Literature Trail

George Francis Dow
This Topsfield resident was a prolific historian of the highest reputation during the Colonial Revival, a time when historians, authors, and preservationists sought to investigate and celebrate America's colonial heritage. George Francis Dow (1868-1936) published Domestic Life in New England in the Seventeenth Century; a Discourse (1925), Whale Ships and Whaling; a Pictorial History of Whaling during Three Centuries (1925), Arts & Crafts in New England, 1704-1775 (1927), Slave Ships and Slaving (1927), Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1935), and History of Topsfield, Massachusetts (1940). Dow created the first period rooms in this country for the Essex Institute (today, the Peabody Essex Museum), a precursor to the historic house museum movement. He is also responsible for creating Salem in 1630: Pioneer Village in 1930, during the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He founded the Topsfield Historical Society in the late 1800s.

Home of George Francis Dow
Address: 32 South Main Street, Topsfield (closed to the public)

Topsfield Historical Society
Address: 1 Howlett Street, Topsfield
Phone: 978-887-972
Website: www.topsfieldhistory.org
Hours: June 15-September 15, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday 1-4:30

Topsfield Town Library
Address: 1 South Common Street, Topsfield
Phone: 978-887-1528
(The library contains works by Topsfield authors.)

Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum
Address: 134 Essex Street, Salem
Website: www.pem.org
Hours: Call 978-745-9500 ext. 3053
Admission: Full day use: $15 (4-7 hours), Half day use: $10 (less than 4 hours), Seniors: $13/$18, Students: $11/$6, free to Museum members and Salem residents
(The Phillips Library is one of New Englan's most important and historic research libraries. It is a major resource for residents and scholars with interests in genealogy, maritime history, New England history or documents relating to the museum's vast and diverse collections. The Library holds the nation's largest collection of ship logs and journals as well as original court documents from the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. The Library is also home to three period rooms assembled by George Francis Dow, an American antiquarian for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.)