New Book Releases

Since Boston's settlement in 1630, the North End has developed from a neighborhood of residences and artisan shops. Known for the nationally important Paul Revere House, which is the oldest standing building in Boston, and the Old North Church, the North End is a destination for tourists.

On August 22, 1914, Milford, Connecticut, celebrated its 275th anniversary. An estimated crowd of 20,000 celebrated on the Milford Green alongside open-air horseless buggies.

The celebration started at sunrise with a cannon salute and the sounding of church bells and factory whistles. Milford just recently celebrated its 375th anniversary.

Since the mid-nineteenth century, Belmont has made great strides in evolving from a rural stop on the Concord-to-Cambridge stagecoach route to a diverse community committed to preserving it roots while progressing into the new millennium. Whereas some local landmarks, such as Olive's Drug Store and Edgar's Florist, have been replaced in an effort to modernize, others, such as Underwood Pool and Mill Pond, remain.  Belmont, a part of the Then & Now series, combines historic and modern photographs with engaging narrative to highlight lasting legacies and reveal changing times.

A fascinating visual history Arlington, a streetcar suburb of Boston.

Incorporated in 1807 as West Cambridge, the rural town of Arlington adopted its name in 1867, just prior to emerging as a streetcar suburb of Boston. Then & Now: Arlington commemorates this town's bicentennial by offering a visual journey through the many changes that have dramatically transformed the man-made and natural features of this community over time.

The history of Meredith as a corporate town dates back more than two hundred thirty years. Like most older towns, especially those devoted largely to agriculture, Meredith has greatly diminished in territory since its original incorporation; unlike most New Hampshire towns of this size, however, it is progressive and prosperous, and the valuation of the town has steadily increased. This growth is the result of Meredith's change from an agricultural town to an industrial town to today's prosperous four-season resort in the heart of the Lakes Region, at the foothills of the White Mountains. Meredith, part of the Then & Now series, places vintage images alongside contemporary photographs, taken by photographer Aaron Ober, to show the changes that have taken place in this area through the years.

To live in Scituate is to live hand in hand with the past. Over three hundred and fifty years of recorded history makes this small coastal town one of the oldest in the United States. Its miles of coastline, ocean breezes, quiet byways, historic sites, and friendly people deem it one of the country's most peaceful and special places to visit.

Then and Now: Scituate connects Scituate's past and present in a way that no book has before. Nineteenth-century photographs lead to historic Front Street in Scituate Harbor, where shipping entrepreneur George F. Welch helped rebuild the town after the once prosperous North River shipbuilding era came to an end. In Then and Now: Scituate, Abigail and Rebecca Bates are commended for saving the town from a ransacking by the British during the War of 1812, and the grounds of Dreamwold are opened for a tour of the country's best-stocked Victorian-era farm.

Beginning as an agricultural community, Weymouth evolved into a bustling shipping port and a manufacturing town with numerous shoe factories and an iron works. Later, it became a seaside vacation community, a postwar suburb, and finally a modern town with public transportation, a respected hospital, and a great school system.

Concord's photographic history begins in the last third of the eighteenth century and, in this new collection of "then and now" photographs, there is an abundance of the earliest images that capture the old town and its townspeople. Modern images chosen for their resemblances or comparisons illustrate the originally rural community's transformation into a modern suburb and evoke thoughts of history's ever-turning progression.

Many of the older images in Then & Now: Concord have been given to the authors especially for this publication. Many are part of the Concord Free Public Library's Special Collection. Most of the modern photographs have been made by photographers Claiborne Dawes and Alice Moulton. Their images show such compelling comparisons as fathers and sons, old houses renovated or replaced with other structures, and the famous old authors with recent famous new ones. Then & Now: Concord will bring murmurs of reminiscence to residents and expressions of interest and curiosity to visitors seeking depth to their understanding of this important New England town.

Jamaica Plain: Then & Now is a fascinating photographic history of a Boston neighborhood once referred to as the "Eden of America." At one time a part of Roxbury and later West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain was annexed to the city of Boston in 1874. During the next five decades, the neighborhood expanded due to the railroad and streetcars and became known as one of the "streetcar suburbs." In this lavishly illustrated book, vintage images placed alongside contemporary photographs show well-known buildings and streetscapes as they once were and as they appear today. Included are Jamaica Pond, with its icehouses, and the area of Forest Hills, with the elevated line and streetcars, as well as schools, places of worship, and homes.