Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow account book collection contains business records for several local residents including David Trowbridge Smith, Jacob Colton and Gilson Holister, and Daniel Erskine Burbank.

At the core of the collection are 24 volumes belonging to local merchant or “marchant,” Samuel Colton (1727-1784). Colton’s accounts begin with some of his earliest business ventures and continue through to 1794, 10 years after his death. Volumes record sales of white and checkered holland cloth, cambrick, soap, rum, brandy, salt, tobacco, sugar, and molasses. Several volumes document other aspects of his business, such as entries related to the building of “Friendship,” one of two ships owned by Colton and used for trading goods. Many purchases were paid for not in cash but with farm produce, items made in the home, or labor. Other entries include payment to Susan Chandler for “Spining 11 Run of Cotten” (BV 16, p. 208) a payment to Ceasar (sic) for bottoming chairs.(BV16, p. 211), payments to Gordon Perceval for “doctoring my wife,” and charges to neighbors for services rendered by Colton’s slaves.

The collection also includes records for other local businesses and individuals. Daniel Erskine Burbank’s ledgers include entries related to his work as a butcher and as a farmer, though some entries appear to be for legal work performed by Burbank. Jacob Colton and Gilson D. Hollister’s accounts record sales of spectacles and thimbles. David Trowbridge Smith’s volumes record consignments, commissions on sales, accounts of produce sold, and purchases of pigs and hens. Margaret Booth’s accounts include entries related to her dressmaking business and note hiring of women to spin or weave. Other entries note days that were lost to sickness or travel. Mehitable Colton’s personal accounts include entries related to pasturing cows, sales of cider, and use of her chaise for travel. Payments were often in the form of goods or labor, including chopping wood, mowing, shad, cheese, and lamb.
 
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Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow cased image collection contains daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes of members of several Longmeadow families. Prominent in the collection are the daguerreotypes of William Sheldon, Jr. (1788-1871), including several full-length portraits. Sheldon was known as something of an eccentric, was the author of several books including The Millennium: the Good Time Coming. With a History of Experiments on the Odic Force and Aerial Navigation and the Patent Laws, and lived at Storrs House for a time. One image in particular appears to show Sheldon holding a ring by which he was able to detect the presence of the so-called “Odic force.” The collection also includes portraits of Flavia and Julia Bliss, Sarah Williams Storrs and her brother, Professor. Richard Salter Storrs, and Eleazer Williams. Several portraits were produced by the studio of Otis Hubbard Cooley of Springfield.
 
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Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow Historical Society deed collection contains over 700 deeds dating from the late 17th century to the early 20th century. Most of the properties are in and around Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Many of the deeds are associated with prominent Longmeadow families including Colton, Cooley, Burt, Ely, Bliss, Coomes, Williams, and Keep. Collection also includes a photocopy of William Pynchon’s 1636 deed with the Agawam for land that is now the site of Springfield, MA. Deeds are listed at the item-level and are arranged by deed number. Entries include grantor and grantee names, date of deed, date deed was recorded and are often accompanied by a short note on property or properties involved.

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Longmeadow Cemetery

Background Note
In 1870 the “Old Burying Ground” was filled to near capacity and a meeting was called to discuss the need for more space for the growing community. On July 12, 1872 the Longmeadow Cemetery Association was formed with capital stock of $,2000 divided into equal shares of $25 each. Its purpose was the establishment and subsequent care and control of a burial place divisible into lots for individual ownership in proximity to and within the same enclosing fence with the Parish Burying Ground, yet with separate control. Some of the original members of the Association included David Booth, William G. Medlicott, Stephen T. Colton, Thomas S. Cordis, and David E. Burbank.

Scope and Content Note
The collection includes correspondence related to bequests, interments, and grounds keeping; financial statements; minutes of meetings; articles of association and rules and regulations; records of interment and information on deeds to cemetery plots. The collection also includes lists of veterans of the American Revolution and Civil War buried in the Longmeadow Cemetery, several photographs, and a copy of “The Old Burying Yard”(1976), listing those buried in the original parish grounds.

The Longmeadow Cemetery Association has held on to some of their records. Board members maintain a website that includes some burial records: http://longmeadowcemetery.org/

 
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Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow family history collection contains a wide variety of materials related to local individuals and families. Materials include: correspondence, obituaries, newspaper clippings, genealogies and family histories, financial and legal documents, diaries, and account books. The collection also includes photographs of family members and properties and several published items. While a number of the families or individuals have only a few related documents there are several that are well-represented, including the Colton, Keep, Storrs, and Williams families.

Colton Family materials include: correspondence, bills & receipts, marriage certificates, military commissions, genealogies, and photographs. Additional materials include Colton Family Newsletters, a printed sermon for the interment of Lucretia Colton by Alfred Ely, 1821, and “In Memoriam: Deacon Walter Colton.” by A.M. Colton.

