The Hampshire Room for Special Collections contains thousands of images documenting local history, including images of farms, factories, shops, schools, and local residents both well known and anonymous. The Northampton image collection comprises prints, glass and film negatives, lantern slides, etchings and stereographs. Other collections include the Elbridge Kingsley, Robert Emrick and Walter Corbin Collections, and the Daily Hampshire Gazette negatives from 1954-2004.
These Images From the Archives allow you to search a portion of the library's special collections which have been digitized. If you have any questions about this collection, please contact us.
Featured Item
Angel of Hadley, (a.k.a. "The Perils of Our Forefathers")
The Angel of Hadley was a fabled event of King Phillip's War, in 1675, that Chapman focused upon in this painting which depicts an Indian attack upon the town of Hadley. The legend says the residents were in church when the assault came, and they huddled there in panic, expecting the worst. Suddenly, a stranger appeared to help, described as an elderly man dressed in English garb of several decades earlier. He supposedly organized a successful defense of the town, and disappeared after the skirmish, never to be seen again.
While the grateful townsfolk were sure the man was sent as an angel of God to save them, supposedly the real story came out as the founding pastor of Hadley, John Russell, lay on his deathbed years later. It was only then that he admitted to harboring Englishman William Goffe, formerly a general in Oliver Cromwell's army, and a conspirator in the regicide of King Charles I. With the restoration of the crown to King Charles II, there was a price upon Goffe's head, and he fled to the American colonies. Allegedly, he was hidden in a secret room in Pastor Russell's house, emerging in public only in 1675 to defend the colonists.
Noted 19th century historian George Sheldon of Deerfield, a contemporary of Chapman's, claimed the event never could have happened. But that hasn't deterred generations of Hadley residents from its retelling. To commemorate the tale, as well as the 200th anniversary of the town of Hadley in 1859, many local people bought copies of "The Perils of Our Forefathers," John C. McCrae's steel engraving of Chapman's painting (originally offered in 1859 at $3.00 for black and white and $8.00 for color). The Library has a copy of the engraving. How and when the original painting came to Forbes is undetermined.
Dr. George A. Snook's detailed article about the legend is available in the Hampshire Room. There is also a brochure identifying General Goffe and all the townspeople huddled in Hadley Church - including several people (such as Col. Benjamin Church and Major John Pynchon) who in reality, as Dr. Snook points out, were not there.
Featured Collection
Midnight to Midnight: Northampton's self-portrait in 48 hours
Featured Exhibit
Northampton Pride & Liberation: LGBT Voices from the Valley
This exhibit is the result of a ongoing collaboration between Forbes Library, Lilly Library, Kelly Anderson, Noho Pride, Smith College and Simmons College. It is a work in progress combining oral history interviews, promotional and organizational materials, and photographs to begin to tell the story of the history of the Northampton Gay and Lesbian Liberation March and its evolution into the Northampton Pride Parade.
Use the headings to the right to browse this exhibit.
As you navigate the exhibit, you'll notice the use of subject terms and tags to highlight topics and themes in these materials. For continuity, we've used the Library of Congress' Thesaurus for Graphic Materials. Cataloging standards for oral histories are evolving, and this collection in particular -- which traces multiple identities and politics over time -- demonstrates the frustrating and fruitful power of naming. For instance, the march's name itself has a complex genealogy which many narrators touch on in their interviews.
Content warnings are included with interviews that contain subject matter such as drug use or violence that could be sensitive for listeners, readers, or viewers. When possible, we've tried to use the narrators' own language to identify these topics and experiences.
We've tried to be accurate and clear and also to let the contributors speak for themselves while recognizing the fraught nature of this task. We welcome your feedback.
The oral history interviews included here are shared by their creators under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License. These digitized collections are accessible for purposes of education and research. We’ve indicated what we know about copyright and rights of privacy, publicity, or trademark. Due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to clarify information privacy, publicity, and copyright. We are eager to hear from any rights owners, so that we may obtain accurate information and respect the wishes of narrators and interviewers.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services with additional funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
Contact us at archives@forbeslibrary.org