Brown Bag on The British in Concord in 1775

Join us for a Brown Bag Lunch
on Tuesday September 24th, 2013
State Library of Massachusetts
Room 442, State House
12 until 1:30 PM

Bring your lunch and come hear J. L. Bell, proprietor of the Boston 1775 website, speak on: “What Were the British Soldiers Looking for in Concord in 1775?”

Everyone who’s been through fifth-grade social studies in Massachusetts knows the story of the British march to Concord on April 19, 1775, the military mission that set off the Revolutionary War. But why exactly did Gen. Thomas Gage send troops so far into the countryside? This illustrated talk will show how the story begins beside Boston Common the previous September when four brass cannon disappeared from militia armories even though they were under redcoat guard.

To register, please go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DF5L6WY  

You may also register by calling the Reference Department at 617-727-2590 or by e-mailing to Reference.Department@state.ma.us

A new exhibit on the Beginnings of the Textile Industry in Massachusetts

 

Doubling frame in a large woolen mill, Lawrence, Mass.
Keystone View Company, early 1900s. Stereoview.


The State Library invites you to our newest exhibit, The Beginnings of the Textile Industry in Massachusetts.

The exhibit concentrates on the flourishing textile industry in early 19th-century Massachusetts: the machinery of the Industrial Revolution, water rights, modern business practices, and the early labor force of educated farmers’ daughters. The display features holdings from the State Library Collections.

The exhibit runs from September 10 through December 31, 2013 and can be viewed outside of the Library, Room 341 of the State House. Library hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.

A special thanks to Mary Salzman, a former Reference/Exhibitions intern, who researched the topic, scanned many of the documents, wrote the panel text, and designed the exhibit layout.

Tom Meagher: the Original “Candy Man” for the Massachusetts Legislature

If you ever get a chance to flip through one of the late 19th or early 20th century Souvenirs of Massachusetts Legislators (available online), which provide photographs and biographical sketches of Massachusetts legislators during the years in which they served, you’ll come across an interesting character.  In the 1897 souvenir, editor Arthur Milnor Bridgman states in his introduction: “This Souvenir contains also a special feature in the picture of Tom Meagher, the gallant one-armed veteran of the War, who has been for many years a popular fixture as the ‘candy man.’”  But don’t be fooled by his tongue-in-cheek nickname--Tom was a cigar dealer.


Bridgman’s caption for photo (left): “’Tom Meagher,’

the Veteran of the War of the Rebellion, Who has been the popular 

“Candy Man” of the Legislature for, lo, these many years.” 
Meagher was located on the 3^rd floor, outside
 the entrance to the House Lobby.

Meagher, a kind and familiar face in the State House for “lo, these many years”, worked his concession counter toward the latter half of the 19th century.  The timeframe of his tenure is unclear, but by the mid-nineteen teens, when the publication went through a reformatting, his “feature” was no longer included.  By 1919, a new proprietor by the name of Pierce O’Connell took up residence in Meagher’s stead.  Notice anything familiar behind O’Connell’s counter?

From the 1920 book Public Officials of
Massachusetts ('Bird Book')

 With the scant information provided by Bridgman, and from the caption accompanying Meagher’s photograph, what we do know is that he was a Civil War veteran.  Additional research tells us that he was born in Ireland sometime around 1835 and immigrated to the United States in 1855.  Assuming that he fought under the auspices of Massachusetts, one will find that there are a handful of entries for Thomas Meaghers in the multi-volume set Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War.  One entry in particular, for a soldier who fought in Company C of the 1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, sticks out among the rest:

(Vol. I, p. 21)

This is the only entry that mentions wounds received in battle--undoubtedly a reference to Meagher’s gravely injured right arm (for which he later received a government pension).  Virginia was the scene of much violence during the Civil War.  From June 25th to July 1st, 1862, under the Union campaign leadership of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan against Confederate campaign under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, Henrico (which includes Fair Oaks) and Hanover Counties experienced a series of six battles known as the Seven Days Battles; it’s probable that our Tom Meagher sustained his injuries during the first at what is now called the Battle of Oak Grove.

I wish we could know a lot more about Tom Meagher.  As a Civil War veteran who, in his youth, experienced the horrors of battle in a country divided, who then retired to the humble life of selling cigars and chit-chatting with members of the Massachusetts General Court, we can only imagine the fascinating stories he could relate to us today.  It’s certain that he was well-loved and respected by all that had the pleasure of talking with him, and the inclusion of his “feature” in over a decade’s worth of legislative souvenirs, as well as his near life-size portrait that hung on the wall outside the House lobby, is testament to their appreciation.


Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Dept.

1963 March on Washington

On Saturday, August 24th, the nation will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic civil rights march held in the nation’s capital. Led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. the 1963 crowd at the march was estimated at 250,000.  

The march has been called “The March for Jobs and Freedom” by some and “The Great March on Washington” by others.  It was there that Reverend King, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered perhaps his most famous speech.The words touched millions with its calls for a fairer America.  
 

Two days before the gathering, members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives filed resolutions supporting the march and calling on Congress to pass major civil rights legislation filed by President Kennedy.  Their efforts epitomized the state’s tradition of leadership in the movement for equality in this country. House document no. 3682 from 1963 contains the resolution and is located in the State Library: 

Reverend King spoke at the Massachusetts State House on April 22, 1965 in front of a joint session of the Massachusetts General Court. You can view his eloquent speech here.