Keep family materials include over 100 letters, largely from the 1820s, many of them addressed to Nathan Cooley Keep (1800–1875), who was founding Dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Letters discuss visits with various family members and friends, news of the family farm, business matters, education, and religion.

Materials related to the Williams family include: anagrams by Abigail Williams, 1718; the will of Reverend Stephen Williams, 1771; the letters and diaries of Jerusha Williams (with typed transcriptions), 1801-1824; John Williams’ Deerfield sermons, 1713 and undated; and correspondence, newspaper clippings, and articles related to Eleazer Williams, the “Lost Dauphin.” Items of more recent vintage include photos of Williams family descendants who visited the Historical Society in 1992.

Richard Salter Storrs (1763-1819) materials include a letter to Rev. Bezaleel Howards of Springfield from the Longmeadow Church Committee announcing the invitation to Mr. Richard Salter Storrs to preach in 1785 and an estate inventory from 1820. Richard Salter Storrs (1787-1873) materials include a letter to Ebenezer Bliss, 1849, and copies of his obituary.

Related collections: The Sermon Collection includes sermons by Stephen Williams and all three of the men named Richard Salter Storrs. The Account Book Collection includes a number of account books kept by various members of the Colton family.
 
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Background Note
In 1636, William Pynchon led an expedition to Western Massachusetts in hopes of establishing a trading post. Here he purchased land along the Connecticut River from native Pocumtuk or Agawam Indians. Know as “Masacksic” or “the long meddowe” the area was initially a part of Springfield. Up until 1645 the meadow was used as a common pasture, shared by all residents. It was then divided into lots for 25 families from Springfield who were permitted to build homes. These included the Bliss, Burt, Colton, Cooley, and Keep families.

The settlement grew and by the 1690s there was increasing agitation among the residents for an autonomous community. Religiously and politically the people were still part of the Springfield settlement, but they had to travel three to five miles for the frequent religious services, town meetings, and supplies.

A disastrous flood in the meadows in 1695 prompted a movement to become separate from Springfield. The meadow residents successfully petitioned in 1703 for permission to move their settlement out of the meadows and to an upper terrace east of the floodplain away from the river. A road was laid out (the present-day Longmeadow Street), and house lots were assigned. Houses were built over the next few years, and by 1709 the new homes were occupied. The residents then successfully petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to be a separate precinct within Springfield, which would enable Longmeadow residents to have their own meeting house and minister. In 1714 work was begun on a meeting house, in the center of the Green, and in 1716 Rev. Stephen Williams was ordained as the first minister of this new community.

More houses cropped up around the Green and farms were built up and down Longmeadow Street. By the 1750s houses appeared in the eastern part of Longmeadow in the area now known as East Longmeadow. Still predominantly a farming community, small shops and businesses were established around and on the Green. By 1767 the town realized a need for a larger meetinghouse and a “raising” was held to replace the original. Like many communities in the colonies, Longmeadow was touched by the ever-louder calls for Revolution. April 21, 1775 saw farmers from Longmeadow joining with Minutemen from Springfield’s militia to assist fellow colonists in Lexington and Concord. The impending war divided citizens here, as elsewhere, neighbor against neighbor, Patriot against Tory. On October 17, 1783, Longmeadow was incorporated as the first community in the newly formed Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The “East Village” section of Longmeadow split off from the “West Village” in 1894 to form the separate town now called East Longmeadow. At that time the population of East Longmeadow numbered about 1,600, leaving what we now think of as the town of Longmeadow with a population of about 570. East Longmeadow by this time was an economically and ethnically diverse community with many businesses and industries, a busy railroad yard and a dozen operational red sandstone quarries. A map of Longmeadow from that year shows approximately 100 homes, most concentrated up and down Longmeadow Street.

The arrival of the trolley line in 1896 linking Springfield to Connecticut via Longmeadow Street created rapid growth. Longmeadow was now officially a “streetcar suburb.” “South Park Estates” was the first of many new subdivisions to be built within easy access to the trolley. It was soon joined by “The Elms,” Crescent Road, Greenwood Manor, and Colony Hills. By mid-century Longmeadow had become a town with charming town buildings, an elegant Community House, several schools, and a population approaching 15,000.
 
Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow homes collection contains materials related to a number of Longmeadow properties, many located along the town’s historic Longmeadow Street. The collection is arranged alphabetically by street name and then numerically by house number. The documentation available for each house varies but might include: Town Report covers with illustrations of specific properties, photographs, histories of homeowners, articles on architectural style, newspaper clippings and magazine articles, and typed extracts and photocopies of deeds or other primary sources.

Houses with more extensive documentation include 663 Longmeadow Street, 826 Longmeadow Street (Colton-Buxton House), 906 Longmeadow (James Coomes House), and 1060 Longmeadow Street (Marchant Samuel Colton House). Plans for 5 Laurel Street include a 1935 Olmsted Brothers study for plantings in front of the house.

