author
George Francis Dow
1868–1936
A leading New England antiquarian, George Francis Dow brought the past to life through vivid studies of colonial homes, crafts, whaling, and everyday life. His work helped preserve historic buildings and made early Massachusetts history accessible to a wide audience.
4 Audiobooks
Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
by George Francis Dow
Domestic life in New England in the seventeenth century
by George Francis Dow
The pirates of the New England coast, 1630-1730
by George Francis Dow, John Henry Edmonds
Slave ships and slaving
by George Francis Dow
About the author
Born in Wakefield, New Hampshire, on January 7, 1868, George Francis Dow became one of the foremost historians and antiquarians of New England. He left the wholesale metal business in 1898 to serve as secretary of the Essex Institute in Salem, where he directed the museum, edited its publications, and helped publish important historical records, including the four-volume Diary of William Bentley.
Dow founded the Topsfield Historical Society in 1894 and later served as curator and museum director for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. He helped restore historic buildings such as the Parson Capen House and the John Ward House, and worked with Joseph Everett Chandler on Salem's Pioneer Village, one of America's early living-history museums.
His books include The Pirates of the New England Coast, Whale Ships and Whaling, The Arts and Crafts in New England, and Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dow died in Topsfield, Massachusetts, on June 5, 1936, leaving a lasting record of New England's material culture and daily life.