Category Archives: Special Collections

Grossmann Gallery exhibit features diaries and journals from University Archives & Special Collections in the Healey Library

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IMG_6238Diaries and journals offer a unique lens through which to study and experience historical and historic events and time periods. A current display in the Walter Grossmann Gallery in the Joseph P. Healey Library, entitled “WINDOWS TO THE PAST: Diaries and Journals from University Archives & Special Collections,” uses the writings of three individuals to reflect on life in Massachusetts and in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century.

This display serves as a companion exhibit to another display in the Grossmann Gallery entitled “‘A PERSONAL MANIFESTO … OF SORTS’: The Diaries of Carol McEldowney,” which explores the life of activist, writer, and women’s self-defense educator Carol McEldowney. Read about that exhibit here.

William_A_Cowles_in_uniform_standing

William A. Cowles, circa 1862

The first individual featured in “WINDOWS TO THE PAST” is William A. Cowles. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1834, Cowles served two tours of duty with the 42nd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers during the Civil War. He married Josephine Lewis of Quincy in 1858 and the couple had two daughters. The Cowles family later moved to Billerica, Massachusetts. William Cowles died on September 15, 1905. The Cowles papers in University Archives & Special Collections consist primarily of the journals that Cowles kept while serving his first tour of duty in New Orleans. Included in the display, along with those journals, are a ration book and a music book, newspaper clippings, photographs, and a printed history of the 42nd Regiment. View a fuller description of the Cowles Papers here. Select materials from this collection have also been digitized and are online here.

Also featured in the display are diaries and other materials from the Albert D. Healey collection. Healey (no known connection to Joseph P. Healey) was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on April 27, 1888, and moved to Dorchester in 1902. Healey began recording his personal diary in January of 1903 and ended it in 1908, his last year at Harvard College. According to Healey, he intended to “write a sort of diary in which I shall state the most important happenings of my life every day for a year” and “it is very probably that I shall not finish it, because I seldom finish such things after starting them, and if I should finish probably nobody will ever see it.” The collection contains a number of diaries, a sketch book, poetry and a short story draft by Healey, among other materials, many of which are included as part of the display. View a fuller description of the Healey collection here.

Wedding of Robert and Arabella Bellamy (photo contributed to the Mass. Memories Road Show by Robert Severy), September 24, 1913

Wedding of Robert and Arabella Bellamy (photo contributed to the Mass. Memories Road Show by Robert Severy), September 24, 1913

And finally, a number of materials related to Robert Bayard Bellamy are on display as part of “WINDOWS TO THE PAST.” Bellamy was a civil engineer and surveyor who held several positions with the Works Progress Administration during the 1930s. Included as part of the Bellamy Family Papers in University Archives & Special Collections, donated by Robert Bayard Severy, the Robert Bellamy papers include personal correspondence between Bellamy and his wife, Arabella (or Belle), during the Depression when Robert was forced to leave the area to find work. Also included are a number of household expense journals and personal diaries by Bellamy, including a copy of his diary from 1926 to 1951. In his diary from 1893, which is included in this display, Bellamy, then in his early teens, describes life in Dorchester, his school, attempts with friends to find the best spots in the city for sledding in the winter and fishing in the summer, and a train trip through western Massachusetts. View a fuller description of the Bellamy Family Papers here.

From remembrances of wartime to reflections on daily life, these diaries, journals, and sketchbooks present multifaceted entry points for exploring Massachusetts history and life.

Visit “WINDOWS TO THE PAST” in the Grossmann Gallery on the 5th floor of the Healey Library at UMass Boston. The exhibition will run through the spring of 2016.

For questions about these collections or to schedule a research appointment, please email library.archives@umb.edu or call 617-287-5469.

To learn more about all of the exhibits currently on display in the Grossmann Gallery, click 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.

Hingham Mass. Memories Road Show photographs and stories now online

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Hingham town employees participating in the Hingham Mass. Memories Road Show. Eileen McCracken, Andrea Young, Anne Dalton, Dorothy Galo, Jennifer Williams, Scott McMillian, Stephanie McBain, David Basler, Mary Savage-Dunham, Barbara Farnsworth, Doreen Newcomb. Contributor: Patricia Basler.

Hingham town employees participating in the Hingham Mass. Memories Road Show. Eileen McCracken, Andrea Young, Anne Dalton, Dorothy Galo, Jennifer Williams, Scott McMillian, Stephanie McBain, David Basler, Mary Savage-Dunham, Barbara Farnsworth, Doreen Newcomb. Contributor: Patricia Basler.

The photographs and stories gathered at the Hingham Mass. Memories Road Show are available online now for research.

Held at Hingham Town Hall, the event was organized by the Town of Hingham and the Hingham Public Library. 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 this South Shore Massachusetts town.

Many contributors shared photographs and stories of themselves and their relatives gathering informally at home, coming home from war, or attending larger social gatherings. Other photographs document community members participating in town-wide events–high school graduation ceremonies and parties, scouting activities, sports competitions, and religious occasions. Several people brought materials documenting the 4th of July parade over the decades.

