Now Available Online: Legislative Photograph Collection

We at the State Library are excited to announce that our photograph collection of members of the Massachusetts legislature, also known as Photograph 361, has been made available through our DSpace electronic documents repository.

This collection is a priceless historical, genealogical, and legislative resource that provides visual documentation of over 3400 individuals who served in the Massachusetts General Court from 1855 up to 1908. These photographs, many of which cannot be found elsewhere, wonderfully supplement resources such as the biennially-published Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and help paint a more complete picture of the history of the General Court.

This project would not have been possible without the folks at the Boston Public Library’s digitization lab, as well as the support of 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.

For more information about our legislative photograph collection, please contact our library’s Special Collections Department at 617-727-2595.

Kaitlin Connolly

Reference Department

The Courageous Men of the 104th Infantry Regiment

Detail of Richard Andrew’s  “Decoration of the Colors of the 104th United States Infantry,”
painted in the State House in 1927.

If you’ve ever visited the Massachusetts State House, you’ll know the halls are filled with wonderful works of art.  Portraits, plaques, murals, and sculptures throughout the building all pay homage to notable people and events in Massachusetts history.

A large mural on the third floor features a group of WWI era soldiers standing with two flags.   The men are from the 104th infantry regiment of the 26th “Yankee” Division, and in this painted scene they become the first American military unit to have its colors (flag) decorated by a foreign government.

French corps commander General Fenelon Passaga awarded the decoration for the unit’s exceptional bravery during the Battle of Apremont on April 20, 1918.  “I am proud to decorate the flag of a regiment which has shown such fortitude and courage,” he said.  “I am proud to decorate the flag of a nation which has come to aid in the fight for liberty.”
 

Almost 10 years after the decoration ceremony, a reenactment was held at Camp Devens in  Ayer, Massachusetts. 
This photograph of the scene served as inspiration for the mural.



Julian T. Martin of Company L,
104th Infantry Regiment.

The State Library of Massachusetts is proud to own a collection of over 8,000 portraits of World War I soldiers from the Yankee Division, including many men from the 104th infantry.  Part of the collection was recently uploaded to our digital repository, and anyone can browse the online collection for soldiers with last names from O to Z.  Click here to see the DSpace collection of World War I photographs, or visit the State Library’s Special Collections department to request to see photographs in person.   The Library also has many materials on the history of the Yankee Division, including select regimental histories, newsletters, newspaper clippings, calendars of record, and more.

The mural of the 104th Infantry Regiment is located on the third floor between the Senate Leader and Senate Clerk’s offices, opposite the entrance to the House of Representatives.  The State Library is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
 




Bianca Hezekiah
Reference Department

Unidentified Legislative Photographs: The Mysteries Continue!

A few months ago, I shared an interesting photographic mystery that piqued our curiosity: the seated picture of a woman from our bound 1869 Senate photograph album.  We at the State Library wondered—who was she?  What relationship did she have with the legislature in 1869?  Was she an important figure in Massachusetts history?  Unfortunately, we haven’t come any closer to an answer, but these questions did engender many spirited attempts to uncover her identity—and we have had a lot of fun throughout the process.

However, she is just the beginning of many more mysteries surrounding identity.  While most of the legislators and officers in our legislative photograph collection (known also as Photograph 361) have been successfully identified, there are about 70 photographs that still remain otherwise.  In an effort to attach names to these faces, as well as involve the public in this fun project, we have made all of the unidentified photographs available for viewing on our State Library Flickr account.

If you recognize any of these past members of the Massachusetts General Court, or have strong suspicions that you might know who one or more of them are, let us know by contacting the State Library at reference.department@state.ma.us. 

Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Department

 

 

A Photographic Mystery: An Anonymous Picture of a Woman in the 1869 Senate Album

Sometimes a little mystery makes a project all the more interesting! In a recent blog entry, I reported on our newly digitized legislative photograph collection and some of the characteristics I observed. Since then, I have been working ardently on creating and fixing metadata that will be attached to each photograph. Although the project is moving along pretty smoothly, some snags are to be expected—namely trying to identify unidentified legislators, officers of the court, and other images included within the collection. I’ve been largely successful with the bound Senate albums, relying greatly on the relationship between the order of the pictures in the album and the senators’ seating arrangements found in the Manuals of the General Court, but I am finding that the loose photographs are incredibly difficult to identify.

