History

Gloucester 400+ and Gloucester Celebration Corp Announce $20,000 investment in the Sawyer Free 2025 Capital Campaign

~ Sawyer Free Library

The Gloucester 400+ and Gloucester Celebration Corp have made a $20,000 investment in the Sawyer Free 2025 capital campaign. This generous gift will fund the innovative Gloucester Timeline touchscreen wall located in the Library’s new Local History Research Center. The Local History Research Center will connect residents and visitors with our local history through compelling special and circulating collections, expert assistance, engaging programs and thought-provoking exhibitions.

“On behalf of Gloucester 400+ and Gloucester Celebration Corp, I am pleased to announce a $20,000 gift to Sawyer Free Library’s Local History Research Center for the Gloucester Timeline interactive touchscreen wall,” said the organization’s Executive Director Elsje Zwart. “We are thrilled to be able to participate in this important space within the newly renovated and expanded Sawyer Free Library, where people can come and explore not only the hundreds of stories about the people of Gloucester collected over our quadricentennial plus year and continue to add to them, but also to research Gloucester history and the people who lived and worked here for 400+ years.”

“We are grateful to the Gloucester 400+ organization and the Gloucester Celebration Corp for their generous $20,000 donation to the 2025 Sawyer Free Library,” said Mern Sibley, President of the Sawyer Free Library’s Board of Trustees. “The Library’s Local History Research Center will be a groundbreaking resource for our city, revolutionizing how we preserve, curate, and access our historical treasures. The interactive touch screen wall, funded through this generous donation, will be a signature feature of the center, providing an innovative and engaging way for residents and visitors to connect with Gloucester’s 400+ years of heritage. We are honored that our longstanding community partner, who shares our same commitment to preserving and sharing Gloucester’s rich history, is now a part of the Library’s transformative building project.”

The centerpiece of the Local History Research Center is the 85-inch interactive digital touchscreen wall, designed to enhance research through the Gloucester Timeline. This online research tool chronicles the city’s history. Launched in January 2024, the Timeline already boasts over 1,500 entries covering notable events, people, and places that have shaped Gloucester’s identity. Accessible both in the Library and online, the Timeline has attracted more than 21,000 visitors, providing a captivating and comprehensive resource for historians, scholars, and residents alike.

The new touchscreen wall in the Local History Research Center will make exploring Gloucester’s past a more engaging and collaborative experience. Visitors can interact with the Timeline, searching through categories, subcategories, and keywords to uncover stories of Gloucester’s history over the past 400+ years.

In addition to historical records, the Gloucester Timeline features the Digital Gloucester 400 Stories Project, bringing a modern, dynamic element through personal narratives and oral histories that reflect the strength and diversity of Gloucester’s people. These stories, compiled during the city’s 400th anniversary, ensure that Gloucester’s evolving history remains inclusive and vibrant for future generations.

The Gloucester Timeline is a living online resource that chronicles the key events and figures that have defined the city. Covering everything from art and literature to Gloucester’s vital maritime heritage, the Timeline weaves together stories from over four centuries. It draws from various assets, including photographs, videos, newspaper articles, and other historical documents, serving as an invaluable research tool.

The 2025 Sawyer Free Library historic renovation, expansion, and modernization project began last September and is now halfway completed. With two-thirds of the $29 million fundraising goal already reached, community engagement remains strong. However, there is still much more to raise, making this significant investment from the Gloucester 400+ and other local businesses and community organizations essential to the project’s success.

Expected to open in 2025, the newly renovated Sawyer Free Library will feature a 14,000-square-foot addition, beautifully restored buildings, and sustainable design elements, all of which will support the greater Cape Ann community.

The renovated Gloucester Public Library will offer current and emerging public technology, diverse collections, engaging programs, and new dedicated spaces for collaboration, learning, and relaxation.  It will feature a 100-seat Community Room, meeting rooms, study rooms, a digital learning lab, a teen room, an expanded children’s room, an enhanced Matz Art Gallery, and ample space for its book collection.  

