News & Announcements

Frank Lewis with baleen bundles from New Bedford Free Public Library

January was a busy month for Digital Commonwealth, in no small part due to the New Bedford Public Library adding 4 new collections and substantially increasing two existing collections. All six include photographs that depict New Bedford’s varied history. The photo of Frank Lewis with baleen bundles (left) from the Earl D. Wilson Collection Photographs speaks to New Bedford’s whaling history.

Another substantial collection is the Barnstable Patriot Photograph Collection from Cape Cod Community College. This collection spans nearly 50 years of Barnstable and nearby Cape towns. The charming windmill (below) is one of many Cape views you can find in this collection.

Bass River Windmill from Cape Cod Community College

Boston Public Library
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection – 869 items added to existing collection

Cape Cod Community College
Barnstable Patriot Photograph Collection, 1931-1978 – 624 items

Coast Guard Heritage Museum
Coast Guard Heritage Museum General Collection – 20 items
Dalton Collection – 3 items

Holyoke Public Library
Milan P. Warner Photograph Collection – 339 items added to existing collection

New Bedford Free Public Library
Photograph Collection – 84 items added to existing collection
Rotogravure Collection – 433 items added to existing collection
Earle D. Wilson Collection – 337 items
Joseph G. Tirrell Photograph Collection – 99 items
Gilbert D. Kingman Photograph Collection – 54 items
Oliveira Photograph Collection – 37 items

Truro Historical Society
Truro Massachusetts U.S. Coast Guard and Life Saving Service Collection – 4 items added to existing collection

Leslie Jones with camera in tarp at Fenway — Leslie Jones with Graflex in tarp at Fenway Leslie Jones Collection, BPL

The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA) headlined its A GOOD AGE column on January 21, 2019, “Discovering a 20th Century Boston ‘camera man’“. The ‘camera man’ is Leslie Ronald Jones of Digital Commonwealth’s extremely popular Leslie Jones Collection from the Boston Public Library. The Patriot Ledger highlights photos of interest to their readership, like shipbuilding in Quincy. But even they could not resist one of Jones’ more humorous Fenway Park photos – Jones himself with camera emerging from a tarp rolled up on the field. There really wasn’t anyplace he wouldn’t go for a good photo!

Digital Commonwealth added a lot of new items to existing collections in December, but only Lincoln Public Library and the Massachusetts Archives added wholly new collections. The Archives added a small collection of photographs of founders and commissioners of the Metropolitan Park Commission. Lincoln uploaded the Isabelle Peirce Collection, which consists mainly of 19th century letters to Isabelle Peirce as well as some Peirce family documents.

Wrapping up the centennial of the end of World War I, Massachusetts General Hospital added scrapbooks to its World War I collection, one of which included the news clipping of the headline announcing the end of the war. (Below.) More than 500 MGH employees wound up serving in Europe. These scrapbooks document their wartime experiences.

Dorothy Tarbox scrapbox — Scrapbook of Dorothy Tarbox, RN, World War I from MGH Archives and Special Collections and the MGH School of Nursing Collection

Annisquam Historical Society
Annisquam Historical Society’s Collection of Historical Documents – 2 items added to an existing collection

Boston Public Library
Early, Rare, and Exceptional Items from Special Collections, Rare Books – 1 item added to an existing collection
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction) – 9 items added to an existing collection
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection – 762 items added to an existing collection
Press Photography from the Brearley Collection – 474 items added to an existing collection
Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee (Collection of Distinction) – 2,127 items added to an existing collection

Lincoln Public Library
Isabelle Peirce Collection, 1766-1994, bulk 1840-1920 – 170 items

Massachusetts Archives
Massachusetts Metropolitan Park Commission, Founders and Commissioners, Photographic Portraits, ca. 1892 to ca. 1907 – 15 items

Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital World War I Collection – 7 items added to an existing collection

SAILS Library Network
47 new items harvested

University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries
39 new collections – 21, 161 new items harvested

Minnie Avery and bicycle on road between Lenox Dale and New Lenox — Minnie Avery & bicycle on road between Lenox Dale and New Lenox from Lenox Library Association Local History Photograph Collection

I have no idea who Minnie Avery is or why she rode her bicycle out to the road between Lenox Dale and New Lenox at the turn of the 2oth century. It is enough for me that someone captured it on film. My first question is, “Why is Minnie Avery standing in what looks like a large saucepan on the side of a dirt road surrounded by trees?” There are even logs under the “pot” that could be lit for a cooking fire. More questions naturally follow: Is the photographer responsible for this Minnie stew? Did Minnie know what was in store for her when she put on her straw boater and summer finery to go riding in the Berkshires? Why is no one named Minnie anymore?

