Zoomed in cover of the “Richard B. Inshaw: A Craftsman’s Life and Work in Chicopee, Massachusetts” book releasing this fall.
Photo credit: Chicopee Historical Society
CHICOPEE — The Chicopee Historical Society announced that it will be releasing a book this fall called “Richard B. Inshaw: A Craftsman’s Life and Work in Chicopee, Massachusetts.”
The 40-plus-page booklet will tell the story of one of Chicopee’s eminent figures, largely forgotten, from its 19th century industrial heyday.
Richard Bates Inshaw was a silver engraver and gunsmith who worked for the Ames Manufacturing Company and did freelance work for a number of other large firms.
The booklet will contain information on Inshaw’s work, his experience as an English immigrant to this country, his family, and life in Chicopee in the 19th century, with many historic photos and maps, as well as color photos of the Inshaw Rifle.
Chicopee Historical Society Vice President Jacqueline T. Lynch further talked about the book and said, “The booklet contains many photos, both black and white and color, as well as maps, and will take the reader on a time-travel to Chicopee in the days when the first factories were being constructed along the Chicopee River, where Cabotville was a tiny village just starting, and where wild cranberries were harvested by villagers, as they had been by the Nipmucs in times past, at the edge of the village between modern-day West Street and the river. It is our hope that the book will inspire an interest in local history and a sense of pride in our community.”
This project is part of an effort to raise money to purchase a display case for perhaps his finest piece, the Inshaw Rifle.
It is a rare sporting rifle made in 1836 and richly engraved with designs and scenes in great detail. Noted arms historian and appraiser Herbert G. Houze remarked, “It is without a doubt the best pre-1850 American firearm I’ve ever seen.”
For many years, the rifle has been in storage, but the Chicopee Historical Society hopes to put this historic artifact on permanent display at the Chicopee Public Library pending purchase of an appropriate museum-quality archival case.
Lynch explained that the booklet is a fundraiser in three aspects. First, they will sell copies of it through the Historical Society as well as it will be available online on Amazon.
Second, the Historical Society is accepting display ads in the booklet from 1/8 page, 1/4 page, 1/2 page, full page, and will need the camera-ready copy by the end of July.
The third option is meant to be a less expensive way for individuals to help. Lynch explained that they are going to have a page with donor names at different levels. Bronze donations are $10, silver is $15 and gold is $25. The page of donor names is separate from the display ads.
Lynch talked about why it is important to capture the story of Inshaw.
She said, “Inshaw represents many important facets of Chicopee’s 19th century industrial heyday, an immigrant among many immigrants to this community who found a home and a future here, workers and industrialists alike; a craftsman whose work would become known nationwide, and an artisan in engraving whose occupation has changed with the passage of time and the advent of new technologies.”
The Chicopee Historical Society said any readers looking to sponsor the project by listing their names as supporters in the book can contact the Chicopee Historical Society at TheChicopeeHistoricalSociety@gmail.com.
