History

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.

On November 28, 1942, fire roared through Boston’s famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub during what was supposed to be a high-spirited Saturday night. By midnight, more than five hundred people were dead, dying, or maimed for life.

Local author Stephanie Schorow probes the club’s history, the circumstances leading to the fire, and the tragedy’s lingering impact. The inferno reached deep into the city’s social structure––its politics, medical care, law enforcement, and religious life––and touched nearly everyone in the Boston area, even those who had never set foot in the club. In this newly updated and revised edition, Schorow has added new information, photographs, interviews and insights on the worst nightclub fire in American history.

The most respected of firearm companies,  Smith & Wesson explores the guns and company history from 1852 to to 1965. Rarely seen historical photographs, advertisements, and company documents culled from the company archives, museums collections, and the private collections of Smith & Wesson collectors make this a must for every gun collector and admirer.

Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson shared a dream of manufacturing a firearm that could fire repeatedly, using a new and self-contained cartridge. In 1852, the dream became a reality with the founding of Smith & Wesson Firearms Company. Over the next 154 years, the company grew to be one of the most innovative and respected firearms manufacturers in the world. The story of Smith & Wesson is not only about two knowledgeable and enterprising men but also the story of generations of creative and dedicated men and women. The spirit of innovation generated by the partners has long outlived them. Today Smith & Wesson is synonymous with quality, performance, and durability. Smith & Wesson explores the company history, its people, and significant products from the partners' first venture in 1852 to the sale of the Wesson family business in 1965. This book features rarely seen historical photographs, advertisements, and company documents culled from the company archives, museums collections, and the private collections of Smith & Wesson collectors.

The complete history of the home of Red Sox Nation.

Five days after the sinking of the Titanic, Boston's Fenway Park held its grand opening. Since that day, millions have witnessed the Red Sox play baseball. Their Royal Rooters evolved into the Fenway Faithful and are now commonly referred to as Red Sox Nation. Nine World Series have been staged upon Fenway's turf, along with three Major League All-Star Games. Aside from baseball, Fenway has been host to professional and amateur football games, ice hockey, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, hurling, boxing and wrestling matches, and even a circus. Music from concerts has reverberated across its lawn, religious services have been held, and political rallies staged - all adding patches to the quilt of Fenway's rich, illustrious history. The structure that noted author John Updike referred to many decades ago as a lyric little bandbox has become one of New England's most beloved historical landmarks.

Colonial Sudbury, Massachusetts, was designated the Puritan Village by author Sumner Chilton Powell in his 1964 Pulitzer Prize–winning history of the founding of this quintessential New England town in 1638. Yet this quiet rural village also had a darker history that is often overlooked. Sudbury’s Puritan inhabitants, including some of the most prominent citizens in town, held and sold enslaved Black people throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Stories gleaned from preserved records highlight the lives of men, women and children held in bondage, including a court case involving an enslaved boy repeatedly beaten and left scarred by his master less than thirty years after the town’s founding, as well as the bill of sale of Phebey, age two, to a woman in another town. Local author Jane Sciacca uncovers the hidden side of suffering in this New England town.

In April 1938, Swift River Valley residents held a farewell ball to mark the demise of the quintessential New England town of Enfield and its three smaller neighbors, Greenwich, Dana, and Prescott.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sacrificed these three towns to build the Quabbin, a massive reservoir of drinking water for residents of Boston. Three prominent residents attended the somber occasion.  Marion Andrews Smith was the last surviving member of an important manufacturing family. Willard Doc Segur was the valley’s beloved country doctor and town leader. And Edwin Henry Howe was Enfield's postmaster and general store proprietor. They helped build their beloved community for decades, only to watch grief-stricken as it was destroyed by 400 billion gallons of water.

Author and historian Elena Palladino recounts the story of these communities as seen through eyes of those who lived there until the end.

Boston journalists Beverly Ford and Stephanie Schorow navigate the backrooms and seedy hangouts throughout the real story of Boston's gangster past.

The capture of notorious mobster James Whitey Bulger closed an infamous chapter in Boston history, yet the city's criminal underworld has a long and bloody rap sheet that stretches back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Ford and Schorow reveal the underbelly of Boston through profiles of ruthless gangsters like Charles King Solomon, the Angiulo brothers, Joseph The Animal Barboza, Stephen The Rifleman Flemmi and many more who carried out deadly hits and lucrative heists.

New Englanders are as far away from the South Pacific as any American can be, yet when tiki fever gripped the country in the mid-twentieth century, even they were not immune.

Tropical-themed restaurants and bars sprang up in the unlikeliest of places, from coastal cities to far-flung suburbs. Places like the Hu Ke Lau, the Aku-Aku and the Kowloon were packed every night. Decades after the fever ended, it re-emerged as a new century dawned, and New Englanders took up the mantles of Polynesian pop to escape to places of tropical leisure in their own backyard.

Local author Kevin Quigley dives deep into the region’s unusual history with tiki culture.

Discover what made Whalom Park a beloved institution for generations through historic photographs.

