All Non-Digital Titles

Martha’s Vineyard is known as a popular vacation destination with high profile visitors. Below the surface, however, bubbles a culinary melting pot. 

Native Americans, Blacks, European settlers and Azoreans all contributed to the island’s diverse culinary history. The Scottish Society still celebrates Robert Burns annually with a feast. Two towns have streets called Chicken Alley for the Portuguese families who raised chickens there, while native beach plums are used to create a delicious jelly that can be found across the island. Restaurants like Giordano’s and the ArtCliff Diner have been in business for more than fifty years and are still putting out great dishes. Learn the back-story of the island’s first—and only—commercial vineyard. 

From codfish souffle to espirito santo soup, local authors Tom and Joyce Dresser share the ingredients, recipes and images of this flavorful island.  

Visitors and New England natives alike will see a new side of the region through Thomas D'Agostino's eerie road trip guidebook.

He captures the reader's imagination with folklore and anecdotes, plus recommendations useful for any traveler. This guide uncovers lingering spirits across all six states in the region, from the victims of alchemy gone awry in the White Mountains, to wraiths in the Berkshires, to the ghosts of drowned sailors in Mystic, Connecticut. Enjoy these retellings of classic New England ghost stories and discover obscure ones, and then go visit the spooky sights for yourself.

Marblehead’s fishermen, merchants, slaves and heroes are buried in graveyards throughout this historic town.

There are thirteen burial sites, including large cemeteries and small family tombs. Old Burial Hill was established in 1638, and the “new” Waterside Cemetery was opened in 1859.

Revolutionary War hero General John Glover, famous for rowing General Washington across the Delaware River in 1776, is buried at Old Burial Hill. The final resting place of an enslaved woman, marked simply “Agnis Negro” was recently reproduced and rededicated. Green Street holds the graves of Elisha Story, who took part in the Boston Tea Party, along with Josiah Cressy, record-breaking captain of the Flying Cloud clipper ship. Mary Alley, who left property to establish the town’s first hospital, is buried at Harborview Cemetery. Local author Pam Matthias Peterson reveals five centuries of history behind these markers of the past.

Your Guide to American Revolutionary History in Today's Vibrant Boston

From its founding in 1630, the "City on the Hill" has been home to those who seek freedom. Without the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the midnight ride of Paul Revere, there would have been no American Revolution.

Sam Adams, John Hancock, and John Adams put Boston in the forefront on the path to Independence and the creation of the United States. Later reformers and trailblazers included Dorothea Dix, who advocated on behalf of the mentally ill, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who created the city’s “Emerald Necklace” of parks.

From the Old North Church to the Freedom Trail and the Irish Famine Memorial, follow historian Alison Fortier as she reveals how the history of this city tells the story of our country.

Your Guide to American Revolutionary History in Today's Vibrant Boston

From its founding in 1630, "The City on the Hill" has been home to those who seek freedom. Without the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, there would have been no American Revolution.

Sam Adams, John Hancock, and John Adams put Boston in the forefront on the path to Independence and the creation of the United States. Later reformers and trailblazers include Dorothea Dix, who advocated on behalf of the mentally ill, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted who created the city’s “Emerald Necklace” of parks.

From the Old North Church to the Freedom Trail and the Irish Famine Memorial, follow historian Alison Fortier as she reveals how the history of this city tells the story of our country.

Learn more about the Father of the Franchise Industry in this illuminating history about the Howard Johnson restaurant franchise and the man behind it all.

Howard Johnson created an orange-roofed empire of ice cream stands and restaurants that stretched from Maine to Florida, and all the way to the West Coast. With a reputation for good food at affordable prices, hungry customers would regularly return for more. The attractive white Colonial Revival restaurants, with eye-catching porcelain tile roofs, illuminated cupolas and sea blue shutters, were described in Reader's Digest in 1949 as the epitome of eating places that look like New England town meeting houses dressed up for Sunday. Highlighted in television shows such as Mad Men and films Netflix's 2019 The Irishman, it's obvious that Howard Johnson's occupies an indelible and pleasant place popular culture. Boston historian and author Anthony M. Sammarco recounts how Howard Johnson introduced twenty-eight flavors of ice cream, the Tendersweet clam strips, grilled frankforts and a menu of delicious and traditional foods that families eagerly enjoyed when they traveled.

