Season's Greetings from the State Library!

From the State Library to you, our digital greeting card with wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

Looking for some holiday reading? Catch up on some of our past seasonally appropriate posts:

Christmas Eve on Beacon Hill

New England's Flying Santa Tradition

Books as Gifts are Always a Hit

A Puritan "Christmas"

Holiday Traditions and Library Finds

Special Collections New Acquisition: The Last 240-Member House

A segment of the 52-inch-wide photograph taken inside the House Chamber.

Special Collections recently received a piece of Massachusetts General Court history: a photograph of the last 240-member House of Representatives. Former Representative Karen Swanson graciously donated the photograph, which was taken inside the House Chamber during the 170th Legislative Session (1977-1978) and identifies members in an index by their seated location.

In June 1973, the Massachusetts legislature voted 166-93 to cut the size of the House by one third, following five years of battling on the subject. As a result, the issue was put to the voters on the 1974 state ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, where it won overwhelming approval. At the time of the vote, the Massachusetts House of Representatives was the second largest in the nation. As a result of the amendment, the House has consisted of 160 members since 1979.

For more information about Massachusetts legislative history, check out this guide compiled by State Library staff; also check out State Legislators’ Papers Collections at the State Library.


Alyssa Persson
Processing Archivist

. . . And a Partridge in the Library!

They aren't in a pear tree, they're in our library! This month, visit our reading room to see Audubon's Californian Partridge on display (plate 413). The print shows the male and female partridge together in a landscape scene that we can guess is California, given their name.

The Californian Partridge is one of many types of partridges, and while it isn't definitively known which specific partridge is referenced in the "Twelve Days or Christmas," it likely isn't the California Partridge since the carol was written in England in the 1780s. Nonetheless, we wanted to share this print since the male partridge looks so festive, with his plume and colorful feathers. You can read more about the California Partridge in the Birds of America Field Guide.

Stop by the library from December 10 through January 8 to see the partridges on display. For the past few Decembers, we've displayed other birds featured in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" and you can read about them here: Blackbirds (a.k.a. colly birds, or "calling birds") and Turtle Doves.

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

M.G.L. 6 § 39B Turns 40 and Gets a Glow Up!

This December marks the 40th anniversary of the enactment of St.1984 c. 412. Section 3 of this statute, codified as M.G.L. 6 § 39B, stipulates that every state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts must submit copies of their publications to the State Library. Since its passage in 1984, M. G. L. ch. 6 section 39B has been vital to the State Library’s mission of preserving the legislative history of Massachusetts and ensuring access to the Commonwealth’s public documents.

Images courtesy of the State Library of Massachusetts,adapted from
“1984 Chap. 0412. An Act Providing For The Orderly Distribution Of State Publications.” 

Turning 40 isn’t the only major milestone for M.G.L. 6 § 39B. With the passage of chapter 206 of the 2024 Acts earlier this year, M.G.L. 6 § 39B has been updated! The updated text is provided below; it can also be found on the legislature's website, here.

The new legislation takes into account the fact that government documents are increasingly published digitally rather than in hard copy. The original legislation required that 8 hard copies of every published government document be sent to the State Library. It now requires only a single copy (if originally published in hardcopy) or shareable PDF for preservation.

Everyone (regardless of whether they work in government or not) is welcome to consult these documents. If you cannot make it to the State House, our recently upgraded online repository contains the digitized versions of many of these items. It is the State Library’s hope that the changes to M.G.L. 6 § 39B will make it easier for agencies to send us their published documents and that it will facilitate access for the public to our materials.

Thank you to the State Library staff and all those involved in getting this legislation passed!

Check out our digital repository to examine these documents, and if you would like to learn more about the Massachusetts State Documents Repository Program, please visit our website. And if you are in the State House, stop by the library's reading room to see our exhibit case celebrating M.G.L. 6 § 39B's milestone birthday and update!


Maryellen Larkin

Government Documents & Reference Librarian

State Library Newsletter - December Issue

A new month kicks off! December is a busy time at the State Library, and you can find out everything that's happening in this month's newsletter. Read more about a sale at our online store, new library resources, and displayed items. 

Pictured here is a preview, but the full issue can be accessed by clicking here. And you can also sign up for our mailing list to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox.

Detestable Tea! Boston Tea Party Broadside on Display

December 16th marks the 251st anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Just over two weeks prior to the now famous event, a two-day meeting occurred where residents of Boston and nearby towns met to discuss what to do with a shipment of tea from England that was sitting in Boston Harbor. At the conclusion of those meetings, a broadside was issued with an account of what was discussed and decided. We hold one of those broadsides in our collection, and in honor of the Tea Party’s anniversary, we’re sharing it this month in our Collection Spotlight case.

