User:Martha Southwick/Albert B. Southwick

ALBERT B. SOUTHWICK, born on June 22, 1920, is a New England historian and writer. The seventh of nine children, he grew up in Leicester, Massachusetts, on the farm that had been in his family for generations. He attended Mannville School, a one-room wooden building with kerosene lamps where a single teacher taught all eight grades. Young Albert Southwick went on to Leicester High School and Clark University in Worcester before spending four years in the United States Navy as a naval aviator during World War II. Back in civilian life, he met and married Shirley Marie Johnson of Holden. They were married for 51 years.

He and Shirley both went back to college on the GI bill and received their masters degrees, she in social work, he in U.S. history. Mr.Southwick began work on his PhD at Brown University, but discontinued there when he got a chance to be a historian for the U.S. Seventh Army in Germany. He and his wife lived in Germany for two years.

After returning from Germany, Albert Southwick joined the Providence Journal as a reporter. In 1952 he was hired by the Worcester Evening Gazette as an editorial writer.

In 1953 Albert and Shirley Southwick (1920-1998) built their house on Marshall Street on land probably owned by William Earle in the 1720s. Much of the back land was made into one of the first disc golf courses in the area by Jason Southwick in the 1990s. He built his house on the south end. Mr. Southwick was chief editorial writer for the newspapers from 1968 to his retirement in 1986, after which he continued writing on a free lance basis for a number of publications. He began writing free lance columns for the T&G and eventually became a regular columnist.

Among his special interests are books and libraries. He has written many articles supporting various libraries. He was a long-time member of the Friends of the Worcester Public Library and president of the Friends of the Goddard Library at Clark University. When he was 92 he was appointed honorary chairman of the Leicester Public Library’s seven million dollar fund drive to renovate it.

He was active in the 1977 program to renovate Mechanics Hall (Worcester, Massachusetts) and successfully solicited funds to buy a new grand piano for the hall.

Mr. Southwick has been a long time member and vice president of the Worcester Historical Museum, which honored him in 1992 by giving him its first George Bancroft award.

He was an enthusiastic tennis player and skier for many years. In 1960 he and his brother Thomas founded the Moose Hill Ski Area at Moose Hill in Spencer. It was noted because of its unusual method of bringing skiers to the top of the hill - specially modified trucks that could carry 30 or 40 skiers at a time. Albert Southwick has been a prolific producer of words. At one time when he was chief editorial writer for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette he was also writing editorial essays for the New York Times and editorials for the Saturday Evening Post.

He has written many articles for various magazines, periodicals and newspapers including The Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Berkshire Eagle, Worcester Magazine, Worcester Business Journal, Inside Worcester and the Telegram & Gazette. For many years, he has specialized in the history of Worcester, Massachusetts. He has published twenty books including several about Worcester County and its history. He has said that his general aim is to put local history into the context of state and national history.

Mr. Southwick has written two librettos; the first was for the opera Midas with music by Relly Raffman (1921-1988), composer and professor of music at Clark University, which was performed in Atwood Hall, Clark University, in 1966. The second libretto was for the musical The Peaceable Kingdom (see Edward Hicks) which was translated into German and performed in Vienna, Austria, in English at Christ Church Vienna in 2006 as well as in German at Vienna Konzerthaus in 2007.

He has always been interested in literature and joined the Worcester Shakespeare Club, eventually becoming president. He is currently a member of the Worcester Fire Society, and was one of the founders and president of the original Performing Arts School for music and dance. Albert Southwick continues to write weekly columns for the Worcester Telegram. He has four children, three grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In 2002, four years after the death of his first wife, Shirley, he married Betty McGrath, with whom he now resides in Leicester. In 2013, with the help of his daughter Martha and son Jason, Mr. Southwick began publishing some collections of older material and war correspondence, and has made numerous public appearances to meet readers and sign books. At age 94, he still has a writing ability that captivates - and educates - readers, whether in the pages of the Telegram or in his many books. Books and librettos by Albert B. Southwick

The Worcester Club at 100 Years

The Johnson Family of Hyde Park & Sag Harbor

The Journals of Stephen C. Earle 1853-1858

Once-Told Tales of Worcester County

More Once-Told Tales of Worcester County

150 Years of Worcester: 1848-1998

Midas (opera), music by Relly Raffman

The Peaceable Kingdom (musical), music by Martha J. Southwick Down on the Farm Volumes I, II, III and IV WWII Correspondence between Albert B. Southwick and Maple Hill Farm: February to June 1942 (Volume I)

WWII Letters from Albert B. Southwick to Maple Hill Farm Volume II (June 1942 to May 1943)

WWII Letters from Albert B. Southwick to Maple Hill Farm Volume III (May 1943 to August 1944)

WWII Letters from Albert B. Southwick to Maple Hill Farm Volume IV (September 1944 to November 1945) Albert B. Southwick Selected Writings Volume I, II

The Molasses Act - Source of Precedents

Leicester Recollections

Leicester Notables