In Loving Memory of Harold & Carol Mitchener
Harold Mitchener, a dear friend of the Grundy Foundation, passed away recently. It’s the end of an era as Harold and his late wife Carol Mitchener were longtime volunteers who gave endlessly of their time and energy in support of our mission. They were also generous donors, contributing to the Grundy Library and the Grundy Museum, for which we are tremendously grateful.
Their passion was the history of Bristol Borough, and they were considered by many to be experts on the subject. Together, they wrote the book Bristol, part of the Images of America series. Both were charter members of the Bristol Cultural and Historical Foundation (BCHF), and Harold spent many years on the Board of Directors and served as the Editor of their newsletter for over 30 years.
Harold and Carol’s volunteer work in the Grundy Library and Grundy Museum began in 1997, where for over 23 years they drew on their extensive historical knowledge and archival materials at BCHF to assist researchers and teach students. They helped create a unique classroom experience for fifth graders from Snyder-Girotti Elementary School by turning a guided tour of the Grundy Museum into an educational program focused on the Industrial Revolution. In the last few years, Harold’s role in these tours changed. He would greet the classes in the drawing room to answer the students’ questions and regale them with stories of the Grundy family and the history of Bristol. Watching the students listen to Harold with rapt attention was also a favorite pastime of the museum staff.
Harold and Carol were instrumental in the creation of the Grundy Archive, although they may not have realized it at the time. They began to accept donations to the Library from local residents, creating a unique collection that, at first, was almost entirely curated, organized, and managed by the two of them. Their expertise and their deep roots in the community made them uniquely qualified to create this burgeoning archive. They also donated many of their own personal items, which are now collectively called the Harold and Carol Mitchener Collection.
In 2007, they played a pivotal role in the transfer of the Bristol Borough Municipal Archive to the Library by organizing and cataloging records going back as far as 1730. Harold and Carol spent countless hours cataloging all sorts of materials; Carol working on microfilm, Harold clipping articles, among many other tasks. When working on research requests, they often wrote notes to each other, hints about what might help the other in their quest for information, which we still find to this day.
After Carol’s passing in 2020, Harold continued devoting many hours each week, embracing technology and learning to scan our collection of newspaper clippings and articles that otherwise might not be saved. As he worked his way through the files, he shared fascinating insights into the articles, making each folder a storytelling session that brought the past to life and captured the attention of everyone in the room. Even when discussing things not to his liking, Harold found humor in their absurdity, adding warmth and lightness to conversations. This digitization work will continue so these items can be added to our online archive and shared with the world, something he cared about deeply.
The work Harold and Carol did lives on in the archive, their passion for history preserved in every identified photo and every new item donated. They taught us to love learning and to appreciate and respect where we live. We are incredibly grateful for the time they spent with us, for the anecdotes they shared, and for the inspiration they gave us. We’ll miss them both and they will always be a part of our family.