A shipment of tea from England arrived in Boston Harbor on November 28, 1773 and on November 29 and 30, citizens of Boston and nearby towns gathered at Faneuil Hall to determine the "proper and effectual method to prevent the unloading, receiving, or vending the detestable TEA sent out by the East India Company." When the gathered group became too large, the meeting was moved to Old South Meeting House. For those who could not attend, an account of that meeting was published as a broadside the next day, December 1, 1773. Throughout the written account, the ship holding the tea is referred to as “Captain Hall’s ship,” but this ship is better known by its name, the Dartmouth, which was under the command of Captain James Hall and was one of three ships that brought tea to Boston Harbor, the other two being the Beaver and the Eleanor. In a previous blog post, one of our reference librarians wrote about the significant tax-related events that occurred in the years and months leading up to the Tea Party, along with the actions that followed in the immediate aftermath of this two-day public meeting. 

The linked blog post puts this broadside in historical context, and is an informational complement to the displayed broadside. We encourage you to read through that post, and then click on the image above or download the broadside from our digital repository to read it in its entirety. There are some key individuals and events to note in the broadside, as highlighted below. In addition to the aforementioned Captain Hall of the Dartmouth, others are: 

The Body: the term used to describe the group assembled.

Jonathan Williams, Esquire: named as moderator to help facilitate the meeting.

Francis Rotch: A whaler from New Bedford and part owner of the Dartmouth.

Captain Edward Proctor and Ezekiel Cheever: the Body passed a motion to establish a security night watch over the Dartmouth to prevent it from being unloaded. Capt. Proctor and Cheever were named as Captains of the Watch. The watch consisted of a group of 25 volunteers, who were instructed to raise alarms if anything happened to them or the ships during their watch.  

Mr. Copley: better known by his full name, John Singleton Copley. Copley was a painter who leaned politically neutral; he was friendly with patriots Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams, but his family had Loyalist ties and his father-in-law, Richard Clarke, was one of the consignees of the tea in this shipment in question. Clarke's company, Richard Clarke & Sons, included his sons Jonathan and Isaac. Other tea consignees included Thomas Hutchinson Jr., Benjamin Faneuil, and Joshua Winslow. Because of his relationship with the Clarkes, Copley served as a go-between the two parties during the course of the meeting. In fact, one of the proposals he brought to the assembly was in regard to the consignees' safety:

“A proposal of Mr. Copley was made, that in case he could prevail with the Mess. Clarkes to come into this meeting, the question might now be put, whether they should be treated with civility while in the meeting, though they might be of different sentiments with this body; and their persons be safe until their return to the place from whence they should come – and the question being accordingly put, passed in the affirmative.”

Despite Copley sharing this information with the consignees, ensuring their safety, they declined to attend the meeting. They stated that they believed 

“nothing would be satisfactory (to the Body) short of re-shipping the tea, which was out of their power, they thought it best not to appear, but would renew their proposal of storing the tea, and submitting the same to the inspection of a committee, and that they could go no further, without incurring their own ruin but as they had not been active in introducing the tea they should do nothing to obstruct the people in their procedure with the same.” 

Though the Clarkes did not attend the meeting, Dartmouth’s Captain Hall and owner Francis Rotch did attend when requested, along with the captains and owners of the other ships expected to arrive with tea: for the Eleanor, Captain James Bruce and John Rowe, and for the Beaver, Captain Hezekiah Coffin (like the Dartmouth, the Beaver was owned by the Rotch family). The meeting concluded with the following resolution, and the vote was then printed and sent to seaports within the colonies and to England: 

“if any person or persons shall hereafter import tea from Great-Britain, or if any master or masters of any vessel or vessels in Great-Britain shall take the same on board to be imported to this place, until the said unrighteous Act shall be repeal’d, he or they shall be deem’d by this Body an Enemy to his Country, and we will prevent the landing and sale of the same, and the payment of any duty thereof. And we will effect the return thereof to the place from whence it shall come.” 

The account of this two-day long meeting reflects the intensity of the situation, as well as the complicated nature of trying to figure out what to do with this detestable tea when there were multiple parties deadlocked on how to proceed - the Royal Governor and consignees, the ship owners and captains, and the colonists! Though we know that the story ends with the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, the displayed broadside is an important primary source account of the sentiment and actions that lead to that event. Take advantage of the opportunity to see it in person by visiting our reading room from December 3 through January 7. Huzzah! 

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

A Morsel of a Mystery: Marlborough Pie

Knowing that the 19th century was when pumpkin pie became more closely associated with Thanksgiving meals, I was curious to learn more about what other dishes would have appeared on a 19th century Thanksgiving table in New England. So I checked our collections for something that might provide some insight into what a 19th century New England Thanksgiving spread may have looked like.

A New England Boyhood by Edward Everett Hale reminisces what made Thanksgiving dinner special in early 19th century New England: 

 A New England Boyhood
by Edward Everett Hale.
Little, Brown, 1898.

“Had we children been asked what we expected on Thanksgiving Day we should have clapped our hands and said that we expected a good dinner. As we had a good dinner every day of our lives this answer shows simply that children respect symbols and types. And indeed there were certain peculiarities in the Thanksgiving dinner which there were not on common days. For instance, there was always a great deal of talk about the Marlborough pies or the Marlborough pudding.” 

Hale goes on to write old New England families made Marlborough pie, “a sort of lemon pie,” using traditional methods. While Hale does say there were other occasions for serving Marlborough pies, his family always served them on Thanksgiving Day along with four other sweet pies, a plum pudding and a chicken pie.

