Mass. Memories Road Show heads to Hyde Park on Saturday, May 14

Hyde Park MMRS flyer finalWhen: Saturday, May 14, 2016 | 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Location: Hyde Park Community Center | 1179 River Street | Hyde Park, Mass. | Click here for directions.

Do you have a connection to the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts? Do you live or work in Hyde Park? Are your roots in Hyde Park? Share your memories and take your place in Massachusetts history at this free, public event.

Please bring 2-3 photographs in their original format (digital or print photographs) and your stories to be recorded. We will scan unframed pictures and copy digital images and return the images back to you. All images will be added to the online collection at openarchives.umb.edu.

Local support for the Hyde Park Mass. Memories Road Show is provided by the Friends of the Hyde Park Library, The Hyde Park Community Center, and Spin350 Creative. Learn more about the Hyde Park Mass. Memories Road Show here.

The Mass. Memories Road Show is a statewide digital history project that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. It is produced by the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston and is co-sponsored by the Patricia C. Flaherty ’81 Endowed Fund.

Download the flyer for the Hyde Park Mass. Memories Road Show here and remember to share it with your friends and family members!

“Cuban American Activists Connecting to Cuba” – panel discussion at the Joseph P. Healey Library

Members of the "Brigada Antonio Maceo" in Cuba

Members of the “Brigada Antonio Maceo” in Cuba

The Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston, in partnership with Casa de las Americas, Havana, Cuba, is archiving documentation of the “Movement in support of Cuba by members of the Cuban diaspora in the U.S., Puerto Rico & other countries (1960s-1990s).”

Members of the Antonio Maceo Brigade & other Cuban diaspora activists defied Cold War political and family prohibitions to return to Cuba beginning in 1977, changing U.S./Cuba dialogues and their own lives.

On Wednesday, March 23, 2016, participants in the movement in support of Cuba participated in a panel discussion at the Healey Library titled “Cuban American Activists Connecting to Cuba: Enduring Impacts on U.S. Cuba Relations”.  Panelists included Miren Uriarte, Mariana Gaston, and Manuel Gomez (members of the Antonio Maceo Brigade), who reflected on their experiences and engaged in lively dialogue with the audience, which consisted of students, faculty, staff and community members. UMass Boston Provost Winston Langley, Dean of Libraries Daniel Ortiz, and University Archivist Joanne Riley, who traveled to Cuba in early 2016 to work out a collaborative agreement with Casa de las Americas, shared news of the archiving project underway at Healey Library.

This event was co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Joseph P. Healey Library, and the Graduate program in Transnational Cultural & Community Studies (TCCS) at the University of Massachusetts Boston.


University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.

Happy holidays from University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston!

card

From a scrapbook compiled by Roland Geist, a bicycle historian and collector, 1930s – 1950s, donated to the Archives’ bicycling history collections by Lorenz Finison, October, 2015. The Roland Geist collection is currently being processed. Subscribe to OPEN ARCHIVES NEWS (in the sidebar) to be notified when this collection is open for research.

We want to take this moment to acknowledge those who have collected, located, or donated the many documents and artifacts that are helping us build the bicycling history research collections at UMass Boston: John Allen, Cathy Buckley, Nelson Dionne, John Dowlin, Harriet Fell, Lorenz Finison, Tom Fortmann, Richard Fries, Ralph Galen, Roland Geist, Phyllis Harmon, Tom Helm, Thomas McDuffee, Melanie Morris, Richard St. Onge, Gary Sanderson, and many others!

To learn more about the bicycling history collections in University Archives & Special Collections, click here.

To learn more about researching bicycling history, visit our Research Guide for bicycling here.


University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.

University Archives & Special Collections hosts resident from National Digital Stewardship Residency program

ndsr-bostonGuest post by Jeffrey Erickson

I’m Jeffrey Erickson, a recent graduate of Simmons College’s School of Library and Information Science and a former IT professional. I am currently a resident with the National Digital Stewardship Residency program working on digital preservation for University Archives & Special Collections (UASC) in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston.

The National Digital Stewardship Residency program (NDSR) places five information professionals in cultural heritage institutions in the Boston area to gain instruction and hands on experience in digital stewardship issues by working on real-world projects. This is the second year that the NDSR program has hosted projects in the Boston area. NDSR programs are also taking place in New York City and Washington D.C. For more on the NDSR Boston program, please visit the NDSR Boston web site.