Whalom Park’s name is derived from adjoining Lake Whalom. Native Americans originally called the lake Unketchewhalom, meaning “the lake of the magician,” based on a legend. They also considered it to be magical since there is no inlet. The Fitchburg & Leominster Street Railway acquired the land in 1892 and installed trolley lines and amusements, opening the park the following year. A deer park, an open-air theater, and an inn were followed in subsequent years by food concessions, a variety of games of skill, and amusement rides. A succession of natural disasters, fires, modernization, and expansion shaped the park into an iconic memory for so many area citizens and visitors. At the time of its closing in 2000, Whalom—at 108 years of age—held the distinction of being the oldest amusement park in America.

Authors C. William Lakso, William E. Tyler, and Edwin G. Ollikkala thoroughly researched the history of the park and utilized donated photographs to augment those at the Lunenburg Historical Society. Their goal was to prepare a volume that would enable readers to quickly recall and visualize many pleasant memories and the happy times spent with their families at Whalom Park.

Massachusetts played a pivotal role during the Cold War era.

In 1957, the Strategic Air Command established the Notch Bunker, a three-story hardened facility built into the Holyoke Mountain Range near Westover Air Force Base. The state led the nation with a groundbreaking $3 million underground Emergency Operations Center in Framingham, dedicated on November 16, 1963, designed to run state government post-nuclear blast, capable of withstanding a twenty-megaton missile explosion within three miles. In 1964, AT&T constructed a forty-thousand-square-foot underground bunker in Chesterfield, built for both military and civilian purposes, intended to resist nuclear, biological and chemical attacks. By 1966, there were a total of 6,623 fallout shelters in Massachusetts.

Utilizing vintage photographs and maps, local author Joshua Shanley explores the state’s bunkers, bases and missile silos and their impact on current emergency planning.

Chronicling the devastating Strand Theatre Fire of 1941 and celebrating the community's heroes and resilience in the face of adversity.

On March 10, 1941, at 12:38 a.m., the Brockton Fire Department responded to Fire Alarm Box 1311, which was pulled for a fire at the Strand Theatre. Fire Alarm dispatched the deputy chief, three engine companies, a ladder company and Squad A. Within six minutes, a second alarm was struck. Less than one hour after the first alarm, the roof of the Strand collapsed, and what appeared to be a routine fire turned into a disaster that killed 13 firefighters and injured more than 20 others. The disaster marks one of the largest losses of life to firefighters from a burning building collapse in the United States.

The fading memories of Greater Boston's Blizzard of 1978 return to life for those who experienced it and those who can only imagine.

The great blizzard of 1978 is an event seared in the memory of anyone who lived through it. Most of Greater Boston was quickly overwhelmed by the storm, which shut down all forms of transit, stranded thousands of cars and motorists along Route 128, and virtually shut down most of the state for a week. But for many coastal communities, the impact of the storm, which brought record high tides and pounding surf, was pure devastation. The common thread shared by almost everyone in the region was positive memories of neighbors and strangers helping each other and finding new bonds of community.

Greater Boston's Blizzard of 1978is illustrated with approximately 200 photographs from government archives and private collections and is told by author Alan R. Earls, who somehow managed to drive through the worst of the infamous storm.

Danvers State Hospital revolutionized mental health care for more than a century, beginning in 1878. Today, it's buildings still have stories to tell.

Perched high on the top of Hathorne Hill in what was once the village of Salem, Danvers State Insane Asylum was, for more than a century, a monument to modern psychiatry and the myriad advances in mental health treatment. From the time it opened its doors in 1878 until they were shuttered for good in 1992, the asylum represented decades of reform, the physical embodiment of the heroic visions of Dorothea Dix and Thomas Story Kirkbride. It would stand abandoned until 2005, when demolition began. Along with a dedicated group of private citizens, the Danvers Historical Society fought to preserve the Kirkbride structure, an effort that would result in the reuse of the administration building and two additional wings. Danvers has earned a unique place in history; the shell of the original Kirkbride building still stands overlooking the town. Though it has been changed drastically, the asylum's story continues as do efforts to memorialize it.

In 1717, the Council of Trade and Plantations received “agreeable news” from New England. “Bellamy with his ship and Company” had perished on the shoals of Cape Cod. Who was this Bellamy and why did his demise please the government?

Born Samuel Bellamy circa 1689, he was a pirate who operated off the coast of New England and throughout the Caribbean. Later known as “Black Sam,” or the “Prince of Pirates,” Bellamy became one of the wealthiest pirates in the Atlantic world before his untimely death. For the next two centuries, Bellamy faded into obscurity until, in 1984, he became newsworthy again with the discovery of his wrecked pirate ship.

Historian Jamie L.H. Goodall unveils the tragic life of Bellamy and the complex relationship between piracy and the colonial New England coast.

Cold Case Clues

On May 21, 1932, Arthur Oker, a mild-mannered Finnish tailor, was brutally murdered in his shop in the small seaside town of Rockport, Massachusetts.

While this unsolved crime terrified local residents, their fears increased after another horrifying murder, that of Swedish immigrant and fellow churchgoer Augusta Johnson in her home on Halloween night in 1933. Following the crimes, authorities searched every house and building in Rockport, and some 2,500 households were interviewed. A reward was posted, a mystic volunteered her services and local children wearing badges provided by a breakfast cereal company joined in the search. However, the crimes went unsolved. Local authors Robert Fitzgibbon and Wayne Soini reveal long-lost details about the crime, the investigation and a surprise suspect from the state police archives.

