The Tragedy of the Titanic

by Rakashi Chand, Reading Room Supervisor

I simply gasped when one of our researchers called me over to her desk in the reading room to look at a diary entry by a young woman, Amelia Peabody, writing about the sinking of the Titanic—and the darkness that the tragedy spread over the nation.

Amelia Peabody was born in 1890 to Frank Everett Peabody and Gertrude Bayley, a wealthy family that kept a summer house in Marblehead and a winter residence at 120 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Amelia studied sculpture and became an accomplished artist, horsewoman, farm owner, breeder, and philanthropist. Amelia would go on to inherit both the estate of her father and her stepfather, William Storer Eton.

Amelia Peabody in 1912

Amelia’s world was greatly impacted by the Titanic disaster, with friends and acquaintances on board the ill-fated ship and the unsettling realization that all in Amelia’s circle could well have been on board.   The following transcription is the 23 April 1912 diary entry, part of the Amelia Peabody Papers.

April 23, Tuesday

One of the world’s greatest disasters has happened since I last wrote. On Sunday night at 11:45 April 14th the new steamer Titanic hit an iceberg and two hours later she sank with some 15 hundred on board- almost 7 or 8 hundred were saved, picked up by the Carpathia about 4 hours later from the life-boats. The horrible part about it is that probably all or almost all would have been saved if there were life-boats enough. As it was, every available boat was filled & the men left behind had nothing to do but wait for the end. It was a smooth night so that the berg wasn’t seen until a quarter of a mile away which is only a few minutes for a boat of that size. They were going too fast, but they didn’t think the big bergs were near. Capt. Smith who went down with the ship had been averse & taking it because he thinks such large ones are unwieldy. The women & children were almost all saved & everyone has felt proud of the bravery of all these American & Englishmen. Betty Millets Uncle Frank D. Millet helped, with others, the women & children into the boats and smiled & waved to them as they went off, all the time with that awful knowledge that there was absolutely no hope for themselves. The other Millets were unable to find out for 4 days whether he had been saved or not. There was a name Mile on the saved list which might have meant him or three others. Regular Millet luck. He had just been appointed President of the Am. Academy of Art in Rome & he had been over fixing up the beautiful villa that goes with the position. Everyone was brave. Even the 50 or more little bell boys- They were told to stay in the cabin out of the way & they obeyed quietly & then when the Captain gave the order of all for each man for himself they came out on deck & smoked cigarettes to show that they were really grown up, & waited until the boat went down beneath them. Not one was saved. Only two men who were on the ship as she sank are alive. Both were sucked down and apparently blown up again by the explosion of the boilers, & managed to reach boats that could take them aboard. One half sunk raft held 30 men who had to refuse to let any of the struggling ones in the water come near. Luckily the water was icy and killed most of them quickly.

Pages from Peabody’s 23 April 1912 journal entry

As the week went on, the tragedy of the Titanic continued to loom. On Wednesday, 24 April, Amelia wrote about rehearsals and performances of a show she was part of that was “great fun & quite worth all the trouble. . . . The Titanic however threw a subconscious gloom over it all.” Then, in her next entry on Monday, 29 April, she wrote “Nobody comes to call except Sundays & then I’m usually out. Even Betty isn’t coming in on account of her Uncle, whose body has been recovered, by the way.”

Visit the Library to learn more and make your own discoveries while exploring the words and worlds of people like Amelia Peabody.

Further Reading:

Amelia Peabody by Linda Smith Rhoads (Boston, 1998).

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Archivist as Detective: Finding Sarah

by Susan Martin, Senior Processing Archivist

Close-up color photograph of the last line of a handwritten letter, reading “In the bonds of friendship yours Sarah.” The text is written in dark ink on yellowed paper, and the name Sarah is underlined.
Detail of letter from Sarah to her cousin, March 1: “In the bonds of friendship yours Sarah”

In my last post, I introduced you to a woman named Sarah, of New Braintree, Massachusetts, and a letter here at the MHS that she wrote to a cousin, probably in 1874. Thankfully she’d mentioned a few friends or relatives in the letter, and I could identify them using digitized copies of published genealogies. But who was Sarah?

Some of the people she mentioned in her letter were Lucius Prouty, the Peppers, Miss Wood, Dwight, Hattie Prouty, Lizzie Whipple, and Frank. I’d zeroed in on the children of Homer R. Prouty of North Brookfield, Massachusetts, for three reasons: many of these names appear in that branch of the family, North Brookfield is right next to New Braintree, and the time period was right.

