January 2026 Events
Drop-in Genealogy Lab in the Computer Classroom – 2:30 – 5:00
Our two, professional genealogists offer support to family history researchers on fourth Wednesdays. Both have wide expertise and Iris also offers specialized, bilingual help with Spanish-language genealogy sources. Come to research in good company, ask questions, or to get strategies for getting past those brick walls.
Upcoming dates: January 28
Hillary Schau – 2:30-4:30; Irisneri Alicea Flores, 3:00-5:00
Can’t make the Lab? History Room staff can also help you get started with family history research during the History Room’s Regular Hours.
Laboratorio de Genealogía Sin Cita Previa / en el Aula de Informática 02:30-5:00
Nuestras dos genealogistas profesionales ofrecen ayuda a los investigadores de historia familiar los cuartos miércoles de cada mes. Ambas cuentan con una amplia experiencia e Iris también ofrece ayuda especializada y bilingüe con fuentes genealógicas en español. Venga a investigar en buena compañía, a hacer preguntas o a obtener estrategias para superar esos obstáculos.
Próximas Fechas: 28 de enero
Hillary Schau – 2:30-4:30; Irisneri Alicea Flores, 3:00-5:00
¿No puede asistir a la sesión sin cita previa? El personal de la Sala de Historia puede ayudarle (en inglés) a comenzar con la investigación de su historia familiar
February 2026 Events
Make a Victorian Puzzle Purse!
Saturday, February 7, 12:30 – 2:00
Come learn the lost of art of creating a puzzle purse for your Valentine (or for any occasion). This paper craft was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Puzzle purses are designed to reveal designs, messages, and even small gifts to their recipients as they are slowly unfolded.
In this free workshop, book arts specialist Kate Ouimette will guide participants through the making of their first puzzle purse. Once you learn the basics, there is no limit to how you can decorate and embellish it. Paper, templates, and decorative materials will be supplied.
Ages Teen – Adult. Seats are Limited. Please preregister by calling the Holyoke History Room at (413) 420 – 8107. Leave your name and contact information.
This event is made possible by a grant from the Holyoke Local Cultural Council, a local agency, with funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
Saturday February 28, 11:00 – 12:30
Authors Tom Weiner and Dr. Amilcar Shabazz will offer an engaging discussion of their recent book, In Defiance, which uncovers the untold stories of individuals who risked their lives to fight enslavement and serves as a compelling call for justice and the preservation of history.
This book brings to light the often-suppressed stories of those who risked everything to end enslavement. Profiling 20 Black and white men and women, the book highlights their courage, activism, and unwavering commitment to freedom. Through vivid vignettes, including their own words, their struggles and sacrifices come to life. Amid ongoing efforts to erase history, these stories serve as a powerful corrective—meant to challenge, inspire, and ignite action.
Tom Weiner is a Northampton-based writer, educator, and anti-racist activist, and Dr. Amilcar Shabazz is professor of History and Africana Studies at UMass/Amherst and former president of the National Council for Black Studies. In this special event sponsored by the Holyoke History Room, they will share stories from the book and talk about its making.
Free and open to the public. Recommended for middle school through adult. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information about the book, see: https://www.indefiancebook.com/
Selected Past Events:
Jumpstart Your Genealogy Class (2025)
Jumpstart Your Genealogy Class: May 1st, 8th, 15th: Thursdays, 4:30-6:00*
Led by Hillary Schau and Irisneri Alicea Flores
Seats are limited, so please pre-register: 413-420-8107
- May 1: Getting started; best practices for organizing & keeping track of your research
- May 8: Finding and using vital records and the census
- May 15: Immigration, naturalization, military and other record types and events
A FREE program made possible by a grant from the Holyoke Local Cultural Council
*gather and ask questions 4-4:30, followed by 90-minute class and time to pursue your own research at the end. Holyoke Public Library Computer Classroom
The Holyoke Public Schools and the Tax Override Vote of 1991
Holyoke Public Library Community Room
Monday, April 14, 2025, 5:00 PM
UMass professor Kathryn McDermott and Willow Kwak explore the 1991 tax override votes, part of a tumultuous period in Holyoke politics. McDermott and Kwak conclude that the repeated, unsuccessful efforts to pass a Proposition 2 ½ override for the schools were a turning point in the relationship between Holyoke and the state, which eventually led to more state funds for Holyoke and other cities, but also to school receivership. This is the first time McDermott has presented her research to a Holyoke audience.
