South Boston Mass. Memories Road Show Collection now available for research

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Author: Alexander Dau, archives graduate assistant and graduate student in the History department at UMass Boston

The importance of photographs for preserving memories is something we often take for granted. Yet they are critical links to the past, serving as records of how people lived. Examples of this essential preservation of stories and memories can be seen in the photographs and videos gathered at the South Boston Mass. Memories Road Show, now available online for research.  

The South Boston Mass. Memories Road Show was held on May 10, 2025, at the South Boston branch of the Boston Public Library. The event was coordinated by the library along with the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative Committee, the Castle Island Association, Friends of the South Boston Branch Library, 4th Presbyterian, the L Street Brownies, the South Boston Collaborative Center, South Boston En Acción, the South Boston Historical Society, the South Boston Irish American Society, the South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation, South Boston Neighborhood House, and the South Boston Vietnam Memorial Committee.  

Contributors shared stories that demonstrate the rich history of the South Boston neighborhood. These photos go back decades and serve as a record of the community and the people who have lived and still live there.  

Castle Island is one of South Boston’s most notable landmarks. Native Americans visited the island for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. During the early days of the Revolution, the British garrison on Castle Island became a symbol of British oppression. Re-named after the Revolution, Fort Independence served as a training ground for many American soldiers, including Edgar Allan Poe, until 1890, when the fort and surrounding land were given to the city. Frederick Law Olmsted designed a public park on the island, which was eventually connected to the mainland via a causeway. Today, Castle Island is mainly used as a recreation area for South Bostonians, although its patriotic heritage is remembered several times a year as part of the USS Constitution’s turnaround cruises, where the historic ship and fort exchange a canon salute. Bob Meyer shared his memory of one such event celebrating the nation’s bicentennial in 1976.  

“First tall ships in Boston Harbor,” 1976. “The U.S.S. Constitution being escorted by a tugboat. A very large crowd of over 50,000 gathered to see the U.S.S. Constitution. A celebration of the United States combined the annual turn-around with the first tall ships in the Boston Harbor. We had a good time—I attended with a bunch of friends and my future wife. Location: Castle Island.” Contributor: Bob Meyer.  

Stories of immigration feature in many of the photographs. They highlight the diverse backgrounds of South Boston residents and serve as a record of the challenges immigrants faced in order to build lives and raise families in the United States. Liz Aguillo shared the story of her Filipino parents, who met in Virginia before moving to Boston. While her father served in the Coast Guard, her mother trained to become a doctor. However, Liz’s mother sacrificed her career to raise her seven children. A photograph shared by Anne Kelly-Contini demonstrates the changes many immigrants had to endure to assimilate into American society. Anne discussed how several women in her mother’s Irish family chose to change their names in order to sound more American. 

“My immigrant parents’ dream,” 1972. “My parents were Filipino immigrants who met in Virginia. My dad was with the Coast Guard. My mother was pre-med at William and Mary College. They married and moved to Boston when my dad was stationed in the North End. We lived in public housing in South Boston, where we grew up. My mother never got to be a doctor because she raised seven children. She ended up working at Gillette and Cole Hersee. Pictured, from back to front, left to right: my dad David Aguillo, Sr., my brother David Aguillo, Jr., myself Elizabeth Aguillo, my sister Margaret Aguillo (on dad’s lap), my brother Bobby Aguillo, my mom Pearl Aguillo, my sister Pearl Aguillo, Jr. (on mom’s lap), my sister Roselynn Aguillo, and my sister Jacqueline Aguillo. Location: Flaherty Way.” Contributor: Liz Aguillo. 
“The Flahertys of Thomas Park,” 1918. “This is a family photo of my mother’s family. At the time, they were living at 12 Thomas Park. The house is still standing. This picture doesn’t include the youngest whose birth name was Julia (who changed it to Evelyn). Many of the women changed their names to sound less Irish. Pictured, from back to front, left to right: Bridget (Noonan) Flaherty (changed her name to Elizabeth), Margaret ‘Peg’ Flaherty, Mary (Mahoney) Flaherty, Sarah Hernon Flaherty, Barbara (Metras) Flaherty, Patrick Flaherty, Daniel Flaherty, Sarah ‘Sally’ (Lalley) Flaherty, my mother Ellen Gertrude (Kelly) Flaherty (youngest at the time, changed her name to Eleanor), and Joseph Flaherty (youngest boy).” Contributor: Anne Kelly-Contini.  