But I didn’t know Sarah’s connection to the Proutys. (I should note that it was common at the time for people to refer to relatives by their full names, when so many names were reused. For example, if you had a sister Mary and a cousin Mary, you’d likely refer to your cousin by her full name to distinguish her.)

I searched the Prouty genealogy for Sarahs (79 results), backed out a generation to expand my search to cousins and aunts, and even clicked through Prouty and Pepper plots at Walnut Grove Cemetery, but I couldn’t turn up anyone that seemed likely to be our correspondent. When I’m stuck, I find it usually helps to go back to the original letter for more clues.

I was confident I had the right family. Brothers Lucius, Charles, and Dwight were all mentioned in the letter. Lucius married Miss Pepper, and Dwight and Charles both married Misses Wood. Hattie (Harriet) was the wife of another brother. Lizzie Whipple baffled me at first, until I stumbled on Elizabeth Quimby (Allen) Whipple, buried in New Braintree. This name stood out to me because the mother of Lucius, et al., was none other than Nancy (née Allen) Prouty. So I dove into the Allen genealogy.

Lizzie was, in fact, a first cousin of the Proutys in Sarah’s letter. She also had a 17-year-old son Frank, who turned out to be the linchpin of my investigation. Sarah had written, “Frank is at Poughkeepsie and hopes to recieve [sic] his diploma about the first of April.” Frank Herbert Whipple was indeed attending Eastman Business College in 1874.

Lo and behold, Lizzie had a sister Sarah. I initially discounted her because she was married, and our correspondent wasn’t. Then I saw that she didn’t marry until 1877. I’d finally found the woman who wrote the letter.

Sarah E. Allen was born in 1831 and died in 1906. Census records confirm she worked as a dressmaker before her marriage at the age of 45 to Charles Curtis Rice, a telegraph lineman. I couldn’t identify the letter’s recipient, her “dear Cousin,” but was glad I could at least give Sarah her due and add her to the MHS catalog.

Alt text: Color screenshot of an online library catalog record describing a letter written by Sarah E. Allen Rice to her cousin on March 1, 1874.
Catalog record for Sarah’s letter in MHS catalog ABIGAIL
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Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women

by Hilde Perrin, Library Assistant

While March’s Women’s History Month has just concluded, women’s history is still present in our collections here at the MHS. Our collections are full of inspiring women, many of whom advanced and advocated for women’s rights through their lives and work. But the complexity of history also means that many women worked against women’s rights, and their material has also been preserved. Through working on a project to create a subject guide of women’s suffrage materials held by the MHS, I discovered that we own a large collection of anti-suffrage material from the debate around women’s right to vote and the passage of the 19th amendment. Among this material are the records of the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women. Established in 1895, this association worked to combat the rise of feminist suffragists and argued that the vote should not be extended to women. While it is often assumed that women’s suffrage was hampered by men, these records show that there were also women who felt strongly opposed to suffrage and organized against it.

Donated to the MHS by the estate of Mrs. Randolph Frothingham in 1946, the records contain several copies of bylaws and overviews of the work of the association, which detail the belief held by these women, and the pattern of work they took part in to share their views. Women over the age of 21 who were “interested in the welfare of their state” were encouraged to become members, with no membership fee limiting their participation. The association advanced its cause through three branches of work: legislative, educational, and constructive. The legislative work included contacting and informing members of the legislature about their opposition to women’s political rights. The educational branch promoted print material, including pamphlets and magazines, and organized public audiences to increase the general knowledge of their cause. The constructive work focused on building the membership of the association, mainly working through members and local community organizations to build relationships and encourage the spread of anti-suffrage ideals.

Printed document titled "Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Extension of Suffrage to Women" with information about the organization and its members
Document from the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women records

An example of the educational material circulated by the anti-suffrage association includes a pamphlet addressed to “Mr. Voter.” Printed on red paper, it reminds male voters that women’s suffrage is “an experiment,” and that “the great majority of women do not want the ballot thrust upon them” by what the pamphlet calls a “fanatical minority.” Reminding readers that the “average woman is no better than the average man,” the pamphlet urges the reader to “Vote AGAINST woman suffrage.” The pamphlet typifies the association’s anti-suffragist sentiment, reminding us of the complexity that exists within our collections and history at large.