Another passage from A New England Boyhood creates a vivid picture of a Thanksgiving feast:

“This was one of the marvels to us children, that it was possible to be at dinner two hours. There was no desire to slip down from the chair and go off to play. There was no soup dreamed of, and I think to this day, that there never should be any at a Thanksgiving dinner. Neither did any fish follow where no soup led the way. You began with your chicken pie and your roast turkey. You ate as much as you could, and you then ate what you could of mince pie, squash pie, Marlborough pie, cranberry tart, and plum pudding. Then you went to work on the fruits as you could.”

While looking for an answer to my initial question, I stumbled upon a pie that I had never heard of before: Marlborough pie. This mystery pie definitely piqued my culinary curiosity. Where did it come from? And most importantly what was the filling?

My initial theory was that the pie originated somewhere in Marlborough, Massachusetts where colonists had settled in 1657. Or as its other name, Deerfield pie, suggests possibly Deerfield, Massachusetts which was founded in 1673. It turns out, however, that the dessert most likely originated in Marlborough, England!

An English cookbook published 1660 by Robert May called the The Accomplisht Cook is the first known published recipe of Marlborough pie. According to the Atlas Obscura website and the New England Historical Society, 136 years later in 1796 Marlborough pie makes an appearance in Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery. If either Amelia Simmons or American Cookery rings a bell, it’s because her cookbook contains an early recipe for a custard-style pumpkin pie (referred to as “pompkin pudding”) similar to the pumpkin pies we make today. In England and in early New England pies with a custard-style filling were often referred to as puddings instead of pies.

American Cookery by Amelia Simmons.
First edition: Hartford, 1796.
Printed by Hudson & Goodwin.

Not much is known about Amelia Simmons other than what is stated on the title page of American Cookery—her name and that she is an orphan. Her cookbook was the first American cookbook published. American Cookery is considered to be one of the foundational cookbooks that shaped American cuisine. The first edition (1796 edition) of American Cookery was printed in Hartford, Connecticut and later became a huge success as a cookbook with multiple editions printed in different cities throughout the Northern United States during 1796-1822. Each edition was slightly different than another edition with recipes added, edited or omitted. This means the second edition printed in 1796 in Albany, New York would be different than an 1804 edition printed in Salem, Massachusetts.

The New England Historical Society quotes the recipe from the 1796 edition of American Cookery as being:

“take 12 spoons of stewed apples, 12 of wine, 12 of sugar, 12 of melted butter and 12 of beaten eggs, a little cream, spice to your taste; lay in paste no. 3, in a deep dish; bake one hour and a quarter.”

For this blog post I looked at the pie and pudding sections in a digitized 1796 edition of American Cookery. Unfortunately, the copy of the first edition digitized by Archive.org did not contain a recipe with the exact wording as what was quoted by the New England Historical Society, but it did have a recipe for an apple pudding similar to Marlborough pie:

“One pound apple sifted, one pound sugar, 9 eggs, one quarter pound of a pound butter, one quart sweet cream, one gill rose-water, a cinnamon, a green lemon peal grated (if sweet apples,) add the juice of half a lemon, put on to paste No. 7: Currants, raisins and citron some add, but good without them.”

The version I found in this particular digitized copy of American Cookery harkens back to Robert May’s version of Marlborough pudding from The Accomplisht Cook which is simply titled “A dish made of butter and eggs”:

“Take the yolks of twenty four eggs, and strain them with cinamon, sugar, and salt; then put melted butter to them, some fine minced pippins, and minced citron, put it on your dish of paste, and put slices of citron round about it, bar it with puff paste, and the bottom also, or short paste in the bottom.”

"Paste" in the aforementioned recipes refers to the pastry dough in which a filling was baked. In American Cookery (1796) there is a separate section of the book giving guidance on how to create different pastry doughs. The American Cookery recipe for an apple pudding calls for paste no. 7 or “a paste for sweet meats” which contains a pound of lard, 1/3 of a pound of butter and 2 pounds of flour, adding water as necessary.

In Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book (1846) by Catharine Esther Beecher Marlborough pudding is an alcohol-free dessert with the ingredients for the filling being listed as tart apples, sifted sugar, butter, eggs, grated lemon peel and lemon juice. Beecher insists: “It is much better to grate than to stew the apples for this and all pies.” The instructions provided by Beecher mention “some persons grate in crackers, and add rose water and nutmeg.” The omission of wine reflects the growing influence of the temperance movement in the United States. And although the book contains advice on how to create a healthy pie crust using sour milk or cream instead of butter, Beecher recommends in her recipe instructions for Marlborough pudding “a rich paste” for baking.

Marlborough pie—a lemony apple custard pie—at some point faded into obscurity after the 19th century in the United States. Food historians think part of the pies waning popularity was due to the temperance movement since Marlborough pie recipes often traditionally included wine or sherry. Another theory is that Marlborough pie was a practical way to use up apples past their prime in colonial days and the early United States rather than to waste them; however, with the advent of refrigeration and better ways to ship produce in modernity this meant apples in great condition were readily available year-round and using older apples wasn’t really as much a necessity as it had been. A third reason the pie might have gone out fashion is that it is a particularly labor-intensive pie where the apples need to be stewed first and then either strained or grated, and the custard needs to be just the right texture and consistency.

