DOVER — Current and former Dover residents can transform boxes of old photographs into a piece of local history as part of the Faces of Dover project.

The first of its kind project will kickoff Sunday, May 17, with a “photo organization workshop” to help current and former residents sort through family mementos and choose favorites that display their connection with the Garrison City.

Ultimately, the Faces of Dover Committee plans to compile copies of photos throughout the community to tell the history of the city through the stories of those that have been part of the community.

The May 17 event is the first part of the larger effort. It will focus on stimulating interest and discussion within families about their roots, event organizers said.

“It will be a time of reflection and celebration,” said Carolyn Ricker, a consultant with Creative Memories, who will help with the process.

A team of four consultants, Ricker, Becky Ball of Barrington, Kathie Sharbaugh of Durham and Beverly Wallace of Rochester, will be on hand to help sort through photos and journal stories that explain the pictures.

“The power of organization is uplifting and is the starting point for what to do with all those photos that have been stashed away for years in an old box,” Ricker said.

Beth Fisher, a project organizer, said the group is looking to take a contemporary approach to an idea used by other communities who have had themed art campaigns throughout the city.

Fisher said the photographs do not necessarily have to hold any historical significance, although some may, but all must have a connection to the community and its landmarks.

The “walking tour” of photos is planned to begin at the new Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center, then spread throughout the downtown, likely inside businesses that will display the photographs and stories in their window or elsewhere inside the business, which would create foot traffic throughout the downtown, Fischer said.

The photo exhibits will be on view from July to September and a walking guide will be available at the Dover Public Library and the new Chamber of Commerce building at the corner of Central Avenue and Sixth Street.

Anybody is welcome to attend the organizing event and can bring photos, documents, newspaper articles or family recipes.

The event will be held May 17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the McConnell Center cafeteria.

To learn more about the Faces of Dover historical project, contact Elizabeth Fischer atinfo@facesofdover.org or 817-1843 or Library Director Cathy Beaudoin atc.beaudoin@dover.nh.gov. The deadline to submit photos is June 1.

By LESLIE MODICA, Foster’s Daily Democrat

DOVER — A group of volunteers wants to put some faces to the names in the Garrison City.

The Oral History Committee, an all-volunteer board, has launched a project that would display photographs and narratives around the city featuring residents and their connection to Dover, creating a type of walking tour through the eyes of locals.

Beth Fisher, an organizer of the project, said the group is looking to take a contemporary approach to an idea used by other communities who have had themed art campaigns throughout the city.

Fisher said the photographs do not necessarily have to hold any historical significance, although some may, but they all must have a connection to the community and its landmarks.

She said she hopes to have the project start in the new Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce visitor’s center.

“Visitors can walk up to the new chamber and would be able to see some faces of Dover residents,” she said.

From there, Fisher said she hopes to expand the art to about 13 spots around the city, likely businesses who will display the photographs and stories in their window or elsewhere inside the business.

“The idea is to create foot traffic in the community and get people to go to places they have never been,” Fisher said.

Fisher said the concept came from Public Radio’s cooperation with the nonprofit Story Corps, which documents oral history by helping friends and relatives interview one another.

The idea caught on in Dover when Fisher helped a project that documented the stories of four seniors in the community, which then sparked the suggestion from a resident to continue documenting local stories, eventually turning into the current project.

The project since has been taken in by the Dover Adult Learning Center, which is acting as the fiscal agent for the project, and a couple Dover High School teachers also have volunteered to help. Cathy Beaudoin, library director, and the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire have signed on as well.

Fisher said the committee is planning a “community scrapbook activity” in May or June that would invite residents to bring photographs and stories to be put together for the project.

The project is still in its preliminary stage now, but Fisher is inviting residents to a meeting of the Oral History Committee on March 24 from 4 to 5 p.m. on the second floor of the Dover Public Library to learn more or get involved.

She said she is looking for volunteers to work on the steering committee and subcommittees and graphic artists and photographers as well as, of course, anybody with photographs to contribute.

Anybody interested can attend the meeting or contact Fisher at erfisher@myfairpoint.net.