Governor's Academy

The Carl A. Pescosolido Library is a 20,000-square foot, 32,000-volume library and resource center located on the campus of the nation's oldest boarding school, the Governor's Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts. The library's John W. Ragle Archives Room houses documents, books, images, film and other media, and artifacts dating from the school's pre-Revolutionary-War-Era formation. Our collection features items of local and national historical significance, including Academy Trustee Meeting Minutes handwritten by John Quincy Adams; the Will and Testament of 18th Century Acting Provincial Governor of Massachusetts, William Dummer; the Academy's Act of Incorporation Charter signed by John Hancock and Samuel Adams; and a collection of glass-plate negatives of the work of Essex County (MA) photographer John White Winder. The academy celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2013 and hopes to generate broader public interest in the school's collection through participation in the Digital Commonwealth.