Woman Working in a Kitchen. 1880–1900. Courtesy of Historic New England.

Whatever the reason for dessert’s disappearance from most American tables, it can be found at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. And if you want to try your hand at making Marlborough pie for Thanksgiving, the historical recipes section on the Old Sturbridge Village website has a modernized Marlborough pudding recipe adapted from American Cookery. Their website also includes a demonstration video of how Marlborough pie was made historically. For a more detailed modernized recipe for Marlborough pie (including notes on which apple varieties to use) visit Atlas Obscura.

Emily Crawford

Technical Services Librarian

Sources and Further Reading

The accomplisht cook: or, The art & mystery of cookery by Robert May (1685) can be checked out through Libby and a digitized 1678 edition is available at Archive.org.

American Cookery: The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables by Amelia Simmons (1796) can be checked out through Libby and a digitized copy of the 1796 edition is available at Archive.org.

Miss Beecher's domestic receipt book: designed as a supplement to her Treatise on domestic economy by Catharine Esther Beecher (2013 reprint of 1861 edition) can be requested via interlibrary loan. A digitized 1846 edition is available at Archive.org.

A New England Boyhood by Edward Everett Hale (1898) can be read in our Reading Room. A digitized 1893 edition is available at Archive.org.

Women in the Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined the Way We Eat, from 1661 to Today by Anne Willan (2020) is on our shelf.

Articles from the web

Boissoneault, Lorraine. “How the Formerly Ubiquitous Pumpkin Became a Thanksgiving Treat.” Smithsonian. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-formerly-ubiquitous-pumpkin-became-once-year-treat-180970860/

Chaki, Rohini. “Marlborough Pie: A custardy twist on apple pie finds delicious use for fruit reaching spoilage.” Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/marlborough-pie

Galarza, Daniela. “What is Marlborough Pie?” Eater. https://www.eater.com/2015/10/10/9435439/what-is-marlborough-pie

“Marlborough Pie: An Old-Time New England Recipe – Association of Rollinsford Culture and History.” Association of Rollinsford Culture and History. https://www.paulwentworthhouse.org/marlborough-pie-an-old-time-new-england-recipe/

Stavely, Keith and Kathleen Fitzgerald. “What America’s First Cookbook Says About Our Country and Its Cuisine: An 18th-century kitchen guide taught Americans how to eat simply but sumptuously.” Smithsonian. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-americas-first-cookbook-says-about-our-country-its-cuisine-180967809/ 

“What Killed the Marlborough Pie?” New England Historical Society. https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/what-killed-the-marlborough-pie/

Author Talk with Eddie Doherty

• Laughs, Lies & American Justice by East End Eddie Doherty
• Wednesday, December 4, 2024. 12pm - 1:00pm
• In-person and Virtual event. No registration required.
• State Library of Massachusetts - Room 341, Massachusetts State House. Directions.
• Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/user/mastatelibrary

The State Library of Massachusetts Author Talks Series is hosting author and former Clerk-Magistrate of the Wrentham District Court, Eddie Doherty, on December 4th.

Please join us in our historic reading room or watch via YouTube. The event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel courtesy of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Broadcast Services - tune in at noon!

Be sure to sign up for our Author Talks newsletter and follow our social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, and X) for the latest information on our visiting authors.

About the book: Laughs, Lies & American Justice is a peek into the Massachusetts Court System. Written by retired Clerk-Magistrate of the Wrentham District Court, Eddie Doherty recounts his experience working in the district courts. The book is a compilation of different stories, anecdotes, and encounters told from Doherty’s insider point of view. In Laughs, Lies & American Justice, Doherty brings a sense of humor to the oftentimes stressful court environment and highlights the hardworking, honest people working in our justice system.

About the author: Eddie Doherty has worked in the Massachusetts Court System for almost 37 years. At age 25, he was appointed Assistant Clerk-Magistrate of the Attleboro District Court, making him the youngest person appointed to the position in the state. He would later be appointed to the position of Clerk-Magistrate of the Wrentham District Court by former Governor Cellucci. Doherty is a graduate of Dominican Academy, Attleboro High School, and the University of South Florida. Doherty received the Amicus Curiae Award from the Norfolk County Bar Association. Now retired, Doherty lives in Mattapoisett with his wife where he is an accomplished fisherman and enjoys spending time with his family and grandchildren.

If you are able to join us in person for this talk, attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session with the author. As always, this author talk is free and open to all. Assisted listening devices will be made available upon request. Any questions or concerns, please email us at AuthorTalks.StateLibrary@mass.gov.

For more information on the State Library Author talks series, please visit our site.


Author Talks Working Group

Elected Sessions and Legislative Sessions in Massachusetts

When did Massachusetts make the switch from one-year elected sessions to two-year elected sessions? And what about legislative sessions? This was a reference question we received recently and I found it interesting. It took some digging into our resources to find the answer (which as a librarian, I love doing), and afterwards, the Reference department thought it was something that may help other researchers.

