View books were a popular medium for promoting the assets of New England cites and towns, particularly those wishing to attract tourism, or to draw attention to their up-to-date manufacturing, educational, and commercial activities. Those in Historic New England's collections are in two formats: bound volumes of photogravure plates, and those which mix text and mechanically reproduced (usually half-tone) photography. In general, the reproductive quality of the the photogravure work is fine, produced from the 1880s until the mid-1890s. Of the view books in the collection, those by Charles Eddy are of particular interest, for their concentration on such unheralded Massachusetts towns as North Brookfield, Ware, and Barre. Eddy was a resident of that town. Since most view books were frankly promotional in purpose, users should not expect to find images that picture 'old-time' New England. The emphasis is nearly always on new buildings which were a source of civic pride and a measure of civic progress. The charm of ancient Colonial structures did not begin to be stressed, in publications such as these, until the turn of the century and thereafter. Source: View Books Collection finding aid.