The L Street Bathhouse (now the Curley Community Center) has been a popular leisure spot for South Boston residents for a century. This is evident in several photographs shared by contributors that show how residents enjoy the ocean year-round. Jack Riley shared a photograph that shows his aunts and cousin enjoying the beach in summer with a group of friends, while Pat Kelleher’s photograph features her Polish grandfather, who swam at the beach every day, even in the middle of winter. 

“Day at the Beach,” 1934. “This is a picture taken at Carson Beach of a large group of friends. The three women pictured are two of my aunts, Eleanor and Margaret Riley, and a cousin, Mary Riley. Pictured, from back to front, left to right: unidentified, my cousin Mary Riley, my aunt Margaret Riley Scarlata, three unidentified people, my aunt Eleanor Riley Wenners (in front and to the left of Mary Riley), and three unidentified people. Location: Carson Beach.” Contributor: Jack Riley. 
“L Street Brownie,” c. 1940s-1950s. “My grandfather (who was from Poland) swam every day, summer or winter. He walked from Mattapan to South Boston every day because he never got a driver’s license. Pictured: my grandfather Norbet Brink (center, shirtless). Location: L Street Bathhouse.” Contributor: Pat Kelleher.  

Numerous local civic and community organizations such as the Mattapannock Women’s Club, the South Boston Irish American Society, and the Castle Island Association are featured in the collection. The inclusion of these photographs shows how valuable civic life is for South Bostonians and the importance they place in working for their community. A photo of the Castle Island Association Historical Committee’s Christmas party shared by Patricia Reid shows how members of the South Boston community come together to hang out and celebrate their neighborhood.  

“1997 Castle Island Association’s Historical Committee Christmas Party,” 1997. “In the 1980s to 2000s, the Historical Committee would meet every Thursday evening. The Historical Committee members were and are the Castle Island Association members who volunteered from Memorial Day through the October holiday weekend to give free public tours of Fort Independence on Castle Island on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Every year on the Thursday before Christmas, the Committee would have a party. This photo was taken at the 1997 Christmas Party.” Contributor: Patricia Reid.  

Many members of the South Boston community, both men and women, served in World War II. This sometimes meant that multiple people within the same family were all involved in the war effort in different ways. Robert F. O’Sullivan shared a photograph of his father and three uncles, who served in the Navy and Marines; all four survived and came home after the war. Virginia Kropas’s photograph of her mother highlights the numerous roles in which women served during the war. Virginia’s mother worked as a clerk on Castle Island and was a model in a poster campaign aimed to encourage Americans to support the war effort. 

“The O’Sullivan brothers,” 1945. “Taken after the O’Sullivan brothers got back from deployment during World War II. John and William were in the Navy and Tom and Robert were in the Marines. Robert was my father. Photo taken by George C. Stukas Photographers, West Broadway. Pictured, from left to right: my uncle John O’Sullivan, my uncle Thomas O’Sullivan, my father Robert O’Sullivan, and my uncle William O’Sullivan.” Contributor: Robert F. O’Sullivan.  
“My mother in a photo for the war fund drive with her baby cousin,” 1944. “’During World War II, Mom joined the work effort as a young woman (22 years old in the picture), including as a clerical worker at the Army base at Castle Island. She also was chosen to represent a young mother with children and a soldier husband, a Carlson Raider, 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. The posters were used to encourage the buying of war bonds—all-American girl and boy. Pictured, from left to right: my cousin Eleanor Plansky, my mother Virginia Tuinila, an unidentified infant, and an unidentified soldier.” Contributor: Virginia Kropas.  

This collection will provide researchers with an opportunity to see how South Boston has evolved over time. While the buildings and people of South Boston may have changed, what has stayed consistent is residents’ commitment to their community.  

“My partner and me after moving to Southie,” 2024. “We moved to Boston in 2022 so Shelby could pursue her PhD at Boston University. I got a job as the Director of Youth and Children’s Ministries at Fourth Presbyterian Church in South Boston, and we decided to move to Southie to be closer to the church and the community. This photo was taken a couple months after moving to Southie—we were very happy to be here. Pictured, from left to right: my partner Shelby Hall and myself Janine Warrington. Location: Telegraph Street.” Contributor: Janine Warrington.  