The short answer is that the 142nd General Court (1921-1922) was the start of the two-year elected session in Massachusetts, meaning that Legislators were (and still are) elected to two-year terms. Looking at the Manuals for the General Court in our digital repository and in print, you’ll notice that they were published annually until 1920, but starting in 1921, they were published biannually.

Now let’s dig into the history of the General Court and the length of legislative sessions to add some context to this. To start, a legislative session is the period of time in which legislators meet to create laws. Here in Massachusetts, we have an annual legislative session, meaning that the General Court convenes once a year. This changed for a brief period of time though. In 1938, Massachusetts shifted its legislative sessions to a biennial system, in which the General Court met every other year instead of annually. This change began in 1939, with no session held in 1940 and only special sessions in 1942 and 1944 to address urgent matters.

The intent behind biennial legislative sessions was to stay in line with the biennial elected sessions that the Commonwealth has, while also reducing unnecessary legislation and saving costs. This system, however, was short-lived. In 1945, following a referendum, the state ended the brief experiment of holding biennial legislative sessions and returned to holding annual sessions. A previous blog post written by one of our librarians in 2016 talks more about the 6 years when Massachusetts had a biennial legislative session.

That blog post also references Leading the Way by Cornelius Dalton, a go-to source for us here at the State Library. This book covers the history of the Massachusetts General Court from 1629 to 1980. Being a library that focuses heavily on Massachusetts history and legislative materials, this book is an invaluable resource for our librarians. It was one of the first books I was shown when I started working at the State Library and we currently have a few copies floating around for staff to use (and for patrons to use as well!)

Pages 453-457 of Leading the Way covers the length of legislative sessions for the General Court (as opposed to the length of elected sessions for members of the General Court). The table that spans these 5 pages shows the length of each session of the Legislature since 1832. You’ll want to read the footnotes too. They include information about when extra sessions took place and why, and other information related to the General Court for specific years. For example, did you know the first year there was a 160-member House of Representatives in Massachusetts was in 1979? This is the number of Representatives the Commonwealth still has today.

Footnotes 4 and 5 on page 457 point to the first year of the biennial legislative session (1939) and the return to annual legislative sessions (1945), as we learned about above. If you’d like to take a closer look, you can use one of our copies in our reading room or you can access this book via Internet Archive. Just sign up for a free account and you’ll find the book here.

If you’re curious about the legislative process in Massachusetts, the Mass Bar Association put together this helpful webpage. It includes a short overview of the Massachusetts General Court, information about filing a bill, and the three-reading process.

 If you’d like a more interactive learning experience, the Citizens’ Legislative Seminar, organized by the Senate Office of Education and Civic Engagement, is hosted twice a year at the State House. The goal is to educate the public on the functions of the Massachusetts Legislature through a series of speakers and a simulated legislative hearing and Senate Session. Those who are interested must be sponsored by their senator in order to participate. More information about this program can be found at this link.

If you have more questions related to this or another topic, the Reference librarians here at the State Library are always here to help! Don’t hesitate to visit room 341 of the State House or reach out to us at Reference.Department@mass.gov.

Jessica Shrey
Legal Research Reference Librarian

A Turkey in the Library!

If you live in Massachusetts, then you know that it isn't uncommon to see wild turkeys roaming around, and not just in rural areas, but in suburban neighborhoods, too! In fact, we even had a wild turkey on the grounds of the State House a few years ago. Though that turkey no longer visits us, we are displaying Audubon's Wild Turkey (plate 1) in our reading room this month, so once again, there's a turkey in the State House. The print depicts an adult male turkey, traipsing alone through the wilderness. A few years ago, we displayed the Wild Turkey - Female and Young (plate 6), which you can see here.

Wild turkeys were plentiful in the region in the 1600s, and it was part of the diet of the Wampanoag tribe and thus also the English settlers at Plymouth. If it was a component of the harvest meal we think of as the first Thanksgiving, then it may have been just one dish complemented by other fowl like geese or duck. On the Plimoth Patuxet website, we find a recipe for turkey sobaheg; sobaheg means "stew" in Wampanoag. You can read more about food of the Wampanoag in a past blog post. 

Due to a combination of over-hunting by a growing human population, and a decrease in the turkey's natural habitat, the wild turkey population dwindled and it was nearly extinct before an re-population effort in the 1970s. More information about the wild turkey is available on the Mass Audubon website. 

Be sure to visit us from November 5 through December 10 to see the wild turkey on display in our reading room. 

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

State Library Newsletter - November Issue

Happy November! From special events on November 6 and 13, to materials displayed for Thanksgiving and National Native American Heritage Month, to new library resources, you can catch up on everything happening at the State Library in this month's newsletter, out now!

Pictured here is a preview, but the full issue can be accessed by clicking here. And you can also sign up for our mailing list to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox.

A Day of Public Thanksgiving and Praise

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches later this month, we’re displaying an edition of the Old Colony Memorial and Plymouth County Advertiser in our Collection Spotlight case. Printed on October 26, 1822, this newspaper includes a proclamation for an upcoming Day of Thanksgiving that was issued by Governor John Brooks on October 18, 1822. The proclamation establishes Thursday, December 5 as a day of “Public Thanksgiving and Praise” throughout the Commonwealth.

