A Look Back: Jan. 16

50 Years Ago

■A 20th century poetry collection at Russell Sage College that began eight years ago as a simple memorial to a Northampton girl has grown in size and prestige to become one of the finest such collections anywhere in the country. The collection began modestly as a memorial to Carol Ann Donahue, a Northampton girl who died in a car accident on the Coolidge Bridge in the summer of 1965, shortly after completing her first year at Russell Sage.

■A Future of the Church Committee at the First United Methodist Church is studying six alternatives, one of which the congregation will choose within the next few months. The options include renovation of the present structure, selling the structure and relocating, and merger with another area Methodist church and rebuilding on a merged basis.

25 Years Ago

■Victor J. Basile, who grew up in Northampton, this month became director of the Peace Corps’ office of private sector cooperation and international volunteerism. Although he has spent much of his life in Washington, D.C., Basile maintains strong ties to this area. He grew up and went to school in Northampton and Amherst and he has a large extended family in the Valley.

■A near-unanimous vote of the School Committee and City Council Thursday elected Main Street resident Lucy Hartry to fill the school panel’s vacant Ward 4 seat. Hartry, 46, received 12 of the 13 votes cast by members of both boards, defeating two other candidates.

10 Years Ago

■In hopes of matching the biggest football building job in program history, the University of Massachusetts has brought back the original architect. The Minutemen introduced, or more accurately reintroduced, Mark Whipple as the football coach Tuesday at a press conference in the Mullins Center.

■Removal of the Upper Roberts Meadow Dam has been pushed into 2015 to give more time to work out an environmentally safe way to remove sediment that has built up behind the structure. “The project is moving along a little bit slower than we thought it would,” said James Laurilla, city engineer.