Category: Video

The Chadwells of Williamstown

Thank you to all who joined us for our first online lecture, “The Chadwells of Williamstown,” presented by Dustin Griffin.  Thank you, also to WilliNet for their good work and assistance. Click the box below to view a video of the lecture.

Click here to view the online lecture, “The Chadwells of Williamstown”

The Chadwells, who have been in Williamstown for four generations, have a remarkable family history. Griffin’s lecture, which is accompanied by Chadwell family photos and other archival images, follows the path of the family members through four generations, up to the present day.  Griffin’s lecture will be introduced by Allen Hart, Professor of Psychology at Amherst College, and a fourth generation Chadwell descendant.

Dusty Griffin has frequently lectured on topics in local history to local audiences. His most recent talks include “A Layman’s History of Williamstown Trees” (January 2020) and “Thirteen Galusha Farms” (February 2020). He is the author of Williamstown and Williams College: Explorations in Local History (U. Mass. Press, 2018).

View a video of Williamstown resident, Williams College alumnus, and good friend of the WHM, Dustin Griffin, who spoke on topics covered in his new book Williamstown and Williams College: Explorations in Local History at the WHM on October 20, 2018.

In this engrossing and entertaining book Griffin offers 14 vignettes that detail the local history of Williamstown and Williams College. Well researched and written in an accessible style, each chapter focuses on the stories behind a single feature — the historical plaque marking the site of the West Hoosuck Blockhouse, town-wide celebrations past and present, a hiking trails to Williamstown history in Treadwell Hollow, Flora’s Glen, and McMaster’s Cave, stained-glass windows in the college chapel and St. John’s, those songs Williams alumni sing at reunions, and more.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the WHM, with a portion of each sale going to support the Museum.

Dusty Griffin taught English literature at Berkeley and NYU for 40 years before retiring in 2009. A 1965 graduate of Williams College, he has published a number of scholarly books on 17th- and 18th-century English poetry. He has also written on topics in Williams College history, and on the local history of Williamstown, frequently giving talks on local history in the Williamstown Historical Museum lecture series. Griffin curated exhibitions at the Museum on “Williamstown in the Civil War” (2012) and on “Big Days in a Small Town” (2014).