Starting one's job as town librarian off with a "bang"

Some excitement at the Gleason Public Library (in the center of my old hometown of Carlisle) yesterday:

Library Director Abby Noland started her new job with a “bang" when she discovered live artillery shells in a box stored in a closet. She came into the library early on July 20, just her fourth day, to clean out the closet in her new office. When she looked inside the box, there were three shells from the civil war era and a note that said the contents had been examined by an expert in historical artillery ammunition and the contents could be live. The note advised to handle with care.
Noland immediately called Town Administrator Tim Goddard who advised her to call the police. She did, and the police evacuated the library and brought in the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad. The artillery shells were determined to be live and were taken to the transfer station where, according to a statement released by the Carlisle Police, they were “rendered safe.”

(http://www.carlislemosquito.org/index.php/news/31954)
I wonder where those shells were back when I was a kid walking to the library every day after school...