Church that served as the social and cultural center of the town of Enfield, Massachusetts. Records include deeds, charters and other legal documents, along with the church’s articles of faith and covenant, a detailed record of parish meetings, the treasurer’s account book, the parish Trustee’s account book, the church manual, a manuscript sermon of Reverend S.G. Hitchcock, the sermons of Reverend Colton, an historical sermon celebrating the town’s centennial, and church bulletins.

Town of Enfield, Massachusetts, which was among the Western Massachusetts towns abolished in 1938 to allow the Swift River Valley to be flooded, thereby creating the Quabbin Reservoir to provide Boston with water. A graphic blueprint depiction prepared by the Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission of the lots of landholders in Enfield Village in 1930.

Fifty-one men from Enfield served in World War I. This collection consists of two dance cards from an event welcoming the soldiers back, each filled out chiefly with initials. The back cover identifies W.H. Young as Floor Director, along with five aides.

Fire Department of Enfield, Massachusetts. Includes a minutebook (1911-1938) that discusses the purchase and use of rubber clothing, the care and refurbishing of the engine house, fires put out, preparation of warrant articles for Town Meetings, submission of names for membership and the vote taken on them, and the annual Firemen’s Ball. Also contains 1902 booklet of Rules and Regulations, some financial records, and correspondence.

Grammar school in Enfield, Massachusetts, a town abolished in 1938 to allow the Swift River Valley to be flooded, thereby creating the Quabbin Reservoir to provide Boston with water. Includes programs of the graduation exercises held at the Town Hall in 1902, 1906, 1913, and 1914. Also contains lists of graduates, speakers, and performers.

Account books for school districts of Enfield, Massachusetts. The schools’ appropriations accounts kept by selectmen between 1816-1856 show the amount raised by the town annually for the support of the schools, and include how, when, and to whom money was disbursed. The account book for Enfield’s school district number 4, 1854-1868, includes records of the disbursement of money for teaching, boarding the teachers, supplying cord wood, making fires, and repairing the building. Also lists the names of teachers and members of the Prudential Committee (who kept the records and sometimes taught).

Erected in 1832 in the business district of Enfield, Massachusetts, the Swift River Hotel began as a mealtime stopping place for travelers on stagecoaches running to and from Boston. The Quabbin Inn in Greenwich was built in 1900, and served as a vacation spot in summer, offering farm-fresh food and cool breezes off Quabbin Lake.

The collection consists of a menu from the Swift River Hotel proprietorship of William H. Galvin and two brochures depicting the bucolic setting and atmosphere of the Quabbin Inn in Greenwich.

Kingsbury children, ca.1910

The family of Roxana Kingsbury Gould (nee Weed) farmed the rocky soils of western New England during the late nineteenth century. Roxana’s first husband Ambrose died of dysentery shortly after the Civil War, leaving her to care for their two infant sons, and after marrying her second husband, Lyman Gould, she relocated from southwestern Vermont to Cooleyville and then (ten years later) to Shelburne, Massachusetts. The Goulds added a third son to their family in 1869.

A rich collection of letters and photographs recording the history of the Kingsbury-Gould families of Shelburne, Massachusetts. The bulk of the letters are addressed to Roxana Kingsbury Gould, the strong-willed matriarch at the center of the family, and to her granddaughter, May Kingsbury Phillips, the family’s first historian. In addition to documenting the complicated dynamics of a close-knit family, this collection is a rich source for the study of local history, rural New England, and the social and cultural practices at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

A conference hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst on November 7-9, 1986, that examined the impact of the Constitution on politics and government, foreign policy, race relations, and the economy, and also discussed the impact on the constitution of popular struggles and the emergence of “rights consciousness.” Includes papers presented at the conference that were to be subsequently published in a special bicentennial issue of the Journal of American History.

Founded in 1895, the Girls Club of Greenfield provides high quality early care and educational services to the girls of Franklin County, Massachusetts, and advocates for the rights of children and their families. During the school year, the Club offers diverse programming, ranging from an infant room and preschool to after school activities that promote teamwork, community spirit, social skills, and confidence. Since 1958, they have also operated a summer camp, Lion Knoll, in Leyden.

The records of the Girls Club of Greenfield include by-laws, annual reports, reports and meeting minutes of the Board of Directors, correspondence, and ledgers and account books. Also contains program files for daycare, summer camp, education worker programs, and others, personnel records, membership and committee lists, newsletters, press releases, ledgers, account books, scrapbooks, news clippings, photographs, slides, and artifacts.