Dyer Memorial Library

HAPPY 312th PLUS A DAY... Abington Celebrates just did their usual bang up job (quite literally) recognizing Founder's Day Weekend. but the actual founding day of the town was yesterday, June 10th. The original paperwork said "Abingdon", but a marginal note "corrected" it to Abington.

Come to the Dyer Memorial Library on Sunday, June 9, 2024, at noon for a fascinating talk by John Galluzzo.

"Reactions to The Boston Tea Party in South Shore Towns" with John Galluzzo

You can drop in or RSVP via Eventbrite using this link:

Reactions to The Boston Tea Party in South Shore Towns with John Galluzzo Join us for a lively discussion on how South Shore Massachusetts towns reacted to the Boston Tea Party with local historian John Galluzzo!

Quite a coincidence – On the same day two donations came into the Dyer. Carrie Bates brought in a football from the fall of 1951 AHS game against Whitman High School, score Abington 14 – Whitman 6. The ball is signed by members of the AHS team, including Gordon Bates, Carrie’s husband, and Ralph Thompson, quarterback of the team, both members of AHS class of 1952.
Kathleen Clancy Barrack brought in some of her mother’s, Cynthia Butters Clancy, memories that same day. Cynthia and Ralph were high school sweethearts, voted class couple their senior year. (They each went on to marry other people.) Ralph went to Tufts, graduating in 1957, where he played quarterback, especially noted for his efforts in Tufts’ opening season win against Harvard in 1956. Ralph later served as a pilot in the US Navy. One of Kathleen’s donations is a photo of Ralph in his Navy pilot uniform. Sadly, he became ill while training at the Naval Training Station in Pensacola, FL, in 1959. Ralph had contracted a form of polio and died at age 25.
The Dyer wants to thank both the Bates and Butters/ClancyBarrack families for their donations.

FYI
The Abington Public Library provides several passes to Boston, South Shore and other local area museums and attractions, including Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and Children Museum. These passes provide admission for $10.00 for two people to the MFA and four people to Children’s. Passes are good for one day and some physical (paper) passes need to be returned before the next day’s library opening.

The museum pass program at the Abington Public Library is provided through the hard work and generosity of the Friends of the Abington Public Library, the Abington Cultural Council and funding from State Aid to Public Libraries.

Passes may be borrowed by OCLN adult cardholders in good standing. It is advisable to reserve a pass well in advance of the selected date, especially during school vacation times. Passes may be reserved at the Circulation Desk, by phone at (781) 982-2139 or by copying and pasting the link below.

[Abington Public Library Passes…] copy and paste url below
https://www.eventkeeper.com/mars/tkflex.cfm?curOrg=abington&curapp=passes&CFID=93243308&CFTOKEN=e6cb9f2e3fa2de15-3EDAC97C-D4AE-528A-53503C8BD645C2E6

From the Abington Cultural Council...

The Abington Cultural Council is organizing a trip to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem on Monday, April 29, 2024. The cost of the trip is $30.00, including the bus and entrance fee. The bus will leave the Abington Senior Center at 10 AM and will return at 5 PM. You may purchase lunch in the museum’s small café.
Please contact/send a check (made out to the Abington Cultural Council) to:
Lucy Furlong, 28 Allen Street, Abington, 781.857.8313 or
Anne Smith, 718 Woodlands Way, Abington, 781.878.1189, [email protected]
Please contact Lucy or Anne with questions.

A cross post from the Historical Society of Old Abington....

Thanks to all who turned out yesterday for Part 1 of our Conversation about the 150th anniversary of the Town of Rockland. Van Heffernan and I enjoyed the Conversation and appreciated all of the interaction with the audience. It was also nice to see some new faces among our dedicated regulars.

We had a few inquiries about membership and I was embarrassed to note that we didn't have any membership forms available. I've left some forms at the front table at the Dyer and...

I'm attaching our latest form.

• If you're not a member and thinking of joining, now's your chance!
• If you're an annual member and haven't re-upped, now would be a good time!
• If you think that we do a good job and would like to throw some money our way, that would be appreciated !

A few affordable opportunities for giving...
$100 sponsors a postcard mailing
$50 pays a "speaker's fee"
Gift cards to Trucchi's or Stop and Shop helps cover refreshments.

Membership dues and gifts are really our only source of income.

Black History Month 2024 -- Open Letter: Wayne Tucker’s entreaty to the Mother town of Old Abington (founded 1712) to recognize and honor its Black/Native Revolutionary War Veterans on July 4, 2026, when we celebrate America's 250th anniversary:

"To the Selectboard and Town Manager of Abington–greetings!

I write today to raise awareness of Black and native Abington Revolutionary War veterans.

1,800 black, multiracial, and native men from Massachusetts fought in the Revolution. Over 100 men of color fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Five Black and native Abington men fought in the War of Independence.

These lessons were absent from my history classes, and I bet this is new information to most Abingtonians. We’re two years and three months away from the 250th anniversary of the Lexington Alarm that birthed the American Revolution. Abington men answered that alarm, including Cuffy Rosaria.

