By Jessica Watts and Hugh Kruzel
What books have had impact on you and how you view — or operate — in the world?
This is the question we — Sudbury.com guest writers Jessica Watts and Hugh Kruzel — set out to answer each week. The answers are so diverse and unique for each respondent, the thought was to share the discoveries with a larger audience.
Join us monthly for a fresh take on books our guests find worthy of taking Off The Shelf to read again.
Ever wonder what kind of books influence the manager of a railroad museum? Us, too! And that’s why we sat down with Cody Cacciotti, the operations manager at the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum & Heritage Centre.
“I tend to lean towards non-fiction and favour biographies or anything with a link to historical studies,” he said. “(It) probably explains why I ended up working for a museum.”
Cacciotti has an interesting take on books that have influenced him. As a museum guy, naturally his focus is often on the past, but not always, and he has strong interest in local writers and historians. A takeaway from our chat with him: Don’t discount what you might find in your own backyard.
“There has been some great work published here, and I'm sure the same can be said for other communities as well,” he said. “Half the fun is stumbling across something new and then sharing it with friends and colleagues.”
One book that really stood out for him in the vein of local authors and local history is Frank Pagnucco's Home Grown Heroes: A Sports History of Sudbury (Miller Publishing, 1982).
“I really enjoyed reading about local sporting history and must have signed the book out of the Mackenzie Branch at least a dozen times, to the point where I knew exactly where it was located in the library.”
When it came time to complete his MA (History) at Laurentian University years later, Cacciotti knew he wanted to focus his thesis on the history of the Sudbury District Football Association (now the Sudbury Regional Competitive Soccer League). Something he said you could likely thank Pagnucco for.
“Frank [Pagnucco] had provided a good starting point with his chapter on the local soccer loop, but I really wanted to dig deeper and investigate the shift from the company-sponsored teams of the 1920s and 1930s, to the ethnic clubs that dominated the scene in the late 1940s and 1950s,” Cacciotti said.
Now that he is fulling immersed in local history, particularly railroading and Capreol, Cacciotti said his work has certainly influenced his reading habits.
“Now with the museum, I try to read books that will compliment my existing knowledge of local histories as well as that of the railway,” he said. “Sudbury: Railtown to Regional Capital (Dundurn, 1996) by C.M. Wallace and Ashley Thomson is one I tend to open again and again on regular fact-checking expeditions, and have done so since my undergrad years.
“I'd also recommend it as a starting point for anyone looking for an accessible look into Sudbury's past.”
Given his interest in local history, local sports and local authors, we challenged Cacciotti to suggest a book that might fit all three categories. We couldn’t stump him. He suggested one about Don Brankley, a Capreol native who spend his career in hockey.
“Branks: A Life On The Bench (Shed Publications, 2008) by Burt Dowsett and Herb Shoveller,” he said. “Don was someone I really got to know during my time at the museum, and his 38-year career as trainer of the London Knights was really fascinating.
“Don was originally from Capreol and returned home after his career with the OHL squad. He was an avid supporter of the museum and an advocate for the town. Unfortunately, Branks passed away earlier this year as we were in the midst of planning for next year's centennial (both he and Dave Kilgour were a tremendous loss to our committee) and I couldn't help but work my way through the biography again.”
With the acquisition of the former Capreol Fire Hall back in 2011, the museum has converted the building into its Heritage Centre. It is home to historic fire trucks, a railway locomotive simulator and an impressive model railway display, all of which is great, but there’s something else the centre houses that Cacciotti describes as a “hidden gem.”
“The Dale Wilson Reference Library (is) home to an incredibly collection of local and railway histories,” he said “It's a collection that tends to lend itself to the mature reader, but the library is open to the public year round by appointment and well worth a browse for anyone seeking information on the region's past.”
Interested in any of these titles? Want to brush up on local history and local authors? Visit the nearest branch of the Greater Sudbury Public Library — they’ve got you covered, from cover to cover.
Hugh Kruzel is a freelance writer in Greater Sudbury. Jessica Watts is the co-ordinator of outreach, programs and partnerships with Greater Sudbury Public Library.