The Library invites the community to learn how to get involved and support this vital project at 2025.sawyerfreelibrary.org.

The Gloucester 400+ Tri-chairs Bob Gillis, Bruce Tobey, and Executive Director Elsje Zwart were with Sawyer Free Library Director Jenny Benedict and Board Trustee John Day to present a $20,000 donation to the Sawyer Free 2025 Capital Campaign at the Library’s temporary location, ahead of the organizations’ co-sponsored event, Gloucester 400 Storytellers: New Discoveries and Mysteries about Leonard Craske, featuring James F. Clark. 

Genealogy Myths & Legends with Michael Brophy

~ Sawyer Free Library

Rockport Public Library, Sawyer Free Library and the Gloucester Genealogy Group present: Michael Brophy, World Renowned Genealogist on Saturday, September 28 from 10:30 to 11:30 am. This event will take place at the Rockport Library located at 17 School Street in Rockport. Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org.

This lecture explains and debunks some of the popular fiction about Genealogy and Family History. Subjects covered include: You can do your whole family history on the internet; The Courthouse burned down and destroyed all the records; I am descended from an Indian; Our name was changed at Ellis Island; Plymouth Plantation myth and reality; All records that you find are accurate and reliable; If my grammie said it was true, it must be true ! You can do your whole family history by using the records of the LDS church. Well researched proof will be presented to explain these myths.

Michael Brophy is a nationally known, professional genealogical researcher, heir search specialist, and lecturer from the Boston area. His currently the President of the Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy (CAFG) and the first Treasurer of the New England of Association of Professional Genealogists. Mike earned an MBA degree from Suffolk University and a BBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Mike was featured on the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? and the Irish TV series Dead Money, a genealogy show about heir searchers. Mr. Brophy was hired to conduct research for Ancestry.com and several historical authors.

He has lectured on a wide variety of genealogy subjects at the National Genealogy Society’s Annual Conference in 2023, 2022, 2019, 2014, 2012, and The Institute of Genealogy and Historic Research (IGHR). He specializes in New England and Irish genealogy subjects. His genealogy education includes eight certificates from the Institute of Genealogy and Historic Research (IGHR) and certificates in Private Investigation and Advanced Forensic Genealogy from Boston University. He is also a licensed private investigator in Massachusetts.

For additional information or questions, visit SawyerFreeLibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Gloucester 400 Storytellers: Leonard Craske with James Clark

~ Sawyer Free Library

Join the Sawyer Free Library on Thursday, September 26 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm for an engaging presentation describing recent discoveries and old mysteries surrounding the life and art of Leonard Craske, the sculptor of Gloucester’s iconic Fishermen’s Memorial, Man at the Wheel. James Clark, of Gloucester, will share insights from his research which began in the small town of Annascaul, Ireland. Clark soon developed his research to become the first biography of Craske’s life. It was presented as a signature story of the Gloucester400+ Commemorative Book, Our People, Our Stories.

Mr. Clark and Terry Weber Mangos, Gloucester 400+ Stories Project Leader, have identified many long-forgotten works by Leonard Craske. Please join us at 21 Main Street to learn more about this remarkably creative life and remember an adopted son of Gloucester! 

Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Space is limited. For questions, call 978-325-5500.

This event is the result of a partnership between the Gloucester400+ Stories Project and the Sawyer Free Library.

SFL Gloucester Genealogy Group: Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum

~ Sawyer Free Library

The Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum has a wide variety of materials available for genealogists’ use. The library’s holdings relevant to genealogical research are largely based in Essex County, Massachusetts and are strongest in the 19th-century. Reference Assistant, Sarah Tripp, will give a presentation about the Phillips Library, its genealogical resources, and how the public can access them at the Sawyer Free Library on Saturday, September 21 from 10:30 to 11:30 am.

