In 1838 a not-yet-famous Nathaniel Hawthorne left his home in Salem, MA for a 6-week trip to North Adams. He told his future wife’s family that he would be traveling under an assumed name, and wouldn’t write any letters home. To this day, no one knows what prompted his journey. His future sister-in-law suggested to Hawthorne that, without letters, perhaps he’d capture his journey in a journal, for everyone to read on his return. This he did, recording vivid scenes of a North Adams still building to its full industrialization, and the characters that inhabited our town.
Hawthorne reports on funerals, weddings, a circus, a traveling dentist performing a tooth extraction in the street, a hook-armed former-lawyer who now could only make a living rendering soap, and so much more.
Originally published in 1868 as part of his larger American Note-Books, North Adams’ own Bear & Bee Books has now published Hawthorne’s North Adams journals as a standalone book titled The North Adams Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, with an introduction and extensive local history footnotes by author Molly Rideout.
Join NAPL & the Bear and Bee Bookshop for a fascinating & free presentation where Rideout will discuss Hawthorne’s time in North Adams, and what her archival research uncovered about the men and women he met while visiting.
3rd floor community room. All are welcome. Books will be available for signing and purchase.
Any questions, please email Assistant Library Director Ryan Miller
at
cm1pbGxlciB8IG5vcnRoYWRhbXMtbWEgISBnb3Y=, or give us a call.
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