Revolution in the Valley
Revolution in the Valley:
A Tale of Two Towns by Kay Lyons
Greenfield: April 19, Deerfield: May 3
The Historical Society of Greenfield will hold two readings of a new play, “Revolution in the Valley: A Tale of Two Towns” by Kay Lyons, in two churches on two Sunday afternoons in April and May.
Greenfield was a supply hub during the Revolution, and both Greenfield and Deerfield, her mother town, were microcosms of the conflicting views of English settlers on the brink of revolution. The readers’ theater style play celebrates the everyday people living their lives through the Revolution, and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The play will take place Sunday, April 19 at 2 pm at the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew, 8 Church Street, Greenfield; and Sunday, May 3 at the First Church of Deerfield (also known as the Brick Church) at 71 Old Main Street, Deerfield.
Admission is free, with donations welcome.
The Historical Society of Greenfield, located at 43 Church Street, Greenfield, MA is a local history museum, open Saturdays from noon to 3 May-September.
Calendar for 2026
See the calendar at Events in 2026: Spring Summer
- May 20
- June 17
- July 18
- Sept 16
- Oct 14
Interested – see calendar
Read MoreFeb 20 – screenings of “Greenfield’s Winter Carnival, 1923” and “Love’s Young Dream
GREENFIELD — As part of The LAVA Center’s monthly “Theater of Ideas” program, the 324 Main St. venue will host screenings of “Greenfield’s Winter Carnival, 1923” and “Love’s Young Dream,” with a talkback session to follow with the Historical Society of Greenfield’s Chris Clawson and Carol Aleman, on Friday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m.
“Greenfield’s Winter Carnival, 1923” is a 9-minute film documenting the first Winter Carnival. “Love’s Young Dream” is a one-act comedy-drama that was produced at the old Victoria (later Showplace) Theater on Chapman Street in June 1924, and features local Greenfield actors.
Bridging the two films is a short documentary detailing the Historical Society’s discovery, what Clawson and Aleman learned about the films’ creation, and how they produced a modern presentation that was first shown at the Garden Cinemas in 2024. Each film has a virtual orchestra accompaniment of silent screen music produced for Vintage Days.
Read MoreWelcome New Year 2026
We are closed for the winter. We do take appointments for in-house research if you email on the contacts page.
Projects:
We are working away on various projects that could use help, for example, there are still boxes from Peter Miller that need archiving.
Lectures:
Also there an ongoing project digitizing society lectures dating back into the 1800s.
That is a 2 part process, our volunteers are using modern scanners to copy a printed copy.
That only does part of the job, since these are old typed copies and can not be very accurately scanned. These means there is a open project to review the scanned results and edit from the original printed copy in the word document that is also made when scanned.
You can see those that have been done, read and even vote for those that have not been done.
The whole list of those done and to be done
Calendar for 2025 season
The new season begins Saturday, May 10 at noon. This year we are offering three exhibits: “Rivers, Roads, and Railroads: Transportation in Our Town”; “Landscapes: Paintings from the Collection”; “Children of Greenfield: A Sampling of Childhood.”
Our Speaker Series begins Wednesday, May 21.
The popular Ice Cream Social is Saturday, July 19 from 12:00 to 3:00.
You will find the program for the season attached.
We hope to see you in the museum and at the talks!
Jan 16, 2025 – Presentation to highlight historical inventory update
GREENFIELD — In April 2023, Greenfield was awarded a $20,000 matching grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission to review and update documentation of the city’s cultural, historical and architectural resources. The results of this work, bringing new information into the existing inventory forms that were submitted in 1984, will be presented on Thursday, Jan. 16.
Through a competitive bid process, Brian Knight Research was awarded the contract to update the historical inventories. The firm started its work by meeting with Planning Director Eric Twarog, Greenfield Historical Commission member Margo Jones, James Terapane with the Museum of Our Industrial Heritage and Historical Society of Greenfield President Carol Aleman. Brian Knight Research’s task was conducting a community-wide survey to assess and document approximately 140 selected cultural and architectural resources.
In the fall of 2023, a Brian Knight Research representative conducted both walking and driving surveying around the city to update the inventory documents for Greenfield’s historical downtown area, to document Greenfield’s industrial sites and to document Greenfield’s African American history. The firm conducted a component of this research through various sources, including historic atlases and maps, Greenfield resident and business directories, town histories and town reports. Online resources include newspaper articles, population censuses, town directories, probate records, genealogical websites and records in the Franklin County Registry of Deeds.
Brian Knight Research surveyed 149 properties. A copy of the firm’s report, “Greenfield Historic Properties Survey” may be downloaded at greenfield-ma.gov/departments/planning_and_development/current_projects.php.
Brian Knight will present his final report at the Jan. 16 Greenfield Historical Commission meeting, which starts at 5 p.m. The meeting will be held at City Hall’s secondfloor meeting room and also on Zoom. The Zoom link can be found on the events calendar at greenfield-ma.gov/calendar.
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