Printed document on red paper titled "Mr. Voter!"
Mr. Voter! Circular by the Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association of Massachusetts

For more information about the women’s suffrage movement in Massachusetts, visit the digital feature “Massachusetts Debates a Woman’s Right to Vote,” and be on the lookout for a new subject guide coming out in the next few months about our women’s suffrage materials!

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What Judges’ Bench Notes Reveal

by Cornelia H. Dayton, University of Connecticut

Stenographers were not present in the early courtrooms of settler New England.  To gain insight into how a particular civil suit or criminal case proceeded, the researcher can examine, first, the folio-sized Record or Minute Book. This typically offers a short paragraph summarizing the case, which was written by the court clerk at the case’s conclusion. Second, the file papers, folded into a bundle, may survive. Minimally, one finds the original writ or indictment and often the bill of costs. If one is lucky, some witness depositions are wrapped in the bundle. However, these two forms of records for any given case do not constitute a complete record, because no one recorded the words of witnesses who testified in person (as most did).

To the rescue come a few eminent judges who kept notes while sitting on the bench.  Our scribbling judges focused on naming the deponents (“Mrs. Scott,” “Dr. Mather,” “Sarah Janes”) and summarizing what they said. The MHS houses the magnificent series created by Increase Sumner, kept from 1782 to 1794 in small, sewn notebooks that he called “Notes of Evidence.” At the time, Sumner sat on the Supreme Judicial Court, prior to becoming governor of Massachusetts. His fellow SJC judge Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent maintained a similar habit from 1777 to 1790.

Image of a page from a thick notebook with handwritten notes
Page from SJC Judge Increase Sumner’s notes on the criminal conversation case, Joseph McCullock v. Abijah Gale, Jr., tried in Worcester in Oct. 1783

Sumner and Sargent tended to write the most copious notes on oral testimony in serious criminal cases. The appellate court had original jurisdiction over felonies and capital cases. The defendant’s life or future freedom from confinement depended on the outcome. Thus Sumner and Sargent wrote two to six pages on testimony in most murder, manslaughter, infanticide, adultery, arson, assault with intent to ravish, riot, and sedition cases. But civil suits too—such as for ejectment, criminal conversation, and defamation—solicited intriguing observations from subpoenaed New Englanders.

For example, many family members and neighbors testified when Ruggles Spooner of Petersham brought a breach of promise case against a former lover, Sarah Peckam. (Most such cases were brought by jilted women.) Sarah reportedly said she withdrew her consent to marry Ruggles because she “was afraid her father would forsake her.” At other times she claimed her parents would not “suffer” the match to happen and, in that case, “they shall maintain me all the days of my life – I will have no other.” She repeatedly told various friends, “a bad promise is better broke than kept.” Some scenes are worthy of soap operas. A Berkshire County resident with the surname Winchell sued “Esq. Goodridge” in 1782 for depriving him of the sexual and emotional company of his wife of seven years. The Winchells had recently separated. Two male witnesses testified to the dramatic scene that unfolded after Mr. Winchell heard from locals that his wife was having an affair.

Winchell desired me to go [with him one night] & see Goodrich abed with his Wife. (from David Pixley’s testimony, according to Increase Sumner’s notes)

[I] went with Winchell who was in great distress . . . Winchell burst into the bed room [and told] Goodrich to go along. She [Mrs. Winchell] told her husband to get out of her bedroom. They scuffled together.  Mrs Ingersoll [who lived in the Winchell house and lodged in an adjacent room, as her husband put it, “3 feet” away] began to read out of the Bible. Goodrich said there was no need of a Sermon. (from Sumner’s notes on Cyrus Papoon’s testimony, with my interpolations and modernized punctuation)

Judges’ bench notes like Increase Sumner’s reveal a lot about the content of courtroom testimony, the social relationships among deponents and the case parties, plus late-eighteenth-century ways of speaking about emotions and household dynamics. We need to remember, however, that they were not full, verbatim transcripts. Starting in about 1800, enterprising publishers began producing a new genre: the criminal trial report. Hawked to the public as cheap pamphlets on selected, sensational trials, these included (to varying degrees of completeness) all parts of the trial—from indictment to ruling or sentence. Court reporters’ use of stenograph machines dates to 1877 in Massachusetts. And yet through all the shifts in note-taking technologies, some judges, including U.S. Supreme Court justices, have found it helpful to keep their own bench notes.

Research Notes: 

For the emergence of published trial reports, see Daniel A. Cohen’s study of New England crime literature prior to 1860, Pillars of Salt, Monuments of Grace (1993), espec. Chap 7.

