American Centuries

Pocumtuck Valley
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American Centuries > Essays & More

Essays & More

This feature includes essays written by PVMA staff and consulting scholars that explore themes and topics relevant to the history of New England generally and Deerfield, Massachusetts in particular. They vary in length and reading level – some appropriate for students and others written for an adult or scholarly reader.

The Essays & More feature also shares transcriptions of articles and essays outside PVMA’s collections from different time periods published in media of the era. These may be of interest to anyone wishing to learn more about earlier beliefs, attitudes, and perspectives and how they were expressed.

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  • “BACK TO THE SOIL WITH THE POLE”
    In-depth The Sunday Herald, Boston, April 14, 1912 – Special News Section; transcribed by Pamela Hodgkins 2025.What the Massachusetts Agricultural College Is Doing to Teach the […]

  • “Deerfield- It’s Early Beauty Has Never Left”
    In spite of its title, this article published for the 300th anniversary of the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, focuses on the immigrant groups who settled there. The writer calls them the “new pioneers” and traces Irish and Polish coming to, and staying in, town. The immigrants worked hard and brought prosperity to the town. There are still strong ties to the Polish heritage brought by the immigrants who worked hard farming and finally became large landowners. Descendents of these immigrants are considered to be an important part of Deerfield’s heritage.

  • “HOW POLES GET RICH ON N.E. FARMS WHERE YANKEES FAIL”
    In-depth The Sunday Herald, Boston, May 4, 1924; transcribed by Pamela Hodgkins 2025. Solve Labor Problem by Using Entire Family in the Fields – Mother and […]

  • “POLES PROSPER WHERE YANKEES FAILED”
    In-depth Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); June 29, 1902; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe; transcribed by Pamela Hodgkins 2025. Photo Captions: Joseph Burnosky, Pine Nook, South […]

  • “THE COMING OF THE POLES AND THE PRICE OF LAND”
    Brief Excerpt from Gazette and Courier, Greenfield, Mass., July 18, 1914; transcribed by Pamela Hodgkins 2025.Various Phases of County Life There has been a large increase […]

  • A Glimpse at Deerfield in the Connecticut River Valley
    Brief The Civil War had a tremendous effect on the Deerfield, Massachusetts, community. Everything was changing- farming, transportation, communication, and population. How did Deerfield propose to cope with change and yet stay the same?

  • About Account Books
    Brief Mutual indebtedness was the rule in early America. Because there was little hard cash available, each transaction for goods and services was carefully recorded in account books with a monetary value assigned to it.

  • African American Historic Sites in Deerfield, Massachusetts
    In-depth Servitude took many forms in the 18th century. Indentured servants, whose contracts could be bought and sold, apprentices bound to labor for their masters for a set term, and the enslaved (often referred to as “servants for life”) were common sights in fields, shops and houses throughout the colonies. By the mid-18th century, 38% of households on Deerfield, Massachusetts’ mile-long main street included the enslaved.

  • African-American Presence in Deerfield, Massachusetts
    In-depth In New England, enslaved and free African Americans left few historical materials for scholars to study. No diaries have been discovered; few inventories exist; correspondence is lacking; only scattered evidence in merchants’ account books, church and legal records documents their presence.

  • Agreeable to His Genius
    In-depth This is the story of a man named John Partridge Bull, an 18th-century blacksmith and gunsmith in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

  • American Revolution in the Connecticut River Valley
    In-depth What was life like in a village in the Connecticut River Valley on the eve of the American Revolution?

  • American Revolution in the Connecticut River Valley, 1775-1783
    In-depth The American Revolution was one of the longest and bloodiest wars in Amerian history.

  • Captivity Literature
    Brief Native peoples began taking captives before the arrival of Euro-Americans and captive-taking among Native and European cultures persisted well into the 19th century across the continent. The fascination with captivity experiences has lasted to today, as has the literature about them.

  • Children’s Amusements in the Early Nineteenth Century
    In-depth Toys from the early nineteenth century were usually homemade by the child or someone they knew, and some required skill to accomplish.

  • Creating a Genealogy – The Stebbins Family
    In-depth This essay presents the life story of one colonial family through the genealogy of John Stebbins.

  • Death and Community
    Brief Death rituals in the home and subsequent burial and mourning practices reveal much about community values and social classes.

  • Death and Dying in the 18th and 19th Centuries
    In-depth This essay provides detailed information about 18th and 19th century burying grounds (graveyards).

  • Dedham Grant (Pecumtuck)
    In-depth In response to the pleas of the people of Dedham, on May 27, 1663, the General Court of Massachusetts: “Judgeth it meet to grant Dedham 8000 acres Of land in any convenient place, or places not Exceeding two, where it can bee found free from former Grants.”

  • Deerfield at the Third Turn, 1880-1920
    In-depth Rapid change typified the years between 1880 and 1920, and the people in Deerfield, Massachusetts, as well as those in other towns and cities across America, experienced shifts in their lives.

  • Deerfield Matures
    In-depth During the American Revolution the demand for beef, grain, clothing, arms, and ammunition spurred the economics of many Massachusetts farm towns. Deerfield farmers experienced a dramatic and unprecedented period of prosperity during the war years.