One image in particular pleasantly surprised me: our Senate album for the year 1869 concludes with a final picture of an anonymous woman. Keep in mind, the first female Massachusetts legislator did not serve until 1923 (also see our updated list of women in the Mass. Legislature), so this is a bit of a head-scratcher. Who was she? Was she the widow of an important Massachusetts legislator? Women’s suffrage continued to be an active cause during this time period—could she have been making waves in the legislature? Was she an officer for the Senate? Her picture comes at the end of the album where the officers were typically located. Nevertheless, officers and appointees of the General Court in the 19th century were, like legislators, exclusively men; it wasn’t until the early 20th century that we begin to see women appointed to positions such as cashiers and stenographers. Unfortunately, the 1869 Manual of the General Court, as well as the Journal of the Senate for that year, provide no helpful information on who she was and the role she played.

If you recognize the woman in this picture, or have strong suspicions that you might know who she is, please contact the State Library at reference.department@state.ma.us.

Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Department

World War One Soldier Portraits Now in Dspace

A portion of our World War I photograph collection has finally made its way online! Digitization of over 8,000 soldier portraits begun in 2007 and was finally completed last summer. After careful review of files and metadata, 1,800 images were recently uploaded to the State Library’s digital repository.

Now patrons are able to browse photographs of members of the 26th “Yankee” Division who were based at Camp Devens (now Fort Devens) in Ayer, Massachusetts. Many soldiers have more than one image in their record because of material written on the reverse side of their portrait. Valuable information like hometown, address, promotion, and even names of family members may appear here, so make sure to click “show full item record” to check for more files and a transcription of the text.

Click here to browse photographs of soldiers with names beginning with S – Z, and stay tuned for more notices about future uploads!

Bianca Hezekiah
Reference Department

State Library Legislative Photograph Collection

Thanks to the hard working folks at the Boston Public Library, our large collection of legislative photographs has finally been digitized! The collection, which spans inclusively from 1855 up to 1908, is comprised of various formats of loose photographs, as well as bound legislative portrait albums depicting members of the Massachusetts General Court during their years served. Also digitized are the versos of photographs when necessary, which provide important identifying information and, in many cases, the name of the photography studio.

As mentioned in our previous blog post, which details our efforts to produce a comprehensive database based on our legislative biographical file, our goal is to make all of these images electronically accessible to the public in the near future. The photographs will compliment images already available in our digitized collection of “Bird Books” and Souvenirs of Massachusetts Legislators, as well as fill in some of the years that are not currently available.

While browsing through the photographs, one thing I found interesting was that many images (as evidenced on those from the 1855 Senate) were signed by their respective legislators and have various handwritten messages such as “With great respect”, “Yours in love”, “Fraternally yours”, and “Receive my considerations”. Also notable in this collection is a wonderful early image of John James Smith (1825-1906), a native Virginian, entrepreneur, and African American legislator who was elected to serve Boston in 1868, three years after the conclusion of the Civil War.

In addition to the services provided by the BPL, the project was 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. For more information about our legislative photograph collection, please contact our library’s Special Collections Dept. at 617-727-2595.

Kaitlin Connolly

Library Technician, Reference Dept.

Massachusetts Photographers in the 19th Century

May is National Photography Month! People are taking more photos now than ever before, thanks to the advancements of digital photographic processes. And because of the Internet, photographs can now be uploaded and shared almost instantaneously with anyone in almost any part of the world. The State Library is currently working on its own photographic digitization projects: in the works is the digitization of our collection of WWI Massachusetts soldiers, and also of our legislative photograph collection.