Increase Sumner papers, 1769-1798, Ms. N-1642, Boxes 1 and 2, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent Papers, Series 1: Court Minutes, MSS 489, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum.

Charles Chauncey, Superior Court Judge in Connecticut 1789-1793, kept extensive notes on testimony he heard. Chauncey Family Papers, Yale University Manuscript and Archives, Mss. Group No. 135, Series VII: Legal Papers, Box 14.

Lawyers often “minuted” courtroom trials when they represented one of the parties. Good examples in MHS collections include many items in the Legal Papers of John Adams and those of Robert Treat Paine. Here is Paine on grand jury testimony leading to the 1782 trial of Priscilla Woodworth for petit treason (killing her husband).

An internet search reveals that SCOTUS justices Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and Harry A. Blackmun kept bench notes. Hugo L. Black’s notes occupied over 600 looseleaf binders; he instructed them to be burned after his death.

Posted in From Our Collections, Research fellow

Clara E. Currier’s Diary, March 1925

by Hannah Elder, Associate Reference Librarian for Rights & Reproductions 

Today, we return to the transcription of Clara E. Currier’s 1925 diary. Currier was a working-class woman who lived in or near Haverhill, MA. Her diary records her daily activities—from fiber arts to paid employment to observations of the natural world—and provides insight into daily life a century ago. You can find entries for January and February in past blog posts. 

March sees Clara further engaged with civic life, with a town meeting, a vote, and multiple class meetings. She makes a number of social calls, both at homes and at hospitals, and goes to the movies twice. March 1925 is filled with many “fair” days. May March 2025 fare the same!

A handwritten page of journal entries from Mar. 8 to Mar. 13
Clara’s diary entries for mid-March 1925

Mar. 1, Sun. Rain and snow with wind in afternoon went up to see Aunt Frannie and Mae Tenney

Mar. 2, Mon. Fair, worked until six, went to town meeting with Mrs. Dennis and Sizzie.

Mar. 3, Tues. Fair, worked until six, went to mock town meeting at the grange.

Mar. 4, Wed. Fair, worked until six.

Mar. 5, Thurs [$] 21.66 Rain, worked until six, went to the pictures with Mrs. Dennis and mother.

Mar. 6, Fri. Fair, worked until six, went up town.

Mar. 7, Sat. Fair, worked until four, cleaned up, went to town and called on John + Mabel.

Mar. 8, Sun. Fair, went to Haverhill to church, called on Bernice and Laura Battis at Gale Hospital, on Mrs. Quimby and Stella Eastman.

Mar. 9, Mon. Fair, went up to vote, worked until six, went to class meeting.

Mar. 10, Tues. Fair, went to pictures and old-fashioned dance with Sizzie, Ada and Bertha were there, worked until six.

Mar. 11, Wed. Fair, worked until six, wrote letters.

Mar. 12, Thurs. [$]22.04 Fair, worked until six, wrote to Mary.

Mar. 13, Fri. Fair, went up town after 6 and got my electric iron (Universal).

Mar. 14, Sat. Rainy, went up town and called on Mrs. Merril. Worked until noon.

Mar. 15, Sun. Fair, went to S.S. and over to see Aunt Abbie.

Mar. 16, Mon. Fair and cooler, Got out at 5 o’clock, cooked, and mended.

Mar. 17, Tues. Rainy, went to Corner class supper and to Grange.

Mar. 18, Wed. Fair, wrote letters and made doughnuts.

Mar. 19, Thurs. [$]20.90 Rain with thunder and lightning. Went over to John’s and they were going to bed.

Mar. 20, Fri. Fair, went to concert at Methodist Church.

Mar. 21, Sat. Fair, went to Haverhill to Fraternal Rebekah Lodge to see the President and Assembly, staid all night with Ada.

Mar. 22, Sun. Fair, called on Mrs. Bagley and Maud and Bert with Ada.

Mar. 23, Mon. Fair, went to class meeting.

Mar. 24, Tues. Fair, spen the evening with Blanche.

Mar. 25, Wed. Showers, called at Dennis’s.

Mar. 26, Thurs. [$]19 Fair, went up town with Sizzie.

Mar. 27, Fri. Fair, went up town.

Mar. 28, Sat. Showery, went up home with Charles.

Mar. 29, Sun. Rain and snow, came back by train.

Mar. 30, Mon. Rain, went up town.

