Digital Commonwealth News & Announcements «

News & Announcements

Avant l'assaut. Images of World War I Battlefields. Franklin Historical Museum. — Avant l’assaut, from Images of World War I Battlefields (Franklin Historical Museum)

All those April showers (rain and snow alike) brought over 3,300 new items to the Digital Commonwealth. The largest donation came from the National Archives at Boston with its Watertown Arsenal Photographs collection. The photos of bright shining new armaments contrast sharply with the Franklin Historical Museum’s riveting Images of World War I Battlefields collection. (See Avant l’assaut to left.)

On balance, the Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation and Jacob Edwards Library (Southbridge) have added images of everyday life in small town Massachusetts. The Boston Public Library enhances the everyday with the artistic and, happily, the humorous. In this case, most of us might associate running and bulls with Ernest Hemingway and Pamplona. For Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, the association becomes running from bulls – and there is nothing macho about it. (See La vache enragée below.)

Boston Public Library
Emily Tennyson Letters, 1858-1873 – 83 items
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). Prints and Drawings – 351 items
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). Prints and Drawings – 8 items
Paintings and Fine Arts Collection at the Boston Public Library – 1 item added to existing collection
Walt Whitman Collection (1819-1892) – 1 item

Franklin Historical Museum

La vache enragee. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. BPL. — La vache enragée, from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). Prints and Drawings (BPL)

Images of World War I Battlefields – 48 items
Maps of Franklin, Massachusetts – 9 items

Jacob Edwards Library
New Topographical Atlas of Worcester County – 3 items

National Archives at Boston
Watertown Arsenal Photographs – 2,833 items

Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation
Life in Granville, Massachusetts Collection – 11 items
NCCHP Museum Collection – 2 items added to existing collection
Noble & Cooley Business Correspondence Collection – 1 item added to existing collection
Noble & Cooley Catalog Collection – 1 item
Noble & Cooley Employee Collection – 3 items added to existing collection
Toy Manufacturing Industry – 1 item
Trade Catalog Collection – 13 items added to existing collection

Tintype portrait of unknown man from Unidentified People and Places (Granville Public Library)

March came in like a lion and then refused to leave like a lamb. Can we get a refund from Mother Nature? Perhaps a few extra days of fall? Digital Commonwealth never sleeps, though; witness the many additions to the collections last month.

My personal favorite proves that bad hair days are not a 21^st century phenomenon. This unidentified gentleman (left) comes from the Granville Public Library’s Unidentified People and Places collection. I am sure he is happy to be unidentified. Wouldn’t you be, with this look?

The remaining collections are from some old reliable contributors and some new ones. Kudos to the newbies who added large collections and the vets who added to existing collections. I personally know some folks who will be delighted that the Medford Historical Society is adding to its Civil War photo collection.

I admit my taste runs more to the Art Nouveau cover for Beverly’s Balance (see below), a play given by the Waban Women’s Club on May 4th 1917. Which only goes to show that Digital Commonwealth always strives to provide something for everyone.

I hope to see you at the Annual Conference tomorrow in Worcester – another instance of Digital Commonwealth providing something for everyone!

Boston Public Library
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection – 6 items added to existing collection

Granville Public Library
Barlow Album – 110 items
Churches – 6 items
Countryside and Scenes – 47 items
Houses and Other Structures – 29 items
Noble & Cooley – 6 items
People, Portraits and Groups (Identified) – 68 items
Schools and Class Photos – 30 items
Unidentified People and Places – 28 items

Historical Society of Old Yarmouth
Historical Society of Old Yarmouth Archives & Local History Collection – 1,157 items

Jamaica Plain Historical Society
Jamaica Plain Historical Society Photo Gallery – 3 items added to existing collection

Medford Historical Society & Museum
Medford Historical Society Civil War Photograph Collection – 906 items added to existing collection

Beverly's Balance from Waban Historical Collection (Newton Free Library) — Beverly’s Balance from Waban Historical Collection (Newton Free Library)

Needham Free Public Library
Needham Historical House Collection – 2,989 items added to existing collection

Newton Free Library
Frank A. Day Junior High School Class of 1954 – 1 item
Mayor Howard Whitmore, Jr. collection 1929-2008 – 1 item
Meadowbrook Junior High School Class of 1963 – 1 item
Newton Free Library Branches, Auburndale, Newton Centre, Newton Corner, Newton Highlands, 1930-1959 – 24 items
Waban Historical Collection – 470 items

University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries Special Collections and University Archives
32 new collections – 6,771 new items re-harvested

Wayland Historical Society
Wayland Historical Society Collection – 23 items

Path of Life I M. C. Escher (1898-1972). Prints and Drawings (BPL)

This month, the Boston Public Library (BPL) added 36 items from its M.C. Escher prints and drawings collection. It also happens that this month the Museum of Fine Arts opened an exhibit of M.C. Escher prints. Great minds really do think alike.

In addition, the BPL added items to six existing collections as well as lithographs, etchings and drawings of James McNeill Whistler, a Commonwealth-born artist most famous for his mother’s portrait.

The Leicester Public Library has uploaded a collection of architectural drawings while the Atwood House Museum of the Chatham Historical Society and the Jamaica Plain Historical Society have added new items to existing collection.

It appears winter is not done with us yet, so let the wonders on Digital Commonwealth warm your day and inspire your spirit.

Atwood House Museum of the Chatham Historical Society
Nautical Chart Collection of the Chatham Historical Society – 49 items added to existing collection

Boston Public Library

Boston Printmakers Collection – 110 items added to existing collection

Colonial and Revolutionary Boston (Collection of Distinction) – 7 items added to existing

collection

Incunabula (Collection of Distinction) – 2 items added to existing collection

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Lithographs, Etchings, and Drawings – 239 items

M.C. Escher (1898-1972). Prints and Drawings – 87 items

Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction) – 36 items added to existing collection

Paintings and Fine Arts Collection at the Boston Public Library – 1 item added to existing collection

Stereograph Collection – 1 item added to existing collection

Jamaica Plain Historical Society

James Michael Curley Negatives – 71 items added to existing collection