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.

Carol McEldowney Papers: The New Left and the SDS

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Author: Amelia Gantt, Archives Student Supervisor and graduate student in the American Studies department at UMass Boston

Carol McEldowney on a motorcycle in Boston, early 1970s

Carol McEldowney’s legacy is most stark in the context of her early death at the age of 30. Within those few years cut short, McEldowney led a storied career of political activism and aid, having established herself as a relevant figure in the New Left at its peak.  

One of the foremost political organizations that came to represent the New Left was called the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), whose mission was to ensure democratic participation in social and economic organizing, spurring dramatic societal change (read: Port Huron Statement). Only a few years after the SDS launched in 1960, the organization had thousands of members at more than 50 schools. McEldowney was there from the start, attending the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor where and when the SDS was first established. In 1962, McEldowney is recorded as registering for the very first SDS convention and in 1964, she was elected chair of the SDS chapter at Michigan.

McEldowney’s collected papers held in the UMass Boston Archives contain various publications created by or related to the SDS including promotional material and correspondence ranging from 1960-1967. 

The “New Left” is a broad term, describing political groups of the 1960s that ranged from those who abstained from violent protests (Dave Dellinger and MOBE) to those who encouraged them (“Yippies”). What connected these groups, though, was a common consciousness characterized by generational values. Thus, the New Left was mainly made up of students like McEldowney, hopeful and practical as an early undergraduate in 1962.  

The previous decade of the 1950s was one of conformity and affluence, creating both a temporal gap in leftist political activism until the turbulent 1960s (hence “New”), and also a stark generational divide between those under and above 30 years of age. The New Left critiqued exactly that 1950s conformity— a lifestyle and value system that the new generation understood as forced cultural and political complacency to a political system that, by the mid-1960s, was becoming more obviously violent and undemocratic. 

While the SDS was generally organized around the leftist ideal of a democratic and equitable society, by 1967, the group’s motivating stance was ending the Vietnam War. At the age of 24, McEldowney was part of a highly coveted 10-person group of activists poised to visit Vietnam during the war. Most of this cohort was connected to the SDS, including Tom Hayden, original writer of the Port Huron Statement. Taking her values with her after graduation, McEldowney worked in community organizing and development initiatives in Cleveland for multiple years, remaining connected with SDS projects, like this Vietnam trip. 

Carol McEldowney in Vietnam, 1967

McEldowney documented her experiences of the 1967 visit in a journal titled Hanoi Journal, which we hold in the UMass Boston Archives. The journal includes observations of Vietnamese daily and cultural life, and the impact of war on society there. This artifact is particularly relevant for our archival focus in alignment with the William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences. The UMass Boston Archives also holds numerous other documentary materials from the Vietnam trip, including photographs and notes, that showcase Vietnam the year before the country would see the highest number of American soldiers drafted. 

Reflecting on McEldowney’s impact in her introduction to Hanoi Journal, Suzanne Kelley McCormack notes that up until this point, publicized perspectives on the Vietnam War were male-dominated. Indeed, McEldowney was one of two women in the Vietnam contingent. The McEldowney papers held at the UMass Boston Archives serve to preserve and promote an often-overlooked feminine perspective on issues of war and society in this pivotal era of anti-war activism. McEldowney seemed to find that femininity was a useful factor of drawing connection between white Americans and the Vietnamese, and thus a mechanism of humanizing those portrayed as the enemy.

Carol McEldowney teaching martial arts, early 1970s

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, many of those previously organized through the SDS began to orient themselves towards related, but more specific, fights. McEldowney herself became focused on women’s liberation, though it had been a major theme within her anti-communist reflection on the war in Vietnam and a throughline throughout her work. When she moved to Boston, McEldowney became involved with Bread and Roses, a socialist women’s liberation collective, and she came out as lesbian. Her passion for women and queer self-determination led her to prioritize self-defense, teaching martial arts and self-defense for rape prevention until her death in 1973.

Contact library.archives@umb.edu to schedule an appointment to view the Carol McEldowney papers. View three of her digitized journals here.

References:

Finding aid for the Carol McEldowney papers, SC-0087. University Archives and Special Collections, Joseph P. Healey Library, University of Massachusetts Boston. https://archives.umb.edu/repositories/2/resources/281.