Woods Hole is known for its charming waterfront and the internationally famous Oceanographic Institution. However, the rich history of this seaside village goes back much further. Author Elizabeth Sheehy chronicles the history of the town through the lives of Walter Nickerson and Helena Nugent, an unlikely pair from different worlds, who built a house in this unique community more than a hundred years ago.

 At a transformative time in our nation’s history, family members spread out across New England, looking for opportunity, but Woods Hole always drew them back. The house on Eel Pond survived the 1938 New England Hurricane, and served as a boarding house for many years. Its history is tied to the Nobska Lighthouse, the Falmouth Road Race, and the economic resilience that exemplifies Woods Hole, past, present and future. 

The first comprehensive photographic record of Boston's most conspicuous immigrant group - the Irish.

A Journey through Boston Irish Historyis the fruit of years of tireless research by prize-winning author Dennis P. Ryan. Within these pages are rare and handsome images unearthed from innumerable local libraries, historical societies and museums, parish rectories and Catholic charitable institutions, the archives of religious congregations, major Boston and diocesan newspapers, private family collections, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Beginning with the horrifying famine of the 1840s in Ireland and concluding four generations later with the election of John F. Kennedy as president, A Journey through Boston Irish Historyis a sweeping, poignant portrait of the children of the Gael and the city they transformed politically, socially, and culturally.

Ryan takes us through the corridors and wards of hospitals and orphanages that were established by the Irish to care for their own. Powerful images supplied by the Mathew Brady Collection at the Library of Congress recount the exploits of the celebrated Massachusetts Ninth Irish Regiment during the American Civil War. Within these pages, we are also invited to discover the vibrant personalities of pugilist John L. Sullivan, William Henry Cardinal O'Connell, as well as the irrepressible Mayor James Michael Curley.

"A first-rate short history of the city, lavishly illustrated, lovingly written, and instantly the best book of its kind." - Provincetown Arts

With economy and style, Dr. Robert Allison brings Boston history alive, from the Puritan theocracy of the seventeenth century to the Big Dig of the twenty-first. His book includes a wealth of illustrations, a lengthy chronology of the key events in four centuries of Boston history, and twenty short profiles of exceptional Bostonians, from founder John Winthrop to heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan, from heretic Anne Hutchinson to Russian-American author Mary Antin.

Abington presents an illustrated portrait of what it was like to live and work in the town during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It presents vivid images of the townsfolk, the shoe factories, and the old roads through Abington. The book includes images of John L. Sullivan, heavyweight boxing champion, and of the Buffum automobile, built on Centre Avenue. With photographs from the Abington Historical Commission, the Dyer Memorial Library, the Historical Society of Old Abington, and personal collections, Abington is sure to evoke memories of a bygone era.

For a small, suburban town like Acton, it may seem surprising that it has a long and exciting history.

While from the outside, Acton may present the image of an unassuming suburb of Boston, but people have inhabited this area for over 7000 years, and the town has been an integral player in nearly every aspect of American history, from colonization in the 17th century to the second industrial revolution in the middle half of the 20th century. Included in this pictorial history of Acton, capturing the town’s history from 1835 to 1985, are rare, engaging photographs from the comprehensive collections of the Acton Historical Society, the Iron Work Farm, and private collections. Vintage views of the homes, churches, schools, agricultural fairs, as well as the resort that once existed at Lake Nagog, the Morocco factory, and the great fire of West Acton are just some of the images that make Actona book that will enlighten all who explore its pages.

Nestled deep in the Connecticut River Valley are Amherst and Hadley, two towns responsible for the inspiration of many classic poets, writers, and thinkers of America.

