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
This collection of copybooks includes examples of penmanship, math exercises, notes on science, history, geography, and French. One anonymous volume appears to be a short novel. The collection also contains miscellaneous manuscript material, including indentures, bills, poems, recipes, and fragments. Other items of note are bills of lading for sugar, rum, lime juice, and English goods signed by Captain Azor Gale of the Brigantine Mary of Boston, dated 1697 and an unknown seaman’s journal recording a trip from Boston to Calcutta in 1852 -1853. Longmeadow residents with material in the collection include Ebenezer Bliss, Julia M. Bliss, Samuel C. Booth, Ethan Ely, Martha Fitch, Patty Fitch and Richard Salter Storrs. The authorship for a number of the manuscript items is not known.
 
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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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Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow celebrations collection documents various town celebrations, memorials and events. Materials include: invitation lists and programs for Longmeadow’s 1883 Centennial; the Sesquicentennial Souvenir volume, guest badges and newspaper clippings; Richard Salter Storrs’ 200th Birthday celebration programs, “The Literary Worlds of Richard Salter Storrs” pamphlet, patron list and appeal, buttons, and newspaper clippings; and Memorial Day programs and addresses,1922-1999, including an Omar Bradley address from 1948.

Documentation of the nation’s Bicentennial in 1976 includes: minutes of the Longmeadow Bicentennial Commission, lists of committee members, Commission correspondence, and letters of invitation to town gardeners. There are also flyers, brochures, and programs for Bicentennial events; newspaper clippings; and photographs. This section also includes copies of Longmeadow calendars, 1975-1976; a Longmeadow Maternal Association quilt block booklet; a copy of the Congressional Record with an Edward P. Boland address; buttons; and a Bicentennial-themed needlepoint kit for a glasses case.

Materials relating to Longmeadow’s own Bicentennial in 1983 include house tour pamphlets, a History of Longmeadow coloring book, event flyers, photos, and newspaper clippings.

Rounding out the collection are various programs and ephemera from several Longmeadow events such as concerts, recitals and a local fair, with dates ranging from 1893 to 1968, as well as undated material.
 
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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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First Church

Background Note
The churches collection documents Longmeadow’s various religious institutions. The bulk of the material is related to the First Church of Christ. Other denominations, including Catholics, Episcopalians, and Jews, are less well represented.

The First Church of Christ, Longmeadow was established in 1713. The first meeting house was built in 1716. In 1767 and 1768 a second meeting house was built to replace the first, and was located on the Green just north of the initial meeting house. A new bell for the church was purchased in 1809 from Paul Revere in Boston. The church was extensively remodeled in 1828 and 1874 when it was moved to its present location at the corner of Longmeadow and Williams streets. The church was a gothic style building from 1874 until 1932 when it was remodeled to its current colonial style.

Reverend Stephen Williams was the first minister, beginning in 1716 and continuing until 1782. Subsequent ministers include: Richard Salter Storrs, 1785-1819; Baxter Dickenson, 1823-1829; Jonathan Bailey Condit, 1831-1865; Hubbard Beebe, 1837-1843; Samuel Wolcott, 1843-1847; John Wheeler Harding, 1850-1891; Stephen Goodyear Barnes, 1892-1901; and Henry Lincoln Bailey, 1901-1916.

Scope and Content Note
Materials related to First Church of Christ include: general histories; weekly bulletins, newsletters, and yearbooks; annual reports and budgets; miscellaneous materials related to a number of Church committees including the Men’s Prayer Group, Music Committee, Sewing Society, Evening Fellowship, and Women’s Committee; menus, reports, and newspaper clippings for the annual May Breakfast. Of particular interest is a volume beginning in 1716 of church records which note church admissions, dismissals, baptisms, deaths, marriages, church meetings and other church related information.

St. Mary’s Catholic Church materials include photos and Seed Sown on Good Ground: a History of St. Mary’s Parish, written in 1977. Material related to St. Andrews Episcopal Church includes newspaper clippings, photos, and an illustration. The collection also contains several photos of Beth Israel Synagogue and Congregation B’nai Jacob and a copy of Declaration of Faith and Covenant of the Baptist Church, Longmeadow, from 1842.
 
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Background Note
From temperance societies to tennis clubs, Longmeadow has a rich history of community service and involvement. This collection documents the various clubs, associations, and organizations of Longmeadow and includes items from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the American Legion Auxiliary, the Doane Orphanage, the Longmeadow Country Club, the Longmeadow Improvement Corporation, the Longmeadow Maternal Association, the Longmeadow Temperance Society, the Longmeadow Street Improvement Association, and the Longmeadow Women’s Club.

Much of the collection provides only a snapshot or glimpse of the various activities of these clubs and associations. The Longmeadow Women’s Club, however, has a more complete set of records. Organized in 1893 to “promote improvement in moral, social, and intellectual life,” early endeavors included leading Longmeadow’s effort in aid of the Spanish-American War, providing flowers to the ill, and food baskets to those in need. In 1935 the club began a scholarship fund to assist promising Longmeadow students. Other efforts included working with patients at the Northampton Veterans Hospital and entertaining convalescent children. The club also invited guest speakers, who addressed a variety of topics including literature and the arts, antiques, politics, and ecology. The club disbanded in 1997.

Scope and Content Note
The Longmeadow Women’s Club records include Secretary reports, minutes of Regular and Annual meetings and a nearly complete run of Yearbooks, which include lists of officers, committees, programs, brief biographies of program contributors, and lists of active members.

Other items in the collection include minutes from the Longmeadow Street Improvement Association, 1876-1938, which discuss mowing, sidewalk construction, the Elm tree beetle, and other issues pertaining to maintenance and upkeep. Minutes and a scrapbook from the American Legion Auxiliary provide information on various activities including election of officers, the annual “weenie” roast, poppy sales, suppers, and other activities in support of veterans and their families.
 
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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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