Category Archives: Special Collections

Tangible Things in University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston

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Laurel Thatcher Ulrich at the Mass. History Conference. Her keynote talk was titled "Upstairs, Downstairs, and All Around the House: Making Work Visible."

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich at the Mass. History Conference. Her keynote talk was titled “Upstairs, Downstairs, and All Around the House: Making Work Visible.” Photograph courtesy Mass Humanities.

At the recent Massachusetts History Conference keynote speaker Laurel Thatcher Ulrich encouraged attendees to consider the “tangible things” in history.

As I look around our collections, several items catch my eye – a 1940 Fun with Dick and Jane reader, an aerial photograph of Columbia Point, c. 1960, and membership lists of the Saturday Evening Girls. Here reside our tangible things that serve as our window into the past.

Fun with Dick and Jane. Library Call #: PE1117.K2 G731 (Special Collections).

Fun with Dick and Jane. Library Call #: PE1117.K2 G731 (Special Collections).

The Dick and Jane reader becomes more than a book on a shelf, it is memories of struggling to unlock the words that will eventually broaden our world; memories of cuddling with a parent or beloved sibling while reading; memories of a world that may have looked very different than our own.

Views of Columbia Point in the 1960s offer insight into Boston’s rural past, urban planning, and the future of higher education.

The Saturday Evening Girls, created in 1899 as a reading group at the North Bennet Street Industrial School and later an educational club of the Boston Public Library, became a progressive movement to educate and socialize young women. Best known for establishing the Paul Revere Pottery, the organization also published a newsletter, sponsored events, and trained women for leadership responsibilities. The Saturday Evening Girls membership lists are more than a series of names on a page; they open for us a world of arts and craft pottery, immigrant life, and reform movements in early 20th century Boston.

Aerial view of Columbia Point, circa 1960s. UASC-UAPHO-0001-0172

Aerial view of Columbia Point, circa 1960s. UASC-UAPHO-0001-0172

We encourage you to explore the tangible things in your own world. You can start with Laurel Ulrich’s free EdX course at Harvard University, called Tangible Things: Discovering History Through Artworks, Artifacts, Scientific Specimens, and the Stuff Around You. In this online and openly available course, Ulrich encourages participants to “discover new ways of looking at, organizing, and interpreting tangible things in your own environment.”

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.

Historian and UMass Boston alumnus Anthony M. Sammarco ’79 publishes Lost Boston

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With Lost Boston, historian and UMass Boston alumnus Anthony M. Sammarco ’79 takes readers on a nostalgic journey back in time to visit some of Boston’s  disappeared buildings and places in all their grandeur, before the wrecking ball and decline set in. For information about upcoming book talks featuring Sammarco, click here.

From the 1870s up to the present day, 68 different losses are represented in Lost Boston, including schools, churches, theaters, grand mansions, dockyards, racetracks, parks, stores, hotels, offices, and factories. Organized chronologically starting with the earliest losses and ending with the latest, Lost Boston features much-loved institutions that failed to stand the test of time, along with old-fashioned hotels and sports facilities that were beyond updating or refurbishment. Losses explored include Franklin Place, Boston City Hall, Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Hancock House, Gleason’s Publishing Hall, Fort Hill, Franklin Street, Boston Coliseum, Boylston Market, Merchants Exchange, Haymarket Square, Boston Public Library, Horticultural Hall, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Revere House (Hotel), Huntington Avenue Grounds, Charlestown City Hall, Molasses Tank, Cyclorama, Readville Trotting Park and Race Track, East Boston Airport, Boston Latin School, East Boston Ferries, Braves Field, Massachusetts State Prison, Boston Opera House, Boston Aquarium, The Howard Athenaeum, and Dudley Street Station.

Well known locally for his community service in disseminating local history, Anthony M. Sammarco has donated his archives to University Archives & Special Collections in the Healey Library at UMass Boston. Sammarco intends to donate a copy of Lost Boston, along with his research materials and photographs, to University Archives & Special Collections.