Striking photographs document a time-honored pastime unknown to many outside of New England.

Candlepin bowling is hard.So hard, in fact, that no one has ever bowled a perfect game.The pins are tall and skinny, the balls are small enough to fit in a player’s hand, and the fallen pins are not cleared between rolls.Originating in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the late 19th century and played today mostly in New England and eastern Canada, the game has a rich and colorful history.In the days before automation, sure-footed pin boys manually reset the pins and returned the balls.A long-running, top-rated Boston television show regularly transformed unassuming candlepinners into regional celebrities.And the game has something called a Half Worcester.Author and photographer Susan Mara Bregman bowled at dozens of candlepin centers, combed through dusty archives, and interviewed industry insiders to create this affectionate look at one of America’s quirkiest pastimes.

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.

Follow the tragic story of a fishing trip gone wrong and its impact on the community of Brockton, Massachusetts.

On May 13, 1928, ten prominent men of Brockton, Massachusetts, headed off on a fishing trip to Moosehead Lake in Maine. After traveling fourteen hours, the group met Maine guide Samuel Budden and boarded the Mac II for the final voyage to their destination. Approximately six miles from the Tomhegan sporting camp, the boat took on water in rough seas and sank, taking Budden and all but one of the adventurers to a watery grave. Jim Benson and Nicole Casper chronicle this horrific tragedy and its legacy in two New England communities.

Discover the people and places of colonial Boston during the tumultuous years of rebellion.

In 1764, a small town in the British colony of Massachusetts ignited a bold rebellion. When Great Britain levied the Sugar Act on its American colonies, Parliament was not prepared for Boston’s backlash.

For the next decade, Loyalists and rebels harried one another as both sides revolted and betrayed, punished and murdered. But the rebel leaders were not always the heroes we consider them today. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were reluctant allies. Paul Revere couldn’t recognize a traitor in his own inner circle. And George Washington dismissed the efforts of the Massachusetts rebels as unimportant.

With a helpful guide to the very sites where the events unfolded, historian Brooke Barbier seeks the truth and human stories behind the myths. Barbier tells the story of how a city radicalized itself against the world’s most powerful empire and helped found the United States of America.

See Boston from a new point of view in over fifty crisp, full-color maps.

Covering four distinct categories (“The Making of Boston,” “The Lay of the Land,” “Getting Around,” and “People and Culture” ), Andy Woodruff’s newly created, original maps investigate all facets of Boston’s past and present. In unraveling the many complex layers that comprise the “real” Boston, some explorations are expected: sports championships, universities, and pothole complaints. Others, such as the former cow paths that predated downtown streets, are decidedly more hidden.

Dig into the city’s history with a guided tour through Revolutionary War sites, landmarks of nineteenth-century Black Boston, and notable “first in the nation” events (like the first recorded UFO sighting). Uncover the structural forces that shaped the social and lived experience of Boston, with maps showing the impact of redlining, urban renewal practices, and the busing crisis of the 1970s. Discover how the city’s boundaries evolved through annexation and landfill and how they’ll continue to change due to coastal flooding risks. Explore some of Boston’s most unique quirks through surprising revelations about the density of Dunkin’ locations, the distinctive architecture of three-deckers, and the spread of the infamous Great Molasses Flood.

Entertaining and informative in equal parts, Boston in 50 Maps brings The Hub’s history, urban plans, and lore to life. A perfect welcome gift for a new Bostonian, or a fresh perspective on the city for a lifelong resident.

This history of Christmas is an endless delight, with stories about all your favorite Christmas traditions, from Mystic to Maine, the Berkshires to Boston.

Here are some of the more than fifty New England holiday traditions traced and described in this enchanting treasury: Charles Follen and the Christmas Tree Church, Flying Santa, Silent Santa, and Secret Santa; Rudolph, the Most Famous Reindeer, A Magical Ride on the Polar Express, Louis Prang, Father of the American Christmas Card, Candlelight Strolls at Old Sturbridge Village and Capt. James Magee's Holiday Party.

Building the Mass Pike details the urban history and construction of old Boston, with previously unpublished images from the Turnpike Authority archives.

By 1950, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its capital city had fallen on hard times. The solution came in 1952 from one man and the road he devoted the last decade of his life to building. With the region's railroads in decline and the roads in appalling disrepair, the difficulty of moving people and goods around the state and into its largest port was taking a heavy toll on the economy. The man was William Callahan, and the road was the Massachusetts Turnpike. Building the Mass Pike tells the story of the road's planning, construction, and impact on the communities through which it passed. The book includes previously unpublished images from the Turnpike Authority archives and provides a vivid document of the largest public works project in the state's history and the firestorm of controversy that surrounded it. Written by an engineer-historian, Building the Mass Pike will appeal not only to those fascinated by the history of the Commonwealth and its capital but also to those with an interest in construction, urban history, and the politics of old Boston.

Peter F. Stevens offers an entertaining and compelling portrait of the Irish immigrant saga and pays homage to the overlooked episodes of the Boston Irish experience.

