Preservation Albums on Flickr!

Have you been to our Flickr page recently? Two albums made their debut there earlier this year: Collection Repair & Preservation and Preservation Tips. 

In Collection Repair & Preservation, we invite you to take a peek into the State Library’s preservation lab to see a compilation of past collection repairs and preservation measures taken to ensure the longevity of our collection. And in Preservation Tips, we share tips that can be easily applied to your own collection at home to make sure that books stay in tip-top shape! 

Additions will be made to both of these albums as new content is produced, so be sure to bookmark them and check back! And if you have any questions about our preservation practices, reach out to us by email to special.collections@mass.gov.

Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian

Fredrick Douglass in the State Library

Frederick Douglass, a former slave, was a passionate abolitionist, a forceful speaker, and a prolific writer. Douglass started a newspaper called The North Star and he also wrote three autobiographies. Frederick Douglass gave a speech on July 5, 1852 in Rochester, NY. The State Library has a copy of this speech titled: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” on page 379 in a book called The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay.

The State Library’s online catalog contains records for several of his publications, and the Library’s Flickr site has pictures of Frederick Douglass and other people involved in the emancipation of slaves and in the Civil War.

Naomi Allen

Reference Librarian

Massachusetts Real Estate Atlases Now on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mastatelibrary/7592839144/in/set-72157630625437496



As part of a grant-funded project, the State Library has started to digitize the Massachusetts Real Estate Atlases in its collection. The library has approximately 200 atlases, which include about 6500 maps in 12 counties and more than 80 municipalities throughout Massachusetts. These atlases provide information about property boundaries, plot size, ownership, building shapes, and materials and are heavily used by genealogists, architectural consultants, people researching the history of their homes, and others.




http://www.flickr.com/photos/mastatelibrary/7597142186/in/set-72157630625437496



So far 45 of the 200 atlases have been scanned, and a selection of images from these atlases may now be viewed on the State Library’s Flickr site. 



This project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

- The Marketing Committee

Massachusetts Women in Politics Now on Flickr

During the winter of 2010, the State Library displayed an exhibit on women in politics in Massachusetts. The exhibit profiled sixteen women politicians who have worked in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in such roles as Mayor, Representative, Senator, and Lieutenant Governor. The exhibit is now available for viewing on the State Library's Flickr site.

If you are interested in learning more about the women who have served in the Massachusetts Legislature, the State Library holds the legislative papers of fifteen women legislators, occupying approximately 200 linear feet. These materials are located in the Special Collections Department in Room 55 of the Massachusetts State House, open 9am-5pm Monday through Friday.

The Massachusetts Women in Politics exhibit was co-presented by the State Library of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators during their 75th Anniversary year. Thanks to Bruce DiLoreto and Mark Kasianowicz for many of the photos and to Marietta Carr for her research.

- The Marketing Committee

African Americans in the Massachusetts Legislature Exhibit Now on Flickr

In the winter of 2009 the State Library displayed an exhibit called "African Americans in the Massachusetts Legislature." This exhibit is now available to view online as a set of images on the State Library's Flickr site.

The exhibit documented the lives and contributions of noteworthy people who have served the General Court of the Commonwealth and changed Massachusetts history. Legislators highlighted include Lewis Hayden, Royal Bolling, Sr., Royal Bolling, Jr., Bill Owens, Shirley Owens-Hicks and Mel King, among others.

Please visit the State Library (State House - Room 341) Monday through Friday, 9am to 5 pm to view the library's current exhibit, "Worcester: Heart of the Commonwealth," open though January 27, 2012.

- The Marketing Committee

Worcester: Heart of the Commonwealth

You are invited to visit the library's newest exhibit, Worcester: Heart of the Commonwealth.

In this exhibition, materials from the State Library of Massachusetts' collections highlight the history of Worcester and its contributions to Massachusetts and America.

The exhibit runs through January 27, 2012 and can be viewed outside of the library, room 341 of the State House. Can't make it to the library? View the digital exhibit on the library's Flickr site!

Image adapted from Birdseye View of Main Street, circa 1900.

World War I Scanning Project Completed

As part of a long-term State Library project to make as many collections as possible available to the public through the web, we have been at work since late 2007 digitizing a collection of World War I portraits given to the State Library by the Boston Globe in 1935. With over 8,000 photographs and three times as many corresponding biographical cards, we have also created a database that includes basic information about each soldier – assignment, rank, merit awards, and sometimes even extra facts from newspaper clippings.

