Massachusetts Highway Photographs on Flickr

As a part of the Mapping Massachusetts: the History of Transportation in the Commonwealth grant that the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners awarded to the State Library, nearly 380 photographs of roads and highways in Massachusetts from 1892 to 1893 have been digitized. These images have been added to the library’s online repository and also to Flickr. The photographs in this collection accompany the Report of the Commission to Improve the Highways of the Commonwealth, which was published in February of 1893.

These photographs are interesting not only because they show the condition of the Commonwealth’s roadways in a time when travel by horse and buggy was commonplace, but also because they show some of the architecture in the cities and towns of Massachusetts during this time period. For example, some houses may be seen in the photograph below, which depicts a roadway in Cottage City.


In some of the photos the photographer’s shadow may be seen, along with the shadow of the camera set up on a tripod. Some of the towns’ inhabitants even show up in a few of the photos, posing for the camera, as seen below.


In addition to these highway photographs, the grant awarded to the State Library has also allowed for the digitization of a set of maps produced by the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners in the late 1880s to the early 1920s and a set of images depicting the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel.

New Images on Flickr

The library is making great progress with our Mapping Massachusetts: the History of Transportation in the Commonwealth grant and have received the first batch of images from our digitization vendor. All images are available in DSpace, and you will already find links to the digital images for many items when viewing the record in our online catalog.

A selection of these images are now available for browsing on the Library's Flickr site. The Board of Harbor and Land Commissioner Maps set contains sixteen of the approximately 125 maps digitized that were produced by the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners. These maps range in date from the late 1880s to the early 1920s, an example of which is given above. This map depicts Gloucester Harbor as it was surveyed in 1915. Click here to see other images in this set.

The second set now available on Flickr contains twenty-nine images from the approximately 105 photographs digitized that record the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel (1848-1875). These photographs show both the construction of the tunnel, as well as work buildings surrounding the tunnel and tools developed specifically for the tunnel project. Several images include people and are quite charming. For instance, the image above shows four women - parasols in hand - standing atop the west end masonry during construction. (Click the image to enlarge). Click here to see other images in this set.

Stay tuned to Flickr where we'll be adding more images from this grant project. Up next is a selection of images from the Commission to Improve the Highways of the Commonwealth (1892).

- Lacy Crews Stoneburner, Preservation Librarian