Ron Frazier points to a small, odd-looking device in a display case.
"Do you know how hard it is to find an iron from the 1800s?" the executive director of the Dedham Historical Society asked. If you could find one, he said, the owner probably wouldn't want to give it up.
The iron is part of the society's exhibit titled "Dedham: Then and Now," in which old items and old photos of local spots are juxtaposed against their modern counterparts.
The old photos are of spots in town from as early as 1880. The old items include a 17th century hourglass, a 19th century tube and funnel that functioned as a hearing aid, and old money from the Dedham Bank.
In total, about 60 photographs from around Dedham are displayed with captions. The pictures, which date back to as early as 1880, are coupled with photos of the same locales taken just months ago.
Historical Society photographers have even tried to capture buildings at the same angle as the original photograph so viewers can easily recognize changes.
The society, founded in 1859, has more than 2,000 images in its collection on glass plate negatives, Frazier said.
The difficult part, he said, was picking which ones to use for the exhibit.
Frazier said he tried to find pictures that "showed a definite difference" between "then and now."
Some historic buildings, like the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Old Irish Ale House, have remained mostly intact over time.
Others have been transformed: The Phoenix House was converted into the Knights of Columbus Building and the Shuttleworth House became the Historical Society.
Still other historic buildings were not so lucky.
"Look at the (former Dedham) train station," Frazier said, pointing to a photo of it. "It made way for a parking lot."
Train depots, Frazier said, were mostly destroyed when cars replaced locomotives as the primary means of transportation.
"They built those (train stations) beautifully," he said.
Some buildings succumbed to fires while others simply deteriorated, Frazier said, but what he lamented the most were buildings torn down to replace them with architectural fads.
In the 60s, he said, many buildings were destroyed in favor of modern architecture.
"Everything old was no good," Frazier said.
However, for the most part, Dedham has been preserved.
"Dedham is extremely fortunate because it has such a good-sized historic district," he said.
In time, the society hopes to sell prints of the historic photos on its Web site. Visitors can also request to purchase photos in person. Frazier said he expects the photos will soon be displayed in buildings throughout the town as banks and other organizations have already begun to ask about them.
Frazier is just now putting the finishing touches on the yearlong project, which can be seen Tuesdays through Fridays from 12 to 4 p.m. and even-dated Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.
The exhibit will run until the new year when it will make way for a tribute to the Historical Society building's 150-year anniversary.
Admission to the society is $2 for adults and $1 for children.