In addition to information on specific properties there are also materials related to “The Green” and “The Meadows”. The collection also contains a binder with house histories and a list of past owners for a number of historic properties, the majority of which are located on Longmeadow Street. Photographs in the collection range from mounted photographs from the late 1800s to more contemporary snapshots. The collection also includes an interesting group of panoramic shots of “The Green” taken in the 1880s. A number of houses on Longmeadow Street were photographed in 1986 and those images are included here.
 
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On Depot Road (Emerson Street)

Background Note
Emerson was born in Hopkinton, MA on February 10, 1832, the oldest child of William Goddard Emerson and Susan (Perkins) Emerson. He began work as a boot maker in Ashland; a nearby town to Hopkinton with many boot and shoe shops.

In 1863, at age 31, Paesiello enlisted as a private in the 5th Independent Battery, Massachusetts Light Artillery. While his unit was in action on June 8, 1864 at Rappahannock Wilderness, Spottsylvania near Bottoms Bridge, Paesiello was wounded by a ten pound parrott shell. He recovered and saw further action until his unit returned home after the surrender in 1865. His father, stepmother, and their three young children, William, Annie, and Henry moved to Longmeadow in 1872. They purchased the home of Captain Luther Colton at 476 Longmeadow Street — now known as the Cooley-Emerson house as it was built by a Cooley in 1760. Paesiello moved to Longmeadow to live with his half-brothers and half-sister shortly after 1900.

Paesiello’s interest in photography began soon after reaching his 70th birthday in 1902. Not only are there extensive photographic images of Longmeadow a century ago, but the collection includes images of Paesiello’s hometown of Hopkintown, his later town of Spencer, and many other communities.

In August 1925, Paesiello was presented with the gold-headed ebony cane as the oldest resident in Longmeadow. At his death on December 28, 1927, he bequeathed his photographic collection to his half-sister Annie, who later gifted the entire collection to the Longmeadow Historical Society.

Scope and Content Note
There are 66 boxes of glass plate negatives, dating from early 20th century, taken by local photographer Paesiello Emerson.  As part of the Digital Commonwealth project our large collection of Emerson glass plate negatives were scanned at high resolution by the Boston Public Library.  The large majority of these photos were taken in Longmeadow but some of them were taken in other Massachusetts communities including Spencer, Holyoke, Springfield, Framingham, and East Brookfield.  The entire collection of 1,500+ photos are online on the Digital Commonwealth project website. 

Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow Historical Society photo album collection contains photos collected by Longmeadow residents. The majority of the albums are collections of unidentified cartes de visite, though some sitters in the Booth family and the David T. Smith family albums are identified.

A set of three albums contains over 700 cartes de visite of well known (and largely identified) sitters from the worlds of literature, politics, religion, science, education, and the military. Individuals include Laura Bridgman, George Armstrong Custer, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lydia Hunt Sigourney, Asher B. Durand, Walt Whitman, P. T. Barnum, Tom Thumb, and many others. Based on Sarah Storrs’ inventory of household goods (page 15; see Accessions, Box 1), the albums were possibly compiled by Professor Richard Salter Storrs (1830-1884).

Additionally, one of the albums contains images of Amherst College, Professor Storrs’ alma mater. The collection also includes an album of photographs of the Richard Salter Storrs Library, which includes interior and exterior shots, photos of exhibitions and displays, and of visiting authors (1933-1942).
 
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Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow Historical Society scrapbook collection contains scrapbooks compiled by various Longmeadow individuals, including Lucy J. Smith, Annie Emerson, and Carrie A. Brewer. The majority of the scrapbooks consist of newspaper clippings, though some include manuscript material, photographs, trade cards, greeting cards, or other ephemera. Newspaper clippings cover a wide range of topics including obituaries, biographies of local citizens, weddings, area history, and other items of local interest.

Scrapbooks of particular interest include: a scrapbook of photographs and clippings documenting the 1938 New England hurricane (#16); several volumes with Paesiello Emerson’s photographs of Longmeadow homes and properties that also illustrate early infrastructure, agricultural activity including haying, as well as other localities (#35 and #37a); scrapbooks related to Longmeadow celebrations including the nation’s Bicentennial (#38 & #42) and the Longmeadow Sesquicentennial (#14); scrapbooks with valentines, Christmas cards, greeting cards, and trade cards from the 1880s (#29 and #37b); Lucy J. Smith’s scrapbooks covering Longmeadow and Springfield from the 1920s; and a scrapbook containing primary source materials including deeds, bills and receipts, passports, and other manuscripts dating from the 18th and 19th centuries related to the Lawton family (#40).

One copy of Annie Emerson’s scrapbook entitled “Longmeadow Historical Society. Memories, Past & Present” (formerly identified as #9a) is located at the Storrs Library.
 
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