New Book Releases

Name: Filene's
Brand: Michael J. Lisicky
SKU: 9780738591582
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

We’re always on the hunt for the next great American history book. When we find it, you’ll see about it here, with our new book releases. We release new history books each month in a variety of subjects and series. Browse through all of our newest titles below, and discover your next favorite history book at Arcadia Publishing! [View all New Book Releases]

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Filene's

$24.99

Camp Edwards and Otis Air Force Base

Worcester State Hospital

$24.99

South and East Chelmsford

$24.99

Westborough State Hospital

$24.99

Leominster Firefighting

$24.99

Jewish Community of the North Shore, The

$24.99

Belchertown State School

$24.99

Greeks of Worcester

$23.99

Filene's

9780738591582

$24.99

See how brothers Edward and Lincoln Filene brought fashion and entertainment to generations of Bostonians.

It was regarded as the ""World's Largest Specialty Store."" William Filene's Sons Company was founded in 1870 and brothers Edward and Lincoln Filene were revolutionaries who championed employee relations and innovative merchandising. In 1909, Edward organized and opened Filene's famous Automatic Bargain Basement, while Lincoln helped found the Federated Department Stores Company in March 1929. Filene's was a pioneer in branch-store development.

In its heyday, the store hosted appearances by fashion designers, such as Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, and Pauline Trigère, in addition to celebrities, like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gloria Swanson, and Gene Autry. A victim of retail consolidation, the flagship downtown Boston store closed its doors in 2006. Its building, designed by the internationally renowned architect Daniel Burnham, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012 and anxiously awaits its redevelopment. Now, you can see some of these historic photographs that come directly from the Filene Marketing Archives at the Boston Public Library.

Westborough

9781467105323

$24.99

First settled in 1672, Westborough officially became a town in 1717 after a second petition was sent to the General Court requesting township. Similar to many small New England towns, when Westborough entered the Gilded Age, the character of the town changed forever. Industrialization, innovation, and its idyllic location propelled the town to rank eighth among the top 10 manufacturing cities of Worcester County in 1885. In the late 19th century, Westborough's National Straw Works alone had over 2,000 employees and was recognized as the largest factory in the world for straw hats. Sleighs, bicycles, pianos, boots, and shoe production provided employment for residents and immigrants, and after World War II, Westborough expanded even farther. The interstate highway system grew, putting Westborough at the heart of Massachusetts's highway systems, and new homes were built, creating the residential community that it is today.

Boston's Immigrants

9780738556758

$24.99

Boston is a city rich in the history of residents from all walks of life, every country and every ethnicity imaginable. From 1840 to 1925, Boston's diversity created a city with a thriving nexus of people who wove together a community that reflected their own unique heritage. In this lavishly illustrated book with over 200 thought-provoking and evocative photographs, Anthony Mitchell Sammarco and Michael Price have created an important book chronicling the determination, strength, and often manifold successes of immigrants who arrived in Boston. From the mid-nineteenth century when Boston's burgeoning population included one out of every three as being foreign born, the immigrants' arrival at the East Boston docks increased greatly between 1840 and 1925, where they were to pass into the New World, and a new life. In chapters that deal with the immigrants before their arrival, their first perceptions, to where they went, worked, and played, this book outlines the ancestors of many present-day Bostonians in the evolving process of Americanization.

Southwick Revisited

9781467106283

$24.99

Southwick, a traditionally agricultural and recreational community, was known as the "south part" of Westfield before it was established as a district on November 7, 1770. Its soils have allowed many a farmer to make a living off the land. Connecticut Valley shade tobacco, broadleaf tobacco, and dairy farming have been staples for generations. Water from the Congamond Lakes has powered gristmills, sawmills, and powder mills. Its spring waters assured quality ice to be harvested during the winter and made it a mecca for fishing, boating, and swimming in the summer. The historical photographs in Southwick Revisited depict these and other themes that have been a part of the community's rich heritage.

Worcester State Hospital

9781467106047

$24.99

The Worcester State Hospital offered a novel and compelling promise: that insanity could be cured by humane treatment in a therapeutic setting. Patients would enjoy its idyllic landscape, genteel interiors, wholesome food supplied from its farm, and the individualized attention of medical professionals. The hospital's reputation as a "model institution" helped to position the city of Worcester as an economic center and pioneer in social reform. Yet overcrowding, insufficient funds, and the limitations of medical knowledge undermined the institution's mission, leading to the abandonment of its original features. Despite downsizing and decay, the Worcester State Hospital continues to exert a tangible presence on the landscape. Its iconic clock tower, salvaged from demolition, stands as a reminder of its historical legacy and of the continuing role of the site--now the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital--in the treatment of mental illness.