Visit a place where Ralph Waldo Emerson ate dinners with Emily Dickinson's family, and see the site on which Noah Webster founded Amherst College. Look through a visual record of small towns, where the seasonal changes of the hills, fields, and woods inspired local writer Ray Stannard Baker and photographer Clifton Johnson. Meander through a place that left fond memories in the hearts and minds of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone and writer Sylvia Plath. This photographic history even offers a rare glimpse into Robert Frost’s world of fire and ice. In Amherst and Hadley: Through the Seasons, the landscape changes continuously throughout the seasons, and each season brings its own natural beauty and dangers, from the scorching summers to the bitter winters.

Images of America: Amherst and Hadley, Massachusetts is an educational and entertaining volume that will delight residents, visitors, and lovers of history everywhere.

Once part of Hadley, the town of Amherst is known the world over as the home of celebrated poet Emily Dickinson. This photographic portrait of Emily's surroundings reveals the beautiful landscape that inspired her art, and also includes less typical but nonetheless significant images of hard-working farmhands, Irish laborers, Italian peanut vendors, riotous college students, and feuding factory workers.

These two towns at the heart of the Connecticut River Valley have been appreciated by poets and artists for many years, and their bucolic and pastoral character is celebrated in this marvelous new examination of the towns' history in photographs from 1860 through the early twentieth century. Famous residents of and visitors to the area are featured, including Dickinson, Robert Frost, Henry Ward Beecher and Noah Webster.

Mr. Lombardo's book combines a serious look at these historical figures with a humorous perspective on some of the area's more colorful characters, such as Charles King, the Amherst barber who became famous for eating fifty eggs in fifteen minutes.

A fascinating visual history Arlington, a streetcar suburb of Boston.

Incorporated in 1807 as West Cambridge, the rural town of Arlington adopted its name in 1867, just prior to emerging as a streetcar suburb of Boston. Then & Now: Arlington commemorates this town's bicentennial by offering a visual journey through the many changes that have dramatically transformed the man-made and natural features of this community over time.

It’s an incredible and humbling experience to begin a life in a foreign country with many hardships, but Worcester, Massachusetts, was a mecca for many Armenian immigrants.

At the beginning of the 20th century, millions of immigrants came to the United States in search of a better life and greater opportunities for their families. However, the Armenians who emigrated from their home land between 1894 and 1930 were escaping a devastating genocide that tore their country apart. With little to their name, these new citizens embraced their new home, and for Worcester, they became an integral part of the culture and history of the town. There were mills that provided work, and both the first Armenian Apostolic church and the first Armenian Protestant church in America were built in this city, and both helped to build the foundations for a community that was to enrich the city and slowly resurrect arts and food that celebrates Armenian culture. The Armenian picnics that were an integrating influence in the early years continue even today as a gathering of clans and as a memorial for those lost.

Newly found images from the extensive collections of the Agawam Historical Association and the author fill Around Agawam and Feeding Hills, the third volume to visually document the town's residents and the places they lived, worked, and played.

Calla Shasta, Riverside Park, the Agawam Fire Department, schools, agriculture, and 75th and centennial anniversary celebrations are among the subjects depicted within and accompanied by informative text. News photographs from the last half of the 20th century connect readers to the town's recent history, making Around Agawam and Feeding Hills a must-have addition for anyone interested in Agawam's fascinating story. All royalties from the sale of his book benefit the Agawam Historical Association.

Ashland follows this historical development with over two hundred vintage images, many of which have rarely been seen before. Through photographs beyond memory and others that many may recall, meet the people of this great town and see the buildings and events that make up this incredible story. Ashland takes the reader on a journey from the days of its early settlement, through its development into the village of Unionville and its incorporation into the town of Ashland, to its twentieth-century growth and revival.

Author Jake Klim chronicles the attack from the first shell fired to the aftermath and celebrates the resilience of Orleans at war.

On the morning of July 21, 1918--in the final year of the First World War--a new prototype of German submarine surfaced three miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The vessel attacked an unarmed tugboat and its four barges. A handful of the shells fired by the U-boat's deck guns struck Nauset Beach, giving the modest town of Orleans the distinction of being the only spot in the United States to receive enemy fire during the entire war. On land, lifesavers from the U.S. Coast Guard launched a surfboat under heavy enemy fire to save the sailors trapped aboard the tug and barges. In the air, seaplanes from the Chatham Naval Air Station dive-bombed the enemy raider with payloads of TNT.