Mar. 31, Tues. Rain, cleared at night, went up to Stephen’s.

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff.

*Please note that this diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original.

This line-a-day blog series is inspired by and in honor of MHS reference librarian Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook (1981–2023), whose entertaining and enlightening line-a-day blog series ran from 2015 to 2019. Her generous, humane, and creative approach to both history and librarianship continues to influence the work of the MHS library.

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged ,

Archivist as Detective: “My Dear Cousin … Yours Sarah”

by Susan Martin, Senior Processing Archivist

I’ve written many times at the Beehive about how much I enjoy, as a processing archivist, solving the mysteries in our collections. Not long ago, I cataloged a letter that gave me a chance to flex my investigatory muscles again.

Color photograph of two pages of a letter written in black ink and headed “New Braintree March 1st / My dear Cousin.” The ink is faded, and the paper is discolored in places.
Letter from Sarah to her cousin, March 1

The letter was written by someone named Sarah in New Braintree, Massachusetts, to her “dear Cousin.” The only date given is March 1, but from the paper and the writing, I guessed it was written in the mid-1800s.

There’s nothing particularly earth-shattering in the letter. Sarah mostly shares family news and complains about the weather, “household cares,” and all the sewing she’s done lately, presumably for income. She writes, “I have cut about fifty dresses the past year and a good part of them I have made.”

But obviously our researchers are better served when we can be as specific as possible about who wrote what, when, and where. Thankfully, Sarah name-drops several people like bread crumbs for me (creative spelling and punctuation hers).

Father had quite an ill turn while Jesse was at Worcester […] Lucious Prouty is going to move to this town he has bought the Pepper place, her fathers […] Miss Wood, Dwights lady has been teaching here this winter […] Hattie Prouty has been up here, and she says Dwight is going to fix up their house […] Lizzie Whipple has closed her school […] Frank is at Poughkeepsie hopes to recieve his diploma about the first of April […] Grandpa Whipple has been quite feeble all winter

It’s a little embarrassing to admit how often these investigations come down to random internet searches. It’s a question of forming specific enough queries. I usually start with the most unusual names, sometimes paired with a place or date. Searching for Lucius Prouty and New Braintree quickly got me to a genealogical website that lists him and his wife Mary Ann Pepper.

As I gather information, I refine my searches with more names and look for definitive sources. It wasn’t long before I found a digitized copy of a printed Prouty genealogy, and it seemed like I was on the right track. Not only would the dates be about right, but several of the names Sarah mentions can be found in Lucius’s branch of the family. (Lucius even had a sister named Sarah, but I decided she couldn’t be our correspondent because she was married. Our Sarah apparently wasn’t, writing forlornly, “It has been a hard winter for old people, and old maids.”)

The clincher was Lucius’s brother Dwight, who married a Miss Maria Wood in 1874. Not only did this confirm for me that I had the right family, but I also suspected it gave me the date of Sarah’s letter. What better reason to fix up a house than an upcoming marriage?

So these were clearly the people Sarah was talking about, but who was she? Stay tuned to the Beehive to find out.

Posted in From Our Collections

Mapping the Liquor License Petitions of the MHS

by CJ Haggard, Library Assistant

The Massachusetts Historical Society holds a remarkable set of liquor license petitions from eighteenth-century Boston. The petitioners wrote to the Boston Selectmen and the Court of General Sessions of the Peace for Suffolk County in the hope of obtaining a license to retail liquor or keep a tavern. Of the petitions, sixteen are written by men and nine by women, with each detailing the particular circumstances and requests of the petitioners. The petitioners give the reasons they must obtain a license, describe how neighbors and friends are willing to help them get started, and ask the Selectmen and the Justices to look on their situations with compassion. Most interestingly to me, however, is that most petitioners specified the location of their proposed tavern or shop, whether it was a rented venue or their own house.

While looking through these petitions, I had the idea to map each location to identify patterns and see their modern-day position. Using the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center’s digital 1769 map of Boston with a modern overlay, I successfully mapped the locations of most of the proposed liquor-selling locations in the petitions held by the MHS. You can view them on Google Maps or on the map below.