When it comes to Irish America, certain names spring to mind - Kennedy, O'Neill, and Curley testify to the proverbial footsteps of the Gael in Boston. However, few people know of Sister Mary Anthony O'Connell, whose medical prowess carried her from the convent to the Civil War battlefields, earning her the nickname the Boston Irish Florence Nightingale, or of Barney McGinniskin, Boston's first Irish cop, who proudly roared at every roll call, McGinniskin from the bogs of Ireland - present! Along with acclaim or notoriety, many forgotten Irish Americans garnered numerous historical firsts.

Cape Cod has always been in the path of deadly hurricanes and ferocious storms.  Unwelcome summer visitors include the “Long Island Express” Hurricane of 1938, the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944, the twin Hurricanes Carol and Edna in 1954, and Hurricane Bob in 1991.

These storms destroyed countless homes and left several coastal communities under several feet of water. Surging tides carried away houses with residents inside who didn't survive and sank the Coast Guard lightship Vineyard in Buzzards Bay, killing all 12 crew members. Fall and winter brought the benchmark Blizzard of 1978, the nor’easter of January 1987, and the infamous “Perfect Storm” of October 1991 which delivered some of the highest tides ever seen on the Outer Cape.

Local author Don Wilding revisits the Cape’s most severe weather events and their devastating impact. 

Take a ride through historic Massachusetts down Route 128!

Route 66 may be the most famous highway in the United States, but the country is home to countless roads ushering millions of motorists along decade after decade. Route 128 traces its origins to the late 1920s, when the Massachusetts Department of Public Works cobbled together a makeshift network of existing roads through Boston's suburbs. Between 1947 and 1956, Route 128 was reconstructed as a major regional expressway, and immediately feuled explosive growth in the region. What was once the "road to nowhere" quickly became a major commercial nexus for eastern Massachusetts and a critical link in the region's highway network. Building Route 128 vividly documents the highway's construction and its impact, drawing previously unpublished images from the Massachusetts Department of Public Works and tells the story of a region forever changed.

If you know anything about American history, you know the country was founded on the principle of religious tolerance. If you're more advanced, you know it depended on which religion.

Strange as it may seem today, it was illegal to practice Catholicism in Massachusetts until 1780, and the first public Mass wasn’t celebrated until eight years later. However, by 1808, so much progress had been made that Pope Pius VII created the Diocese of Boston, which then encompassed all of New England. The community continued to grow throughout the 19th century, and by the early 1900s was a significant part of the Boston community, greatly bolstered by the waves of Irish and Italian Catholics immigrating in the US. The Catholic community had come of age, from newcomers with customs often perceived as strange, to being ever present at public events and in local, state, and national politics. This book traces the evolution of the Catholic community and its relationship with the larger Boston community, from its very humble beginnings in the 18th century through the death of influential Cardinal Richard J. Cushing in 1970.

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.

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.

This unique compilation of photographs vividly illustrate the architecture, landscape, and day-to-day functioning of Worcester State Hospital from its origins in the 19th century to the present day.

The Worcester State Hospital offered a novel and compelling promise: that insanity could be cured by humane treatment in a therapeutic setting. Patients would enjoy its idyllic landscape, genteel interiors, wholesome food supplied from its farm, and the individualized attention of medical professionals. The hospital’s reputation as a “model institution” helped to position the city of Worcester as an economic center and pioneer in social reform. Yet overcrowding, insufficient funds, and the limitations of medical knowledge undermined the institution’s mission, leading to the abandonment of its original features. Despite downsizing and decay, the Worcester State Hospital continues to exert a tangible presence on the landscape. Its iconic clock tower, salvaged from demolition, stands as a reminder of its historical legacy and of the continuing role of the site—now the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital—in the treatment of mental illness.

Madeline Ryan and Katherine Anderson have drawn upon their extensive knowledge of institutional history to craft an illustrated narrative of the Worcester State Hospital utilizing photographs held by the Worcester Historical Museum as well as images from private collections.

Ghost stories from Cape Cod have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

The haunted history of the Cape comes to life—even when the main players are dead. Get lost amongst the spirits that haunt the John Pope House. Or catch a glimpse of Jarvesville Historic District’s annual phantom parade. Dive into this spooky chapter book for suspenseful tales of bumps in the night, paranormal investigations, and the unexplained; just be sure to keep the light on.

The Lost Towns of the Quabbin Valley highlights the life and times of these towns from 1754 to 1938, when the inhabitants were told, ""All Must Leave.""

The Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts was created in 1938 to supply the state's growing population with a source of drinking water. In order to create the reservoir, it was necessary to dam three branches of the Swift River, and to flood the valley which was home to five small towns- Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, Prescott, and parts of New Salem, all of which now exist underwater. More than two thousand people were displaced when the Quabbin Valley was flooded, and now these former towns are only accessible through memories, SCUBA equipment, or a time machine.The Lost Towns of the Quabbin Valleypresents rare photographs of town life, including images of students at the first Hillside School and Dr. Mary Walker, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and Greenwich summer resident. The images are drawn from the archives of the Swift River Valley Historical Society. Although the towns are gone, their stories are alive and well.

New England food and drinks writer Corin Hirsch explores the origins and taste of the favorite potations of early Americans and offers some modern-day recipes to revive them today.

