Library Resources of the Month – Bellingham History
There are a number of online resources that can be accessed through the library’s website pertaining to the history of Bellingham. These include the Bellingham High School Yearbooks, Town of Bellingham Annual Reports, Vital Records of Bellingham, History of the Town of Bellingham 1719-1919, two books about Deborah Sampson, and Massachusetts Memories Road Show Photographs.
Both the Bellingham High School Yearbooks and the Annual Reports have been made available on the library’s website through the Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library’s statewide digitization program. The oldest yearbook online is the 1939 edition. Years 1940 and 1941 were not available to be digitized, but every edition from 1942 through 2018 is available online. Yearbooks can be searched by year, and once you have selected a yearbook you can search inside it for a specific person. Print copies of the yearbooks are in the library’s Local History Room.
Annual Reports are available for online viewing from as far back as 1862. There are a number of annual reports in the 1800s that were not available for digitization, but every edition is accessible from 1899 through 2021. Like the yearbooks, the annual reports can be searched by year, and once a certain year has been selected, you can search inside it. Print copies of the annual reports are in the library’s Local History Room.
The Vital Records of Bellingham, to the Year 1850 is available online through the Internet Archive. This is a record of births, deaths, and marriages in Bellingham up to 1850. A print version is in the library’s Local History Room.
History of the Town of Bellingham 1719-1919 by George F. Partridge has been made available online through the Internet Archive. Visual adjustments can be made for brightness and contrast, as well as increasing or decreasing the page size. The library also owns several print copies of this book, in both the circulating collection and Local History Room.
Two books about Deborah Sampson have been linked on the library’s website. Deborah Sampson became a hero of the American Revolution when she disguised herself as a man and joined the Continental Army from May 1782 to October 1783, enlisting in Bellingham.
The Female Review: Life of Deborah Sampson – the Female Soldier in the War of the Revolution by John Adams Vinton has been made available through the Internet Archive. Soldier’s Secret: the Story of Deborah Sampson by Sheila Solomon Klass is linked to the library’s Overdrive electronic book collection. You need a library card to check out books from this collection. It is also available on Hoopla, which you can access through the library catalog or the library’s website under the Resources tab. The library also has several print copies of this book that can be checked out.
The Mass. Memories Road Show is a statewide, event-based participatory archiving program that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. Archivists and public historians in University Archives and Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collaborate with local planning teams and volunteers to organize free public events where individuals bring photographs to be copied and included in a digital archive. Bellingham was honored to be selected for a “Road Show” event in November 2022. Over 200 photographs were digitized, and 13 videos were filmed.
To access any of these online resources, go to the library’s website at www.bellinghamlibrary.org and click Resources, then click Research/History. You might just learn some fascinating facts about your town!