For information about upcoming book talks featuring Sammarco, click here. Books will be available for purchase for $18.95 at these events and will be signed by the author.

Saturday Evening Girls talk at North End Branch of Boston Public Library

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Ethel Epstein Maysles, Anna Cooper Levin, and Lea Ginsberg Dektor. Image courtesy University Archives & Special Collections, Joseph P. Healey Library, UMass Boston.

Ethel Epstein Maysles, Anna Cooper Levin, and Lea Ginsberg Dektor. Image courtesy University Archives & Special Collections, Joseph P. Healey Library, UMass Boston.

When: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 | 6:00 pm

Where: North End Branch of the Boston Public Library | 25 Parmenter Street, Boston, Mass. 02113

Click here to view a map.

On Wednesday, June 4, at 6:00 pm, the North End Branch of the Boston Public Library will host a talk by Dr. Dorothy E. King, assistant professor of sociology at Penn State Harrisburg, titled “SATURDAY EVENING GIRLS: Jewish and Italian Immigrant Artists and Scholars of Early 1900s Boston.”

The Saturday Evening Girls, created in 1899 as a reading group at the North Bennet Street Industrial School and expanded into an educational club of the Boston Public Library, became a progressive movement to educate and socialize young women on the North End. Best known for establishing the Paul Revere Pottery, the organization also published a newsletter, sponsored ethnic and cultural events, and trained women for leadership responsibilities in local and broader arenas.

This event is free and open to the public. Click here for more information.

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston recently acquired the Barbara Maysles Kramer Collection, courtesy of the family of Barbara Kramer. Kramer spent many years researching the history of the Saturday Evening Girls, gathering recollections and documentation of the turn-of-the-20th century group. The collection is currently being processed by UMass Boston archivists and will be fully open for research soon. Keep visiting this blog for updates about the status of this exciting new addition to the Healey Library at UMass Boston’s special collections.

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 action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities, including the Boston Harbor Islands. To learn more about University Archives & Special Collections, visit blogs.umb.edu/archives.

Irish Immigrant Experience Mass. Memories Road Show images and stories now available

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'Taken outside family home in County Kerry, Ireland. Pictured, from left to right: Moriarty cousins (children in rear), (front left) my uncle James Shea, (front right) my grandmother Mary Shea.' 1938. Contributor: Joan Walsh.

‘Taken outside family home in County Kerry, Ireland. Pictured, from left to right: Moriarty cousins (children in rear), (front left) my uncle James Shea, (front right) my grandmother Mary Shea.’ 1938. Contributor: Joan Walsh.

The images and stories gathered at the Irish Immigrant Experience Mass. Memories Road Show on November 16, 2013 are now available online. Held at the Irish Cultural Centre of New England (ICCNE) in Canton, Mass., the event was organized and sponsored by the ICCNE in conjunction with The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA), The Eire Society of Boston, and the Consulate General of Ireland.

Two dozen volunteers from these organizations worked together with a team of UMass Boston staff members and graduate students as well as “Roadies” from past Mass. Memories Road Shows to welcome individuals with connections to Ireland and Irish American heritage.

'We were waiting in Cobh to board the boat to America--we went into N.Y. port. Pictured, from left to right, back to front: my dad Patrick Heeney, myself Frances Heeney, my mother Anna Heeney and Mary Heeney.' 1953. Contributor: Fran Heeney.

‘We were waiting in Cobh to board the boat to America–we went into N.Y. port. Pictured, from left to right, back to front: my dad Patrick Heeney, myself Frances Heeney, my mother Anna Heeney and Mary Heeney.’ 1953. Contributor: Fran Heeney.

About 100 individuals shared almost 250 photographs of family members who immigrated from Ireland to the United States as long ago as the mid-19th century and as recently as the late-20th century. Several contributors brought images of ancestors who were born in Ireland, recording carefully researched stories of how their relatives settled, found work, and formed communities in Massachusetts.