South and East Chelmsford

9781467104722

$24.99

The village of South Chelmsford evolved around an intersection of market roads with a few stores and a church in support of a quiet farming community. Heart Pond provided water for the Nickles Cranberry Company, ice for the Daniel Gage Ice Company, and now recreational activities for locals and visitors. Entrepreneur Ezekiel Byam exploited new developments to manufacture the first practical matches in America, and the arrival of the railroad in 1873 enabled convenient transport of goods and passengers. A large part of East Chelmsford was quietly purchased by a group of Boston businessmen in the 1820s. Their new venture first roared into the industrial age as a town and then as the city of Lowell. In the 1950s, State Route 3 and Interstate 495 sliced East Chelmsford into four isolated sections, and the story that remains is that of immigrant families, subdivided farmland, and a handful of businesses on the outskirts of a major city.

Westborough State Hospital

9781467103183

$24.99

On the banks of Lake Chauncy sit the remains of the Westborough Insane Hospital, later known as Westborough State Hospital. Westborough is perhaps best known as the second homeopathic hospital for the insane in the United States and the first example of institutional reuse in the nation. The hospital's unique treatment methods put it squarely at the forefront of mental health treatment, and it was one of the last state hospitals in Massachusetts to close its doors. The pioneering African American pathologist Solomon Carter Fuller spent much of his career at Westborough studying the physical changes made to the brain by Alzheimer's. When it closed in 2010, it was the only state hospital in New England with a dedicated unit for deaf and hard of hearing patients. Though somewhat less infamous than some of its neighbors, Westborough holds a very distinctive place in the history of mental health treatment.

Leominster Firefighting

9780738572093

$24.99

In 1820, a group of Leominster volunteers formed Engine Company No. 1 "in the interests of protecting the rights of the settlers in case of fire." Since then, more than 1,400 individuals have served as firefighters for the citizens of Leominster, each of them leaving behind a legacy that will never be forgotten. Leominster Firefighting features images, memorabilia, and photographs from the early days of the hand tubs and horse-drawn hose carts of the 1800s to the 20th century when motorized apparatus arrived. It provides a glimpse into the many traditions that have been passed from one generation to the next and a look into how fire has changed Leominster.

Jewish Community of the North Shore, The

9780738513294

$24.99

The Jewish Community of the North Shore captures the vibrant history of Jewish immigration, entrepreneurship, and community life north of Boston. The first major influx of Jewish immigrants to the region came in the late nineteenth century as eastern Europeans fled oppression and persecution in search of a new life in the land of freedom and promise. Many Jews found work in the tanneries of Peabody, known worldwide as the Leather City, and in the shoe factories of Lynn, while others ran their own businesses, including kosher butcher shops, newspapers, and retail trade stores in Salem and Beverly. Culled from the impressive archives of the Jewish Historical Society of the North Shore, this rare compilation pays tribute to the Jewish immigrants who settled north of Boston and their descendants who became prominent business, spiritual, and community leaders.

Belchertown State School

9781467105019

$24.99

In the first decade of the 20th century, the state of Massachusetts established itself as a leader in the education of individuals with disabilities. The third state school for the feebleminded was built in rural Belchertown, in the western part of the state. Opened in 1915, Belchertown State School would eventually encompass almost 900 acres of land and would become the largest employer in town. For nearly 60 years, the state school educated individuals with disabilities who were otherwise excluded from public education, training the "residents" to become independent members of their families and of society. The model was a success until reports of abuse and neglect began to surface, culminating in the landmark 1972 Ricci v. Greenblatt case, which ultimately led to the state school's closure in 1992. The state school's rich history, maintained and curated by the late Donald LaBrecque, chronicles the rise of special education and developmental services and the ultimate collapse of the state school system.

Greeks of Worcester

9781467108133

$23.99

Half a century after declaring its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, Greece was an impoverished nation-state ruled by a Danish prince. By the end of the 19th century, the people of Greece were emigrating to escape war, political strife, and poverty. Greeks started arriving in Worcester in the 1890s, mainly from the Peloponnesus, with subsequent arrivals coming from Northern Greece in the early 20th century. With the official establishment of a Greek Orthodox community (later named after St. Spyridon) in Worcester in 1914, Greeks built robust religious, civic, fraternal, and philanthropic organizations in the city. They went on to establish themselves as leaders in business, education, law, and politics. Greeks of Worcester celebrates the rich history of this community through images, tracing its history from the patrida to the United States through war, persecution, and economic hardship.