Colonial New England was awash in ales, beers, wines, cider and spirits. Everyone from teenage farmworkers to our founding fathers imbibed heartily and often. Tipples at breakfast, lunch, teatime and dinner were the norm, and low-alcohol hard cider was sometimes even a part of children's lives. This burgeoning cocktail culture reflected the New World's abundance of raw materials: apples, sugar and molasses, wild berries and hops. This plentiful drinking sustained a slew of smoky taverns and inns--watering holes that became vital meeting places and the nexuses of unrest as the Revolution brewed.

In 1891, four intrepid women from Lowell sailed to a remote island in Boston Harbor for a 17-day escape from New England’s prim and proper society.

Calling themselves the Scribe, the Aristocrat, the Acrobat, and the Autocrat, the women rusticated in a cottage on Great Brewster Island, reveling in the chance to shed their identities of wife, mother, and daughter. Relive their sojourn through their remarkable journal, filled with observations, illustrations, photographs, and poetry, reproduced here by the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands.

Through photographs of people, events, and machines, Digital Equipment Corporation tells the story of the unassuming computer revolutionaries who reshaped the technological world.

From its inception in 1957, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts, carved itself a role in American business unlike any other company. Launched by Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer Ken Olsen with a $70,000 investment from the country's first venture capital firm, DEC rapidly became a pioneer in computer technology. In its heyday, DEC had a valuation of more than $12 billion and employed approximately one hundred twenty thousand people worldwide, making it second only to IBM. Its people and technology contributed to making computers increasingly affordable, which led directly to the advent of the personal computer, the first computer games, and computer networks. DEC was also a leader in the Internet revolution, claiming the dubious distinction of launching the first spam mailing and registering one of the first commercial domain names. Through photographs of people, events, and machines, Digital Equipment Corporation tells the story of the unassuming computer revolutionaries who reshaped the technological world. It is written for anyone who is interested in how the present era of computing ubiquity has evolved since the 1940s, when IBM chairman Thomas Watson predicted that the whole world might need no more than five computers.

On the night of November 26, 1898, with a killer storm of historic proportions approaching, the steamer Portland set out from Boston. By the following night, the winter hurricane sent the vessel to the depths of Massachusetts Bay off Cape Cod, claiming nearly two hundred lives.

On the Cape, a few dozen victims of the Portland disaster washed ashore, while ships piled up in harbors, high tides swept away railroad tracks, and the landscape and beaches were changed forever. Several Cape Cod mariners went to sea and never returned, caught in the gale’s evil clutches.

Local author Don Wilding revisits this disaster and the heroic deeds of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the Cape’s citizenry in what came to be known as “The Portland Gale.”

Cape Cod was known as a ship's graveyard but the Cape Cod Canal, proposed in 1776 and built in 1914 became a vital shipping link and a marvel of engineering.

For centuries, the shoals and high winds around Cape Cod turned its waters into a ships' graveyard. In 1623, Miles Standish proposed a shorter, safer passage by building a canal linking Cape Cod Bay with Buzzards Bay, and in 1776, George Washington ordered the first of many surveys. All attempts failed until 1914, when the Cape Cod Canal opened as a private toll canal. The widest sea-level canal in the world, the Cape Cod Canal continues to be an engineering marvel, a vital shipping link, and a summer destination. These rare images from the Nina Heald Webber Collection at Historic New England survey the canal's development from unsuccessful building efforts in the 1800s, through its 1909–1914 construction, and subsequent improvements in the 1930s.

The history of Cape Cod including the creation of the iconic New England landmark, The Cape Cod Canal.

The cradle of New England's shipping doubled as its casket, earning the sailing route around Cape Cod the nickname of graveyard of the Atlantic. J. North Conway plunges into the character of Cape Cod, from its discovery to its chowder, and of the man who managed to cut a path through it.

See how brothers Edward and Lincoln Filene brought fashion and entertainment to generations of Bostonians.

It was regarded as the World's Largest Specialty Store. William Filene's Sons Company was founded in 1870 and brothers Edward and Lincoln Filene were revolutionaries who championed employee relations and innovative merchandising. In 1909, Edward organized and opened Filene's famous Automatic Bargain Basement, while Lincoln helped found the Federated Department Stores Company in March 1929. Filene's was a pioneer in branch-store development.

In its heyday, the store hosted appearances by fashion designers, such as Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, and Pauline Trigère, in addition to celebrities, like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gloria Swanson, and Gene Autry. A victim of retail consolidation, the flagship downtown Boston store closed its doors in 2006. Its building, designed by the internationally renowned architect Daniel Burnham, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012 and anxiously awaits its redevelopment. Now, you can see some of these historic photographs that come directly from the Filene Marketing Archives at the Boston Public Library.

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.

Author and historian Anthony Sammarco reveals the fascinating history of Boston's beloved Jordan Marsh.

Jordan Marsh opened its first store in 1851 on Milk Street in Boston selling assorted dry goods. Following the Civil War, the store moved to Winthrop Square and later to Washington Street between Summer and Avon Streets. The new five-story building, designed by Winslow & Wetherell, unveiled the novel concept of department shopping under one roof. It attracted shoppers by offering personal service with the adage that the customer is always right, easy credit, art exhibitions and musical performances. By the 1970s, it had become a regional New England icon and the largest department store chain in the nation.

Pres. George Washington authorized Springfield Armory to begin manufacturing small arms for the US military in 1794.