The proclamation is printed on the far-left column of text

Our broadside collection includes a number of proclamations issued by Massachusetts Governors dating from 1779 to 1902, as well as a few more recent proclamations issued by Governor Baker. Broadsides are large single sheet publications, with writing printed only on the front. They were ephemeral in nature, with the purpose of spreading news or advertisements, and were commonly found in use through the 1800s. Thanksgiving Day proclamations would have been printed as broadsides and then sent to town government or religious officials to share with their constituents and parishioners. We’ve previously written about and displayed the 1783 Thanksgiving Day proclamation issued by John Hancock, but we’ve not previously shared a Thanksgiving Day proclamation that was printed in the newspaper. The publishing of the proclamation in local newspapers would have helped to ensure that word of the Day of Thanksgiving would spread throughout the Commonwealth. The version we’ve displayed is from the Old Colony Memorial, a newspaper which began publication the same year as this proclamation, in 1822, and continues today. And it is timely for the season that the newspaper we are sharing is one that was published in Plymouth County.

As stated in the proclamation, this state-issued Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer establishes that, “The people of every religious denomination are requested to assemble in their respective places of public worship on that day, unitedly to express to Almighty God a deep and grateful sense of the manifold favors and blessings, which He has been graciously pleased to vouchsafe to us.” Those who celebrate Thanksgiving today tend to focus on gathering and giving thanks over a large meal, while the purpose of Days of Thanksgiving and Prayer described in 19th-century proclamations like this one focused on parishioners joining together in religious services. Though there are differences in how we celebrate Thanksgiving today verses what is described here (notably, the proclamation ends with the line, "the people are requested to abstain from all labor and recreation incompatible with the religious services of the day" so those of you planning Thanksgiving football games would have been out of luck), the sentiment of expressing gratitude is the same today is it was in 1822, whether it happens in a religious sanctuary, your dining room, or elsewhere. 

The Old Colony Memorial version of the Thanksgiving Day proclamation will be on display in our reading room through December 3, so be sure to visit us to take a look. The proclamation comprises just a few columns of the displayed newspaper pages, so you’ll also get to see other news and advertisements from 1822. Our Special Collections holdings also includes the 1822 broadside version of this proclamation, which can be found here. On your computer or mobile device, it would be easier to read the full text of the proclamation in the broadside version rather than the newspaper version. And while you're there, you can explore the full collection of proclamations in our digital repository. If you'd like to see just the Thanksgiving proclamations, use the search feature (indicated with a magnifying glass) and type in “Thanksgiving” and “Proclamations.”

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

Author Talk with Matthew J. Louis: Veteran Career Transition Expert

Presented by the State Library of Massachusetts and Office of the Veteran Advocate

The State Library of Massachusetts Author Talks Series in collaboration with the Office of the Veteran Advocate is proud to announce Matthew J. Louis as our November speaker. Matt is a best-selling author, veteran, and leader in career transition for members of the military community.

Event Details:

• Matthew J. Louis author of Mission Transition and Hiring Veterans
• Wednesday, November 13, 2024. 12pm - 1:00pm
• In-person and Virtual event.
• State Library of Massachusetts - Room 341, Massachusetts State House Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/user/mastatelibrary

The event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel courtesy of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Broadcast Services - tune in at noon!

Be sure to sign up for our Author Talks newsletter and follow our social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, and X) for the latest information on our visiting authors.

For more information on the Massachusetts Office of the Veteran Advocate, please visit their official website and follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

About the books: Mission Transition (2019) and Hiring Veterans (2023) are not only best-selling, award-winning titles, but practical guides for veterans and employers. Mission Transition provides veterans with the resources to enter and excel in the civilian workforce with strategies for resumes, interviews, and advice from veterans. Hiring Veterans is the guide for employers; from recruiting to onboarding, Louis presents the tools needed to bring highly skilled and qualified veterans into organizations.

About the author: Matthew Louis is an author, consultant, veteran, and President of PurePost. From Matthew’s professional website: Matt serves as the veteran Transition Assistance officer for his West Point class, is a National Speaker for the US Chamber’s Hiring Our Heroes program, serves JPMorgan Chase’s external advisory council for military and veterans affairs, and advises the board of Soldiers To Sidelines. 

During active commissioned service in the US Army, Matt served in the Southwest Asia combat theater and in the 194th Separate Armored Brigade. During reserve commissioned service, Matt served on the staff of the Army’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and commanded multiple regions around the country for the US Military Academy’s Admissions Office. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army and serves on the Service Academy nominating committee for his local Congressman.

Matt holds an MBA in Operations and Finance from The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from West Point, and is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College. He is also a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and holds the ASCM organization’s Certified Supply Chain Professional designation.

If you are able to join us in person for this talk, attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session with the author. Books will be available for purchase; $15.00; cash or credit accepted.

As always, this author talk is free and open to all. Assisted listening devices will be made available upon request. Any questions or concerns, please email us at AuthorTalks.StateLibrary@mass.gov.

For more information on the State Library Author talks series, please visit our site.

Author Talks Working Group

Happy Halloween: Spooky Blog Roundup!