Visit the Library in Room 341 of the State House to view books and other materials about the civil rights movement. We welcome visitors.  Our hours are Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5PM.

Pamela W. Schofield

State Library of Massachusetts

Brown Bag on the Massachusetts Gaming Commission

Join us for a Brown Bag Lunch
on Tuesday,  August 20th, 2013
State Library of Massachusetts
Room 442, State House
12 until 1:30 PM

Bring your lunch and come to hear James McHugh,  Massachusetts Gaming Commissioner speak about: Expanded Gaming in Massachusetts. Where did it come from? Where is it going? How and when will it get there and who is watching over it? You will learn the answers to these questions and have an opportunity to ask your own. 
                              
To register online, please go to:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RLF3VX7

You may also register by calling the Reference Department at 617-727-2590 or by e-mailing to Reference.Department@state.ma.us.

Sensational Cases: The Case of Theodore Tilton vs. Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher

Tilton vs. Beecher was one of the most famous scandals of the late 19th century. With New York as the backdrop, it involved American newspaper editor, abolitionist, and cuckold Theodore Tilton, his wife, Elizabeth, and the famed Congregationalist clergyman, abolitionist, and social reformer Henry Ward Beecher. Reverend Beecher, also known as the father of author Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom’s Cabin) and women’s rights leader Isabella Beecher Hooker, was accused by Tilton of adultery. Beecher’s personal history was riddled with rumors of extramarital affairs that had begun circulating since the early to mid-19th century. In 1870, Elizabeth Tilton confessed her affair with Beecher to her husband, who then made it known to women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Stanton subsequently told fellow activists Isabella (Beecher’s daughter) and Victoria Woodhull. Woodhull, enraged by what she viewed as flagrant hypocrisy practiced by the popular religious leader, who himself held a public stance against such free love, wrote an article about the affair in her newspaper Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly in 1872. The article sparked massive national interest. Beecher was successful in having Woodhull arrested on the grounds of distributing obscene materials through the mail, which split the allegiances of the clergyman’s two daughters; Woodhull, given her own trial, was eventually released on a technicality. 
 

Elizabeth Tilton

After an inquiry conducted by his church, he was exonerated of all charges and Tilton was excommunicated from the church. In 1875, Tilton then brought a civil case to the city court, which could not arrive at a verdict; this prompted the Congregational church to hold a final hearing that, to the anger of many, resulted in Beecher’s 2nd exoneration.

The 3 volume set titled Theodore Tilton vs. Henry Ward Beecher, action for crim. con. tried in the city court of Brooklyn … verbatim report by the official stenographer (1875), which can be found in our library’s collections, is an important and in depth record of this civil trial. It includes court proceedings, affidavits, the opinions of judges, transcriptions of arguments put forth by the attorneys representing each party, the testimonies delivered by witnesses, witness cross-examinations, and sketched portraits of important figures in the trial.

If you are curious about the current legalities of adultery in Massachusetts, you can search the Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) online by entering “adultery” into the keyword search bar.

Theodore Tilton

Kaitlin Connolly

Reference Dept.




Library Classifications of Yore: Shurtleff’s Decimal System

Did you know that, before the Dewey Decimal System was invented in 1876 and widely adopted by libraries, there were other decimal-based library classification systems in place? One interesting system was developed by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M.D., chairman of the State Library of Massachusetts trustees in the mid-19th century. His self-designed, self-published classification system and manual titled A Decimal System for the Arrangement and Administration of Libraries (1856) was originally introduced into the Boston Public Library where it had been in “practical operation there since the summer of 1852.”

The classification system was heavily geared toward library administration as well as the physical arrangement of books in a library. It dictated that the alcoves and shelves should be arranged in multiples of ten, with each shelf labeled with a number. For example: “if a book is on shelf No. 208, it will be found on the 8th shelf of the 10th range, and (deducting 1 from the 2 in place of hundreds) of the 1st alcove.” Each book was also to be marked with the shelf number, as well as another number that represented its “true position on its shelf”—starting with 1 at the left. Further letters and numbers help denote multiple volumes in a set, multiple copies of a book, newly added books, etc.

 This system benefitted item retrieval and reshelving, but put both patrons and librarians at a disadvantage when wanting to conduct more precise searching and discovering of materials by subject matter on shelves. Card catalogs at this time were also simplistic in design, and were just beginning to give patrons an idea on what library collections had to offer. In 1857, as the State Library was changing to a new classification system, State Librarian George S. Boutwell, in the library’s 1857 annual report, acknowledges Shurtleff’s assistance during the process. Although the library did not adopt Shurtleff’s system, as Boutwell concedes that it was designed for “library apartments constructed with reference to the system, and for large circulating libraries”, he does praise its “simplicity, completeness and practicalness,” its potential to save on time and labor, and its ability to “promote convenience and despatch”. In this sense, Boutwell believed that the system would still be of great service to the library. It wasn’t until Melvil Dewey’s subject-based hierarchical decimal system was designed that the modern-day concept of library classification began to evolve and meet the needs of both the institutions and patrons alike.

Kaitlin Connolly

Reference Department