The Commonwealth

The last post touched briefly upon Essex County and preservation. We have had several other looks at Essex. After all, that is where Thomas and Margaret came into the New World. Plus, Salem is still within the boundaries. So, we'll feature this little county lots and lots of times.

• South (east and central) Essex County - This is from 2011. What did we know having just started our research in 2009? Not much. But, we were collecting source material like mad (still are) with the intent of having a good bibliography. Also, we had to get used to a County where the little towns covered the whole shebang. This is not like out west where some areas a lots and lots of empty spaces (Rt 66 comes to mind). 
• Essex Institute - their Historical Collections was a great asset. Too, Sidney's work was central to a lot of research. 
• Essex County -- Dr. Frank's The Massachusetts Magazine was based in the county. 

We have a lot more. Buy, let's switch gears a little. As, there was the Commonwealth in which Essex County was embedded. Rather, which grew around the county. We focus on Essex; several sites look at Massachusetts, New England, and the U.S. One example is 'Mass Moments' which we look at today.

On March 12, 1857, John Brown spoke in Concord. John was featured in several of our posts, such as the one on Col. T. W. Higginson who worked with Dr. Frank on The Massachusetts Magazine. In his talk, John mentioned Kansas which we have featured in our series on the western movement.

As we look at the American 100s (400th, 250th, 100th - as in Cape Ann, the Revolution, and the western swing), we will juxtapose views with Essex County being perpetually there. And, we have a huge collection of supporting material. On the broader scope, we will begin to collect similar support. Turns out that the 'Mass Moments' comes from the 'Mass Humanities' project. We will pay closer attention to this effort.

Remarks: Modified: 03/12/2020

03/12/2020 --