Mass. Memories Road Show heads to Allston-Brighton

Allston-Brighton Mass. Memories Road ShowWhen: Sunday, October 26, 2014 – 10:30 a.m – 2:30 p.m.

Location: Veronica B. Smith Multi-Service Senior Center, 20 Chestnut Hill Avenue, Brighton, Mass. Click here for directions.

Do you have a connection to the neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton in Boston, Massachusetts? Share your memories and take your place in Massachusetts history at this free, public event.

Please bring up to three photographs related to your experience of Allston and Brighton. The photos will be scanned and immediately returned to you at the event. All images and stories collected at Mass. Memories Road Shows are available online at openarchives.umb.edu.

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.

The Mass. Memories Road Show is produced by the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston and is co-sponsored by the Patricia C. Flaherty ’81 Endowed Fund.

The Allston-Brighton Mass. Memories Road Show is being hosted by the Veronica B. Smith Multi-Service Senior Center and the City of Boston Elderly Commission (Emily F. Shea, Commissioner; Martin J. Walsh, Mayor). The event is sponsored locally by Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation; Allston Village Main Streets; Boston Public Library, Faneuil Branch; Brighton-Allston Historical Society; and Brighton Main Streets.

Questions? Email carolyn.goldstein@umb.edu.

Wayland Mass. Memories Road Show collection online now

Doll carriage parade, 1950 'At one time every year, Cochituate had a doll carriage parade. Pictured: me and my daughter Paula Athanas. Contributor: Polly Athanas.'

Doll carriage parade, 1950 ‘At one time every year, Cochituate had a doll carriage parade. Pictured: me and my daughter Paula Athanas. Contributor: Polly Athanas.’

The images and stories gathered at the Wayland Mass. Memories Road Show on March 8, 2014 are now available for research. Held at the Wayland Middle School, the event was organized by the Town of Wayland’s 375th Anniversary Committee. Two dozen local volunteers collaborated with a team of UMass Boston staff members and “Roadies” from past Mass. Memories Road Shows to welcome adults and children with connections to the town.

More than 125 individuals contributed 375 photographs documenting personal memories of friends and relatives in Wayland and beyond. A large number of contributors shared photographs of themselves and their families engaged in a wide range of community activities over the years. Adults and children at play on Dudley Pond and Lake Cochituate, performing in musical bands and orchestras, and competing in sports events–these photographs demonstrate a series of strong connections established among the town’s residents. The collection also includes photographs of town events such as Halloween parades, road races, high school graduation ceremonies, and Riverfest, an annual celebration of the Sudbury River which runs through the town.

Pictured, from left to right: Pat Tally, Ken Keyes, and John Russell. Location: 101 Pelham Island Road. Contributor: John Russell.

Mud football aftermath, early spring 1984  Pictured, from left to right: Pat Tally, Ken Keyes, and John Russell. Location: 101 Pelham Island Road. Contributor: John Russell.

Other photographs and stories portray young and old at work enhancing the quality of life in their town: building playground structures, planting trees, and conserving open space. Contributors further shared memories and images of the founding of Shir Tikvah (the first Jewish temple in Wayland), the construction of the Islamic Center of Boston, and sharing learning experiences with Boston students in the METCO program. Local businesses such as Russell Garden Center, Raytheon, Liberty Pizza, Nisbet’s Variety Store are well represented in the collection, as are public service agencies such as the police and fire departments.

Overall, the Wayland Mass. Memories Road Show collection provides a rich window on everyday life in this suburban town west of Boston.

Browse the Wayland Mass. Memories Road Show collection.

'A group of BEElieve beekeepers poses for a picture at [my] house after the group's first hive opening in Spring of 2012. Hive openings at backyard beekeepers' homes are a large part of educating the public about the hardworking and friendly bees. Many who have hesitated about beekeeping for years need to witness only one hive opening to make up their minds and get started. Pictured, from left to right: Janet Hading Pian, Anne Harris, unidentified, Kaat Vander Straeten, and Janot Mendler de Suarez.' Contributor: Kaat Vander Straeten.

‘A group of BEElieve beekeepers poses for a picture at [my] house after the group’s first hive opening in Spring of 2012. Pictured, from left to right: Janet Hading Pian, Anne Harris, unidentified, Kaat Vander Straeten, and Janot Mendler de Suarez.’ Contributor: Kaat Vander Straeten.


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. In partnership with teams of local volunteers, we organize public events to scan family and community photographs and videotape “the stories behind the photos.” The images and videos are indexed and incorporated into an online educational database. Since its launch, the project has gathered more than 8,000 photographs and stories from across the state. It is supported in part by the Patricia C. Flaherty ’81 Endowed Fund at UMass Boston.  

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston was established in 1981 as a repository to collect archival material in subject areas of interest to the university, as well as the records of the university itself. The mission and history of UMass Boston guide the collection policies of University Archives & Special Collections, with the university’s urban mission and strong support of community service reflected in the records of and related to urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, war and social consequence, and local history related to neighboring communities. To learn more, visit blogs.umb.edu/archives.

The story behind the photos: Video interviews from the Mass. Memories Road Show

The Mass. Memories Road Show team is thrilled to announce that the video interviews collected at Mass. Memories Road Shows over the past 10 years are starting to become available at openarchives.umb.edu. For this progress, we thank Lael Dalal, a summer intern from the archives program at Simmons College’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science, who has developed a workflow for editing and cataloging the videos and for uploading them to our online platform. So far, Lael has uploaded the videos for Brewster, Halifax, Irish Immigrant Experience, MiltonStoughton, and, most recently, Provincetown.