An eighteenth century print map of Boston, Massachusetts titled “A New Plan of ye Great Town of Boston in New England in America With the many Additionall Buildings &New Streets to the Year 1769” with modern digital additions. Nineteen blue dots with unique letters mark the map at specific locations. A rectangular map key sits on the left hand side of the maps, which reads: “A - Rebekah Badger, B - Moses Bennet (not located) “Opp. to John Tudor Esq.,” C - Joseph Blake (not located), D - Edward Blanchard, E - Richard Bradford, F - Samuel Breeden, G - Ann Britt, H - Jane Cazneau, I - Sarah Checkley, J - Joseph Coolidge, K - Joseph Goldthwait, L - Thomas Hubbart, M - Joseph Ingersol, N - Andrew Johonnot, O - Rachel Masters, P - Margaret More (not located), Q - Elizabeth Pittson, R - Mary Rose, S - John Stebbins, T - Jonathan Tarbox, U - Hezekiah Usher, V - William Vernon (not located) “at the Distill house lately improved by Capt. Benjamin Hommott, situated at the North port of Boston,” W - Mary Vinal (not located), X - Samuel Webb (not located) “the North part of the Town opposite John Langdons the Tallow Chandler,” Y - James J. Wheeler
A map of Boston from 1769 with the location of the petitions in the MHS collection marked.
Historic map from the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center; additions by CJ Haggard.

The map I made reveals that these institutions were spread out around colonial Boston, ranging from the North End to Boston Neck. The locations are not exact, as I often had little to go off of other than a street name or nearby landmark. A few petitions are also missing from the map, as they either did not give a location or I was not able to figure out where they were based on the directions provided. These petitions are noted as such in the key.

I also enjoy looking at the map and seeing what stands there today. For example: Joseph Goldthwait’s house, where he kept a tavern “for the Accomodation of Gentlemen from the Country,” would have been remarkably close to the modern-day location of Bova’s Bakery, a favorite of mine. Although it is unclear exactly where his house stood in 1767, he describes his situation as being “in back Street leading to Charlestown Ferry.” The end of Back Street (now Salem Street) closest to the Charlestown Ferry is exactly where Bova’s is today.

Three images of handwritten manuscript documents. One document is the petition of Joseph Goldthwait, signed on Boston Aug. 12. 1767. Another document reads "We the Subscribers recommend the within Petitioner as a person of sober Life and Conversation suitably qualified and provided for the exercise of the employment of an Inholder." It is signed by Joseph Jackson, John Hancock, Wm. Phillips, Timo. Newell, and John Rowe. The third document is a closeup of text that reads: "Jos. Goldthwaits Peto. Allow'd."
Images of the petition of Joseph Goldthwait regarding his tavern on Back Street.
Photos by CJ Haggard.

The Admiral Vernon Tavern, or the Vernon’s Head Tavern, also has a modern equivalent. Thomas Hubbart’s 1764 petition describes the tavern as being on King Street, now State Street, which led from the Old State House down to Long Wharf. In The Crooked and Narrow Streets of Boston, Annie Haven Thwing goes into more detail about the tavern’s location, stating it “was on the northeast corner of Merchants Row.” Merchant’s Row still exists today by Faneuil Hall. Even more excitingly, the lot at the northeast corner of Merchant’s Row is a modern-day bar called Clarke’s at Faneuil Hall, mirroring its colonial use. Although the Admiral Vernon Tavern is no more, one only needs to visit Clarke’s to walk in the footsteps of Thomas Hubbart himself.

I hope my map sparks some interest in these incredible petitions in our collection. The peek into colonial Boston they provide is fascinating, and I encourage anyone interested to visit the MHS and learn more.

Further Reading: On our library catalog ABIGAIL, you can view listings for Joseph Goldthwait’s petition and Thomas Hubbart’s petition. If you would like to view the listings for other petitions, you can click on the “Taverns (Inns) Massachusetts Boston” subject heading attached to both Goldthwait’s and Hubbart’s listings. All petitions appear in our holdings of Miscellaneous Bound Manuscripts from 1764 to 1773.

Posted in From Our Collections

Cranberries, Railroads, and an Early FAQ

by Susan Martin, Senior Processing Archivist

When Ellis Dexter Atwood died in 1950, 1,500 people attended his funeral. What made him so beloved? One reason was the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, Massachusetts.

Black and white photograph of a white man with short gray hair and glasses, dressed in a suit and tie. A caption at the bottom reads: “Ellis D. Atwood.”
Picture of Ellis D. Atwood, from the Edaville Family Theme Park website

The story of Edaville began in 1941 when Atwood, one of the country’s leading cranberry growers, purchased historic railroad cars, tracks, and equipment from a defunct Maine railway. Atwood knew these narrow-gauge cars would be ideal for working his cranberry bogs. By 1947, he had transferred this equipment to his 1,800-acre estate in South Carver and built 5.5 miles of track for transporting supplies in and cranberries out. He also offered free rides to friends, and these rides soon became a popular weekend tourist attraction. Just three years later over 2,000 people a day were visiting Edaville.