With vivid, design-centric illustrations that and short whimsical rhymes, B Is for Boston Board Book shows off the iconic people, places, food and music of Boston. From the New England Aquarium to the Zakim Bridge, this alphabetical tour of the city includes stops at the Old North Church, Boston Harbor, the New England Aquarium and the Public Gardens. Boston sports fans won't be disappointed either with a stop at the Green Monster of Fenway Park and iconic Boston sports legends' jerseys. Can you guess them all?

This Boston children's book is a durable version of the beloved picture book B Is for Boston and is great for traveling and little hands. Whether on a coffee table or on the nightstand, this large-format book is sure to make any local or visitor smile.

With vivid, design-centric illustrations that and short whimsical rhymes, B Is for Boston shows off the iconic people, places, food and music of Boston. From the New England Aquarium to the Zakim Bridge, this alphabetical tour of the city includes stops at the Old North Church, Boston Harbor, The New England Aquarium and the Public Gardens. Boston sports fans won't be disappointed either with a stop at the Green Monster of Fenway Park and iconic Boston sports legends jerseys. Can you guess them all?

This Boston children's book is a full-size picture book with gorgeous illustrations printed on premium gloss paper. Whether on a coffee table or on the nightstand, this large-format book is sure to make any local or visitor smile.

One of the first towns founded in the original Plymouth colony, Barnstable Village has not only endured but thrived for more than 350 years.

Bordering on Barnstable Harbor and Cape Cod Bay, the sea has played a major role in Barnstable's continued success--by the end of the 19th century, there were over 800 boats docked in the harbor, but as sailing became an outdated mode of transportation, Barnstable was reinvented as a tourist destination, which it remains to this day. Many prominent Bostonians spent their summers on the Cape's shore, including U.S. presidents Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, and most notably, the Kennedy family.Barnstable Village, West Barnstable, and Sandy Neckcombines the histories of notable people, leisure activities, and working days from these three unique regions of the town of Barnstable.

Baseball on Cape Cod chronicles through pictures the rich heritage and tradition of the game from its earliest organized beginnings to today's high-profile players. Every summer, fans from across the country flock to the Cape for some of the finest amateur baseball in the nation.

Located on the waterfront in historic Fall River, Massachusetts, Battleship Cove, a nonprofit maritime museum and war memorial, is home to the largest and most diverse collection of preserved US Navy ships in the world.

It is the commonwealth's official memorial for the events of September 11, 2001, and the official veterans' memorial for World War II and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars. Beginning with the opening of the battleship USS Massachusetts in 1965, the Fall River Navy has continued to grow. The vessels include the submarine Lionfish, destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., and PT boats 617 and 796. Having hosted nearly six million visitors from all over the world, Battleship Cove is one of the most popular attractions in southeastern Massachusetts. It now stands at the threshold of a new era in its ambitions to modernize for the 21st century.

In the first decade of the 20th century, the state of Massachusetts established itself as a leader in the education of individuals with disabilities.

The third state school for the feebleminded was built in rural Belchertown, in the western part of the state. Opened in 1915, Belchertown State School would eventually encompass almost 900 acres of land and would become the largest employer in town. For nearly 60 years, the state school educated individuals with disabilities who were otherwise excluded from public education, training the “residents” to become independent members of their families and of society. The model was a success until reports of abuse and neglect began to surface, culminating in the landmark 1972 Ricci v.Greenblatt case, which ultimately led to the state school’s closure in 1992.The state school’s rich history, maintained and curated by the late Donald LaBrecque, chronicles the rise of special education and developmental services and the ultimate collapse of the state school system.

Katherine Anderson is a veteran special education teacher and has been researching and writing about state schools and other institutions for more than a decade. She is the president of the Belchertown State School Friends Association and is working to preserve the substantial archive of state school history.

Venture back to 1715, when a fifteen-year-old Cape Cod girl named Maria Hallett was seduced by a twenty-six-year-old Englishman named Samuel Bellamy.