Cuffy loved freedom. We know this because Cuffy, a multiracial “fellow,” appeared in a 1747 runaway ad after escaping the Rev. Samuel Brown’s Abington slave-labor farm. A French and Indian War veteran, Cuffy left enslavement at Josiah Torrey’s High Street farm and marched to Roxbury in April 1775, becoming one of the founding American soldiers who besieged the British in Boston.

By any measure, this man is an Abington original. You may ask yourself, how do we not know about Cuffy? We all know why. The better question is, how do we make Abington’s Black Patriots household names?

The 250th anniversary of the Revolution is near. The Black Patriots of Abington have gone unacknowledged for two-and-a-half centuries, and we can be the ones who finally correct the course.

To Abington I issue this challenge, and I hope you accept it: what will we do about this?

The Black/Native Revolutionary War Veterans of Abington are:

Primus Cobus/Coburn
Cuffy Rosaria
Cuffy Rosaria, Jr.
Silas Rosaria
Brister Gould

Sincerely,
Wayne William Tucker
[email protected]
eleven-names.com
Whitman native, Rockland resident"

KICKING OFF the Spring Semester of Conversations with the Historical Society of Old Abington next Sunday, March 3rd at 2:00. This is the 150th Anniversary of the Town of Rockland, originally part of Old Abington, and we'll be having Conversations in March and April to commemorate the creation of the new Town. I'll be joined in March by Van Heffernan and in April by Donald Cann. The Conversations are free and open to the public followed by light refreshments.

ROCKLAND WILL BE 150 YEARS OLD IN MARCH
(and Whitman will follow next year!)
The Historical Society of Old Abington will be recognizing this milestone by kicking off the Spring Semester of Conversations at the Dyer Memorial Library in Abington with the March 3rd and the April 7th discussions dedicated to…
1. Breaking Away from the Old Town and
2. Building a New Town
The 'Dyer is concurrently mounting a Rockland exhibit.

Priscilla of East Abington :: Black History Month 2024 -- The Dyer Memorial Library’s FB page has been taken over by Wayne W. Tucker, Associate Research Fellow for Harvard University’s Slavery Remembrance Program and author of "The Eleven Names Project: Weekly Notes on Enslaved Life in Massachusetts and New England." Wayne shares his discoveries about the enslaved who lived in Old Abington, MA -- now Abington, Rockland, and Whitman -- during the Colonial era. The enslaved woman, Priscilla https://eleven-names.com/2024/02/17/abington-separated-black-families/

Cuffy Rosaria :: Black History Month 2024 -- The Dyer Memorial Library’s FB page has been taken over by Wayne W. Tucker, Associate Research Fellow for Harvard University’s Slavery Remembrance Program and author of "The Eleven Names Project: Weekly Notes on Enslaved Life in Massachusetts and New England." Wayne shares his discoveries about the enslaved who lived in Old Abington, MA -- now Abington, Rockland, and Whitman -- during the Colonial era. The “Forgotten Patriot”, Cuffy Rosaria https://eleven-names.com/2022/04/05/cuffy-rosaria/

Primus Coburn :: Black History Month -- During 2024’s Black History Month, the Dyer Memorial Library’s FB page will be taken over by Wayne W. Tucker, Associate Research Fellow for Harvard University’s Slavery Remembrance Program and author of "The Eleven Names Project: Weekly Notes on Enslaved Life in Massachusetts and New England." Wayne shares his discoveries about the enslaved who lived in Old Abington, MA -- now Abington, Rockland, and Whitman -- during the Colonial era. The “Forgotten Patriot”, Primus Coburn https://eleven-names.com/2022/04/03/primus-cobus/

NEW/OLD PHOTO DISCOVERED - The Fourth Congregational Church in Abington changed its name to the North Congregational Church and still later became the Town Offices and Public Library. When new municipal facilities were built, the Town auctioned off the building. Clients of mine bought it about 25 years ago and I got to design the conversion to 17 Apartments.
I was in the office of the late historian for the Abington UCC church, Bob Vaillencourt, and found a black and white photo sticking out of a scrap book. I recognized it instantly as an interior shot from the old North Congregational Church. It would have been taken before the back wing was added in 1956 - we have a color postcard view that is more recent. Thanks to a gift from Steve Baker, I have a few of the pew ends from the church, which are visible in both photos, but much clearer in the old black and white image. Armed with this new view, maybe it's time to recreate a pew.
Someone will know who the minister is at the pulpit.
I've already updated the Organ Historical Society with a photograph of the Estey pipe organ.
Still looking for photos of the stained glass windows. The upper sash survived (I have one in my Vineyard house), the lower sash did not.

Join us at the Dyer Memorial Library this Sunday from 1:00 - 3:00 pm to celebrate the Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party! Sample Black & Green Tea and gingerbread cookies -- echoing the types of tea and "cakes" America's Patriots enjoyed 250 years ago! Due to unforeseen circumstances, the talk by author and historian, John Galluzzo, is CANCELLED. Tea-related items from the Dyer's collection will be on display! Abington Celebrates

Don't miss this Sunday's conversation with Wayne Tucker. He will share his fascinating research regarding slavery in the Old Town.
In addition to his research projects and blog, Wayne is an Associate Research Fellow at the Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program.

From the Dyer Memorial Library's postcard collection - Whitman Park and Bandstand