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It all began with a Boston Globe article touting the bucolic loveliness of the sleepy town of Charlton. Since 1755, generations of farming families had been left in Edenic seclusion. Cows outnumbered citizens, horse 'n buggies ruled the roads and one-room schoolhouses brought together children of all ages. Suddenly, thousands of city dwellers descended on the peaceful community, looking for the "farm life." Charlton: Picturing Change chronicles a century marked by tremendous trials, triumphs and transitions. Through never-before-seen images, become witness to a rapidly vanishing rural way of life. Authors William O. Hultgren and Quentin R. Kuehl lovingly document how a town rooted in tradition came to proudly embrace not only its own history, but also the new neighbors who came seeking a slice of home.

Loose the latchstring and peer into the places where
Nathaniel Hawthorne passed back and forth from nineteenth century New England to the fertile country of his imagination. The historic images in this pictorial biography--many by famed Salem photographer Frank Cousins--might not inspire readers to the same literary genius as the celebrated author, but the "dim and dusky grandeur" lingering in his favorite haunts will no doubt
enlighten as to the provocation of his pen. From Salem to Bowdoin College, and through Lenox and Concord, Salemite John Hardy Wright trails the famous author to his "old accustomed chambers" and reveals the inspiration behind an American literary legend.

On a hot day in June 1914, a fire broke out in a leather factory a mile away from the heart of downtown Salem. Despite the efforts of local firefighters and volunteers from communities as far away as Boston, residents watched helplessly as flames leapt from rooftop to rooftop. By the time the fire finally extinguished itself in the Atlantic Ocean, it had destroyed hundreds of acres of property, damaged over a thousand buildings and left more than twenty thousand people homeless. Makeshift tent cities sprung up on Salem Common and in Forest River Park. This collection of historic photos from the Phillips Library depicts the city before the fire, the conflagration itself and the people of Salem's united effort to rebuild and rise triumphant from the ashes.