Bellamy soon left her to become one of the most infamous pirates of his day—Black Sam Bellamy. Maria remained on the Cape but was forced to live in solitude after giving birth to Bellamy's child. Two years later, Bellamy returned to his love, and Maria watched from the dunes as his flagship, the Whydah, sank in the worst nor'easter in the history of the Cape. The legend of Maria Hallett has been passed down for over two hundred years, and Cape Cod writer Kathleen Brunelle brings a fresh breath of sea air to this epic tale in her search for Bellamy's bride.

With images from glass-plate negative collections unseen for generations, Billerica takes a pictorial journey through the past of this Yankee Doodle town.

Less than twenty years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, a group of intrepid pioneers set out for the Shawsheen Wilderness, named by the Native American population inhabiting its woods and rivers. By 1655, the group incorporated the settlement, naming it Billerica, after Billericay, England, the home of many of the Pilgrims. The book shows how Billerica progresses from a small farming village to an Industrial Revolution capital with mills, railyards, and the Middlesex Canal (the first of its kind in the country). Billerica introduces some of the most influential people in the history of Billerica and showcases its heyday as a summer resort, when tourists traveled by trolley to enjoy a wealth of river and lake recreation.

Martha’s Vineyard has always been a unique island and vacation destination, made even more diverse with the arrival of Black homeowners in the 19th century.

Early landowners included the formerly enslaved Charles Shearer, who along with his wife Henrietta, founded Shearer Cottage. However, the fall of the first Black community on the island came in the 1890s when forty Black and Indigenous people were required to remove their cottages from the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association. Despite this painful blow, other families, including the Wests, Jones and Huberts bought island homes, challenging restrictive and racist covenants that encumbered the properties. They then passed their homes on to subsequent generations, leading to a legacy of Black homeownership that thrives to this day. 

Authors Thomas Dresser and Richard Taylor explore the challenges, triumphs and the sense of community that has endured.

The history of railroads in America is not complete without a pictorial history of the Boston & Maine.

As the twentieth century dawned, the Boston & Maine Railroad Company controlled virtually all of the rail lines in New Hampshire, as well as much of the service in Maine and Massachusetts. Ultimately, the company operated more than 2,000 stations in northern New England. The train was the most important mode of travel, and the stations were the center of the community. Boston & Maine in the 20th Century continues the first pictorial history of the railroad company, entitled Boston & Maine in the 19th Century. With more than 200 rare images and historical narrative, the book details the trains and their destinations: the terminals, stations, depots, and whistle stops to which they sped. Times changed, and the railroad was passed by; however, its legacy lives on.

Boston & Maine Locomotives is a fascinating history of the locomotives that powered New England's most dominant railway line.

The Boston & Maine Railroad has long captured the hearts of rail enthusiasts, and its locomotives are models of the majesty, power, and romance of American rail. The Boston & Maine was a railroad dynasty running through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, and many still remember hearing the whistle blow as a Boston & Maine locomotive spewing smoke and steam pulled into the station. Boston & Maine Locomotives, the third volume in Arcadia's trio documenting the Boston & Maine Railroad, is a history of the locomotives that powered New England's most dominant line. The Ten Wheelers, the Mastodons, the Pacifics, and the other classes of locomotive are seen here as they pull passengers and freight throughout the Northeast. The Boston & Maine was one of the last railroads in the area to continue naming its locomotives, and those engines, from nineteenth-century steam to twentieth-century diesel, are recorded here. The Portland, the Newburyport, the General Sherman, and more ride New England's rails once again in Boston & Maine Locomotives.

The Boston & Maine Railroad serviced most of New England as a primary mode of transportation during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The birth of this railroad spurred the growth and development of industry in New England. This heritage is captured in Boston & Maine Trains and Services, the fourth volume in Arcadia's Images of Rail series to focus on the history of this railroad. The trains and services included in this book are the Pullman passenger cars, work trains with flatcars, boxcars, circus trains, plows, stock, cabooses, as well as the Boston & Maine bus service, trucks, and air service.