away on a side street in Natick Center is a museum that many residents may have unknowingly wandered past. The Natick Vintage Camera Museum, located on the second floor of 5 Summer St., has been put together and curated by Scott Pressler. Scott began collecting cameras in his high school days as evidenced by a photo of him in his bedroom, antique cameras on the shelves behind him. Since then, he has found cameras at yard sales, antique stores, and even in trash bags. His collection eventually grew into what is now a public display of film cameras, pocket cameras, spy cameras, cameras that look like soda cans, Polaroids, film projectors, and a dozen other types of cameras.

Camera Museum

Not all these cameras were part of the original collection, however. Scott opened the museum exclusively to display his own collection, but things quickly ramped up. What really tipped things over the edge was when WCVB’s Chronicle featured the museum in early 2019. Ever since, people looking to offload their own antique cameras have come in and either offered to hand them over or sell them to the collection. At this point, Scott has more cameras than he has display room, and more keep coming. It’s his hope that the collection can be taken on by a university or some other qualified organization. Scott says that he wants to see the cameras taken care of and preserved, something he feels he can’t do properly. Scott described himself as a caretaker for the cameras, not an owner, and it is his wish that the history they represent can be carried on, which he says can only be done by more qualified and dedicated professionals.

The museum opened shortly before the pandemic and was receiving a steady stream of visitors. Since it has reopened, there have been slightly fewer people coming to see the exhibit, but guests still come from as far away as the Cape. Admission is free, and it’s a very interesting display, with all sorts of cameras, which Scott seems to know all about. There is no glass in front of most of the displays, because Scott wants people to come and actually “pick up and interact with the cameras.” He said that he’s not worried about them being damaged, as they’re from a “rough and tumble era,” and that they would probably be fine if they were dropped.

Camera Museum

One particularly interesting artifact was a Kodak instant camera, which was designed to print pictures on the fly. Polaroid was also interested in the camera, and thought that Kodak’s technology was a bit too similar to theirs, which had hit the market first. After a protracted legal battle, Polaroid was awarded $900 million from Kodak, and Kodak stopped making both instant cameras and their film. This wasn’t the only way a Polaroid has touched the museum, however. A donation of cameras was given to the museum by Marsha Haskell, who worked on creating Polaroid’s instant photo technology.

Not everything in the museum is a camera. Recently received was a box of glass slides from the 1880s, an early precursor to film. Images on the slides include portraits, and pictures of old boats. 

natick camera museum

Hopefully Scott’s wish of seeing his collection picked up by a museum comes true, but until then we urge you to go and check out this unique part of history in Natick.
________________________________________________________________________________________

PLACE: Natick Vintage Camera Museum
ADDRESS: 5 Summer Street, 2nd floor, Natick, MA 01760
PHONE: 508-651-0180
HOURS: By appointment or by chance


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Filed Under: Art, Entertainment, Technology



Natick schools recognized by state for being cyber aware

October 26, 2021 by Admin Leave a Comment

Massachusetts has recognized 34 municipalities and public school districts, including Natick Public Schools, as being Cyber Aware Communities. The announcement was made at an online event hosted during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month by the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS).

Those recognized were the top performing participants in this year’s round of the Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program.

Natick Public Schools outlines its data privacy & security efforts as well as the Technology Services Department’s mission.

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Learn about ground-source heat pumps for your Natick home or business

October 18, 2021 by Admin Leave a Comment

SPONSORED CONTENT: Natural gas prices are expected to rise significantly this winter, driven by increased global demand and U.S. shortages in supply, according to Eversource in an email to customers. The energy provider has filed proposed rates with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) that, if approved, would take effect Nov. 1. An average residential heating customer using 126 therms of gas per month during the winter would likely see a monthly bill increase of $24.64, depending on individual household energy use, the type of rate a customer is on, and weather conditions.

As an alternative to reliance on fossil fuels for heating and cooling needs, many home- and small business owners are moving toward installing ground-source heat pumps. Ground source heat pumps move heat in and out of the ground through pipes buried underground, ending the need to heat and cool with fossil fuels.

Learn more about ground-source heat pumps

Register to join the MetroWest Solar + Clean Heat Challenge team and Achieve Renewable Energy to learn about the basics of ground-source heat pumps, how these systems are installed, and about how you can get your property assessed for this technology at no-cost.

WHEN: Wednesday, October 20
TIME: 7pm-8pm
WEBINAR LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3WPvw9M1TZicrrw_HyTXGA

Metrowest Solar & Clean Heat Challenge

It takes far less energy to move heat than it does to create heat, which means ground source heat pumps are very efficient. Typically, a fossil fuel heating system is 80-90% efficient, wasting 10-20% of every dollar you spend on oil, gas, or propane. A ground-source heat pump can be 350-500% efficient, providing 3.5-5 units of heat for every unit of electricity you pay for.

Because the ground is more stable in temperature year-round than the outdoor air, ground source heat pumps are more efficient than air-source heat pumps and air conditioners at heating and cooling, making ground source heat pumps the most efficient heating and cooling technology available.

Filed Under: Education, Environment, Technology

Microsoft swears its naming of Project Natick was random

June 9, 2021 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Among the top Google search results for the word “natick” curiously are “Microsoft natick” and “Project Natick.”

They refer to an effort by Microsoft launched in 2015 called Project Natick focused on building underwater data centers to support cloud networking for coastal communities. The company is now in Phase 2 of the project, which entails installing a renewable energy-powered data center boasting more than 800 servers in the North Sea.

Microsoft's Project Natick

 

Natick-ShortClips-10

The Project Network website features an FAQ that directly addresses the question of:

What does the name Natick mean?

Natick is a codename and carries no special meaning. It is a town in Massachusetts.

I know my way around tech code names, having been a longtime reporter and editor for International Data Group’s Network World , and I just wasn’t buying it. One of the project founders had to have lived here or had something special happen in Natick. A first date at the Mall, or something.

Not wanting to take Microsoft’s marketing site at its word, I wrote to Project Manager Ben Cutler, who I was so pleased responded to me directly and quickly. Though I was disappointed that indeed, there’s really no great significance to the Natick name for this project.

Cutler wrote: “It really is just a codename. For no particularly good reason other than randomness to avoid naming things in any way that ascribes meaning, at one time my team used names of cities in Massachusetts as codenames. Natick was one of those.  We’ve also used names of national capitols, birds, minerals, and other randomly selected name categories.”

So there you have it.

As for the meaning of the name Natick itself, we’ve seen different explanations, but the one we have ingrained in our heads is that which we saw for years at the Golf on the Village Green: “Place of Hills.”

Meanwhile, be assured you can’t order yourself up some Microsoft Natick locally anymore. The Microsoft Store at Natick Mall was shuttered in 2020.


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