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William Sheldon’s Electric Machine? A Collections Mystery
Among the many fascinating items in the Longmeadow Historical Society’s Cabinet of Curiosities, one stands out as being particularly...
Bob Abel
Apr 104 min read
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The Robbery of 1888
The Springfield Republican reported in an article published on December 22, 1888, “doubtless the world will be much older when the good...
Lenny Shaker
Apr 32 min read
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Dr. Hazel Richards: World War II Doctor
Dr. Hazel Richards Inspecting an X-Ray, Springfield Armory, NHS When you think of an Army medical doctor during World War II, you...
Lenny Shaker
Jan 162 min read
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Letter from Call Field
Recently, a fellow researcher discovered and alerted me to a letter in our archives from Berkeley Taylor to his friend, James D. Booth of...
Beth Hoff
Sep 12, 20245 min read
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Mary Ann Booth: Photomicroscopist
Mary Ann Allard Booth was born on September 8, 1843 to Rhoda and Samuel Colton Booth of Longmeadow. She was a direct descendant of the...
Lenny Shaker
Mar 2, 20242 min read
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Who is the Mysterious Lady in the Portrait
The portrait, an oil on poplar board, is of an older lady with glasses, identified as "Harriet Ford Bull Lawton, 1700." Seems pretty...
Betsy McKee
Feb 16, 20242 min read
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William Holland, Longmeadow's First Stone Carver
When people ask what the oldest gravestone in the Longmeadow Cemetery is, the answer is the stone for Mary Drake Colton. She died in...
Al McKee
Oct 26, 20234 min read
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"Instantly Killed by a Bull" The Death of Young Gaius Bliss
Have you ever noticed this gravestone in the Longmeadow Cemetery? While not common, causes of death were sometimes included on...
Betsy McKee
Oct 5, 20232 min read
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The Wallace Children
Census records are wonderful tools that offer researchers all sorts of clues into a person's life within a household or community. But...
Beth Hoff
Sep 14, 20234 min read
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William C. Pease
I found these photographs in the Emerson file on Digital Commonwealth and it stirred my curiosity to learn more about the subject. The...
Lenny Shaker
Aug 31, 20232 min read
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Longmeadow Go West! Persis and John Burt
Faithful readers of this blog may recall an article written by Beth Hoff on March 25, 2021 titled "Westward Bound," about the adventurous...
Betsy McKee
Aug 17, 20234 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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“… 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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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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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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A Funeral, 1909
Longmeadow Historical Society's Emerson Photographic Collection is a treasure trove of photographs documenting Longmeadow in the early...
Lenny Shaker
Jan 19, 20232 min read
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Berkeley Taylor and the Barn Fire
On June 9, 1933, brothers Joseph C. and Eugene L. Marcure of Springfield confessed to burning a 300-foot barn in the Longmeadow meadows...
Beth Hoff
Jan 12, 20235 min read
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"Prepare- for follow me you must"
A simple gravestone in Longmeadow Cemetery from 1720, with a classic inscription, warns passersby to consider their own fates. It marks...
Melissa M. Cybulski
Jan 5, 20236 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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