Black and white photograph of a crowd of people standing outside next to a train pulling into a station. The train engine pulls several cars, and smoke billows out of its chimney. Behind the train and at the left of the picture are fields, trees, and farm buildings. At the right is a small station building and a railroad signal on a pole.
Visitors at Edaville, from The Baltimore & Ohio Magazine, November 1950

Railroad enthusiasts were, even then, fascinated by these vintage narrow-gauge railroads, which at two feet wide were less than half the standard. Three months after Edaville opened, one such enthusiast named Martin Schmidt wrote Atwood for more information, and Atwood sent him some mimeographed promotional literature on the history of narrow-gauge railroads and Edaville in particular. Those papers are here at the MHS.

This unassuming collection turned out to be a lot of fun to research. I found some terrific contemporary write-ups on Edaville in Popular Mechanics (1949) and The Baltimore & Ohio Magazine (1950).

Black and white photograph of workers in a field with a train passing behind them. In the foreground, two kneeling workers are bending over and holding onto wooden crates. Two other workers stand behind them and watch. The train in the background has smoke billowing out of its chimney and the word “Edaville” written on its side.
Cranberry harvesting at Edaville, from Popular Mechanics, June 1949

Railfans will find a lot of detail in this small collection to interest them, but my main takeaway is that Atwood was funny! I love to find humor in historical manuscripts, which can sometimes feel dry and inaccessible. The collection includes a hilarious proto FAQ written by Atwood. Among the usual questions about hours and directions, we also find these:

How can a young fellow start a cranberry bog of his own if he has no money?

Ans[wer]. Get on the good side of your rich aunt or better still, marry a wealthy girl. If you can’t do either, forget about the whole thing for the present.

Why did you name it Edaville?

Ans. Well, E.D.A. are my initials and we had to call it something.

Why don’t you run your trains according to the time table?

Ans. Well, we try to, but what do you care? The road doesn’t go anywhere and besides, the time table is a souvenir.

Why don’t you run your trains later in the day?

Ans. Well, I suppose our employees are more or less human and they get tired at the end of the day.

Why did you by [sic] this junk?

Ans. I haven’t had time to figure out a reason yet.

Sadly, Ellis D. Atwood died at the age of 61 from a boiler explosion at the Edaville screen house. While he and his wife Elthea left no children, they clearly left a lot of happy memories, and visitors reported that Edaville drivers always blew their train whistles twice when passing near the spot where he’s buried.

Posted in From Our Collections

Clara E. Currier’s Diary, February 1925

by Hannah Elder, Associate Reference Librarian for Rights & Reproductions 

Today, we return to the transcription of Clara E. Currier’s 1925 diary. Currier was a working-class woman who lived in or near Haverhill, MA. Her diary records her daily activities—from fiber arts to paid employment to observations of the natural world—providing insight into daily life a century ago. You can find entries for January in a past blog post. 

February ushers in a series of dull days, which Clara fills with work, her fiber crafts, and entertainments with friends. She observes more cosmological and geological events and weathers a few storms. Clara starts taking home paychecks from her work and records her pay for the week on Thursdays.

pussywillows
Pussywillows. Image courtesy of Susan Drury via Wikimedia Commons.

Feb. 1, Sun. Fair and warmer, went to church and S.S, went up to Stephen’s for the afternoon, Charley and Delia came up after supper.

Feb. 2, Mon. Snow, wrote letters.

Feb. 3, Tues. Dull, went to Grange

Feb. 4, Wed. Fair, went over to see Blanche, crocheted.

Feb. 5, Thurs. [$]19 Fair, crocheted.

Feb. 6, Fri. Fair, went up town and cooked.

Feb 7, Sat. Fair and warmer, went to Haverhill about glasses and over home, had a sleighride.

Feb. 8, Sun. Fair and warm, went out skiing, saw a partial eclipse of the moon on the full, William brought me back. Wrote to Mrs. Muller.

Feb. 9, Mon. Dull with fog at night, went to class meeting, crocheted.

Feb. 10, Tues. Foggy, Blache came over.

Feb. 11, Wed. Foggy and rain, went over to Dennis’s and heard some fine music on the radio, crocheted.

