Knapp Family Financial Records

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by Anne Berard, Reference & Outreach Librarian, Milford Town Library, member Digital Commonwealth Education & Outreach Committee

When I first saw the name of the recently added collection, Knapp Family Financial Records from the Jamaica Plain Historical Society, I must admit I was expecting something else altogether.  I thought I might find wills, codicils, estate documents, tax filings and the like. Imagine my surprise and delight to find instead an intimate and workaday glimpse into the life of a middle class family from JP during the first half of the 20th century.

While I’ve never met the Knapps of 15 Holbrook St., by perusing their receipts for life insurance premiums, their notices from the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston, billing statements from the Centre Street Public Market, and their deposit books from the Eliot Savings Bank of Roxbury, I somehow slid into their lives. George, Emma, Robert, Daisy are there in the details. Robert’s Navy Plaid Suit, cleaned at Lewandos, with  starched vest. A  Degree of Pocahontas Resolutions of Respect from the Baboosic Council # 7 of Roxbury issued in Daisy’s memory.

Aside from the sartorial and emotional elements in these records, there is much economic detail here proving that the inflation rate has always a part of consumers’ lives. For example, in 1910 for the grand sum of $116.05, you could buy two tables,  five chairs, a bureau, a bed,  and  a rocker from Jordan Marsh Company. Today, those same items would cost thousands of dollars.

I encourage other history geeks like me to spend some time with the Knapps, looking through these records, living vicariously on Holbrook St. for a little while. So much is different in 2021 from 1921. Still, the necessities: food, shelter, clothing, utilities and plaid suits remain the same.

 

 

 

New Collections Added in April

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Pond Street. Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Oak View Terrace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Primary Source Sets for Educators

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The Outreach and Education Committee has created Primary Source Sets for educators to align with the National Council for the Social Studies curriculum themes. Drawing on the rich resources available within Digital Commonwealth, the Committee mined for the best examples to support a given theme.

Teachers can supplement lesson plans with the use of photographs, manuscripts, maps, letters to make history jump off students’ screens. For example, within the Production, Distribution, and Consumption set,  students can learn about the significant industries within the Commonwealth–perhaps even where some of their grandparents or great-grandparents worked.  Discover the Hyde Violin Factory in Northampton, The Grosvenor’s Apothecary in Peabody, The Table Top pie factory in Worcester and the American Waltham Watch Factory.

The set also reveals the distribution systems for getting materials necessary for these industries and  later, sending their finished goods to market with photographs of the Mystic River cargo containers, with added relevance when compared with the recent massive cargo ship stuck in Suez Canal.  And, of course, the numerous shops, large and small as well as the shopping malls where the items were purchased.

The Outreach and Education Committee urges teachers in all grades, especially middle and high school to make use of these Primary Source Sets and perhaps share some of their experiences using Digital Commonwealth with their students and successful lesson plans. The Committee would also like to know what other sets or resources educators would like to see. Please send feedback to outreach@digitalcommonwealth.org.