NORTHAMPTON - Calvin Coolidge's immortal resume, chiseled on the downtown granite bust of the former Northampton mayor and 30th president of the United States, omits one important if briefly held job.

That will be fixed next Thursday with the dedication of a plaque recognizing Coolidge as a clerk of Hampshire Superior Court which will be added to the side of the "Silent Cal" statue, on the lawn just outside the courthouse.

Coolidge finished the term of Clerk William Clapp, who died while still in office in June 1903. Coolidge opted not to campaign for the office in 1904; instead, he ran for Northampton School Board and lost.

"On the very lawn of the courthouse that political part of his life was missing," said Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Harry Jekanowski Jr. The public dedication ceremony begins at 4 p.m. in the old courtroom at the Hampshire County Courthouse, featuring speakers such as court historian and retired Northampton District Court Judge W. Michael Ryan. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the state's superior courts.

To mark the anniversary, Nancy Foley, Hampshire Superior Court's assistant clerk put together a display case of local legal artifacts. In the process, she unearthed some of the court's oldest records, and discovered some peculiar criminal offenses prosecuted in the 1900s and before. Among them: assault to ravish, neglect of the wife, selling chickens on a Sunday, possessing watered milk and being a common tramp.

James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.