MaxGuides: The Great Boston Molasses Flood: Home

Welcome

The spring 2011 One Book One Community selection is Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo. This page provides resources for more information about Boston History, and the Flood.

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Bridgewater State University Office of University and Community Partnerships
Bridgewater Raynham Regional School District
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Raynham Public Library
Bridgewater Senior Center
Maxwell Library - Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater Business Association
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Bridgewater, MA 02324

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Find out more!

Search these databases to find out more about this period in Massachusetts history. A BSU login is required. Please ask a reference librarian if you need assistance.

Digital Sanborn Maps for Massachusetts [Proquest] This link opens in a new window
These historical fire insurance maps provide detailed property and land-use records for Massachusetts towns and cities. Dates of coverage: 1867-1970
Gale Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
Magazine, journal and newspaper articles on a wide variety of topics.
Academic Search Complete [EBSCO] This link opens in a new window
Articles from magazines, journals, newspapers, and other media.

History

These links provide additional background information to Boston history at the time of the flood.

Jan. 15, 1919: Morass of Molasses Mucks Up Boston
From Wired website
Was Boston once literally flooded with molasses?
From the Straight Dope
Eric Postpischil's Molasses Disaster Pages
Includes links to articles from Yankee magazine and the Smithsonian.
Mass Moments: Great Molasses Flood
Includes link to Boston Post article of January 16, 1919, and audio file.
The Great Molasses Flood
From the Urban Legends Reference Pages
Photographs on Flickr
From the Boston Public Library
Sacco & Vanzetti in Bridgewater
Blog post by Dr. James Hayes-Bohanan about Sacco & Vanzetti's local ties.
The Trial of Sacco & Vanzetti
From Daniel Linder's Famous American Trial's Pages
Stephen Puelo - video
Video from the National Fire Prevention Association
Boston's Great Molasses Flood
"Then and Now" pictures from wcvb.com

Find a book in your library

Search Maxwell Library's online catalog
Search the Sails library network
Includes Bridgewater Public Library and Raynham Public Library catalogs
Massachusetts Commonwealth Catalog
Request a book from one of over 300 Massachusetts libraries

Alternate Reads

The first two selections are for younger readers. Adults who have already read Dark Tide, or who prefer fiction may want to read The Given Day.

Joshua's Song by Joan Hiatt Harlow
Call Number: Young Adult Fiction H286j
ISBN: 0689855427
Needing to earn money after his father's death during the influenza epidemic of 1918, thirteen-year-old Joshua works as a newspaper boy in Boston, one day finding himself in the vicinity of an explosion that sends tons of molasses coursing through the streets. Ages 9-12
The Great Molasses Flood by Beth Wagner Brust
ISBN: 0816745234
A young girl learns not to tell tall tales. This book is out of print. Some used copies will be made available to elementary school.
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
Call Number: PS3562.E426 G58 2008
Adult fiction about post World War I Boston, during the time of the Molasses flood.

One Book One Community

Lesson Plans

Lesson plans from James Hayes-Bohanan's Geographic Frameworks class are available here.

More Information

Related books from Maxwell Library.

Sacco and Vanzetti : the men, the murders and the judgment of mankind by Bruce Watson
Call Number: KF224.S2 W38 2008
Sacco and Vanzetti : the anarchist background by Paul Avrich
Call Number: HX843.7.S23 A97
Faces of community : immigrant Massachusetts, 1860-2000 by edited by Reed Ueda and Conrad Edick Wright
Call Number: F75.A1 F33
Ethnics and enclaves : Boston's Italian North End by by William M. DeMarco
Call Number: F73.9.I8 D45
Revolutionary radicalism: its history, purpose and tactics, with an exposition and discussion of the steps being taken and required to curb it; being the report of the Joint Legislative Committee Investigating Seditious Activities, filed April 24, 1920, by New York (State). Legislature. Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities.
Call Number: HX89 .N48
Located in the Reference Collection - First floor
Coolidge : an American enigma by Robert Sobel
Call Number: E792 .S64
Epidemic and peace, 1918 by Alfred W. Crosby, Jr.
Call Number: RC150.1 .C76
The great influenza : the epic story of the deadliest plague in history by John M. Barry
Call Number: RC150.4 .B37 2004

Map

Site of the Flood