As if the name didn’t give it away, the Bradford Landmark Society is all about preserving the Bradford’s history and educating locals about the area’s history.

During Friday’s open house, curator Sally Costik said the Society typically receives visitors who are into history just like she is.

“We have (the open house) every year around Christmas. A lot of members come in, but we also get a lot of visitors that come in who like history.”

Costik said that visitors are often blown away by the impressive collection of artifacts and records that are available at the Society.

“We just had a man come in to do some work on the building and he goes, ‘I’ve never been here and it is amazing. You’re like a secret that no one knows,’ and it is true.”

Costik continued, “People don’t realize what we have. We have 17,000 photographs, books, city directories; a lot of information.”

Costik said the open house was a special one as the Society had just released a book — just in time for Christmas for local history buffs — regarding fires in town throughout history. She described the significance of accounts featured in the book titled “Something’s Burning.”

“They’re important fires that happened. Back then, there were really not any fire departments. (Firefighters) were volunteers, strictly. There was really no fire insurance back then too, which I thought was interesting,” Costik explained.

Costik added that 2019 will mark the Society’s 50th anniversary — and Costik’s 25th year of curating the Society.