Due to the ease and accessibility of photography nowadays, it’s hard to imagine what it must have been like to experience the very concept as it was in its early stages. Early photographic processes were quite time-consuming and labor-intensive, and images were difficult to reproduce. Despite this, photography flourished throughout Massachusetts in the 19th century, and cities and towns both large and small saw commercial and portrait photographers setting up shop all around the area.

  

Boston in particular was home to many famous first generation American photographers, some of whom captured the images of notable men and women active during this time period: John Adams Whipple (1822-1891) and James Wallace Black (1825-1896) worked both as partners and individually, and are known for their photos of people such as Daniel Webster, Walt Whitman, and John Brown; the photographic firm Southworth & Hawes (Albert Sands Southworth (1811-1894) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808-1901)), also produced an extensive collection of famous portraits, including images of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Sumner, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

One great primary resource for early Massachusetts photographers are advertisements found within our collection of 19th century Boston directories, which provide insight about the various types of services that were provided. For example, an 1848 advertisement for Southworth & Hawes states: “We take great pains to have Miniatures of deceased persons agreeable and satisfactory, and they are often so natural as to seem, even to Artists, in a quiet sleep.”

Another more exhaustive resource, organized by town or city name, is “A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers, 1839-1900”; the authors of this book compiled information on nearly every photographer in Massachusetts between the years 1839 to 1900, including their business addresses, examples of their work (if available), and other pertinent info that the authors were able to uncover in their research.

As a final note, this is a good opportunity to invite you to please check out the State Library’s official Flickr page! Our Flickr is full of images from our collections, including those of WWI Massachusetts soldiers, over 100 photographs documenting the damage caused by the hurricane of 1936, and a large collection of photographs depicting Massachusetts roads and highways from 1892 to 1893.

Kaitlin Connolly

Library Technician, Reference Dept.

Remembering Black Heroes from the First World War

How much do you know about black servicemen? Buffalo Soldiers of World War II are often the first that come to mind, having been immortalized many times over in song, television, and film. In addition, with the recent release of the movie “Red Tails,” many people have learned about the Tuskegee Airmen and their significant accomplishments, but what about black soldiers before the Second World War? Few know of the Harlem Hellfighters, and still fewer know of the Blue Helmets. These brave regiments fought alongside the French in World War I because their American comrades had refused to do so. At a time when “colored” soldiers were always in separate units and rarely got the proper respect they deserved, these men were doubly courageous for their steadfast resolve whilst fighting two wars… the harder of which was amongst their countrymen.

Massachusetts’ Company L, Sixth Infantry was part of the National Guard, and the only black company to come out of the Commonwealth. As part of the 372d Regiment within the 93d Division, it was one of many companies that made up the entire “colored” division- between ten and fifteen thousand men. Originally the 93d Division was to fight under General John J. Pershing, but after pressure from France to provide U.S. assistance, Pershing decided to send the black troops to serve in the French Army.

Unlike the U.S. command, General Mariano Goybet and the French did not discriminate and were more than happy to have reinforcements. New York’s “Harlem Hellfighters” were the first of the 93d to reach France. They were soon joined by the “Black Devils” of Illinois and parts of the 92d “Buffalo Soldier” Division. Eventually the entire 93d would be nicknamed “The Blue Helmets” because of the blue Adrian combat helmets worn by the French Army.

Finally able to engage in combat instead of being relegated to labor-exclusive pioneer infantrymen, the men thrived. The efforts of the Americans were so extraordinary, over 500 awards and decorations were distributed by the French alone. The men of the 372d received a unit award of the Croix de Guerre with Palm (along with a second nickname, “The Bloody Hands”), many men received the Distinguished Service Cross, and Clarence Van Allen from Boston’s Company L even received the Médaille Militaire, which is one of France’s highest military honors.

When Company L returned to Boston they were given a parade, celebrated as heroes, and received formal recognition for the military honors that had been awarded at home and abroad. Evidently the pomp and circumstance was short lived, since so few people today remember their unique story. As we celebrate Black History Month, let’s remember not only the men of Company L, but all of the black men who served in the First World War at a time when equality was considered a luxury.

