Online Collection 1843-10-02 Elected officials often offered a monetary reward as a way of obtaining information about a crime or criminals.

Online Collection circa 1875 The shooting of these five men in Monson, Massachusetts, was blamed on excessive alcohol consumption by the shooters.

Online Collection 1954-03-25 Three weeks after the hydrogen bomb was detonated in the Pacific, soldiers at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, saw a simulated atomic bomb.

Online Collection 1907 This postcard from the turn of the 20th century depicts an elderly lacemaker in England making “bobbin lace” (also known as “bone lace”, or “pillow lace”).

Online Collection 1837 Dr. Stephen West Williams of Deerfield, Massachusetts, focused largely on his ancestor’s ordeal and captivity when he wrote this biography of the Reverend John Williams in 1837.

Online Collection 1833 Elihu Hoyt, who wrote this 48 page booklet of the history of the settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was a descendant of the first settlers of the town.

Online Collection 1907 This view of Greenfield, Massachusetts, is from the west side of the common looking toward the intersection of Main and Federal Streets. The large building is the Mansion House, which had retail space on the first floor and rooms on the upper floors.

Online Collection 1853 This is the catalogue and regulations of the Chicopee, Massachusetts, town library when it was first opened in 1853.

Online Collection 1804-02-29 One hundred years after the raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, Reverend John Taylor preached this sermon about the event, “ever to be remembered by the descendants of the sufferers, and other inhabitants of the town.”

Online Collection 1787-06-06 A crostick is a poem that forms a vertical word from the first letters of each line.

Online Collection 1913-08-09 As a part of a campaign to end the presence of horses in the center of Greenfield, Massachusetts, the local newspaper urged the removal of the town’s hitching posts.

Online Collection circa 1914 Deerfield, Massachusetts, photographers Frances and Mary Allen sought out interesting countenances and unselfcounscious models for their character studies.

Online Collection 1816-02-21 The Reverend Samuel Willard of Deerfield, Massachusetts, urged his audience to recognize that sacred music was “an important, if not an indispensable part of Christian worship.”

Online Collection 1842-03-08 The “Northern slave” in this article refers to a perception that the girls working in Massachusetts textile mills had lives no better than an enslaved person’s.

Online Collection 1874 This booklet about the Mill River flood in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, was published within three weeks of the disaster.

Online Collection 1892 This excerpt from Francis Parkman’s classic account of the 1704 raid on Deerfield, Massahcusetts, shows not only Parkman’s vivid writing style but reflects the prejudices of the day against the French and Indigenous peoples.

Online Collection 1933-01-12 This political cartoon from 1933 is a commentary about the large federal deficit that had built up since the beginning of the Great Depression.

Online Collection 1907 This tourist’s guide to Deerfield, Massachusetts, included a chapter on the handcraft industries that thrived in the town at the turn of the 20th century during the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Online Collection 1946 When the Williamsburg, Massachusetts, reservoir dam broke, it flooded a valley lined with factories and farms and killed 139.

Online Collection 1860-12-10 Railroad engineer Theodore Judah was is credited with designing and constructing the California-based leg of the transcontinental railroad.