Thanks to Digital Commonwealth’s wonderful zoom utility, I can click on the magnifying glass and get a closer look without losing any resolution. Now it’s a whole new – and, alas, less interesting – story. Minnie is standing on the far side of the vat, not in it. She is holding a cup or tin of some sort and there is a pipe – not a handle – on the right. Apparently, this is a drinking station, possibly from a local spring. Minnie has biked out to a scenic spot and stopped for refreshment. The box on her handlebar may be a picnic lunch or her own box camera. Perhaps, she will be the photographer of her companion taking the next drink. All we know for sure is she has nothing to worry about from local cannibals.

If you have a favorite photo as deserving of A Closer Look as Minnie Avery and her bicycle, please let us know. Send your Closer Look or a link to your photo to outreach@digitalcommonwealth.org.

End the debt! Decolonize! Liberate Puerto Rico! Scroll from AgitArte’s Collaborations

This month we welcome AgitArte, an organization of working class artists and cultural organizers, who added the scroll, one of their community art projects, at left. Almost unbelievably, the Medford Historical Society & Museum has added several hundred more Civil War photos and the Chicopee Public Library has allowed the harvest of two more collections.

As last month, I want to highlight one of Digital Commonwealth’s mainstays, the Boston Public Library. The Press Photography from the Brearley Collection has grown exponentially. The 1,222 items added this month nearly double the size of the collection. The BPL also added a new collection of 394 items, the Edmund Blampied (1886-1966) Prints and Drawings collection, which includes the exquisite crayon drawing, Beach Scene (10) below.

Agitating for the community or a virtual beach visit may warm you up this December. Happy holidays to all!

Beach scene (10) from BPL’s Edmund Blampied (1886-1966). Prints and Drawings

AgitArte
Collaborations – 1 item

Boston Public Library
Edmund Blampied (1886-1966). Prints and Drawings – 394 items
Press Photography from the Brearley Collection – 1,222 items added to an existing collection

Chicopee Public Library
2 new collections, 710 new items harvested

The Medford Historical Society & Museum
The Medford Historical Society Civil War Photograph Collection – 851 items added to an existing collection

Sandwich High School, class of 1940 from the Sandwich Town Archives

Sometimes when I write these blog entries, I mention in passing that, ho-hum, the Boston Public Library or UMass/Amherst have added – again – to their extensive holdings. I like to shine the spotlight on the little guy, like Northfield Mount Hermon or the Sandwich Town Archives.

Then I see this month’s addition by UMass/Amherst of two – count ‘em, two – collections totaling 9,135 items. Wow. Words fail me.

In the meantime, even if you didn’t attend Sandwich High School, you should enjoy a look at the class photos from the 1940s-1970s. (See left.) It is interesting to note the growing population and, always, the change in hairstyles and fashion. If you follow this blog, you know that I love a good map and the Massachusetts Archives has added more town plans. The plan of Monson by Aaron Bliss is jarringly colorful. (See below.) Once you zoom in, it looks like a town plan. In the thumbnail, I keep thinking abstract expressionism. Very Picasso.

Plan of Monson made by Aaron Bliss, dated 1831from the Massachusetts Archives

Boston Public Library
American Masters 1850-1960 – 4 items

Digital Transgender Archive
9 collections – 2391 items re-harvested

Massachusetts Archives
Town plans, 1830 – 324 items

Northfield Mount Hermon
The Hermonite (1888-1969) – 38 items

Sandwich Town Archives
Sandwich Town Archives Historical Photograph Collection – 33 items

Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library
6 collections – 501 items

University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries Special Collections and University Archives
2 collections – 9,135 items re-harvested

