Guide to the Benjamin Spence Research Collection, 1877-1925

Authors

Noah Smith, Bridgewater State University

Document Type

Finding Aid

Collection Number

MSS-052

Publication Date

2023

Last Revision Date

12-13-2022

Description

Nearly all content in this collection comes from microfilm of the Bridgewater Independent, covering the years from approximately 1880 to 1925. Dr. Spence spent ten years printing out pages from the microfilm, cutting the content into individual articles, and putting them onto index cards filed by subject. He included hand-written notes and dates on the cards. His research focusing on the years represented by the collection resulted in a collection of ten written works on this time period, referenced together as, Bridgewater, Massachusetts: A Town in Transition. Links to the digital files of these works can be found in the series descriptions within this finding aid, as well as in the Maxwell Library’s digital repository. Please note that there are very few clippings from 1877-1880. There are various primary and secondary sources prior to the creation of the Bridgewater Independent, most notably in the section on Law & Order. Each bullet point represents a card file. Box numbers with multiple subjects listed in front are due to Benjamin Spence’s own filing system. In an effort to keep the collection as Dr. Spence arranged things, anything marked off in brackets are notes that were added for clarification or to fill in blanks. Any question marks in the box listings are because Dr. Spence had questions about them himself.

Related Materials

Related collections include: twelve issues in physical print of the newspaper, Every Saturday, from 1876. This is the newspaper that existed less than a year before having the name changed to the Bridgewater Independent in 1877. Other newspaper collections in print include the Bridgewater Independent from 1985-2008 and numerous random issues pre-dating 1985; the Bridgewater Townsman from 1984-1990; numerous bound Taunton based newspapers, including the Taunton Democrat and the Bristol County Democrat among others, covering the years 1823-1824, 1839-1863, 1881-1883, and 1887-1889; the Boston Gazette from 1804-1811; the Boston Daily Advertiser from 1914-1918; the Boston Irish Echo from 1981-1987; and numerous Bridgewater State University student newspaper runs that includes the Campus Comment from 1928 to the present. Dr. Spence’s ten volume collection, Bridgewater, Massachusetts: A Town in Transition, can be found in print format at the Maxwell Library’s Archives & Special Collections as well as in the Library’s digital repository (see links in the subject area descriptions to view the digital versions). And finally, the Maxwell Library has nearly a complete run of print Bridgewater Annual Town Reports from 1853 to the present; West Bridgewater Annual Town Reports (66 issues between 1853 and 1995); and East Bridgewater Annual Town Reports (107 issues between 1854 and 1988).