On July 20, scanning was finally completed—8,487 New England soldiers yielded over 11,000 images! The final photograph is of J.W. Zwinge, member of the 101^st Field Artillery, Battery A. Although the last photo scan suggests the end of an era, the database will continue to grow with over 25,000 biographical cards that have yet to be added. In addition, over the coming months these images will be added to our digital repository. To view a selection of photos from the collection, please visit the State Library's Flickr page.

Vintage Postcards of the State House Now Available on Flickr

The State Library has scanned and uploaded a selection of our postcard collection onto Flickr for your viewing pleasure. Ranging from the early 1900s to the mid 1920s, the postcards primarily depict the iconic golden dome and façade of the Massachusetts State House. Also included are the Shaw Memorial, the General Hooker Monument, the interior legislative chambers, Memorial Hall, and the Brewer Fountain in the Boston Commons.

Most of the collection consists of traditional souvenir postcards, but some are of a more promotional quality. While not available online due to copyright restrictions, there is a group of campaign postcards depicting Massachusetts politicians, such as Governor Frank Sargent and Lieutenant Governor Elliot Richardson. To view these campaign postcards and our complete collection of postcards ranging from the early 20th century to the 1990s, please visit the State Library Special Collections Department, Room 55.

The majority of our collection of nearly two hundred postcards can be found in Souvenir 68, a gift of former State Senator Edward L. Burke. Additional postcards have been recently donated by Beth Carroll-Horrocks.

-- Marissa Sorek, Special Collections Intern

Celebrate Women's History Month with New Images in Flickr

March is Women's History Month and the State Library is happy to present a new set of images on our Flickr site that celebrates five women politicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Cambridge Women In Politics set digitally recreates an exhibit installed at Cambridge City Hall in the Fall of 2009. The exhibit profiles three former mayors, E. Denise Simmons, Barbara Ackermann and Sheila Russell, and two current Massachusetts legislators, Martha Walz and Alice Wolf. The original exhibit was presented in collaboration with the Office of Mayor E. Denise Simmons and the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators.

- The Marketing Committee

Image courtesy of E. Denise Simmons.

New Decorated Bindings Images Added to Flickr

Recently I was walking through the stacks and came across a selection of books that have interesting cover images. The books turned out to be the Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture. A description of the title from the USDA's website:

"The main purpose of the Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture was to summarize USDA’s research developments. However, the Yearbook, which was published (with a couple of exceptions) annually from 1894 to 1992, has a broad appeal outside of the scientific community. In fact, Congress passed a law to provide for its publication as part of an effort to make agricultural information more readily available to farmers and other interested citizens."

The USDA has digitized the full run of the yearbook; however, it does not appear that they digitized the covers of the volumes. A selection of cover images can be found on the State Library's Flickr page. I highly recommend checking out the the digitized volumes on the USDA's site, as the title and introductory pages of the volumes also include wonderful mid-century graphics. Print copies of these yearbooks are accessible to the public in the State Library, room 341.

- Lacy Crews Stoneburner, Preservation Librarian

Holyoke Materials Now on Flickr

In the fall of 2009 the State Library displayed an exhibit called "Holyoke, Queen of Industrial Cities." This exhibit, a joint project by the State Library of Massachusetts and the Holyoke Public Library, is now available to view online as a set of images on the State Library’s Flickr site.

The exhibit highlighted the items in both libraries' collections that document the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Included in the exhibit were books, maps, and photographs of Holyoke, which was one of the first planned industrial towns in the country. Most of the photographs in the exhibit were from the Holyoke Public Library’s Milan P. Warner Collection. Warner, a Holyoke photographer in the 1880s and 1890s, captured beautiful black and white images of the town during its first industrial boom.

Please visit the State Library Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm, to view the library’s current exhibit, “Congressional Redistricting through the Years.”

-The Marketing Committee

Pictorial Maps Now on Flickr

In the summer of 2009 the State Library presented the exhibit, Ernest Dudley Chase: A Worldview in Maps highlighting original, decorative maps created and published in the 1930s and 1940s by Ernest Dudley Chase, a graphic artist from Winchester, Mass. Select images from this exhibit are now available on the library’s Flickr website.

