A Look Back, Nov. 5

50 Years Ago

■Elizabeth H. Seymour has been named assistant director of development in the Smith College Development Office and director of the office of alumni affairs for the Smith College School for Social Work. A 1971 graduate of Smith, Miss Seymour has been a researcher in the college development office since July 1973.

■ All liquor establishments in Northampton will have normal operating hours on election day. Licensing commissions across the state have the authority to close down package stores and pharmacists registered to sell alcoholic beverages on election day until after the polls are closed.

25 Years Ago

■The three-member Board of Trustees at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School won re-election in a tight contest Tuesday. The board’s lowest vote-getter, chairwoman Patricia Coonerty, edged out challenger Kathleen Sheehan by only two votes. Sheehan said she will request a recount of the vote today.

■Mayor-elect Mary Clare Higgins took her victory laps early Wednesday morning, standing for one hour in Florence center and another downtown, holding her “Higgins for Mayor” sign with a great big block-lettered “THANK YOU” attached. Passers-by honked, waved, gave thumbs-ups and yelled out their windows, “Congratulations!”

10 Years Ago

■Republican Charlie Baker has won the governor’s race in a nail-biter of an election that seesawed throughout the night and extended into early Wednesday. Democrat Martha Coakley said she wouldn’t make any immediate statement and asked her supporters to go home for the night.

■Massachusetts voters cleared the way on Tuesday for several casino projects to proceed, rejecting a ballot question that sought to overturn the legalization of casino gambling in the state. Unofficial returns show “no” votes winning out, meaning the 2011 law that allows for up to three regional resort casinos and one slots parlor in Massachusetts stands.