Over nearly two centuries until its closure in 1968, the government armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, became legendary, not only for the arms provided to soldiers during conflicts such as the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World War II, but also for the way in which those arms were crafted. The drive to produce firearms of high quality and quantity for the nation's military created a need to improve manufacturing methods and machinery. Armory advancements, such as the interchangeability of parts, helped lay the groundwork of the American Industrial Revolution. Because of these efforts, Springfield Armory is recognized not only as a first-rate government arms manufacturer, but also as a hub of industry, attracting thousands of skilled men and women from around the world.

Nestled on the island peninsula of Cape Ann on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Gloucester, known as “America’s Oldest Seaport,” was founded in 1623 by farmers and fishermen from Dorchester, England, as the first permanent European settlement in Massachusetts.

This had been the second European attempt at settling the area, and though it initially struggled, Gloucester maintained its status as a fishing village and became a major New England commercial port in the centuries to come. Its growth granted it national notoriety for its robust maritime culture and economy and led to its eventual distinction as a tourist and fine arts destination as well. Additionally, Gloucester is bordered by the towns of Rockport, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Essex, all of which have played their own unique roles in the development of the Cape Ann area. 

Ryan A. McRae, a historian and native of the North Shore, has carefully cultivated his own collection of original postcards of the area and has used this, as well as his expertise in the field, to effectively narrate and exhibit Gloucester and Cape Ann’s unique history in this medium.

The Great Boston Fire of 1872was a spectacular conflagration that destroyed Old Bostonand allowed a phoenix to arise from the ashes.

Few events can be said to have changed the face of Boston forever. Eventually destroying 775 buildings and causing millions of dollars in damage to the commercial section that we now know as Boston's business district. This conflagration ranks among the most destructive fires in American history

This exciting new pictorial history brings to life the drama that began one Saturday evening in 1872 when a fire started in an empty hoop-skirt factory on the corner of Summerand Kingston Streets. At the time, Boston was in the throes of an epizootic disease that caused all horses in the area to be ill. This caused a virtual shutdown of transportation and city services and delayed the fire department's response to calls for help. By the time the breathless firemen arrived, the fire had already consumed the granite five-story factory and burst through the mansard roof, which acted as a flue and spread the fire. Within an hour, much of Summer Streetwas engulfed in flames and firemen from near and far were being summoned to combat the spread of the deadly blaze. By midnight, the fire had spread through Summer Streetto Arch Streetand was attacking Winthrop Square.Old Trinity Church, at the corner of SummerandHawley Streets, had given itself up to the flames.

With this moving new work, author Anthony Mitchell Sammarco has artfully combined images and text to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the awesome fire. A well-known lecturer and local historian, Mr. Sammarco has created an entertaining and educational look at a critical and unsteady moment in Boston's past.

Newtown, Massachusetts is home to some of the finest examples of 19th and 20th century American architecture and has an interesting history as well.

Incorporated in 1688, Newton has a history asfascinating as it is long. Newton illustrates the city's development from a community of scattered farmhouses and five small villages in the 1830s to the Garden City of the Commonwealth one hundred years later. Newton's colorful history encompasses many unique features; not only was it one of the country's first railroad suburbs, Newton was home to the Stanley brothers of Steamer fame, to Gen. William Hull, whose reputation suffered during the War of 1812, and, briefly, to Horace Mann and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Newton, however, is best known not for the famous or nearly famous who lived here, but for some of the finest examples of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century domestic architecture in America.

Discover within these pages little-known facts about the USS Albany, the U.S. Navy's oldest commissioned warship, USS Constitution, and the WWII destroyer, USS Cassin Young.

The photographs in this exciting new volume illustrate the history of the Charlestown Navy Yard from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century. Founded in 1800, the yard was oneof the first military shipyards in the United States.Charlestown Navy Yard celebrates the life of the yardthrough one hundred years of photographs, showing thedramatic changes that took place during the transition from wood to steel ships. Charlestown Navy Yard's history is preserved in these images, which include rare views of buildings past and present and snapshots of shipyard workers in the Ropewalk, on the ships, and in the Forge Shop where die-lock chain was developed.

In this new book, historian D. Michael Ryan illuminates acts of uprising of Patriots and Loyalists during the first action of the Revolutionary War in and around Concord. Through a series of compelling essays, Ryan debunks historical myths and salutes those who fought for the recognition of our nation and became the first heroes of the fledgling United States. What was romanticized and changed in the generations since the Revolution is presented here directly through the voices of the people who faced the shocking facts of war and rebellion.

From Dr. Samuel Prescott, who joined Paul Revere on his famous ride and left fiancée Lydia Mulliken behind, to the mystery of the Bedford Flag unfurled on April 19, these stories reveal the truths of our founding fathers and mothers. As their lives were interrupted by the birth of a country, the citizens of Concord saw their friends and neighbors engaged in acts of bravery and of depravity. Ryan's account of the shot heard 'round the world, provides a glimpse at the realities of the American Revolution.

Nestled in the town square of Concord, Massachusetts, the windows of the Colonial Inn have gazed upon more than three centuries of bloodstained history.