Katie McDermott is on the faculty of the School of Public Policy and the College of Education at UMass Amherst and teaches courses about politics, public education, and policy analysis. Willow Kwak is a recent graduate of Northfield-Mount Hermon and plans to attend Harvard University in the fall.
Free and open to the public.
Polish and Eastern European Immigration in the Industrial Era- Holyoke & Western Mass
Saturday, October 26, 2024
1:00 PM
Holyoke Public Library Community Room
Missed the talk? View the recording here.
Thank you to Holyoke Media for recording this event!
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, people from Poland and other Eastern European countries immigrated to Western Massachusetts in significant numbers. Many in the upper Pioneer Valley farmed the rich soils in Franklin and Hampshire Counties; others came to work in the mills and factories in Holyoke and Chicopee.
Join us as Robert Forrant, Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, brings his expertise in the history of labor, industrialization, and de-industrialization in New England to the topic of Polish immigration to the area. The talk also explores the hostility encountered by early generations of Polish immigrants to the U.S. and the often difficult conditions of life and work in their new home.
Free and open to the public.
Free (Left: Robert Forrant; Right: From the Grzesik family photograph collection at the Holyoke History Room.)
Unveiling of the William Dwight portrait at the Holyoke Public Library
The Holyoke Public Library welcomed a recent gift of an oil portrait of William Dwight (1903-1996) from the Dwight family. The artist was Roy Spreter, a successful American illustrator and portraitist. It has been given a place of honor in the History Room, near the portraits of Dwight’s parents, Minnie and William G. Dwight, long-time owners, publishers, and editors of the Holyoke Daily Transcript and Holyoke Transcript-Telegram. William Dwight became editor of the Transcript upon his father’s death in 1930, while his mother became publisher.
Below are some scenes from the hanging and unveiling of the portrait on June 28, 2023, and the story-sharing that followed.
Click images to enlarge
Recorded Events
Project Eagle: The Secret Operation that sent Polish Spies behind Enemy Lines in World War II
A recording of the talk from September 9, 2024, is available here. Many thanks to Holyoke Media for making this possible.
Rescuing Richardson’s Station: Holyoke’s 1885 Train Depot, with Will Melton
A recording of this event from March 25, 2024 is available here. Our thanks to Holyoke Media for recording it!
Considered by many to be the greatest American architect of the 19th century, Henry Hobson Richardson and his firm were commissioned to design more than two dozen railroad stations, many along the east-west line of the Boston & Albany Railroad. Only one, his 1885 Holyoke Passenger Station, was completed in his lifetime on the north-south line between New York and Montreal (the Connecticut River Railroad). When rail passenger service to Holyoke was abandoned nearly 80 years later, the station was altered into automobile parts and machine shops.
It sat empty for decades until local businessman David White bought the building in 2021, “tired of listening to people complain ‘Someone should fix it before it falls down.'” His takeout restaurant and Choo Choo’s Ice Cream shop will open on the site this Spring. Dave’s friend Will Melton will tell the story of Richardson and this architectural commission.
This is Will Melton’s third history talk for Holyoke Public Library. He retired in 2015 after four decades in university and museum fund raising to devote time to gardening, his mandolin ensemble, and history studies and writing. Liberty’s War, An Engineer’s Memoir of the Merchant Marine 1942-45, which he published in 2017, is available from U.S. Naval Institute Press, our library, and the C/W MARS library consortium.
Blue Ghost: A helicopter pilot writes home from 1968 Vietnam
As a child, Holyoke native Tom Pueschel (1945-2019) dreamed one day of flying. What he didn’t know was that he would learn to fly, during his 423 days as helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. His letters home, published in 2023, capture “a raw, unfiltered journey that navigates not just the perils of war but the emotional and ethical turbulence that comes with that.” Join us in on November 9 in the Community Room at 4:00 PM as Tom’s brothers and sons read from his letters and share stories of his life. A recording of this event from November 9, 2023, is available here.
A House in Holyoke Through Time: 159 Chestnut Street, a talk with Robert Comeau
The elegant building at 159 Chestnut turns 155 years old in 2023. It was once the home of James Newton of the entrepreneurial Newton brothers and later the Holyoke Club. It is currently the Holyoke Day Nursery. Come learn about the biography and residents of one of Holyoke’s oldest homes in this second annual “House through Time” presentation by local historian Robert Comeau. In the Community Room. A recording of this event from November 16, 2023, is available here.