This book is designed as a sequel to Williamstown and Williams College: Explorations in Local History, published in 2018 by the University of Massachusetts Press, and Williamstown and Williams College: Further Explorations in Local History, published by Blurb in 2021. As in Dustin Griffin’s former volumes, it is a collection of microhistories, each sharply focused on a single topic in the history of Williamstown and Williams College. As in Griffin’s earlier volumes, the essays are arranged in three sections: those that concern the history of the town; those that treat a topic that involves both town and college; and those that concern some episode in the history of the college. They are based on the premise that digging deep is a way to illuminate a particular topic and at the same time to reveal the underlying character of both town and college. Three of the final group of essays treat the history of individual Williams College presidencies.
Based on documentary research, Williamstown and Williams College: Volume III, like its predecessors, is designed to be accessible to the general reader. It will be of great interest to those who live in Williamstown, but requires no special knowledge and will thus appeal to the town’s many visitors, and to anybody with a connection to Williams College.