Feb. 12, Thurs. [$]19. Foggy, knit and crocheted.

Feb. 13, Fri. Fair, went to the Swanee River Quartet concert (colored) at the Methodist Church with Sizzie and Blanche.

Feb. 14, Sat. Fair, washed and cooked, went uptown.

Feb. 15, Sun. Rain, went up to Delia’s for afternoon and evening with Sizzie.

Feb. 16, Mon. Fair, wrote letters and cooked.

Feb. 17, Tues. Dull, went to Grange.

Feb. 18, Wed. Fair, went to Legion play, “The Village School.[”]

Feb. 19, Thurs. [$]19 Fair, worked until six o’clock.

Feb. 20, Fri. Fair, worked until six then went up to Stephen’s.

Feb. 21, Sat. Fair, worked until 4 o’clock then went up home, Charles and Mabel came after me.

Feb. 22, Sun. Fair and springlike, went out after pussy willows, William and Mary brought me back.

Feb. 23, Mon. Dull and rainy, worked all day until six, went to class meeting.

Feb. 24, Tues. Dull, then cleared, worked until six, went up town at noon.

Feb. 25, Wed. Dull, worked until six, knit.

Feb. 26, Thurs. [$]20.90 Rain hail, snow, and cleared out at night, very cold and windy, waited on table at men’s club banquet, had Rev. Mr. Lindsay to speak.

Feb. 27, Fri. Fair and cold, worked until six, heard radio at Mrs. Dennis’s.

Feb. 28, Sat. Fair, worked until four o’clock, went up town, had an earthquake shock at 9.30 P.M shoke the house.

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff.

*Please note that this diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original.

This line-a-day blog series is inspired by and in honor of MHS reference librarian Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook (1981–2023), whose entertaining and enlightening line-a-day blog series ran from 2015 to 2019. Her generous, humane, and creative approach to both history and librarianship continues to influence the work of the MHS library.

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged ,

Women’s March Photographs and Narratives Collection now publicly available

By Nancy Heywood, Lead Archivist for Digital and Web Initiatives

In 2017, MHS undertook a collecting initiative with an open call for donations of images and accounts relating to the Women’s March for America, a series of protest marches held around the world following the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  MHS received digital files—images, narratives, and screenshots of tweets—from about a dozen donors. 

Dense crowd of people is depicted standing on Boston Common. The people in the image all face to the right as if listening to a speaker. One person holds a sign.
Boston Women’s March Participants, photograph donated by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook
Photograph primarily depicts a sign held up by a protester in a crowd of people. The sign features a woman’s symbol with an equals sign. Brick and sandstone buildings are in the background.
Boston Women’s March Participants, photograph donated by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook

Staff processed, described, and made backup copies of the digital files and donation forms, but the files and metadata remained on staff-accessible parts of the MHS network. The MHS did not have an easy way to make this entire collection accessible to researchers at the time. Today, the digital files comprising the Women’s March Photographs and Narratives collection are fully accessible to the public through the new MHS Digital Archive.  You can also find links to this collection from our library catalog.

Screenshot from the MHS Digital Archive showing Boston Women’s March participants image 06. A column of metadata is on the left. The image depicts a large crowd of people standing close to each other, two people are holding signs. A woman on the left appears to be looking at her cell phone. A woman in the middle of the photograph is looking to the left at various people and she is carrying an infant in a colorful tie-dye sling.
Boston Women’s March Participants, photograph donated by Alicia Cornwell

The ability to view the materials of the Women’s March collection is just one piece of the MHS Digital Archive. However, there is much more happening behind the scenes!

The MHS Digital Archive is the front-end access portal to MHS’s digital preservation system (Preservica).  The backend of the system allows MHS to:

  • organize and describe content
  • securely store content in the cloud with backups
  • monitor files for damage and replace them with an undamaged copy if damage is detected. (This means the system tracks the integrity of files and stores multiple copies of files. If the 0s and 1s of a file have changed, the damaged file can be replaced.)
  • ensure files are readable without needing the original application by saving them in preservation formats; for example, migrating old Word Perfect files to PDFs

MHS has been collecting, preserving and making accessible historically significant materials for over 230 years and with the rollout of the digital preservation system, we are now well-positioned to handle new accessions comprised of hybrid collections (physical and digital) or digital only. We will also be able to efficiently manage any future collecting initiative with an open call for donations of digital files and make them accessible.

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged