The State Library Wishes You a Happy Holiday Season

 

Author Talk Archive

As 2021 winds down, we’re looking back at all of the author talks that we were thrilled to present this year along with our local partners, including such institutions as the Boston Public Library, American Ancestors/New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the Museum of African American History. If you missed any of the talks, you can find recordings on our website. Here you'll also find links to our previous author talk blog posts, which provide additional information about each featured book and author.

Our video archive includes author talks dating back to 2020, so we hope you enjoy revisiting, or seeing for the first time, our collection of varied and diverse topics. And maybe one of the featured books will make a good holiday gift for someone on your list!

Author Talks Committee and the Friends of the State Library
State Library of Massachusetts

Hunnewell and Gay Collections at the State Library

Bookplate for the Hunnewell collection

The State Library may be known more for its law and legislative collections but two significant donations given in the past have enriched our collections in two very different, yet significant ways yet still both remain connected to the Library’s mission: supporting the research and information needs of government, libraries, and people through innovative services and access to a comprehensive repository of state documents and other historical items.

First, the collection of James Frothingham Hunnewell of Charlestown, Massachusetts was a major New England historian, antiquarian, and collector of rare books on his native town and state. Educated in Charlestown, he joined his father in his foreign merchant business, engaging in extensive travel overseas. Once retired, he became a member of the Bostonian Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society. As a collector, he was one of the founders of The Club of Odd Volumes. In his hometown community of Charlestown where his father’s family had lived since 1698 he served on many local boards and committees, including the Charlestown School Board, the Trustees of the Charlestown Public Library, and the Bunker Hill Monument Association. He lived in “Hunnewell House” on Green Street in Charlestown where he kept his library of Charlestown books and wrote his historical works.

His collection of books and pamphlets relating to Charlestown and Bunker Hill were bequeathed in his will to “the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to be kept together in, or in connection with the Library of said state [as he believed it was] a very unusual collection of printed matter relating to one of the oldest towns in the state and to its people. In time it will be almost impossible to make a like collection, and [he thought] this collection … an interesting and valuable illustration on such a subject.” 

The State Library’s 1914 Annual Report calls the Hunnewell collection “the most significant gift of the year … a collection of books and pamphlets relating to Charlestown and Bunker Hill, bequeathed to the library by the late James F. Hunnewell and accepted by vote of the trustees on April 14, 1914. At the present time 1,440 items, comprising the major part of the collection, have been turned over to the keeping of the library. In a broad sense the collection represents the literature of Charlestown. It is made up of works by founders of the town whose residence in it was not long, printed works and memorials of inhabitants, works relating to Charlestown both as town and city, including addresses and sermons delivered in it, and finally the history and literature of Bunker Hill. The collection is a notable one, and enriches the library’s accumulation of Massachusetts and New England historical material.”

Most of the volumes from the Hunnewell collection have a bookplate that was affixed by Mr. Hunnewell to the items in his personal library. In the State Library’s online catalog and on call number labels, the volumes have a prefix of “Hunnewell” to identify them as part of the Hunnewell gift bequest within the whole of the library’s collections.

Gay collection bookplate

Frederick Lewis Gay (Oct. 28, 1856-Mar. 3, 1916) of Brookline, Massachusetts was a noted antiquarian, historian, and genealogist. He graduated from Boston Latin School and attended Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, receiving his degree from the college in 1903. He was a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Massachusetts Historical Society.  He researched and wrote about genealogy and the history of greater Boston and New England and was a collector of books, newspapers, and English Civil War materials.

A portion of his personal library was donated to the State Library in 1923 and was noted in the 1924 Annual Report of the State Librarian as “among the important gifts of the year we received some 2,000 volumes from the library of the late Frederick Gay consisting of local history, collections of Massachusetts Historical Proceedings, Dedham Historical Proceedings, Essex Institute, American Antiquarian Society Proceedings, and other important volumes.”  

Many of the volumes from the Gay Collection have a bookplate affixed by the State Library to distinguish them in the collection.  In the online catalog and on call number labels, the volumes have a prefix of “Gay Coll.” to identify them as part of the Gay gift collection within the whole of the library’s collections.

Judy Carlstrom
Technical Services

Friends of the Library Newsletter – December issue

Pictured here is a preview of our December newsletter, to access the full version click this link: https://mailchi.mp/6e13b710ed01/december-news-from-the-state-library-5118825

On Display in the State Library

This month, our featured collection item is a fun map found in our Special Collections holdings. A Pictorial Map of the New England States, U.S.A. is by renowned cartographer Ernest Dudley Chase and dates to 1939. It shows, in great detail, the six states that comprise New England: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.

If you were looking for a topographical map of New England, or a map that would show you how to get from point A to point B, you may want to look elsewhere. But this map is an excellent example of an illustrated map, which takes a more artistic, and less technical approach to cartography. Towns and cities are identified within each state and are accompanied by a drawing of an important building or landmark associated with that location. New England’s many lighthouses dot the coastline and various sailing vessels are found in the Atlantic. A fun aspect of this map is that sprinkled throughout it are illustrations of activities that can be enjoyed in that area; take a close look to see drawings of ice fishing at Sebago Lake in Maine, sunbathing at Falmouth on Cape Cod, and skiing in Gorham, Vermont. These are just a few examples, what other drawings do you spot within the map? Additionally, along the outer edges of the map are slightly larger drawings of important buildings with a title identifying their name and location, and found on the perimeter of the map, distinguishable by oval frames, are drawings of each state’s capital building - including our very own State House. 

Detail image of Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Ernest Dudley Chase was a prolific illustrator and cartographer from the early to mid-1900s. The State Library holds several of his maps in our collection, and we hope to have them all available digitally in the future, but for now a full list of our Chase holdings can be found here. As you can see, his maps were not limited to New England, but include world maps, other locations within the United States, European countries, and themed maps. 

For a high-resolution version of this New England map, please click here to explore the copy in Harvard’s map collection. There is a lot of detail to be found on this map, each time you look at it you can find something new! Zoom in on this digital version to see all of the intricate drawings - buildings, activities, landmarks - that make New England such a special place to live or visit.

Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian

Connect with the State Library!

We are excited to announce that we have launched a new mailing list feature. By subscribing to our mailing list, you’ll receive occasional updates, news, announcements, and our monthly newsletter straight
from our library to your inbox. 

Signing up is easy! Head to this link and fill in your name and email address. 

And while you’re online, consider joining the Friends of the State Library. As a Friend, you will have the satisfaction of knowing your efforts and financial support are going towards bettering our library through purchasing new equipment, enhancing our print or electronic collections, or helping fund a new preservation project to protect and preserve Massachusetts history for generations to come. Find more information and our online membership form on our website.

Thank you for connecting with the State Library!

Redistricting in Massachusetts 2021

The Massachusetts legislature’s Special Joint Committee on Redistricting has released maps detailing proposed changes to the state’s House, Senate, Congressional, and Governor’s Council voting districts. These changes reflect the most recent 2020 federal census data for Massachusetts and is required every 10 years by the U.S. Constitution. Many of the Joint Committee’s proposed changes for this year’s redistricting efforts aim to improve minority representation in certain parts of the state. 

Some of the proposed changes and anticipated outcomes include:

Senate districts

• Lawrence and a section of downtown Haverhill will move from the Second Essex and Middlesex Senate District to a new 19th District. Methuen and parts of Haverhill that are currently in the First Essex Senate District will move to this new 19th District. These changes aim to create a majority-minority district.
• Sections of Haverhill, Amesbury and Merrimac will move to the Second Essex and Middlesex Senate District.
• Topsfield will move from the Second Essex Senate District to the First Essex and Middlesex Senate District.
• Newburyport will move from the First Essex Senate District to the First Essex and Middlesex Senate District.

House districts

• Existing House districts will be reconfigured to create 33 new majority-minority opportunity districts where less than 50% of the population is non-Hispanic white residents. Of these new districts, 10 will be majority-minority districts where over 50% of the voting population are either Black or Hispanic.
• The 16th and 17th Essex House districts will be reconfigured so that three majority-minority districts can be created in the Lawrence and Methuen area.
• The 4th Essex House District will be reconfigured to create a majority-minority district.

Congressional districts

• Fall River, currently split between the 4th and 9th Congressional districts, will instead be moved to the 4th Congressional District in its entirety.
• Chesterfield and Heath will move to the 2nd Congressional District.
• Parts of southern Worcester County will move from the 2nd to the 1st Congressional District.
• The 7th Congressional District will see an increase in the percentage of people of color living in the district: from roughly 57% to 61.3%.

Important contemporary and historical resources on redistricting:

Proposed changes for 2021: https://malegislature.gov/Redistricting/ProposedDistricts
Current districts as of 2011: https://malegislature.gov/Redistricting/CurrentDistricts
Archived public hearings: https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings
Historical Massachusetts district maps: https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/50067 

Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Department