And now a word from our sponsor...

Hoppin' down the bunny trail ... t-shirts, buttons, stickers, and more! Check out my twin brother John's cartoons on Redbubble merch! (That's ArteAcher23 to you!)

Two aerial views of Springfield, Mass.

Here are two aerial views of Springfield, Massachusetts, from postcards.  Above, we have a view of the waterfront with the new Memorial Bridge in the foreground and the Municipal buildings around Court Square.  Photo by Lloyd White Bell, published by The Springfield News Company and printed by Springfield Tichnor Quality Views, Tichnor Bros Inc Boston, MA, from 1922.

Below is a black-and-white postcard of Springfield from 1919, of the North End - Memorial Church on Plainfield Street,  RM Preston  Photo-Type, George S. Graves Company Springfield, Washington D.C.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

 

Zoom talk on my book CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS!

Join me online for a Zoom talk on my book, CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS! The presentation will be hosted by the Holyoke (Massachusetts) Public Library, scheduled for Thursday, February 27th at 3:00 p.m. The event will be a PowerPoint talk with images from the classic children's literature I discuss in the book, with some time afterward for questions and comments. I'd love to hear about your favorites when you were kids.

Register for the Zoom talk here at the link below. See you then!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jrzRhtp3RO6_5MhcmpfxXg#/registration

NEW IN HARDCOVER - BESIDE THE STILL WATERS - a novel of the Quabbin Reservoir

This is to announce that my novel BESIDE THE STILL WATERS, is now available in hardcover from Amazon. It's the story of the towns dismantled in the 1930s for the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir in Central Massachusetts. It's a family saga played out over four decades of historical events. Here's what
one reviewer, "Rich in Viriginia" remarked:

"Beautiful period piece. Details are done sparely yet beautifully. This historical novel gorgeously captures the experience of the four Massachusetts towns sacrificed for the massive Quabbin Reservoir in the 1930s. Evocative! Perhaps one of my all time favorite regional pieces."

The new hardcover can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DTTVC9VD

I'm hoping to put more of my books out in hardcover this year, and in paperback that your local booksellers can order from Ingram's, and begin to produce more of my books in audio as well. It's shaping up to be a busy year.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Springfield's Wandering Statue of William McKinley

This statue in tribute to President William McKinley made a curious exodus through Springfield, Massachusetts, several times.  Tributes were quick to follow in the wake of the assassination of McKinley in 1901, and this statue was commissioned and monies raised by subscription drive by the citizens of Springfield.  It was slated to be placed in a spot of honor in downtown's historic Court Square.

By the time it was finished in 1905, enthusiasm had waned, and it fell to noted wealthy citizen Everett Barney to offer to give the statue a home on his estate.  It was dedicated in October 1905.  Mr. Barney's estate, of course, is now the expansive Forest Park.

At the time, Springfield's citizens were less than impressed with the statue, which featured a bust of McKinley perched on a short obelisk, at the foot of which was a life-size figure of a woman in the act of paying tribute to the fallen president with the offer of what appears to be a large olive branch.  Or palm frond.  It was ridiculed.

When Mr. Barney passed away and his estate donated to the city, there was again a debate as to what to do with the statue.  In 1928 it was moved back to Court Square and placed behind City Hall, and neglected and forgotten about, until the early 1960s when it was suggested to move it back to Forest Park where it might at least be seen.  By that time, a chunk of Barney's lovely estate, including his villa on Pecousic Hill, was destroyed by the construction of I-91.   

In 2015, the statue was on the move again, this time back to Court Square at a spot on the Extension behind the Old First Church.  Traffic passes by, but McKinley and the mysterious lady at his feet are a bit more visible to cars and pedestrians alike.

Interestingly, the back of this postcard mailed in 1908 makes a reference to some convention of women in town.  On June 1, 1908, Mrs. Freeman of Westerly, Rhode Island, writes:  "Arrived in Springfield at 12:45.  Had a nice trip.  There is a delegation of 110 women here of course there is lots of noise."

Have a look here at a previous post on the William McKinley monument in Adams, Massachusetts.

Source:  Springfield Union-News, October 13, 1997, article by Carol Malley.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

March of Time - New England

 

Here is a brief 11 minutes of tourism and history.  These old The March of Time newsreels ended in 1951, due to the advent of television news, but they were a window on the world of the era.  Here, the window is on New England.

Happy New Year, and thank you for the pleasure of your company!

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

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My new non-fiction book, CHILDREN'S WARTIME ADVENTURE NOVELS - The Silent Generation's Vicarious Experience of World War II -- is now available in eBook here at Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and a wide variety of other online shops.

And it is here in eBook, paperback print, and soon, hardcover, from Amazon.

From Cherry Ames, to Meet the Malones, from Dave Dawson to Kitty Carter - Canteen Girl, the Silent Generation spent their childhood immersed in geopolitical events through the prism of their middle grade and young adult books.  From the home front to the battlefield, these books are a window on their world, and influenced their hard-working, conformity-loving generation.

New England Calling - 1949

 

Take a tour of New England in this Esso Marketers travelogue from 1949 - "New England Calling."

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

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