“Adventures in History” Author Talk: Jan 26th

The Holliston Historical Society is pleased to welcome local author, Walter McClennen,
on Sunday, January 26th at 2:00 PM. Mr. McClennen will give a talk entitled Adventures
In History – Saving What Could Be Lost.

Walter McClennen of Holliston, Massachusetts, has written three books during the past
twenty-five years. The first two were focused on painting the history around long-saved
family letters. Hannah Smith, a Medfield Girl (2002) and Remembering Clem – A
Good American in Iran (2017) present extensive primary source documentation
related to early eighteenth century Medfield, Massachusetts, and in the latter book, the
life of a Presbyterian missionary working in post-World War II Iran (1948-1978) is fully
described. Walter enjoys drilling down – with attention to detail – into the “lost corners” of
history.

In his most recent book, he organized twenty years of his writings which he had shared
with family, community and friends through this period. Looking East – Short
Histories and More, 2004-2023 is the result of this effort. McClennen says, “Today’s
story is tomorrow’s history.” Working with a local print-on-demand publisher in
Framingham (Damianos Publishing), he organized his disparate collection of short
histories, poems, and short commentaries into a short but thought-provoking book. In
this book Walter has preserved his own “history” of his thoughts and perspectives, for
anyone who might be interested decades hence. Nobody will have to “search his files”
the way he had to do in order to sort out the lives of Hannah Smith and Clement Scott,
Jr.

In this presentation, Walter will share his five or six different “history adventures” of the
past twenty-five years. Each one is its own tale, but each is equally important as an
example of good ways to approach “saving history” for future generations. He hopes
the audience takes away a new enthusiasm for recording the many personal family and
local histories that surround all of us.

Copies of Looking East – Short Histories and More, 2003-2024, (as well as his two
previous books) will be available for sale at this event. The program is free and open to
all. Mr. McClennen looks forward to answering questions after his presentation and the
Historical Society will be serving refreshments.

This talk is sure to appeal to history buffs and budding writers. We hope that you will
join us!