Deerfield Books

This walking tour of Pocumtuck Indian history in the Deerfield landscape highlights inter-tribal and inter-cultural contact between the 1600s and the present.  During the tour you can: see the evidence of continual Native American Indian homelands in the modern Deerfield landscape; learn about Pocumtuck interaction with the English and others during colonial settlement, trade, and war, in the 1600s and 1700s; and understand how Native people interacted, adapted, and persisted in New England over time.  Includes 13 stops.

A new look at the raid on Deerfield considering its successes, its cultural significance, and its relationship to place and time.  62 pp.  illus.

An important resource for geneologists and historians of Western Massachusetts.
Part 1 - History of Deerfield
Part 2 - Family Genealogies
Originally published in 1895-1896

This lavishly illustrated, full-color catalogue represents the first survey of Historic Deerfield’s Chinese export art collection.  Written by Curator of Historic Interiors Amanda E. Lange, it presents new research on the involvement of rural New England in the China trade and features in-depth object entries.    272 pages.

Chinese Export Art at Historic Deerfield explores the decorative arts and the nature of commerce between the West and China.  The catalogue includes three essays: “Of Merchants and Mandarins: An Overview of the China Trade,” “The Connecticut River Valley and the China Trade,” and “Collecting Chinese Export Art at Historic Deerfield.”  New information on the involvement of rural New England in the China trade dispels the myth that trade with China was exclusively a coastal phenomenon.  The stories of Connecticut River Valley merchants, sailors, captains, and wives involved in ventures to China are explored through advertisements, diaries, letters, and actual objects brought home.

The catalogue also features 114 object entires in the categories of graphic arts, silks, metalwares, novelties, and porcelains.  Although considered exotic to Western eyes, many of these Chinese products were specifically designed to appeal to foreign tastes.  Objects range from porcelain punch bowls to gilded laquerware boxes.  One of the rarest objects presented is an album of 24 hand-painted images of the tea production process, from harvesting the leaves to packing them in boxes.  A selected bibliography on Chinese export art and an extensive index round out the book. 

This collection catalogue introduces a wide range of topics pertaining to tin-glazed ceramics or delftware. Chapters organized by function rather than chronology or decoration, review the variety of delftware forms in the museum’s collection, that range from posset pots to punch bowls. The book’s introductory chapters explore the background of collecting delftware at Historic Deerfield, the history of delftware manufacturing, and its sale and consumption in the Connecticut River Valley.

An up to date history of Deerfield homelots integrating new interpretations of architectural evidence and insights into family history.

A concise companion guide to the Historic Deerfield exhibition celebrating the 350th Anniversary of the founding of the nearby town of Hadley, Massachusetts.  Includes a brief introduction, information on and color images of 18 objects, as well as a bibliography.   16 pages.

This issue of Historic Deerfield celebrates color in paintings, floorcloth, prints, architecture, painted furniture, maps, and more.   40 pages. Click here to view the Table of Contents.

This issue of Historic Deerfield celebrates landscape. Click here to view the Table of Contents.  56 pages.