Salem State University Archives and Special Collections

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Salem State University Archives and Special Collections

Archives and Special Collections
of Salem State University

📍 Salem, Massachusetts

💻 salemstate.edu/archives Berry Library. Visit our website for more details.

Salem State University Archives and Special Collections preserves and provides access to materials that are rare, unique, or historical. The collections are housed in a 5,000 sq ft secure and climate-controlled facility on the ground floor of Frederick E. The collection includes thousands of books, documents, manuscripts, maps, photographs, audiovisual material, artifacts, and ephemera. These item

s cover topics such as the history of Salem State University and its predecessor institutions, the history of the City of Salem, and Essex County politics. Our Reading Room is accessible year-round by appointment.

06/25/2025

On June 25, 1914, when the Great Salem Fire erupted, fifteen-year-old Annah Mildred Lougee was living with her parents, Arthur and Annah, and her siblings, Norman and Doris, at 2 Fairfield Street in Salem.

The Lougee family, owners of the J. L. Lougee furniture store located at 281 Essex Street, took refuge in their store as the fire approached their neighborhood.

Mildred documented the traumatic events in a detailed account, describing the fire’s advance from Boston Street toward their home on Fairfield Street.

Read here → http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13013/3278

06/17/2025

The North Street Arena, located at 41 North Street in Salem, was originally constructed as a horse stable. In 1905, owner James Chalifour transformed the building into a roller-skating rink. It soon became home to Salem’s American Roller Polo League, where athletes played polo on roller skates rather than horseback. Over time, the venue expanded to accommodate 1,900 spectators and gained particular fame for hosting wrestling matches, drawing big names like Jack Sharkey and Jack Dempsey. The arena was demolished in 1951 to make way for the North Street overpass.

This circa 1938 poster from the Nelson Dionne Salem History Collection advertises two featured bouts: Chuck Montana vs. Manuel Cortez and Steve Casey vs. Big Bob Herman.

06/12/2025

"I remember my grandfather as a religious, kind, and loving man who had a great love of nature. He was small in stature, with a goatee, mustache, and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.” – Rachel Whitney Davis, 1988

Charles Frederick Whitney was born in Pittston, Maine, on June 18, 1858. He studied at the Massachusetts State Normal Art School (MassArt) and later at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School. Whitney worked as a painter, illustrator, and art teacher, specializing in watercolor landscapes and seascapes...

Read More → https://bit.ly/charleswhitney

06/05/2025

Explore these rare glimpses of the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company and The Point neighborhood, captured in December 1907, just a few years before their destruction in the Great Salem Fire of 1914.

You can view the album here → https://bit.ly/thepoint1907

05/29/2025

Embracing summer with these photographs by Kirk Williamson, taken on this day in 1984 for the Salem Evening News, capturing windsurfers Angela Cochran and Richard Desrochers along Devereux Beach in Marblehead.

05/22/2025

On Memorial Day in May 1994, Jean Guy Martineau honored local heroes by placing flags on veterans’ graves at St. Mary’s Cemetery on North Street in Salem. The moment was captured by photographer Kirk Williamson for The Salem Evening News.

05/15/2025

The Hotel Manger, later renamed the Hotel Madison in 1959, was directly connected to North Station and the Boston Garden. It operated from 1930 until 1978 and welcomed numerous celebrities, including the Beatles, during its heyday. The hotel was demolished in 1983 to make way for the construction of the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Federal Building.

This remarkable photograph was taken by H. Ray Wallman for the Salem Evening News on May 15, 1983.

05/08/2025

This family Bible was presented to Benjamin Herbert Hathorne (1810–1837) of Salem in 1835 by his wife, Emma Lincoln Hayden (1816–1835), likely to commemorate their marriage. A cousin of the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, Benjamin was a graduate of both Brown University and the Newton Theological School. He began preaching in 1833, but his ministry was cut short in 1835 following the death of Emma, who succumbed to consumption just one month after their wedding.

Two years later, Benjamin also died of consumption. The Bible contains a poignant account of his final moments:

"In Lynn, Mass., September 5, 1837, Mr. Benjamin Herbert Hathorne died of consumption. Being told the hand of death was upon him, with an angelic smile he exclaimed, 'All is well,' and with unwavering confidence in the promise of the Savior, resigned his spirit to the God who gave it, in the full assurance of a blessed immortality."

05/01/2025

Happy Preservation Month!

Real photo postcards are unique because they show a glimpse of everyday life. While large publishing companies focused on capturing landmarks, local photographers could take risks on ordinary scenes.

We have digitized more than 6,000 postcards and made them available on our Flickr page, including this image of Columbus Avenue near Juniper Point, a relatively new neighborhood at the time this photograph was taken.

View here → https://bit.ly/ssupostcards

04/24/2025

This postcard from the Nelson Dionne Salem History Collection features a young Benjamin Weston Newhall (1907–1991) seated in a carriage.

On the back is written “Benj. Weston Newhall
to Dear Uncle Frank. Taken Apr. 25, 1908.”

The card is stamped by photographer H. E. Estey of Salem, Massachusetts. While the exact location remains unknown, census records show that by 1910, the Newhall family resided at 26 Putnam Street. “Uncle Frank” refers to Frank W. Newhall (1879–1969).

04/17/2025

In 1784, Benjamin Nurse became the last member of the Nurse family to reside in the Rebecca Nurse House when he sold the property to Phineas Putnam. More than a century later, in 1908, Salem resident Sarah Hunt launched a campaign to purchase the homestead to preserve it as a museum, eventually entrusting it to the Rebecca Nurse Memorial Association. In 1909, renowned preservation architect Joseph Everett Chandler, known for his restorations of the Paul Revere House and the House of the Seven Gables, carried out a historical restoration of the property. The homestead was transferred in 1926 to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England). In 1981, the Danvers Alarm List Company took over stewardship of the site and has continued to operate and preserve the historic landmark ever since. This photograph captures the home as it appeared before their acquisition.

04/10/2025

We are welcoming spring today with this colorful children's menu from DeCoff's. The restaurant was located at 49-51 Washington Street in Salem between 1945 and 1954.

View here → http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13013/2578

Address

352 Lafayette Street
Salem, MA
01970

Website

http://salemstate.edu/archives

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