Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum

06/21/2026

Happy Father's Day!
Calvin Coolidge and his father John Coolidge standing on the lawn of the Coolidge home at 21 Massasoit Street, Northampton on July 27, 1920.

Calvin Coolidge was Massachusetts Governor and had just accepted the nomination for Vice President of the United States.

06/09/2026

From our Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation friends is First Lady Grace Coolidge at a flower show.

First Lady at Flower Show

100 years ago, First Lady Grace opens the American Horticultural Society's spring flower show. The Washington Post reports “little Lydia Bisset” presents Grace with a bouquet of roses.

Pictured with the First Lady and little Lydia are Alice Roosevelt Longworth (at left), daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and wife of the U.S. House Speaker Nicholas Longworth III, and Second Lady Caro Dawes (at right), wife of Vice President Charles Dawes.

06/05/2026

Today is National Cheese Day!

Here is a photo of Calvin Coolidge on his father's farm in Plymouth Notch, Vermont milking a cow. President Coolidge's father, John Coolidge and other local farmers built a cheese factory in 1890 and Plymouth Cheese operated until 1934. It was reopened in 1960 by the President's son, John and in 1998 John Coolidge turned it over to The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. Today the state of Vermont leases the cheese factory building to Plymouth Cheese. For those in the Northampton area, the Plymouth Cheese can be purchased at State Street Fruit Store, Deli, Wines & Spirits, Provisions, River Valley Co-op

06/02/2026

On June 2, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed what was then called the Indian Citizenship Act, a law that read: "That all non citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States."
2 years ago for the centennial of this law, we hosted a panel of scholars with deep knowledge of Native American history and culture to discuss the legacy of this act. The program is available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/live/3XoMVR7SQ_U?si=jeaxo_5cPoW25_Yf

Panelists included:
Kathleen A. Brown-Pérez, Commonwealth Honors College at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Senior Lecturer II
Margaret Bruchac, University of Pennsylvania Professor Emerita, Anthropology
Rebecca Hamlin, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science
Kiara M. Vigil, Amherst College, Associate Professor of American Studies and Education Studies
moderated by Bill Scher

100 Years After the Indian Citizenship Act, How Has Native American...

05/30/2026

Join us on June 11 for the presentation of the annual Trustees awards followed by a concert.
J.R. Greene served as President of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum Standing Committee for many years. Always very generous with his historical knowledge of Coolidge, he was a steadfast presence for the committee and champion for the importance of the collection and the museum.

While serving as a Trustee of Forbes Library, Debin Bruce worked tirelessly to advocate and support the needs of the library so that it could best serve the community. Among her accomplishments was chairing the Building and Grounds Committee where she worked tirelessly to bring the library’s long standing dream of a performance stage on the library’s grounds to a reality.

05/21/2026

Boston Beans and Paul Pry on the White House lawn.

Bulldog Boston Beans did not get along well with Collie Rob Roy and was became the companion to Mrs. Coolidge's mother, Lemira Goodhue, residing at the Coolidge home in Northampton, Massachusetts. Airedale Paul Pry was curious and get into mischief often at the White House and would be sent to the Marines for training and then resided at the Navy Yard.
Check The Vintage Airedale for more photos and info on Paul Pry, his half brother Laddie Boy (President Harding), Theodore Roosevelt or Wilson family pets.

Boston Beans with Paul Pry
Boston Beans didn't get along well with Collie Rob Roy and left the White House to reside with Mrs. Coolidge's mother, Lemira Goodhue at the Coolidge home in Northampton, Massachusetts.

05/12/2026

Today is National Limerick Day!
Do you have a Coolidge inspired Limerick to share?
Here's one to get you inspired!
First Dog Rob Roy
Was a handsome Boy
Immortalized on canvas
Remembered for his antics
He brought Grace much joy

Photo from The White House Historical Association of a 1924 Howard Chandler Christy painting of Grace Coolidge in a red dress with her white collie Rob Roy beside her and the White House in the background. This painting is in the China Room at the White House.

05/12/2026

We were happy to have the Northampton Rotary Foundation at the Coolidge Museum today for their semi monthly meeting! The group enjoyed learning about Calvin Coolidge, the history of the Coolidge Museum and our future plans.

05/10/2026

Happy Mother's Day!

Family photo of Calvin, Calvin, Jr., John and Grace Coolidge, July 1920.

Grace lost Calvin, Jr. at age 16 to blood poisoning in 1924. In honor of anyone struggling today without a mother or child to hug, may you find comfort in this poem Grace Coolidge wrote in 1929 in memory of her son.

THE OPEN DOOR
You, my son,
Have shown me God,
Your kiss upon my cheek
Has made me feel the gentle touch
Of Him who leads us on.
The memory of your smile, when young,
Reveals His face,
As mellowing years come on apace.
And when you went before,
You left the gates of heaven ajar
That I might glimpse,
Approaching from afar,
The glories of His Grace.
Hold, son, my hand,
Guide me along the path,
That coming,
I may stumble not,
Nor roam,
Nor fail to show the way
Which leads us home.