Dorchester Illustration 2697 Views of Dorchester 1830s
The top woodcut is in the collection of the Dorchester Historical Society in large album titled Old Dorchester Houses. It shows a scene from near the corner of Hancock and Bowdoin Street, looking toward First Church, the image is from John Warner Barber’s, “Historical Collections,” 1839. The bottom image is from the same book, where it appears in the section on Milton. It shows a view from Milton Village with Dorchester in the background.
Barber issued a book called, “Historical Collections, Being a General Collection of Interesting Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes, &c., Relating to the History and Antiquities of Every Town in Massachusetts, with Geographical Descriptions.”
Barber was an engraver and historian. He started in a modest way with “Historical Scenes of the United States” (1827), then “Historic and Antiquities of New Haven” (1831) and “Religious Events” (1832).
Barber’s first large work was “Connecticut Historical Collections” (1836). “The illustrations depict each town center, with its homes and churches, academies and courthouses sailboats plying a river or harbor, an occasional factory belching puffs of smoke and always a tiny figure or two, often the artist in his top hat, sketching the scene or pointing to the view.” (The New York Times in Dec. 10, 1989)
Barber went on to document scenes all over New England and in some of the Atlantic states.