'This is a picture of my father's mother, sister and brothers after they were finally together again in America. My father was approx. 29 years old. Most families had a similar photo taken after arriving in America. This picture always brings back memories of this wonderful group of people. Pictured, from back to front, left to right: Mary Kathleen Sheehan, Cornelius Sheehan, Jerimah Sheehan, my father John Sheehan, my grandmother Nora Sheehan and William Sheehan.' 1926. Contributor: Claire McWade.

‘This is a picture of my father’s mother, sister and brothers after they were finally together again in America. My father was approx. 29 years old. Most families had a similar photo taken after arriving in America. This picture always brings back memories of this wonderful group of people. Pictured, from back to front, left to right: Mary Kathleen Sheehan, Cornelius Sheehan, Jerimah Sheehan, my father John Sheehan, my grandmother Nora Sheehan and William Sheehan.’ 1926. Contributor: Claire McWade.

Studio portraits of Irish American families in Boston neighborhoods and surrounding towns figure prominently in this collection. Images of first communions, weddings, and family reunions are among the types of special occasions preserved. Many photographs and stories document the service of Irish Americans in the U.S. military during the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and, more recently, in Iraq.

Browse the Irish Immigrant Experience 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 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.

 

New book on Boston Harbor cleanup uses Healey Library collection

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Each summer (and at least once each winter) Boston-area residents wade in the clean waters off the dozen or more beaches along Boston Harbor. Twenty-five years ago, however, Boston Harbor had a very different reputation: as one of the filthiest Harbors in the United States. The Harbor’s “Dirty Water” even inspired a 1966 song by the California-based band The Standells.

In his new book Trapped Under the Sea: One Engineering Marvel, Five Men, and a Disaster Ten Miles Into the Darkness, Boston Globe Magazine staff writer Neil Swidey tells the story of the cleanup and of an important final step in the construction of a nearly 10 mile tunnel that would carry billions of gallons of treated wastewater into the Massachusetts Bay.

From the website for the book: In the 1990s, Boston built a sophisticated waste treatment plant on Deer Island that was poised to show the country how to rebound from environmental ruin. The state had been dumping barely treated sewage into the water for so long that Boston had America’s filthiest harbor, with a layer of “black mayonnaise” coating the seafloor. Fisheries collapsed, wildlife fled, and locals referred to floating tampon applicators as “beach whistles.” But before the dumping could stop, a team of divers had to make a perilous journey to the end of a 10-mile tunnel—devoid of light and air—to complete the construction. Five went in, but not all of them came out … [In Trapped Under the Sea, Swidey recounts the] harrowing story of five men who were sent into a dark, airless, miles-long tunnel, hundreds of feet below the ocean, to do a nearly impossible job—with deadly results.

Judge A. David Mazzone speaking at 2001 Honorary Degree Dinner. Judge Mazzone was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws at the 2001 Commencement.

Judge A. David Mazzone speaking at 2001 Honorary Degree Dinner. Judge Mazzone was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws at UMass Boston’s 2001 Commencement.

The Boston Harbor Cleanup Case was a landmark one for Massachusetts. The initial order and subsequent timetable of U.S. Federal District Judge A. David Mazzone set into play one of the largest public works projects ever undertaken in New England at a total cost of over $3.8 billion. It resulted in the construction of a new primary wastewater treatment center at Deer Island (“the Boston Harbor Treatment Plant”), facilities at Fore River Shipyard in Quincy to process sewage sludge, a tunnel from Nut Island to Deer Island, and a 9.5 mile outfall tunnel to discharge treated effluent offshore in Massachusetts Bay. These four major construction projects were designed to deal with the problem of untreated sewage water which had been dumped into Boston Harbor for decades. The case was originally filed in three separate lawsuits, culminating in Judge Mazzone’s 1985 ruling that made the cleanup of the Boston Harbor a non-voluntary, court-ordered mandate.

The Chamber Papers of Judge A. David Mazzone on the Boston Harbor Clean Up Case (1985-2005) were donated to University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston in 2005, shortly after Judge Mazzone passed away. Swidey used Mazzone’s papers as part of the research and documentation for his book.

Read more about Trapped Under the Sea, including information about upcoming author events, 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.