Written by Anne Berard, Reference& Outreach Librarian, Milford Town Library

Trade card for Hunt's Remedy, the great kidney & liver medicine — Hunt’s Remedy, the great kidney & liver medicine, William E. Clarke, proprietor, Providence, Rhode Island, undated from Historic New England’s EP001: Ephemera collection

Malt Bitters - the purest and best medicine in the world for nourishing and strengthening and for overcoming dyspepsia, debility and wasting diseases. The house that Jack built — Malt Bitters – the purest and best medicine in the world for nourishing and strengthening and for overcoming dyspepsia, debility and wasting diseases. The house that Jack built. from Boston Public Library’s 19th Century American Trade Card

Ayer's Sarsaparilla, Dr. J.C. Ayer & Company, Lowell, Mass. — Trade card for Ayer’s Sarsaparilla, Dr. J.C. Ayer & Company, Lowell, Mass. from Historic New England’s EP001: Ephemera collection

While the earliest advertising cards first circulated in London, Lyon and Paris in the late 17^th century, advances in color lithography and printing in the 19^th century made them easier to produce and more ubiquitous. Everything from soap, thread, perfume, hats, shoes, coffee, candy and more were marketed in these stylized cards. Digital Commonwealth has more than 3700 unique images in its collection. Some of the most entertaining and possibly alarming, cards were for tonics and health remedies that might belong in the annals of medical quackery. Blood-purifying agents were all the rage.

Hunt’s Remedy (above, left) claimed that it was“never known to fail” and cured dropsy (edema), liver, bladder, kidney and urinary problems. It was produced by William E. Clarke of Providence, Rhode Island. The graphics show a shirtless man fighting off the Grim Reaper.

Boasting of health and sunny hours, an Ayers Sarsaparilla (above, center) card from 1902 featured a lovely woman in Victorian dress holding a tot on her shoulder. Dr. J.C. Ayers operated in Lowell, MA. Sarsaparilla root is still used today in some herbal medicines to treat psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Touting itself as the “purest and best medicine in the world” for overcoming dyspepsia, debility, and wasting diseases was Malt Bitters of Boston, MA. (above, right) Their detailed card also promised “stimulation without intoxication.” Playing off the theme of the House that Jack Built, the card has charming artwork, attractive lettering and tells a complete story.

In time, radio ads were a more modern means to reach a larger audience and trade cards fell out of fashion. Larger companies still produced catalogs and smaller enterprises converted to smaller business cards and matchbooks.

To see the complete collection of 19^th Century American Trade Cards, begin here.

This month’s total items added is 6,077. That includes a couple of substantial collections: The Boston Public Library’s Press Photography from the Brearley Collection at 1,138 items and the Historical Society of Old Newbury’s Snow Historical Photograph Collection at 1,279 items.

Dennis Brearley collected the works of Boston photojournalists from the 1920s-1970s. A representative photo is the Cocoanut Grove entrance photo. (Left) What’s been added from the Snow Historical Photograph Collection is only a fraction of what the Historical Society holds. The Moulton Castle photo (Below right) is one to whet our appetite for more.

Digital Commonwealth also has re-harvested over 1,700 items from the City of Boston Archives, but sometimes the smaller collections contain gems, too. The Thayer Memorial Library added a history of Lancaster and the Milford Town Library added 200 photos from the Paul E. Curran Historical Collection, including one of the largest piece of granite ever quarried in Milford. (Below center)) That’s a big rock.

Boston Public Library

Moulton Castle, Newburyport, from the The Snow Photograph Collection

Childe Hassam (1859-1935). Prints and Drawings – 97 items
English Caricature and Political Satire, 18th and 19th Centuries – 97 items added to existing collection
James Gillray (1756-1815). Prints and Drawings – 164 items
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection – 672 items added to existing collection
Press Photography from the Brearley Collection – 1,138 items
Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827). Prints and Drawings – 641 items

City of Boston Archives

7 collections – 1,785 items re-harvested

Historical Society of Old Newbury

Snow Historical Photograph Collection – 1,279 items

Milford Town Library

Paul E. Curran Historical Collection – 200 items

Thayer Memorial Library

Lancaster, Massachusetts. History 1643-1879 – 4 items

Largest piece of granite from Milford, MA, from Paul E Curran Historical Collection

by Mary Bell, Assistant Director
Wilbraham Public Library

Pageant at Glendale, 150th anniversary of Wilbraham from the Glendale Collection

This unassuming photograph of a couple in a horse-drawn carriage and two men standing outside is the best proof I have of Wilbraham’s involvement in the Underground Railroad.