Registration required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. For more information or questions, please contact: jtravers@sawyerfreelibrary.org.

The event will take place at the Sawyer Free Library located at 21 Main Street in Gloucester.

Gloucester Reads: Children’s Storytime

~ Sawyer Free Library

Join the Sawyer Free Library on Monday morning, September 8 at 10:45am for a fun and interactive storytime celebrating this year’s Gloucester Reads 2024 children’s book selection, Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli, with pictures by Isabel Roxas. Following reading the book together, there will be a fun craft to work on!

From Penguin Random House:

While young children are avid observers and questioners of their world, adults often shut down or postpone conversations on complicated topics because it’s hard to know where to begin. Research shows that talking about issues like race and gender from the age of two not only helps children understand what they see, but also increases self-awareness, self-esteem, and allows them to recognize and confront things that are unfair, like discrimination and prejudice.

Developed by experts in the fields of early childhood and activism against injustice, this topic-driven picture book begins the conversation on race, with a supportive approach that considers both the child and the adult. No registration needed. For questions, visit: SawyerFreeLibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Gloucester Reads is a collaboration between the Gloucester Racial Justice Team, the Sawyer Free Library, and Gloucester Health Department.

Capturing the Human Drama Through History with Author Garrett Graff

~ Sawyer Free Library

Join the Sawyer Free Library on Tuesday, September 10 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm for a moving virtual chat with New York Times bestselling author Garrett Graft, an expert at capturing the human drama. Graff will speak about his body of work with particular focus on his oral histories, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 and When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day. Graff’s work, filled with impressive detail, captures a human drama and history like no other. 

This is a virtual event; for the link, register at sawyerfreelibrary.org. If you have questions contact moneill@sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.

Gloucester Reads 2024: Author Talk with NYT Bestselling Author Clint Smith

~ Sawyer Free Library

Citywide Summer Reading Initiative Wraps Up with Panel Discussion Led by Renowned Author

The community is invited to the final event of Gloucester Reads 2024, where best-selling author Clint Smith will join a panel discussion virtually on Tuesday, September 10 at the Gloucester Stage Company, located at 267 East Main Street.

Presented by the Sawyer Free Library in partnership with Gloucester Racial Justice Team, and the Gloucester Health Department, Gloucester Reads 2024 is a community-wide book club designed to spark conversations, inspire new ideas, and encourage introspection about racial equity within our community.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the free event, and the program begins at 7:00 p.m. Clint Smith, the award-winning author of “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America,” will provide an overview of his work, share selected readings from his book—which was the main selection for Gloucester’s summer book read—and answer pre-submitted questions from a panel of local community members. The evening will end at 8:45 p.m.

Following Smith’s appearance, there will be a discussion on how we can apply the lessons learned to Gloucester. The program will be moderated by Michea McCaffrey, co-chair of the Gloucester Racial Justice Team and a member of the Gloucester Human Rights Commission. The panel will include Doug Rich, owner of Susie’s Reads bookstore in Rockport, and Dominique Hurley, Gloucester’s Director of Public Health. The event is free and open to the public to attend, although registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. 

Clint Smith’s “How the Word is Passed” sheds light on some of America’s most essential yet overlooked stories and emphasizes how much we can gain by paying attention to them. In this narrative nonfiction debut, Smith explores eight sites—including his hometown of New Orleans, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, New York City, and Angola Prison—using archival research and contemporary interviews to uncover how slavery has profoundly shaped our nation’s collective history and memory.

The book, which has won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, the Stowe Prize, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, was featured on numerous “Best Books of 2021” lists, including being named one of former President Barack Obama’s favorite books.

In addition to this work, Smith is the author of two poetry books, Above Ground and Counting Descent, both of which won the Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and were finalists for NAACP Image Awards. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, The Harvard Educational Review, and other publications.

The Gloucester Reads Panel Discussion with Author Clint Smith is free and open to the public. Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Gloucester Reads is offering to cover childcare expenses for those attending the author’s talk. Participants can request funds through the registration form.