McEldowney, Carol Cohen. Hanoi Journal, 1967. Edited by Suzanne Kelley McCormack and Elizabeth R. Mock. University of Massachusetts Press, 2007. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vk38c.

Open Now – Material Dialogues: Artist Unresidency, 2025-2026 Exhibition

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University Archives and Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston is excited to announce that the exhibition Material Dialogues: Artist Unresidency, 2025-2026 at UMB Archives opens Monday, January 26, 2026, in the Grossmann Gallery on the fifth floor of Healey Library. This exhibition showcases UMass Boston’s Artist Unresidency Pilot Program. The Unresidency invited five artists to create new artwork in response to archival collections to expand how archives are encountered and understood while bringing these materials into contemporary dialogue. Participating artists explored themes of cultivating care, lifting voices, and looking at how the past can shape the future. The program is intended to grow into an annual initiative supporting three to five artists.

Giant audio tape cassette by Brian Wilson, inspired by the Massachusetts Hip-Hop Archive

Five artists from the Northeast are featured in this exhibition: Caleb Cole, Nanc Hart, Christina Hunt Wood, Brooke Toczylowski, and Brian Wilson. Working across mixed media, painting, collage, film, sculpture, and handmade books, each artist engages a different archival collection, including the Carol McEldowney papers, the Theresa-India Young papers, the Massachusetts Hip-Hop Archive, the University of Massachusetts Boston permanent site selection records, the Boston School Bus Drivers Union records, USW Local 8751 records, the Elizabeth Bouvier collection of radical and leftist posters, and the Stephen Lewis poster collection.

From left to right: Christina Hunt Wood, Nanc Hart, Brian Wilson, Caleb Cole, Brooke Toczylowski, and archivist Meghan Bailey

Participants were selected from applications by the Art+Everywhere community. The selection panel and exhibit curation were overseen by Meghan Bailey, Associate University Archivist for Collection Management; Carol Scollans, UMass Boston art history professor; and Jeremy Andreatta, Art+Everywhere board member. This project was funded by the Art+Everywhere Innovation Grant and is hosted by the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston. It will be on view from January 26 through May 15, 2026, during the Healey Library’s open hours. An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, February 20, 2026, from 3:00 pm-5:30 pm. The date for the artist panel via Zoom is pending and will be posted here once determined.

Watercolor on paper by Nanc Hart, inspired by the University of Massachusetts Boston permanent site selection records
Record A, sewn monotype and watercolor on paper by Brooke Toczylowski, inspired by the Stephen Lewis Poster Collection
Photograph by Christina Hunt Wood on view with artwork inspired by the Theresa-India Young papers
Caleb Cole, “Settle for Nothing Less than a Totally New World,” inspired by the Carol McEldowney papers

Contact library.archives@umb.edu for more information about this exhibition, the Artist Unresidency program, or the archival collections that inspired the exhibition’s artwork.

University Archives and 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 and 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 and Special Collections, email library.archives@umb.edu.

Behind the Scenes at UASC

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Author: Amy Smith, Archives Assistant and graduate student in the history department at UMass Boston

Archive assistants Shannon Leary (left) and Amy Smith

At this time of year, people tell stories of elves and other little folk that work unseen to help humans. While not exactly magical, UASC has student archives assistants to help the staff keep things running smoothly. For the Fall 2025 semester, I had the great experience of being one of these elves – er, assistants.

Archives assistants cover a variety of tasks in the UASC, such as reshelving, scanning, or staffing the reading room. I was assigned to work in the processing room, assisting Patty Bruttomesso, UASC Archival Collections Project Manager, on a project to make accessions ready for use by researchers. The work involved refoldering, reboxing, and creating box-level inventories of accessioned materials. There is a considerable backlog, and I have learned that processing backlogs are a fact of archival life. But I think that my fellow archives assistant, Shannon Leary, and I made good progress!  

My first experience of encountering the storage space where the accessions were stored made me think of the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark (although I’m pretty sure that there are no cursed objects stashed away at UASC). It consists of two enormous rooms with seemingly endless rows of shelving packed to the brim with boxes. 

