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Barbie visits the Storrs House Museum
The dolls of the Storrs House Museum were thrilled to receive a visit this week from the most celebrated doll in the land right now …...
Melissa Cybulski & Betsy McKee
Jul 27, 20231 min read
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Gettysburg 1913: A 50th Anniversary Reunion
One hundred and sixty years ago, Union and Confederate armies fought The Battle of Gettysburg from July 1-3, 1863. The Union victory is...

Lenny Shaker
Jun 29, 20233 min read
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Wolf Swamp Road and School
Wolf Swamp Road School c. 1956 Longmeadow Historical Society Archives Who among us has not wondered about the name “Wolf Swamp?” In...

Melissa M. Cybulski
Jun 1, 20232 min read
286 views
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Alice F. Willard
Alice F. Willard 1866-1946 Alice Faith Willard, daughter of Mason and Aurelia Coomes Willard, was born in 1866 and was a lifelong...

Betsy McKee
May 18, 20232 min read
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A Walk Through the Old Emerson Place
Cooley-Emerson House at 476 Longmeadow Street image courtesy raveis.com It’s not every day you get a complete basement-to-attic tour of...

Melissa M. Cybulski
May 4, 20232 min read
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Tales of Discovery II: Obed and Mary (Newell) Montague
Like I've said before, we love tales of discovery, and re-discovery. This is a tale of Mary Newell Montague and her husband Obed...

Betsy McKee
Apr 27, 20232 min read
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Martha Chapin Goldthwait (1863-1934)
Faithful readers will be familiar with the name Goldthwait from previous History Notes, including a recent one about the return of a...

Betsy McKee
Mar 30, 20232 min read
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Stop Thief! The Mystery of the Missing Gun!
The exciting news in 2023 is the return of a firearm missing from the Longmeadow Historical Society Collections since 1970! The story...

Betsy McKee
Mar 16, 20236 min read
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“… poor & unprovided for…” – The Indentured Simonds Children
In the early days of the Commonwealth, children of parents who, for one reason or another, were unable to care for them became public...

Beth Hoff
Mar 9, 20237 min read
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Skating, Sleighing and Sliding
Barney & Berry Ice Skates Longmeadow Historical Society Collection Next week, local historian and friend of the Longmeadow Historical...

Melissa M. Cybulski
Mar 2, 20232 min read
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Charles Backus Storrs: Abolitionist
Charles Backus Storrs stood before his audience and gave his inauguration address on February 9th, 1831 in Hudson, Ohio. At age...

Al McKee
Feb 16, 20236 min read
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Emma's Essay: A Soldier Boy in the Army
In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, we thought we would look at an item in our collection from the era of his presidency: a child’s...

Melissa M. Cybulski
Feb 9, 20233 min read
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A Longmeadow Boy and the Gold Rush in 1851
Gold rush stories are great places to find drama and intrigue. The History Room at the Chicopee Library holds a series of letters that...

Al McKee
Jan 26, 20238 min read
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Sarah A. Coomes Colton's Paintings
Two charming folk art paintings in the collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society bear the hallmarks of the kind of work educated...

Melissa M. Cybulski
Dec 21, 20223 min read
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"Be a good boy and learn..."
Samuel C. Booth's Penmanship Book, 1820 From the Collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society Penmanship copybooks like this one used...

Melissa M. Cybulski
Dec 8, 20222 min read
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The Chapel
The First Church of Christ of Longmeadow is a truly historic town landmark. At one time there was an associated structure that stood for...

Lenny Shaker
Nov 22, 20223 min read
121 views
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The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal
Front Piece of a Seaman's Journal The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal Recently rediscovered in the archives of the Storrs House Museum is...

Beth Hoff
Nov 22, 20225 min read
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Dairy Farming in Longmeadow
Jarius R. Kibbe and oxen of Frank B. Allen. Image courtesy of Stephen Forbes. Until the turn of the century, most Longmeadow families...

Beth Hoff
Nov 22, 20224 min read
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"I am like a lost sheep in the world:": The Letters of Jeannette Cooley
Last week's History Note told the story behind the inscription on James Cooley's cenotaph in Longmeadow Cemetery. A cenotaph is a...

Betsy McKee
Nov 21, 20226 min read
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"What does that mean on that gravestone?"
Cooley family gravestone, Longmeadow Cemetery James Cooley Died at Lima while Charge d'affairs for U.S. to Peru. Feb. 24, 1828, AE 37....

Betsy McKee
Nov 21, 20225 min read
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