In this blog post, Lael shares her experience working with the video interviews in the collection:

While at UMass Boston, I have had a chance to work with what I think are the most intriguing elements of the Mass. Memories Road Show collection–the video interviews. Before I arrived, I had only a vague idea of what a Road Show entailed. I quickly discovered that at each event participants bring photographs to be scanned and cataloged. In addition, they can sit for a short interview and explain the “story behind the photos” in front of a video camera. These wonderful videos, most of which were recorded by Jack Lerner and Liz Clancy of Best Dog Ever Films, offer invaluable context for the photographs and written stories in the collection.

Andre Rouse and his daughter Trinity at the Stoughton Mass. Memories Road Show

All of the videos record contemporary personal stories for posterity. Some are endearing and heartbreaking. One of my favorites is of Andre Rouse and his young daughter Trinity at the Stoughton Mass. Memories Road Show. They brought photographs of themselves over the years at Stoughton events and family gatherings. While the photos show them participating together in community activities, the video captures their sweet relationship and shows how a loving father has raised his daughter after his wife passed away.

Lawren F. Cohen at the Brewster Mass. Memories Road Show

Other very personal videos also provide a sense of what a community was like at a particular period in history. One of my favorites is from Lawren F. Cohen in Brewster, where he shares memories growing up by the ocean during the Great Depression. He describes the hardships he endured–including hunting for his family so they could eat– yet recalls the time fondly. He lights up and laughs when he recalls working at an old country store as a young man, where he and other “rouges” would hangout and cause a ruckus.

Cornelius McEleney at the Irish Immigrant Experience Mass. Memories Road Show

Cornelius McEleney at the Irish Immigrant Experience Mass. Memories Road Show is another video near to my heart. This thematic event focused on a particular cultural group, rather than on a town or city in Massachusetts. McEleney came from Ireland many years ago and towards the end of the video sings a beautiful song about the trials and tribulations of Irish immigrants who came to America. The song is a unique complement to the photos that he contributed.

The videos tell varied and multi-faceted stories and serve as important documents connecting the past to the present. You can view the videos at openarchives.umb.edu by browsing each Road Show and by searching for “video” in each Road Show’s collection.

Call for Collection Donations: Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library welcomes inquiries from individuals and organizations who are seeking an archival home for materials that may now be riskily stored in basements or old file cabinets but that would serve as valuable research materials for scholars, students, and the general public.

UMass Boston’s Archives and Special Collections collects, preserves and makes accessible materials that document our coastal location, urban mission, and strong support of community service.  This includes systematically expanding our collections related to the history, geography, geology, and cultural heritage of our “neighbors to the east”, the Boston Harbor Islands.

UMass Boston’s existing research collections that document Boston Harbor and the Islands include:

We have begun adding photographs, documents, and oral history interviews collected over the years by the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands along with the Friends’ own early organizational records, and aim to expand the collection to include many of the partners who have made possible the establishment and stewardship of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area, as well as individuals who have documents, records, photographs, or stories to contribute.  Please contact library.archives@umb.edu for more information.


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.

Mass. Memories Road Show in the news, accepting applications for 2015

Carolyn Goldstein, interviewed on Chronicle for the Mass. Memories Road Show.

Carolyn Goldstein, interviewed about the Mass. Memories Road Show as part of an episode about UMass Boston for WCBV Boston’s Chronicle. Click the image to view the video.

The Mass. Memories Road Show was featured last week on WCBV Boston’s Chronicle as part of a segment produced on the occasion of the university’s 50th anniversary. The episode included photographs from the collection and recorded footage from a number of Mass. Memories Road Show events, including last year’s stops in Lexington and Provincetown.

Are you interested in bringing a Road Show to your community? We are now seeking applications for events to be held in 2015. The deadline to apply is July 25, 2014, and applicants will be notified in early September. Click here for information about how to apply, or email carolyn.goldstein@umb.edu with any questions.

Volunteers and contributors at the Lexington Mass. Memories Road Show

Volunteers and contributors at the Lexington Mass. Memories Road Show, March 2013

Mark your calendars for our next two events in two Boston neighborhoods:

Allston-Brighton Mass. Memories Road Show
Veronica B. Smith Multi-Service Senior Center
20 Chestnut Hill Avenue
Sunday, October 26, 2014

West End Mass. Memories Road Show
West End Museum 
150 Staniford Street
Saturday, November 15

 


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. In partnership with teams of local volunteers, we organize public events to scan family and community photographs and videotape “the stories behind the photos.” The images and videos are indexed and incorporated into an online educational database. Since its launch, the project has gathered more than 8,000 photographs and stories from across the state. It is supported in part by the Patricia C. Flaherty ’81 Endowed Fund at UMass Boston.  

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston was established in 1981 as a repository to collect archival material in subject areas of interest to the university, as well as the records of the university itself. The mission and history of UMass Boston guide the collection policies of University Archives & Special Collections, with the university’s urban mission and strong support of community service reflected in the records of and related to urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, war and social consequence, and local history related to neighboring communities. To learn more, visit blogs.umb.edu/archives.