A glimpse into the storage space

Refoldering and reboxing materials means getting to know an accession fairly well in a short time. One of the benefits of this assignment is that I had the opportunity to work on a number of collections, from the papers of Reebee Garofalo and Mauricio Gastón to records of the New England War Tax Resistance, UMass Boston’s Professional Staff Union, and the famed Catholic Association of Foresters. It was hard not to become sidetracked by all the interesting content. For example, Professor Gastón wrote his undergraduate notes in Spanish. The Foresters ran big yearly conferences for their organization and listed the elaborate dinner menus in the conference books (seven-course meals!). I have a special fondness for Reebee, not only because his was the first collection on which I worked, but because his collection is a virtual history of popular music, including books, correspondence, and photos about rock, hip-hop, and other popular music. His files also contained a hidden gem – a course pamphlet on women’s health that would eventually become the classic book Our Bodies, Our Selves. 

Then there are the surprises. For example, while working on the aforementioned Catholic Association of Foresters accession, I opened a box to discover a small brass scale. I’ve also come across banners, armbands, and many political buttons. Fortunately, I never encountered less interesting surprises (bugs), though I’ve heard stories. I think, however, the discovery – and this is true – of a desiccated piece of chocolate cake in a box of files tops them all. As a result, I became extra cautious about putting my hand into a box without looking inside first. 

I appreciated working with Patty, as she treated this as a learning opportunity for Shannon Leary and me. We were given material to read up on about processing, as well as the finding aids and other materials for our collections. Once, she encouraged me to shadow her as she and a reference archivist walked through the storage room, discussing and prioritizing the list of accessions to be worked on. And she always handled questions – no matter how weird – thoughtfully and with aplomb. Even when presented with a brass scale. I’m graduating this semester, so my time as an archives assistant is coming to an end. In addition to all I have learned on the job, I have a greater appreciation for all the hidden labor that goes into making archival materials research-ready.

Join us for The Brutalist Library: Rereading Its Legacy and Reimagining the Future

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How does a building’s history inform its use? What do the design movements of the past have to do with our daily lives in the present? UMass community members use brutalist buildings every day—meeting, studying, and working in spaces designed decades ago, often in need of renovation and reimagining, but also worthy of preservation and appreciation.

The Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston is one such idiosyncratic building. Designed by Harry Weese, a Chicago native and a prolific architect of the mid-twentieth century, the library is the tallest building on UMass Boston’s Columbia Point campus. Construction began in 1972, just four years before the opening of Weese’s most famous creation—the Washington, D.C., metro system. The Healey Library shares the D.C. Metro’s iconic waffle slab ceiling design.

Construction of the Joseph P. Healey Library, 1972.

The Healey Library is at home in Boston, where brutalist architecture defines our cityscape. Boston’s brutalist landmarks include Madison Park High School (designed by Marcel Breuer and Tician Papachristou), the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University (the only building in North America designed by pioneering modernist architect Le Corbusier), and, of course, Boston City Hall. Brutalist DC offers a helpful definition of this controversial architectural style.

Individuals at the top of the stairway that connects the second and third floors of the library at UMass Boston, circa 1978-1979.

Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners across the University of Massachusetts system established UMass BRUT in 2019 as a way to celebrate, preserve, and reimagine the mid-century brutalist public architecture on our campuses. UMass BRUT is bringing a one-day symposium to UMass Boston on Friday, October 24, 2025, which will offer community members the opportunity to reflect on the challenges and joys of the built environment of our campus.

The Brutalist Library: Rereading Its Legacy and Reimagining the Future will explore the significance, technical challenges, and future adaptation strategies of the modernist public library. The event will feature three panels: historians will examine the design and development of campus libraries, librarians will discuss the evolving role of libraries in the digital age and their spatial needs, and architects will address technical challenges and innovative solutions for renovating iconic structures. The symposium will feature tours of the UMass Boston campus and the Healey Library as well as an open discussion between attendees and panelists.

The UMass Boston campus master plan and recent renovations of existing campus buildings offer a unique opportunity to elevate the role of public architecture and how it adapts to the changing context of academia. Attendees will include students, faculty, librarians, historians, and members from allied professions such as architects, engineers, and contractors, along with the broader campus community and the general public. The symposium will foster cross-disciplinary conversation among all participants on how we may celebrate, conserve, and provide stewardship for our modernist and brutalist buildings now and in the future.

Join us on Friday, October 24, 2025, at UMass Boston. Learn more and register on the UMass BRUT website.

A view of the celebratory cake for the 1977 UMass Boston open house, featuring the Healey Library and surrounding buildings rendered in cake form.