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
Mrs. Coolidge seated with Calvin Jr. and John Coolidge, Notification Day, Northampton
Featured Collection
Calvin Coolidge and his notification of his Vice-Presidential nomination
June 8-12, 1920 the Republican National Convention was held in Chicago and nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for President and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge for Vice-President. The convention format at the time only included the 940 delegates and the candidates were not there to campaign, give speeches or accept the nomination at the convention. A committee of delegates would then do a hometown notification to the candidates. On July 27, 1920, a delegation led by Governor Edwin Morrow of Kentucky arrived at 21 Massasoit Street and notified Calvin Coolidge he was the Republican nominee for Vice President. The notification day event committee led by Smith College President Emeritus L. Clark Seylee organized band concerts, luncheons for the official delegates, a parade through downtown Northampton to the Coolidge home and then to Smith College’s Allen Field for formal ceremonies where Morrow delivered the speech on nomination and Coolidge delivered his speech of acceptance. The 1920 census population for Northampton was 21,951 and local newspapers estimated there were 15,000 people in town and due to the heat about 7000 spectators stayed in the open field for the ceremony. Harding and Coolidge were elected on November 2, 1920 and inaugurated on March 4, 1921.
Special thank you to Smith College Praxis Summer Internship Funding for a remote internship and Smith College archives for research assistance.
Exhibit created by Forbes Library Archivist Julie Bartlett Nelson and Eavan McNeil, Smith College class of 2022
More Featured Collections
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