Born in Lowell, Ernest Dudley Chase (1878-1966) worked for Rust Craft Publishers, which printed greeting cards at its plant in Dedham. Chase was the acknowledged expert in the greeting card business in the United States with publication of his book The Romance of Greeting Cards (1926), the first complete history of the greeting card industry. Chase’s maps were an extension of his work as a graphic artist for Rust Craft and also reflected an international trend toward pictorial mapmaking. These decorative maps, which experienced a resurgence in public popularity after 1913, are a genre in which the cartography is animated with illustrations of buildings, people, and animals. Often including historical references, the maps also frequently depicted airplanes and other modes of transportation. Borrowing from typical Renaissance cartography, Chase and other pictorial mapmakers used embellishments like compass roses, ornate cartouches, and decorative borders.

Chase’s maps revel in a colorful, idiosyncratic, and whimsical view of the world. The exhibit of his original cartographic creations showcased maps of Boston, Massachusetts, New England, the United States, and the world.

Due to copyright restrictions, only vignettes from select maps are included in this set. Please visit the Special Collections department to view any of the twenty nine Chase maps in the library's collection.

- The Marketing Committee

Above image adapted from: Historic Massachusetts: a travel map to help you feel at home in the Bay State, 1964.

Wild Flowers on Flickr

The library is pleased to present a new set of images on Flickr: North American Wild Flowers.

The set digitally recreates an exhibition of selected plates of watercolors by the American botanist Mary Vaux Walcott. The Smithsonian Institution published these paintings in limited and library five-volume editions as North American Wild Flowers in 1925.

The exhibit was originally posted at the State Library during the summer of 2008. Several of the original exhibit pieces are on display on the Periodicals Balcony, room 442. The original prints can be viewed in the Special Collections Department, room 55.

- The Marketing Committee

Hartwell Collection Materials on Flickr

A recent set on the State Library's Flickr web site highlights photographs and materials from the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Black Volunteer Regiments from the Civil War. The collections are from materials donated to the State Library by Alfred Stedman Hartwell, who served in both regiments.

Alfred Stedman Hartwell was born in Dedham, Massachusetts on June 11, 1836. Civil War records describe him as having been a law student; he graduated from Harvard University in 1858.

From May 8, 1861 to August 17, 1861, he served as a corporal in the 3rd Missouri Infantry. He was commissioned a 1st lieutenant on August 22, 1862 and was mustered into Company F, 44th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry on September 12, 1862; he resigned from that regiment and was discharged for promotion on March 31, 1863. Hartwell was next commissioned a captain in the 54th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry and was discharged on May 14, 1863 for promotion in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry. On November 3, 1863 he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in that regiment. He was wounded at Honey Hill, South Carolina on November 30, 1864, brevetted as a brigadier-general on December 30, 1864 and mustered out on April 30, 1866.

Because of his experience with black regiments, he spearheaded an investigation into certain abuses in the recruiting of black soldiers in the south. From 1865 to 1866, Hartwell led the investigation into these alleged abuses. Brevet Brigadier-General M.S. Littlefield was the subject of many accusations that indicated that he enrolled disabled blacks, known deserters, and others into the 21st Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops and had failed to pay bounties due to the men. As a result of Hartwell's efforts, Littlefield was court-martialed.

Hartwell later served as the Representative from Natick in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1867 and as Attorney General and Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Hawaii. He died in Honolulu on August 30, 1912.

The collection resides in the Special Collections Department of the State Library of Massachusetts and is available for the public to view.

Pamela W. Schofield
Reference Department

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

Library Launches Flickr Site

The State Library of Massachusetts is happy to announce the launch of its Flickr web site. The library will use the site to post images documenting the library’s history, not just its collections. Past library exhibits will be recreated online to allow people from around the world to view important library collections.

In celebration of National Library Week the first set is “The State Library through the Years,” a selection of images from the library’s historical archive. The State Library of Massachusetts opened in 1826 and has been in its present location in the State House since the 1890s. The main reading room, periodicals balcony, and stacks are located in the Brigham Extension, completed between 1889 and 1895. The images in this set show the library over the last 100 years.

Be sure to check back each month as a new set is posted. Our photo set in May will showcase our first in the series of exhibits, The 55th Regiment.

- The Marketing Committee