Handwriting on the photograph describes this scene as part of a pageant during Wilbraham’s 150th anniversary in 1913, and identifies the couple in the carriage as Elsie Farr and C.E. Edson. The Springfield Union, Friday evening edition of June 20, 1913, describes the celebration in the language of the day as follows: “The children sang ‘The Prison Cell’ and as they were closing, the audience was surprised to see coming down the hill, pursued by men, old-time slaves, who, just as they were about to be seized by their masters, were rescued by Glendale people and borne away to safety. This was intended to typify just such scenes as occurred in the North 60 years ago when Glendale was a famous underground railroad station.” Elsie and C.E. were playing Lucia and John Calkins, abolitionists who – rumor has it – were early conductors on the railroad.

The photograph was taken on June 20, 1913, the third day of the Sesquicentennial celebration of Wilbraham’s incorporation. The bulk of the day’s events was the unveiling of a boulder at Glendale Cemetery honoring the town’s veterans, especially American Civil War veterans who were present at the ceremony. The photograph is fascinating as a celebratory moment in time – and what would have been considered an acceptable pageant a century ago – in addition to a hint of the past.

In the Civil War period, the Glendale section of Wilbraham would have included what are now two towns, Wilbraham and Hampden. The people of Glendale established a Methodist church and an abolitionist movement, which included a few neighborhood families – notably the Ames and Calkins families – who are said by local historians to have been conductors on the Underground Railroad. When this photograph was taken sixty years after the fact, several people were still around who could have contradicted the story of John and Lucia Calkins as told in the pageant but did not. While the evidence is circumstantial at best and may not convince the skeptic, this photograph reveals an early story in Wilbraham history about involvement in the Underground Railroad.

by Mary Bell, Assistant Director
Wilbraham Public Library

Allyn Delos Seaver and Cassius Benedict — A. Delos Seaver and Cassius Benedict from the Glendale Collection

The Glendale Collection is a treasure-trove of local history and genealogy, and is the newest in the Wilbraham Public Library’s collections in the Digital Commonwealth.

The collection was in an unlabeled box of miscellaneous photographs found among our uncatalogued collections. We gave it the name Glendale Collection because several of the people and places featured were from that section of town, up the mountain on Glendale and Monson roads.

Genealogists especially would be interested in the portrait photographs of families that lived in that area. Seavers, Bennetts and Benedicts are among those featured. This one of Allyn Delos Seaver and his brother-in-law Cassius Benedict is one of the oldest in our collection, as Cassius died in 1872. They were both trustees of Glendale Methodist Church. In addition to the men’s dapper dress, I love the detail of the patterned floor they’re standing on.

Glendale Memorial Boulder dedication from the Glendale Collection

Most of the photographs in the collection are from the early 1900s. Several feature the ceremony on June 20, 1913, unveiling a memorial boulder for Wilbraham veterans at Glendale Cemetery, an event that served as the third day of festivities during Wilbraham’s 150th celebration. Though unnamed, the men in this photograph were veterans of the Civil War, and were honored in the ceremonies that day.

These are just a few highlights that can be found in these and other photographs in Wilbraham’s local history collection. We only digitized photographs we were reasonably sure were in the public domain, so if you’re interested in seeing more come to the Wilbraham Library during our regular hours and we’d be happy to give you access to the full collection.

News & Announcements – Digital Commonwealth

News & Announcements

New Collections Added to Digital Commonwealth in January

Patriot Ledger reports on Digital Commonwealth collection

New Collections Added to Digital Commonwealth in December

A Closer Look: Minnie Avery & bicycle on road between Lenox Dale and New Lenox

New Collections Added to Digital Commonwealth in November

New Collections Added to Digital Commonwealth in October

Spotlight on…19th Century American Trade Cards

New Collections Added to Digital Commonwealth in September

A Closer Look: Pageant at Glendale, 150th anniversary of Wilbraham

Spotlight on…The Glendale Collection at the Wilbraham Public Library