Known for its role in the American Revolution, the Inn was originally built as three separate buildings with the oldest section of the property dating back to 1716. A stone's throw from Old North Bridge, the Inn is notoriously haunted by the ghosts from its Revolutionary War past. Guests report phantom footsteps, disembodied voices, and spirited soldiers lurking in the shadows of the labyrinthine hallways and empty rooms of this infamous inn.

Local author Sam Baltrusis has worked the graveyard shift at Concord's Colonial Inn trying to unravel the chilling mysteries and lingering legends associated with one of the country's oldest and most haunted hotels.

This fascinating visual history chronicles the growth of a city that began to rise from the plains of the Merrimack River in 1845.

Conceived, financed, and managed by Yankee capitalists and designed to be a model town, Lawrence was among the earliest planned manufacturing communities in the country and it quickly became the largest wool manufacturing center in the world. From the outset, Lawrence was the gateway to America for thousands of immigrants; here they found work, acquired skills, learned English, educated their children, and eventually became citizens. By 1910, almost 90 thousand people—representing 25 nationalities and speaking 40 languages—had made their home within the seven square miles that constitute Lawrence. Their unique story is told through images cherished in photograph albums and old cardboard boxes, and gathered over the decades from the tenement attics and basements of those who actually lived the lives shown in these photographs. The images vividly portray America's industrial and immigrant past, and show the lives, work, aspirations, pleasures, and sometimes the suffering, of the people who created the city of Lawrence. This collection is the first extensive photographic history of the city in over 75 years, and it offers more than 200 fascinating images from the renowned Immigrant City Archives—many of them rare and previously unpublished.

A well-read and inventive community, Franklin has been home to a number of influential Americans itself, including Horace Mann, the Father of American Education. Mr. Johnston's pictorial history of Franklin honors the memory of these great citizens and also chronicles the development of the town through its industrial revolution.

A suburb of Boston with its own distinctive identity, Brookline, Massachusetts is explored through the years in this delightful pictorial history.

Join authors Greer Hardwicke and Roger Reed in a celebration of the people and places of Brookline from 1680 to 1940. Brookline boasts many notable historical figures such as Dr. Thomas Boylston, originator of a smallpox vaccine, King Gillette, inventor of the safety razor, and Charles Sprague Sargent, founder of the Arnold Arboretum. Among these notable figures residing in Brookline were many wealthy Boston merchants who maintained estates in the popular suburb.

The exquisite images in this collection provide views of a wide range of architecture, from impressive eighteenth-century estates to multi-family homes for the working class. Churches, schools, and parks are also represented, including Longwood Mall, with its famous copper beech trees imported from Europe, and Cypress Field, the first public playground in America. View designed landscapes from private estates such as Faulkner Farm to suburban developments such as Fisher Hill, and witness the changes that have occurred along Beacon Street and other major thoroughfares. Travel back in time to discover these and many other wonders in the fascinating town where both John and Robert Kennedy were born.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the U.S. Armory opened in Springfield, spurring rapid growth. With that golden age of progress came iconic buildings and landmarks that are now lost to time.

Railroads brought workers eager to fill Springfield's factories and enterprises like Smith & Wesson, Merriam Webster and Indian Motorcycles. The Massasoit House Hotel, the Church of the Unity and the Daniel B. Wesson mansion once served as symbols of the city's grandeur. Forest Park grew into an upscale residential neighborhood of Victorian mansions. Join local historian Derek Strahan as he returns Springfield to its former glory, examining the people, events and - most importantly - places that helped shape the City of Firsts.

Boston's Red Line: Bridging the Charles from Alewife to Braintree details one of Boston's oldest and busiest subway lines. This nostalgic collection of vintage photographs documents the line's construction and its engineers and leaders, such as Maj. Gen. William A. Bancroft, mayor of Cambridge and president of the Boston Elevated Railway Company. In these pages, watch as crews break ground in Harvard and Andrew Squares and see the 1929 trolleys that replaced Mattapan's commuter train service. Through exciting, historic photographs, Boston's Red Line: Bridging the Charles from Alewife to Braintree tells the fascinating story of how the Crimson City's subway became the modern Red Line, taking passengers beneath the streets of Boston to landmarks such as Harvard Square, Massachusetts General Hospital, historic Park Street, and the Longfellow Bridge.

Route 128 and the Birth of the Age of High Tech tells the intertwining stories of the construction of the nation's first circumferential beltway and the burgeoning high-tech industries of Massachusetts, which helped spawn the modern age of personal computers, the Internet, and biotechnology.

A collection of photos of the first large municipally funded library in the U.S. ""built as an ornament to the city"" from the first misteps to the successful completion.

The Boston Public Library (BPL) was the first large municipally funded public library in the United States. Although the library was founded in 1848, the original idea was first proposed by French ventriloquist Alexandre Vattemare in 1841. In 1854, the library opened to the public in two rooms in a schoolhouse on Mason Street. Just four years later, the building on Boylston Street opened with 88,789 items. In 1871, the BPL was the first library in the country to open a branch, and by 1895, when the new central library was opened in Copley Square, 29 branches and reading rooms had opened. Charles Follen McKim was the principal architect of the new building, which is noted for its perfect proportions, magnificent murals, and beautiful ornamentation throughout the building. The tremendous growth of the library made it necessary to build an addition, and in 1972, the new building designed by Philip Johnson was opened.

