In memory of Governor Argeo Paul Cellucci

Paul Cellucci's portrait,
painted by Ronald Sherr

 This Thursday, June 13th, the body of former Governor Argeo Paul Cellucci will lie in state at the Massachusetts State House. Cellucci died Saturday at the age of 65 from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. A Hudson native, Cellucci lived a life dedicated to public service. He was a member of the Massachusetts General Court for 14 years, serving in the House of Representatives from 1977 to 1985 and in the Senate from 1985 to 1991. He was next elected Lieutenant Governor in 1991, serving in that capacity under Governor William Weld from 1991 to 1997. When Weld resigned in 1997, Cellucci served as acting Governor until he was elected Governor in 1999. He left the governorship to become ambassador to Canada in 2001.

The public viewing period will be from 2:30 to 7:00 in the Hall of Flags. This marks only the twelfth time an official has lain in state at the State House. Others to lie in state were:

March, 1874  Charles Sumner, served in the US Senate (1851 to 1874)

July 22 or 23, 1905  Wilmon W. Blackmar, Civil War Medal of Honor recipient and Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (1904-05)

July 24, 1906  Brigadier General Edmund Rice, and Civil War Medal of Honor recipient

April 18, 1911  William M. Olin, Massachusetts Secretary of State (1892-1911)

April 8, 1915  Curtis Guild, former Governor (1906-1909)

Feb. 14-15, 1931  Major General Clarence R. Edwards

Nov. 13-14, 1958 James M. Curley, former Governor (1935-1937)

Jan. 8 - 9, 1994  Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr., former Speaker of the US House of Representatives  and former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Oct. 27, 1998  Francis Sargent, former Governor (1969-1975)

May 31, 2001  John Joseph Moakley, served in the US House of Representatives (1973-2001)

Sept. 22-23, 2006  Edward J. King, former Governor (1979-1983)

March 11, 2009  George Keverian, former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Inaugural and State of the State Addresses of the Governors of the Commonwealth- Treasures of the State Library for June, 2011

In the first year in office, the Governor of the Commonwealth delivers his or her Inaugural Address. Speeches given in a Governor's other years in office are called the "State of the State." These non-inaugural addresses have also been termed "Communication from His Excellency the Governor" or "Annual Message."

These special documents are all housed in the State Library. For the years before the legislature adopted a "two year session" (the first was 1995-1996) ,these were always found in the legislative documents of the Senate and were Senate bill number 1 of each year.

With the two year sessions, the Inaugural address is Senate 1 and the subsequent speeches by a Governor may have another Senate number.
The State Libary's collections include all petitions put forward in the legislature.

Pamela W. Schofield, State Library Reference

Sculpted to Inspire: John Davis Long

This sculpture of John Davis Long by Pierre Millet is the featured piece of art work in the Library's Main Reading Room through Dec. 24.

Long was born October 27, 1838 in Buckfield, ME, which was then part of Massachusetts. He attended the common schools of Buckfield and Hebron Academy in Maine. In 1857 he graduated from Harvard University at the age of 19. For the next two years, he taught school and was the principal at Westford Academy.

Long studied law at Harvard Law School from 1860 to 1861 and in the private law offices of Sidney Bartlett, dividing his time between Boston and Maine. Admitted to the bar in 1861, he began practicing law in Buckfield, ME. In 1863 he moved to Boston and, in 1869, to Hingham.

He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1875 to 1878, serving as Speaker from 1876 to 1878. In 1879 he advanced to the office of Lieutenant Governor. Long was elected Governor on the Republican ticket and served from 1880 to1882 after winning by an overwhelming majority. During his term, Long shrank state government, reduced taxes on mortgages and local shipping, and opposed the Commonwealth’s capital punishment laws. He supported women’s suffrage and, as a lifelong abstainer of alcohol, advocated temperance legislation.

His political career continued in the U.S. Congress from March 1883 until March 1889 when he resigned to devote himself to the legal profession. Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt appointed him to serve in their Cabinets as Secretary of the Navy; he held this position from March 5, 1897 until May 1, 1902 leaving once again to resume his law practice.

Long delivered a speech to the men’s club at North Abington’s church after he retired from active life. This speech, noted in an Aug. 29, 1915 Boston Herald article, summarizes his simple philosophy. “Wealth alone does not make a man happy. It is not a necessity. The man with a dime in his pocket can be just as happy as the man with his pockets filled with golden coins.” As a member of the Unitarian Church, he believed in peace even though he was Secretary of the Navy during the Spanish American War.

Known to be prolific writer, he published a volume of poems entitled Bites of a Cherry, a memoir Reminiscences of my Seventy Years’ Education, and a treatise about the Navy in 1903 entitled The New American Navy. While serving as Lt. Governor, he translated Virgil’s Aeneid. He was President of the Overseers of Harvard University and the Authors’ Club of Boston. Long died in Hingham on August 28, 1915 and is buried in Hingham Cemetery.

His books:

America of Yesterday, as Reflected in the Journal of John Davis Long

Bites of a Cherry

The New American Navy

Reminiscences of My Seventy Years’ Education

The Republican Party: its History, Principles and Policies. He was the editor of this volume of articles by leading U.S. Senators and Representatives. 

Massachusetts Governors fun facts

Last month, we finished fact checking a portion of a website about the Governors of Massachusetts for the National Governors Association.They list the governors of all fifty states on their website. Here are some fun facts about the Governors:

• Governor George Dexter Robinson (1884-1887) was famous for defending Lizzie Borden.

• There was a governor named John Quincy Adams Brackett (1890-1891), who was born in Bradford, NH.


• Governor William Lewis Douglas (1905-1906) began the W.L. Douglas shoe company in Brockton. He set up a leper colony on Penikese Island, 12 miles Southwest of Woods Hole near Cape Cod.


• Governor Francis Sargent, (1969-1975) asked Republican former Vice President Spiro Agnew to stay out of Massachusetts. (We did not confirm this fact.) Governor Sargent also was the keynote speaker for Earth Day and ordered the flags to half-mast in recognition of the student killings at Kent State. He sponsored legislation challenging the legality of the war in Vietnam.

-Naomi Allen, Reference Librarian