As a digital archivist, I am interested in combining my technical skills with my training in archival practices and methods and applying them to digital stewardship issues to ensure our digital cultural heritage remains available for access and use to future generations. The NDSR program and the project here at UMass Boston are providing a platform for me to pursue this interest.

The project I am working on examines the current practices in place at UMass Boston for capturing and managing the assets in digital collections and developing workflows and procedures aimed at providing the long-term preservation of these materials using cloud-based storage services. University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston has a growing collection of digital materials. I will be applying the digital preservation workflows to the materials in the Mass. Memories Road Show collection as a pilot program for preserving all the department’s digital collections.

MMRS_filmstrip_long_greyThe Mass. Memories Road Show (MMRS) is an ongoing community-based digital humanities project conducted by UMass Boston since 2004. The goal of the project is to collaborate with Massachusetts cities and towns to organize community-building events where images and stories that document the history of Massachusetts through the eyes of its residents are collected one town at a time. To learn more about the Mass. Memories Road Show project, click here.

Last month I attended the most recent MMRS event on Martha’s Vineyard to gain an understanding of how the digital objects in this collection are captured and created. Preserving digital materials begins with their creation so I was fortunate that a Road Show event was scheduled to take place during the early part of my residency. You can read more about my MMRS experience on the NDSR Boston blog.

dp-word-cloudSo, why should you be interested in my project? The answer is two-fold:

  1. Because the success of my project will develop a foundation of understanding and practice that will ensure that the digital resources of this university will remain accessible and useful for years to come.
  2. Because everyone has personal digital assets that require preservation. And, everyone can benefit from developing an understanding of the issues that affect digital materials and some best practices that address these issues.

I encourage you to check back to this site from time to time, as well as the NDSR Boston blog. I will keep you up-to-date on the progress of my project, discuss some digital stewardship issues, and maybe pass along some information that will help you preserve your own digital assets.

Healey Library exhibit explores history of bicycling in the U.S. and beyond

2015-11-13 -- BIKES Exhibit Poster -- 18 x 24 -- FINALUniversity Archives & Special Collections (UASC) in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston opened a new exhibit, “Bicycling: Highlights from University Archives & Special Collections,” featuring selected materials from the department’s bicycling collections. The exhibit—developed by Sara Davis, a graduate student from the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College—showcases photographs, brochures, newsletters, postcards, publications, memorabilia, and ephemera related to cyclists, as well as materials related to bicycling inventions, innovations, and history from a number of bicycling-related collections currently held at UASC. And though modest in size (encompassing two display cases in the Healey Library’s Grossmann Gallery), the display offers a glimpse into the range of collections and materials related to bicycling and bicycling history in the department.

Browse the gallery below for a selection of items displayed in the exhibit.

The objects on display demonstrate America’s love of bicycling and bicycling’s place in American culture, as well as on the international level, from the late 19th century through to the present day. The exhibit reveals how bicycling shaped society and society has shaped the bicycling world by highlighting women in bicycling, inventions, social innovations, and ephemera and memorabilia from popular culture. In the advent of its popularity, socializing became a major component of bicycle culture, with social events such as scheduled bicycle rides, rallies, and competitions, as well as the creation of cycling groups such as the League of American Wheelmen and the Charles River Wheelmen.

Cycling enthusiasts also emerged as activists for change, especially for the greater good of communities. Women such as Kittie Knox, Phyllis Harmon, and Eva M. Bindrim tested society’s norms since bicycling’s height of popularity in the U.S. by introducing new fashions for women cyclists, participating in bicycle races and clubs despite gender, race, and age constraints, and holding key positions within national and local organizations. As a result, bicycle enthusiasts created and continue to create inventions to make bicycling safer and more enjoyable. Browse the gallery below for a selection of items on display.

This exhibit offers only a sampling of the types of archival materials readily available for research. To view all the images from this exhibit, click here.

Some of the department’s bicycling-related collections are still being processed. To view our research guide for an updated list of collections available, click here.

University Archives & Special Collections in the Healey Library at UMass Boston holds a substantial amount of information for bicycling research and aspires to expand upon these collections and to become a national resource on bicycling history. For questions about these collections or to schedule a research appointment, please contact library.archives@umb.edu or 617-287-5469.

The exhibit is on display in the fifth floor flat exhibit cases in the Healey Library at UMass Boston from November 2015 through June of 2016. The exhibit is free and open to the public during library operating hours. For a complete and up-to-date list of hours, visit www.umb.edu/library/about/hours.

Announcement prepared by Sara Davis.


University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.