For seven decades, the Boston Garden functioned as both a de facto community center and the indoor entertainment hub of New England.

Known to millions as the home of the Bruins and Celtics, the Garden was also home to a variety of other events. The Boston Garden was truly a ""people's palace,"" serving as a venue for events both grand and humble, monumental and mundane. It was nothing less than the city's playpen, music hall, political clubhouse, tavern, cathedral, and living room. The Boston Garden opened on November 17, 1928, to an overflow audience who witnessed local boxer Dick ""Honeyboy"" Finnegan defeat reigning world featherweight champion Andre Routis in a non-title bout. Three days later, the Bruins greeted a crowd that fire department officials estimated was nearly four thousand above maximum capacity. The Boston Garden captures these moments and the unique relationship that was forged with the city right from the beginning. During the Great Depression, the Garden hosted countless community events, such as free public skating and religious services. It was Boston's main attraction with concerts, wrestling, school sports, and the ever popular Bruins. Later years saw the birth of the Boston Celtics in 1946 and their unsurpassed record of sixteen world championships. Following World War II and through the baby boomer years, performers as diverse as Liberace, Elvis, and the Rolling Stones also packed fans in. The Boston Garden was demolished in 1998 to make room for the Central Artery and private development, but it lives on in the hearts of New Englanders.

The stories, legends, and lore surrounding New England’s most haunted places. A must-read for fans of the supernatural and New England history.

New England's history is marked with witch executions, curses and an untold number of cemeteries hiding mysteries beneath their stones. In this sometimes harsh landscape, the truth is often stranger than fiction. Examine the footprints burned into the ledge of Devil's Foot Rock in Rhode Island. Spend a night at the Kennebunk Inn in Maine, where the mischievous specter of Silas Perkins still resides. Traverse an old dirt road near Sterling, Connecticut, where the Darn Man's frozen body was uncovered in 1863.

Authors Thomas D'Agostino and Arlene Nicholson uncover the history behind the region's best-kept secrets and lore. As you flip through these pages of New England's legends, tread lightly--you just might find a story that will follow you home.

In the 1620s the land that would one day become the Massachusetts North Shore was a harsh frontier. Native Americans, fishermen, and religious exiles struggled to survive while speculators strived to profit off the vast resources of this New World.

Out of the disease, greed, and chaos of the era would emerge one of the most unique cities in the world. Learn how a working-class salter named Roger Conant became the first governor of Massachusetts and why Miles Standish tried to end this new colony of fishermen with brute force. Meet the woman who led the Massachusett people through their most trying times but whose name was ultimately lost to recorded history.

Join local author Benjamin Shallop as he reveals how a place known as Naumkeag became Salem, the City of Peace.

Fort Devens is the first book to trace the military activity in this area. Throughout the twentieth century, troops were trained and deployed from Fort Devens for every major conflict the United States was involved in. During World War II, Fort Devens inducted more than six hundred thousand men into the army from the New England area. The list of individuals who have served here included Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, and Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Even NASA can trace its birth to Fort Devens by way of Dr. Robert Goddard's liquid-fueled rocket experiments.

On the evening of January 2, 2009, Captain Matteo Russo and crewman John Orlando got underway aboard the fifty-four-foot fishing vessel Patriot, from the iconic State Pier in Gloucester, Massachusetts, bound for nearby fishing grounds in search of cod. They never returned.

What happened less than eight hours later on that bitter and dark winter early morning that caused the Patriot to sink? Why did the Coast Guard deliberate more than two hours before launching a rescue mission? Using official documents, numerous interviews and insight as a search and rescue commander, maritime historian Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.), expertly documents the tragedy of the Patriot, with startling findings. He deftly explores the condition of “normalcy bias” linked to this heartbreaking case, which can cause people—including Coast Guard personnel—to deny and sometimes over-deliberate threats to human life.

Discover the history of Tewksbury through historic photographs from the Tewksbury Historical Society.

In 1689, Chief Magistrate Waitstill Winthrop appointed Samuel Hunt II to build a blockhouse to guard against Mohawk-affiliated Indians from Canada seeking to cross the Merrimack River to harm the English settlers and the Praying Indians of Wamesit. The crossing Hunt guarded is now known as Hunts Falls. By 1734, on a second attempt, Hunt and 41 settlers from around his site petitioned the legislature and succeeded to incorporate Tewksbury as a separate town from Billerica. Beginning as an agricultural community, along with fishing in the Merrimack, Shawsheen, and Concord Rivers, industries such as dairies, tanneries, furniture making, sawmills, blacksmith shops, and even a soap factory prospered during the 1800s. Greenhouses began to spring up in the late 1800s. In the 1970s, Tewksbury was deemed the Carnation Capital of the World for its production and cultivation talents. In 1934, at the town’s 200th anniversary celebration, citizens celebrated its beginnings and growth with pride and patriotism. Today, public art includes figures from Tewksbury’s past by renowned resident sculptor Mico Kaufman.

Rev. Douglas W. Sears, JD, and Nancy Reed, president and vice president, respectively, of the Tewksbury Historical Society, are longtime residents who have served on several town boards. Reed serves as Tewksbury’s town historian. The images in this book are from the Tewksbury Historical Society’s collection and other sources as noted.