Happy Halloween from the State Library! To say our librarians are enthusiastic about all things spooky, paranormal, and odd would be an understatement. We love a good Massachusetts legend from folklore to cryptids, check out some of our past blog posts to get you into the Halloween Spirit!

• On Display in the State Library: The Witches of Dogtown - Learn about the lore of Dogtown, an abandoned village in Gloucester.

• Dighton Rock and its Portuguese-American Legacy - A good mystery for this time of year, the Dighton Rock and its engravings still puzzle scholars to this day.

• For the true crime fans check out True Crime Resources and the Borden Murder Trial and Jolly Jane Toppan, Massachusetts’ Victorian Era Serial Killer.

• A Woman of the Witch Trials: The Story of Elizabeth Howe - It wouldn’t be spooky season in Massachusetts without mention of the Salem witch trials!

• Read about the Nantucket Merman and New England Vampire Panic - courtesy of our Government Documents Librarian!

• Learn about the Spiritualism movement and spirit writing in Massachusetts - The Spirit(ualism) of Massachusetts and John Quincy Adams from Beyond the Veil.

Search our catalog for more legends and mysteries! We just added some new horror titles to the general reading collection. Also be sure to check out Libby, the Reading App - available to State Employees for ebooks and audiobooks.

April Pascucci
Legislative Reference Librarian

Jolly Jane Toppan, Massachusetts’ Victorian Era Serial Killer

In keeping with the macabre mood of the Halloween season, this week’s blog revisits a subject from 2017: Jolly Jane Toppan, lifelong Massachusetts resident and first known woman serial killer in the United States.

From 1885 to 1901, Jane Toppan made her way from hospital to hospital, household to household, killing unsuspecting victims who hired her as a nurse based on excellent referrals. Toppan injected patients with lethal doses of morphine and atropine, having years of experimentation under her belt which started during her residency at Cambridge Hospital. 12 of Toppan’s victims are known and identified; however, she confessed to murdering 31 people and is suspected of claiming the lives of 70 or more people in total.

She finally came under suspicion and was apprehended in 1901 after killing an entire family of four in Barnstable County, one by one, over the course of five weeks. In June of 1902, Toppan was brought before the Barnstable Superior Court on the charge of murdering Mary D. Gibbs, one member of the family and Toppan’s last victim. Toppan was quickly found not guilty by reason of insanity. She was sentenced to an asylum in Taunton where she died in 1938 at age 84.

The transcript from the trial of Jane Toppan in the murder of Mary D. Gibbs, Commonwealth vs. Jane Toppan, can be found in our digital collections.

Alyssa Persson
Processing Archivist

Above portrait image: From the Boston Post, November 3, 1901. Image courtesy of Lowell Historical Society.

Mobile Printing is a Cinch … well, Princh … at the State Library of Massachusetts!

With our new Princh printing solution, you can now print easily and securely from your phone, tablet, or laptop using our remote printing service. Whether you’re at home or in the State Library, you can send print jobs from any location at any time. Simply pay at our print release terminal and print to our printer the same day during the State Library’s regular hours, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. No downloads or apps needed!

State Library patrons will need to make a one-time purchase of a copy card for $1.00 and add funds to print. This card is yours to keep and reuse. Printing prices are the same whether you use the library’s computers or your own device: $0.20 per page for black and white and $0.50 per page for color prints. When using the Mobile Print service, your login for the print release terminal will be your email address.

Printing from your mobile phone or a tablet

1. When printing at the library: easily locate the print guide poster near the printer and simply scan the QR code to get started. Scanning the QR code will automatically select the State Library’s printer.
2. OR When printing remotely: open your browser, go to print.princh.com and enter the 6-digit printer ID 109905 to select the State Library’s printer.
3. Upload your document(s).
4. Adjust the settings.
5. Enter your email address. Go to the print release terminal to pay for and finalize your print job.

Printing from your laptop

1. When printing remotely or at the library: open your browser, go to print.princh.com and enter the 6-digit printer ID 109905 to select the State Library’s printer.
2. Upload your document(s).
3. Adjust the settings.
4. Enter your email address.
5. Go to the print release terminal to pay for and finalize your print job.

If you need help, just ask at the Reference Desk! Our Reference Librarians are here to assist you.

Judy Carlstrom
Head of Technical Services

Author Talk with Linda Coombs

• Colonization and the Wampanoag Story
• Wednesday, October 30, 2024. 12pm - 1:00pm
• In-person and Virtual event. No registration required.
• State Library of Massachusetts - Room 341, Massachusetts State House
• Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/user/mastatelibrary

The State Library of Massachusetts Author Talks Series is hosting author Linda Coombs this October! Please join us on Wednesday, October 30th, at noon, in our historic reading room to hear Coombs discuss her book, Colonization and the Wampanoag Story (2023), a young adult story that is part of the ‘Race to the Truth’ series.

The event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel courtesy of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Broadcast Services - tune in at noon!

Be sure to sign up for our Author Talks newsletter and follow our social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, and X) for the latest information on our visiting authors.