Hingham High School prom, 1966. Joyce Barber and Ronald Wright. Contributor: Joyce Barber.

Hingham High School prom, 1966. Joyce Barber and Ronald Wright. Contributor: Joyce Barber.

Together, the items in the collection portray residents joining together to enhance the quality of life in a changing South Shore town: restoring historic buildings, conserving land, and planting public gardens. Contributors shared memories and images of police and fire departments, local businesses, churches, summer camps, and natural landmarks.

The video interviews collected at this event are still being processed; a separate notice will be posted when they are available.

Leavitt Bros. Trucking, 1944. My dad, William Carlbon Leavitt, had a trucking business in the town Hingham since 1937. This truck was used to pick up cheese and butter to deliver to residents of Hingham during WWII. Contributor: Sandra Jean Leavitt Kentel.

Leavitt Bros. Trucking, 1944. My dad, William Carlbon Leavitt, had a trucking business in the town Hingham since 1937. This truck was used to pick up cheese and butter to deliver to residents of Hingham during WWII. Contributor: Sandra Jean Leavitt Kentel.

Browse the Hingham Mass. Memories Road Show collection.

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 action, alternative movements, community organizations, war and social consequence, and local history related to neighboring communities. To learn more, visit blogs.umb.edu/archives.

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

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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.

AIDS Memorial Quilt returns to UMass Boston in commemoration of World AIDS Day

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Click on the cover of the program book to read about events and planning related to the quilt display in June 1988.

Click on the cover of the program book to read about events and planning related to the quilt display in June 1988.

On Tuesday, December 1, UMass Boston will host a World AIDS Day Community Reception featuring a display of sections from the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The display runs from November 30 through December 4 and will be open daily in the Campus Center at UMass Boston from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm.

This will mark the third time that sections from the quilt have been on display at UMass Boston, according to records, photographs, and publications in University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library.

The NAMES Project: AIDS Memorial Quilt is a memorial to those who have died of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). According to a press release from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at UMass Boston, the department on campus responsible for arranging for the display: “The AIDS Memorial Quilt began with a single 3 x 6 foot panel created in San Francisco in 1987. Today, The Quilt is composed of more than 48,000 individual 3 x 6 foot panels, each one commemorating the life of someone who has died of AIDS. These panels come from every state in the nation, every corner of the globe and they have been sewn by hundreds of thousands of friends, lovers and family members into this epic memorial, the largest piece of ongoing community art in the world.” Learn more about the AIDS Memorial Quilt here.

The first display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at UMass Boston was in the Armory building in Park Square (which some refer to as “The Castle”) in June 1988.

View the program book to read about events and planning related to the quilt display, 1988
Letter from UMass Boston confirming schedule for the AIDS Memorial Quilt display, 1988
The NAMES Project’s AIDS Memorial Quilt display in the Community Arts Gallery, College of Public and Community Service, University of Massachusetts at Boston, 1988
Sections of the NAMES Project’s AIDS Memorial Quilt were briefly on display on Arlington Street, 1988

This 1988 display at the site of UMass Boston’s original Park Square campus was organized by the New England Chapter of the NAMES Project. Founded in late 1987, the New England Chapter changed its name to the Boston Chapter in 1989. University Archives & Special Collections in the Healey Library holds the records of the Boston Chapter of the NAMES Project. View the finding guide for this collection here.

In 1998, UMass Boston arranged for another display of the quilt in the Clark Athletic Center at UMass Boston. During the opening ceremony on April 23, volunteers unfolded the quilt and began reading aloud names of some of those lost to AIDS, according to an article in the May 18, 1998, edition of the University Reporter. Photographs from the 1998 display were digitized by University Archives & Special Collections as part of our Save Our History! campaign and are available here.

NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt on display at UMass Boston, 1998
Graduating senior Stephen Cicirelli played a key role in bringing the quilt to campus in 1998
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt on display at UMass Boston, 1998
Larry Kessler, Stephen Cicirelli and Chancellor Sherry Penney at the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt opening ceremony, 1998

The AIDS Memorial Quilt display runs from November 30 through December 4 and will be open daily in the Campus Center at UMass Boston from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm.

The quilt display is sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion; Campus Center; College of Nursing and Health Sciences; Student Arts and Events Council (SAEC); University Health Services; Anthropology Department; Bay State Stonewall Democrats; Division of Athletics, Recreation, Special Projects and Programs; and Boston Pride.

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.

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

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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.

David Porter Vincent, circa 1880-1899
David Porter Vincent, photograph, circa 1880-1899
League of American Wheelmen membership card, 1897
John Player & Sons 1839-1939 Cycling Card Set
Eva M. Brindrim pins, circa 1894
Bicycling postcard, “You Can Count On US, Solider ! We’ll Keep ‘Em Rolling!”, circa 1920-1950
American Youth Hostels, photograph of bicycling tour, circa 1950-1959. Pictured are a group of cyclists on a tour coordinated by the American Youth Hostels.
The Wheelmen, at League of American Wheelmen/Charles River Wheelmen Rockport Rally photograph, 1969

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.