00:02Alice Sipple has the keys to the past.
00:06The 25-year-old is her local history society's youngest president.
00:11The majority of our volunteers, and especially on our committee,
00:15have been here for more than 20 years.
00:18So I'm quite a bit younger in terms of age and experience.
00:23In Ipswich, Zeke Montgomery is closer to high school than retirement age.
00:28His history obsession puzzles his friends.
00:31Some of them find it quite, for lack of a better word, boring.
00:35But he sees a compelling story almost everywhere he looks,
00:39like this 150-year-old church built to strengthen Ipswich's case
00:43to be the state capital.
00:45The volunteer groups that dig out these stories are losing numbers.
00:49These smaller local and family history groups,
00:52their membership is often ageing
00:55and so they can be one or two resignations away from shutting.
01:00The lightning pace of development is changing the character
01:02of dense heritage areas like Ipswich.
01:05Some say too many historic buildings have already been lost
01:07and fear what might happen if their strongest advocates disappear.
01:11People who are actually the backbone of local history societies
01:14are the ones who can explain why it's important
01:16to preserve those streetscapes,
01:18why it's important to preserve those old buildings.
01:21Historians say knowing their own history puts life in perspective.
01:25That's what my great-great-grandparents had to go through
01:28just to get a meal on the table.
01:30Makes us feel like maybe we should get up and do something,
01:33not just scroll on our phones.
01:35Do something a bit more valuable to society.
01:38That's just a moment in the lives of Valencia
01:38but some people that somehow think about it,
01:39there's a Shedrick having here on top of the body s door.
01:39So today it is very important for us to去
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