The above photograph of Company L is part of a collection of over 40 group photographs of units from Camp Devens. If you are searching for information on an ancestor from Massachusetts who served in World War I, visit the State Library’s Special Collections Department to check our database of soldier photos, or read even more about World War I in the Boston Globe by way of our microfilm collection.

Bianca Hezekiah
Program Coordinator, Reference Department

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.

Discovery of Five Brothers Serving in World War I

In the Special Collections Department we are nearing the completion of a large scanning project to digitize a collection of photographs of World War I soldiers. The collection was given to the State Library by the Boston Globe in the 1930s and contains approximately 9,000 photographs. So far we have scanned 8,180 photographs. There is also a corresponding collection of about 30,000 index cards that contain biographical information on individual soldiers, often with newspaper clippings glued to the back. The data from these cards has been entered into a spreadsheet along with the information from the photographs and their envelopes. This spreadsheet contains a wealth of information on New England soldiers who served during World War I.

Occasionally, when scanning the photographs, we come across interesting individuals and unique stories. A previous post by intern Samantha Westall describes the discovery of two men with the same last name who looked nearly identical. Just this past week, I came across the photographs of Paul G. Watts, Robert E. Watts, Seymour H. Watts, and William H. Watts, Jr., four brothers from South Boston who were all serving at the same time. In the folder for Seymour H. Watts' photograph there was also a newspaper clipping from the Boston Globe with the title "Five Sons in United States Army." The subtitle explains the story further: "Mr and Mrs William H. Watts of South Boston Have Another Boy Who Longs to Be of Draft Age." Besides the four sons whose photographs are in the collection, the newspaper clipping mentions another son in service and a 6th, a 16-year-old, who is waiting until he is old enough to join the army.

One might wonder how their mother feels knowing that she has six sons serving in the army. Having just one family member fighting in the war would be difficult to deal with, but according to the paper: "The mother is also very patriotic and did not hesitate to allow her sons to step forth to battle, knowing that the country expects every man, woman and child to do their bit." "Stand by Uncle Sam" is the motto of this family, according to the paper. I don't think anyone could doubt their patriotism!

This is just one of dozens of unique stories that have come to light through the World War I photographs digitization project. Stop by the Special Collections Department to view these amazing photographs for yourself!

- Katie Trexler, Special Collections Intern

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

Photographs of Legislators

Did you know that the State Library has a collection of over 3,200 photographs of legislators?

The earliest photographs are from 1855 and the collection continues into the early 1900s. The photographs range in size from tiny tin type to oversize collages. All are housed in the climate-controlled library vault and are available for the public to view in the Special Collections department.

The collection is currently being digitized by a library intern and once complete, the images will be posted in the library's digital repository, DSpace. At left is one of the digitized images - Charles Dillingham (1821-1902). Mr. Dillingham was in the state Senate in 1861 and 1862, then in the state House of Representatives in 1886 and 1887, representing Sandwich during those periods. As you can see at the bottom of the image, this photograph was taken during his tenure in the Senate.

Images of legislators can also be found in several publications that the library has already digitized and are available online. Each book is listed on the Public Officers of the Commonwealth page of the library's web site. Click on any year and the digital version will open through the Internet Archive web site.

- Lacy Crews Stoneburner, Preservation Librarian

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

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

Learn About the State Library's Scanning Projects

An ongoing initiative at the State Library is the digitization of historic Massachusetts state documents. Small collections tend to be digitized in-house using state-of-the-art scanners, while larger projects are sent to the Boston Public Library’s scanning center. So far, the State Library has digitized around 1000 items, and that number increases daily.

The in-house scanning projects include the Legislative Biographical File, which contains information about members of the Massachusetts General Court and its predecessors, Massachusetts constitutional officers, and members of Massachusetts constitutional conventions from the colonial period to date. Also being scanned at the State Library is a collection of photographs of World War I soldiers from New England and the Zimmer Newspaper Index, which is a card index to "current events" from 1878-1937 for use by Massachusetts legislators and the public. The Zimmer Index was created as a result of the “Act to Authorize the Preparation for the State Library of an Index of Current Events," passed by the Massachusetts legislature in 1892.

