Printed Material
Page: 305

Historical Collections, by John Warner Barber

Page: Title Page | 70 | 71 | 233 | 234 | 235 | 236 | 242 | 243 | 244 | 245 | 246 | 247 | 256 | 256 Plate | 257 | 261 | 262 | 263 | 265 | 266 | 271 | 275 | 281 | 282 | 294 | 304 | 305 | 306 | 307 | 310 | 320 | 321 | 322 | 326 | 328 Plate | 329 | 330 | 331 | 332 | 335 | 338 | 344 | 345 | 596 | 597
Date: 1839
Creator: John Warner Barber
Publisher: Dorr, Holland and Company
About this artifact

John Warner Barber (1798-1885) traveled throughout the state of Massachusetts gathering material for his Historical Collections. The Collections, published in 1839, contained information on every town in the state of Massachusetts, including detailed descriptions of the many towns that played a role in the 1780s in what became known as the Shays' Rebellion. Barber was the artist and illustrator as well as the writer for this ambitious project. He sketched prominent buildings and landscape features. He then transferred more detailed drawings to blocks of wood. He engraved the blocks of wood, which he then used for printing the illustrations. Barber published a similar book on Connecticut towns in 1836. Thanks to John Barber, we can read and see descriptions of dozens of towns in the 1830s.

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Courtesy Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, MA