About the book: Colonization and the Wampanoag Story is an educational tool geared towards young readers. Combining storytelling and historical facts, Coombs provides an accessible history of the Indigenous peoples of New England. Focusing on the Wampanoag and their experience with the First European settlers, the book chapters switch between the narrative of a young Wampanoag girl, entitled “When Life Was our Own” and chapters explaining the history, events, and colonization of Southern New England Tribes.

About the author: Linda Coombs is an author, historian, museum curator, and member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah. Coombs worked 30 years for the Wampanoag Indigenous Program (WIP) of Plimoth Plantation - 15 years as Associate Director and served 9 years as Program Director for the Aquinnah Cultural Center. Based in Mashpee, Linda continues to write and educate on Native American history and experience.

If you join us in person for this talk, attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session with the author as well as purchase a copy of the book. Cash or check accepted.

As always, this author talk is free and open to all. Assisted listening devices will be made available upon request. Any questions or concerns, please email us at AuthorTalks.StateLibrary@mass.gov.

For more information on the State Library Author talks series, please visit our site.



Author Talks Working Group

A Vulture Lurks in the Library . . .

This October, the California Vulture (plate 426) perches in the library! The Audubon Society describes this rare bird as huge and notes that it was headed towards extinction in the 1980s, before efforts were undertaken to breed it in captivity for later release into the wild. The vulture shown here is described as an "old male" and their lifespan ranges from from 45 to 80 years, with an average being 60 years. 

Also known as the California Condor, this large bird is a scavenger, soaring about 2000+ feet above ground and up to 250 miles per day in pursuit of dead animals to feed on. They are recognizable by their bald heads that are pink or orange in color, along with their impressive wingspan that reaches 9.5 feet! Read more about these birds on the National Park Service website.

Visit us from October 8 through November 5 to see the vulture on display in our reading room! Each October, we try to display a bird that has a spooky connotation, so if you missed any of our previous displays, you can find them here: Raven and Crow.

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

The New England Vampire Panic

Move over witches, there’s another hysteria-inducing superstition in town – and just in time for Halloween! We may be known for the Salem Witch Trials, but did you know that Massachusetts was part of a more recent hysteria known as the New England Vampire Panic?

The panic was caused by a health crisis that plagued New England in the 18th and 19th century (Bell, 2006, p. 124). The real culprit: consumption – i.e., tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection that can attack different parts of the body but is most well-known for wreaking havoc on the lungs (pulmonary tuberculosis), which can cause the infected person to cough blood – thanks to modern medicine, TB is both curable and preventable (Massachusetts Department of Public Health).

While a respiratory condition might not scream “vampire!” to any of us, the other symptoms of the disease such as weight-loss, fatigue, and loss of appetite align more with the mainstays of vampire lore. In lieu of a better explanation, these symptoms suggested that something was feeding on the infected person and draining them of life. 

Not everyone actually believed vampires were the cause, as you can read from this excerpt in “Analysis of a Correspondence on Some of the Causes of Antecedents of Consumption” which is part of a larger report to the Massachusetts State Board of Health in 1873:

I picked this example because it features in one of the government documents in our collection (you can view and download a copy of the full report from our Digital Repository); however, there are many more instances that occurred in other regions of New England and go into greater detail. Based on these accounts, a common course of action for eradicating vampires seems to have been to burn the organs – particularly the heart – of the suspected vampire (Bell, 2006, p. 125).

While the author of the above report clearly thinks this family’s actions were absurd, it is important to acknowledge that the larger context of this passage is in answer to whether drinking alcohol is a legitimate means of preventing the disease (spoiler: it’s not). The first TB vaccine would not be developed until 1921 and the first antibiotics to treat the disease would not be created until 1943, prior to that your only other option (if you had the resources) was to convalesce in a sanatorium and hope for the best (Division of Tuberculosis Elimination). 

You can read more about the New England Vampire Panic and tuberculosis in the source list below; however, if you prefer your vampire lore to stay in the realm of fiction, the State Library has plenty of books to keep you up at night! Because the State Library is part of the CW MARS library network, our patrons have access to hundreds of vampire-related books, eBooks, and audiobooks. Whether you’re interested in the classics or something more modern, there’s bound to be a vampire book to suit your taste.

Use our online catalog to do a subject search for “vampire” – you can access eBooks and audiobooks through the Libby app. If you need assistance setting up and navigating, we have this tutorial video to get you started.

Happy reading!


Maryellen Larkin, Government Documents & Reference Librarian

 

Sources:

Bell, M. (2006). “Vampires and Death in New England, 1784 to 1892,” Anthropology and Humanism, Vol. 31, Issue 2, pp 124–140.

Division of Tuberculosis Elimination. “History of World TB Day.” Tuberculosis (TB), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 Oct. 2023, www.cdc.gov/tb/worldtbday/history.htm.  

Fourth Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts, January 1873. Boston, Massachusetts: Wright & Potter. 1873. pp. 338–339.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health. “Tuberculosis.” www.mass.gov/tuberculosis.  

Muise, Peter. “The Plymouth Vampire of 1807.” New England Folklore, 11 Nov. 2021, https://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-plymouth-vampire-of-1807.html. Accessed 2024.  

Tucker, Abigail. “The Great New England Vampire Panic.” Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Oct. 2012, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-great-new-england-vampire-panic-36482878/.