Welcome to the Colrain Archives Blog

 Welcome to the Colrain Archives Blog, with facts and pics about artifacts at the Colrain Historical Society.  In 2023 -24 Sarah Hollister and Dave Allen began scanning of the CHS collections, and maintaining a database with descriptions of the various documents and artifacts.

Here we will post updates of cataloging and scanning progress, and some "cool things" we find.


Blog started Feb 18, 2024

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Airtable Database Basics for CHS

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Simple Airtable   Sept 2024:   click: https://airtable.com/appZT73u0VhiS67ZX/shrbyGf6l55u1dCf1/tblCm726I7x0KVQ4n/viweiMHGJGMBG7lsd | Then click on "filter " (upper left)  and set it up so "Description contains gavel" ------------------------------------------------ ________________________________ ------------------------------------------------- Airtable Database Basics    for Colrain Historical Society. There are over 2700 items (Nov 2024) in the CHS database, using "Airtable", an online database program. 1500 of the items have pictures You can access it at home .  BELOW is what you should see: ============ QUICK SEARCH (limited value) =========== Search using the magnifier in upper right.  However, this is a very limited search feature.  In the example, "chicken" finds 3 records. Pic shows the first record being highlighted.  The down arrow leads to the next record (not shown here).  (the "4 cells in 3 records" means that "
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New Items as of April 16

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43  "New" items cataloged since early April at the Colrain Historical Society. Most of these are items which were not cataloged prior to now, including several things found in the Pitt bedroom.  Click here for the databas e # 200-217  many old deeds The "43" included about 400 old deeds (cataloged as "17" items) , dating from the late 1700s to about 1930.  These are original land deeds which came from the Registry of Deeds, then to Town of Colrain, then to CHS. They were removed from two oversized boxes, sorted into 17 small batches by decade, and stored in small storage boxes. Most of the deeds are mid-to late 1800s. There are a handful of very early deeds, one of them by Jesse Lyon(s), the noted Colrain furniture builder.  In 1801 Jesse sold 1/4 of an acre to a Judah Pierce and recorded the deed with his signature and a waxed seal of paper.  (Item 202-1). There is also one 1776 deed for 100 acres to Abraham Pennell, also with a waxed seal #2531  Levi Lin
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"New" at CHS - Amos Bardwell Collection

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 After recent discussion about some furniture belonging to Amos Bardwell, Sarah decided to scan the 29 documents... Amos Bardwell Collection  CHS # 656 An interesting archive of original deeds, poems, copies of 18th century state petitions and ephemera. The 29 documents we have show activities of Amos, his father Elias, and others. Elias, Daniel Workman & Samuel Browning were on a committee that purchased land in 1815 “for the purpose of burying the dead”, a lot “South of the Brick Schoolhouse”.   In 1811, as a 19-year-old, Amos Bardwell (1792-1875) penned a book “The Scholars Arithmetic”  (xx page booklet) . (Based on internet research, I believe he may have copied some (or all) of the text from a publication of the same name published in Keene, NH in 1807.)   Amos was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Franklin County in 1843, 1850 and 1857.   -----   He was granted permission in 1860 from Lorenzo Langstroth to build his own movable bee hives based on Langstroth’s paten
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