Larger scanning projects, such as the journals of the House and the Senate, are sent to the scanning center at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library in Copley Square. Some items from a grant-funded scanning project are also being sent to the BPL; this project involves a collection of nineteenth-century transportation materials, including photographs, maps, atlases, annual reports, and manuscripts.

Digitized items are preserved both in the Internet Archive and the State Library’s online institutional repository, known as DSpace. The Internet Archive also includes other Massachusetts-related documents, such as town and regional histories, which have been scanned by other institutions.

- State Library Staff

Finding information about past legislators

A generous donor has recently given the State Library of Massachusetts a collection of photographs of legislators dating from 1880 to about 1920. These are platinum prints (or platinotypes), a photographic process that achieved widespread use in 1880 and continued to be popular until 1930. Of particular value is the fact that most of the recently donated images are signed on the back by the legislator.

Depicted below is Anthony Smalley, a retired ship's master from Nantucket, who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a Republican from 1890 to 1894.



According to the 1894 Souvenir of Massachusetts Legislators, he served on the Committee on Fisheries and Game as well as the Committtees on Public Service; Street Railways; and Finance, Expenditures, and Revision of Corporation Laws during his time in office.


The State Library holds another collection of photographs of representatives and senators from about 1855 to 1908 for which we have a detailed alphabetical list in the Special Collections department. This new acquisition is a valuable supplement to that larger collection.









Shown above and at right are front and back examples (again for Anthony Smalley) of another valuable source of information about individuals who have served in the Massachusetts General Court prior to the early 20th century: legislative bio cards in Special Collections. These date from the late 18th century to 1915 and often list date of birth, birth place, date of death, names of parents, place of death, occupation, years served in the Massachusetts or U.S. House or Senate, posts held in the state or federal government, and community represented.


Paige Roberts
Head of Special Collections

Seeing Double!

As an intern volunteering at the State Library's Special Collection Department, I have a few projects that I work on. One of them is the ongoing database project, the goal of which is to allow public access to 8,000 photographs of World War I soldiers from New England that was donated to the State Library by the Boston Globe. Photographs are not the only source of information; some information can also be found on the photo envelope such as name, rank, unit, and the occasional newspaper clipping as well as an index card collection (though there is not a card for every photo) with additional information such as address and date the information was printed about the soldier.



On Wednesday afternoon, while I was scanning the second box of photographs for the day, I noticed something odd. I was previewing image number P359_2503 to make sure the scan of the photo would be perfect and I became confused. The individual in the photo look almost identical to the photograph I had scanned just previously. So naturally I checked to make sure that I was not scanning the same photo twice; I had not. I then double checked what unit each man had belonged to and those were different as well. I had stumbled upon two men with the same last names from different units that looked to be brothers if not twins. Abraham Fenno of the 101st Infantry Company C (left) and Patrick Fenno of 101st Machine Gun Company (right). The lost twins are found again!

Samantha Westall, Intern

Update: From the Preservation Lab

Over the last two weeks I have devoted a bit of time to rehousing 51 tintype portraits of Massachusetts legislators from the 1860s. Details about this project can be found in a previous post. Above are three portraits that struck me, all of unidentified legislators.


I have included a picture here of the individual four-flap enclosure I made for each tintype along with a quarter to show scale. Of the fifty-one portraits, all but one are one inch by three-quarters of an inch. The one outlier was a portrait that measures approximately one-an-a-half-inches by one-and-a-half-inches. The standard size allowed me to create the four-flaps in an assembly line fashion, cutting all 50 inside flaps at once, then all the outside flaps, then
folding and gluing all at once.

The four-flaps before processing.







A labeled four-flap with the outer envelope and tintype.








The processed enclosures in the new box, including a spacer to provide support and keep the envelopes upright.










The rehoused tintypes ready to be returned to the shelf.







- Lacy Crews, Preservation Librarian