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"Here, can you put this in your purse?"
Ask any woman you know, and she will confirm that someone has asked her to put something in her purse for them. Today’s purses can be...
Betsy McKee
Mar 272 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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Charity Bush Ely (1836-1867)
Charity Bush Ely Collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society Born in the Connecticut River Valley town of Whately, Massachusetts,...
Liz Kendall
May 19, 20243 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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Can you spell Silhouette?
Silhouette, like daguerreotype, is a word I always pause over when writing. No surprise that both terms were named after...
Betsy McKee
Sep 21, 20233 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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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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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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"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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Rachel Lawton: Suffragist
Much is written of famous early pioneers of the movement like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Without question, their role...
Melissa M. Cybulski
Nov 21, 20222 min read
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Say Their Names
Anyone who knows and loves the soundtrack from the musical Hamilton knows how haunting the final verse of the final song is, “who lives,...
Melissa M. Cybulski
Nov 19, 20222 min read
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"While her fingers o'er this canvas move"
"Jesus Permit the Gracious name to stand As the first efforts of an infant's hand And while her fingers oe'r this canvas move Engage her...
Betsy McKee
Nov 18, 20223 min read
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A Letter from Mary Lyon....
South Hadley, Aug 26.1847 My dear Miss Bliss, Won’t you be willing to go to Virginia to teach? It’s a place where Miss Moore taught this...
Melissa M. Cybulski
Nov 13, 20223 min read
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Jerusha Mather Williams Colton (1783 - 1844)
Jerusha Mather Williams was born in 1783 to Ensign Samuel Williams and Lucy Burt. Jerusha's grandfather was the Reverend Stephen...
Betsy McKee
Oct 27, 20222 min read
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Grace Trowbridge Smith's Scrapbook
This History Note shares a page or two from a scrapbook in our collection once belonging to Miss Grace Trowbridge Smith. It sheds light...
Melissa M. Cybulski
Oct 25, 20222 min read
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Rachel Lawton: Suffragist
This History Note shares the story of one Longmeadow woman's role in the fight for women's right to vote. Recent reminders that 2020...
Melissa M. Cybulski
Oct 24, 20222 min read
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Alice F. Willard 1866-1946
Alice Faith Willard, daughter of Mason and Aurelia Coomes Willard, was born in 1866 and was a lifelong resident of Longmeadow. When she...
Betsy McKee
Oct 24, 20221 min read
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Sarah Storrs, 1832-1907
Today's History Note tells the story of an unsung hero of Longmeadow's cultural life, Sarah Storrs. The Storrs name is a recognizable one...
Melissa M. Cybulski
Oct 24, 20222 min read
110 views
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