For more information on the event, including a full list of Gloucester Reads 2024 programs, book suggestions, and resources on racial equity, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org/gloucester-reads. Event registration at: sawyerfreelibrary.org.

Culture Splash Spotlight: “Fishermen’s Ballads and Songs of Sea 150 Years On” at Sawyer Free Library

~ Sawyer Free Library

Sawyer Free Library is thrilled host Discover Gloucester’s Culture Splash spotlight event on Thursday, August 22, 5:00 to 6:30 pm. Gloucester singer and song-searcher Michael O’Leary will share a talk and performance based on pieces in the book Fishermen’s Ballads and Songs of the Sea, published in 1874 by the Procter Bros. of Gloucester. It is a collection of 120 pieces by a wide array of authors, both women and men, a few known widely, many known only locally or not at all, and some anonymous or pseudonymous. It’s a literary, musical, and folkloric time capsule of Gloucester, and 2024 is the 150th anniversary of its publication.  Registration for this special event is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org

This program is supported in part by grants from the Gloucester and Manchester Cultural Councils, local agencies supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

The event will take place at the Sawyer Free Library located at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester. Registration for this special event is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Space is limited. For more information, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org, call 978-325-5500 or email jtravers@sawyerfreelibrary.org.

Gloucester Genealogy Group: On the Trail of Your English Ancestors

~ Sawyer Free Library

Join genealogist Linda MacIver on Saturday, August 17, 10:30 to 11:30 am at the Sawyer Free Library as she takes you through the path of research in the U.S. that prepares you to “hop the pond” to find civil registration and census records in England from 1837 to 1939. 

Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Space is limited.

Linda B. MacIver is an educator, lecturer, librarian and genealogy researcher.  She retired from a 27-year career at the Boston Public Library where she inaugurated the BPL patron genealogy classes.  She taught the multi-week beginners genealogy course, organized two extremely popular seasons of the Local and Family History Lecture series and developed the Intermediate Genealogy Summer Lecture series.   Linda is the past Secretary and Director for Federal Records of the Massachusetts Genealogical Council (MGC), a member of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG) and the Essex (MA) Society of Genealogists (ESOG) and the Essex (Eng.) Society for Family History (ESFH.) She serves as the New England Representative for the Essex (England!) Record Office.  Linda has a BA in History from the University of New Hampshire, an MEd from Boston University and earned her MLIS at Simmons College. Linda was presented the 2018 Lackey Scholarship award for attendance at the week-long Genealogical Institute for Federal Records (GEN-FED) at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Linda was also the inaugural recipient of the 2019 “Senior at the Center of Excellence Award” sponsored by Xerox Corporation and the City of Boston.

If you have questions, email jtravers@sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Valuing the Past: Sawyer Free Library Road Show with Cape Ann Auction

~ Sawyer Free Library

Antique Appraising Event at Sawyer Free Library on Sat., Aug 3

If you are curious about the treasures in your home and want to know their true worth, join us for an exciting antique appraising event at the Sawyer Free Library on Saturday, August 3, from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm. Local antiques expert Walt Kolenda of Cape Ann Auction will be on hand to provide appraisals at 21 Main Street in Downtown Gloucester. 

To bring an item for appraisal, please review the guidelines and register online at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Note that stamps, firearms, and items too large to carry into the library will not be accepted. Spectators are welcome throughout the program.

Walt Kolenda has been in the antiques business since the late 1970s. He is a Massachusetts licensed and bonded auctioneer, a certified appraiser, and a graduate of two nationally recognized appraisal academies. He and his family operate Cape Ann Auction, which holds two auctions per month, typically featuring fine art, jewelry, antiques, and collectibles from New England estates. Don’t miss this opportunity to discover the value of your cherished items. 

For more information or questions visit, sawyerfreelibrary.org or call 978-325-5500.