Category Archives: Exhibits

Posts about University Archives & Special Collections exhibits.

Grossmann Gallery exhibit highlights the life and art of Theresa-India Young

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Black and white photo of Theresa-India Young

Theresa-India Young, circa 1972. Courtesy of the estate of Theresa-India Young.

A new exhibit in the Joseph P. Healey Library’s Grossmann Gallery highlights items from the Theresa-India Young collection. The exhibit is entitled The Life and Art of Theresa-India Young: Preserving African American Identity.

Join us for an opening reception on Wednesday, October 17, at 4:00 pm. The event is sponsored by the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston and the William Monroe Trotter Institute and will include remarks by Trotter Institute Director Barbara Lewis, Interim Dean of University Libraries Joanne Riley and by Meghan Bailey, Processing Archivist in the Healey Library and Project Director of the Research Inventory Grant Project funded by Mass Humanities.

Theresa-India Young was a fiber artist, interdisciplinary arts teacher, and education consultant working in the Boston area from 1975-2008. Young taught studio art and museum education at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where a scholarship is endowed in her name. She also taught at the Museum of Fine Arts, Roxbury Community College, Boston Public Schools, Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, Harvard University Museum, Cambridge Friends School, Lesley University, and Wheelock College.

Young was a mentor in her community, helping her colleagues and local youth claim their identities as artists and pursue opportunities related to those roles. She served as an advocate for her fellow artists at the Piano Factory Studios when rising rent threatened to displace resident artists.

Young mentored Boston youth by developing the Kush Club, a teen docent program, and managed Primal Arts, an educational consulting business that specializes in cultural presentations, art workshops, and museum tours. As a teacher and purveyor of cultural heritage, Young worked to preserve and maintain folk art traditions in her artwork, such as the Gullah heritage of basket weaving. Her work was informed by her research into African aesthetics and traditions, particularly weaving and hair braiding. She was also prolific in ceramics, European Tapestry, and ethnic weaving.

Visit the display in the Grossmann Gallery on the 5th floor of the Healey Library at UMass Boston. The Grossmann Gallery is open during the library’s regular hours: 7:30 am–10:00 pm on Monday through Thursday, 7:30 am–6:00 pm on Friday, 9:00 am–3:00 pm on Saturday, and 11:00 am–5:00 pm on Sunday. The exhibition will run through the spring of 2019.

Additionally, there’s an exhibition of Theresa-India Young’s work and work by recipients of the Theresa-India Young Scholarship Fund in the Thompson Gallery at MassArt, which was recently featured on WBUR.

Learn more about the Theresa-India Young papers here and view a finding aid for the collection here.

For questions about the exhibition, this collection, or to schedule a research appointment, please email library.archives@umb.edu or call 617-287-5469.

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.

Theresa-India Young papers processed and available for research

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Theresa-India Young, undated. Courtesy of the Theresa-India Young Estate.

University Archives and Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston was awarded a Research Inventory Grant from Mass Humanities in June 2017. This allowed us the opportunity to devote a significant amount of time and resources to acquire, arrange, and describe the papers of noted Boston fiber artist, educator, and artist activist, Theresa-India Young. The collection was donated by Jacqueline McRath, executrix of Young’s estate in 2016. An exhibit showcasing materials from the collection is planned for June 2018 at the Grossmann Gallery in the Joseph P. Healey Library.

The Theresa-India Young papers, spanning 41.75 linear feet, document her work as a fiber artist, interdisciplinary arts teacher, and education consultant working in the Boston area from 1975 to 2008. Young taught studio art and museum education at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where a scholarship is endowed in her name. She also taught at the Museum of Fine Arts, Roxbury Community College, Boston Public Schools, Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, Harvard University Museum, Cambridge Friends School, Lesley University, and Wheelock College.

The collection documents her involvement with various Boston communities, including the Piano Craft Guild Tenants’ Association and Piano Factory Gallery, where Young worked as an advocate for her fellow artists at the Piano Factory Studios when rising rent threatened to displace resident artists. Young served as a mentor in her community, helping her colleagues and local youth claim their identities as artists, and pursue opportunities related to those roles.

University Archives and Special Collections, UMass Boston, 1972, Kingston Black Arts Theatre exhibit flyer, artwork by Theresa-India Young

Young mentored Boston youth by developing the Kush Club, a teen docent program, and managed Primal Arts, an educational consulting business that specialized in cultural presentations, art workshops, and museum tours. As a teacher and purveyor of cultural heritage, Young worked to preserve and maintain folk art traditions in her artwork, such as the Gullah heritage of basket weaving. Her work was informed by her research into African aesthetics and traditions, particularly weaving and hair braiding. She was also prolific in ceramics, European Tapestry, and ethnic weaving.

Much of her research is preserved in the collection, in the form of clippings, handwritten notes and varied publications. As a longtime resident of the Piano Factory, Young lived and worked within a dynamic local arts scene. The collection documents her relationships with other local artists, like Allan Rohan Crite, as well as the issues they faced, such as affordable housing.

This collection consists of correspondence, handwritten notes, curriculum research, meeting minutes, scrapbooks, clippings, publications, ephemera, photographs, slides, and original artwork by Young and others, and includes personal papers related to Young’s early years in New York, her education, and genealogical research of her Gullah heritage in South Carolina and Africa.

Logo for Mass Humanities in orange and blue.

This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Research areas include but are not limited to: African-American art and artists in Boston, multicultural education, museum education, and artist tenancy rights. University Archives and Special Collections also hold the records of the Piano Craft Guild Tenants’ Association, 1972-2000, which provide  researchers with a complete picture of Young’s life while living at the Piano Factory Studios.

For questions about this collection or to schedule a research appointment, please contact library.archives@umb.edu or 617-287-5469.

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.

Grossmann Gallery art exhibit showcases Native American resilience

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Michelle Napoli, Koyanni Alwas/Singing Tree, mixed media on canvas (2017)

 

A new exhibit in the Joseph P. Healey Library’s Grossmann Gallery highlights the work of three Native American artists and examines the theme of Native American resilience through art.

Join us for an opening reception on Thursday, February 1, at 4:00 pm. The event is sponsored by UMass Boston’s Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS), the Joseph P. Healey Library, the Student Alliance for the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program. It will include talks by the artists, Interim Dean of University Libraries Joanne Riley, and Dr. J. Cedric Woods, the director of INENAS, which is housed at the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at UMass Boston.

The three featured artists are Michelle Napoli (Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria—Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo), Nia Holley (Nipmuc Nation), and Kristen Wyman  (Natick Nipmuc). “All three of these artists are inspired by their connections to their coastal homelands,” said Woods.

“The artists use materials such as abalone shells, quahogs, and wampum in their work, which have environmental and cultural significance to their Tribes,” Woods continued. “All three of them are navigating the tensions between their Native cultures and the urban society they live in. And each of them is also unique artistically.”

Visit the display in the Grossmann Gallery on the 5th floor of the Healey Library at UMass Boston. The Grossmann Gallery is open during the library’s regular hours: 7:30 am–10:00 pm on Monday through Thursday, 7:30 am–6:00 pm on Friday, 9:00 am–3:00 pm on Saturday, and 11:00 am–5:00 pm on Sunday. The exhibition will run through the summer of 2018.

For questions about the exhibition, please email Cedric.Woods@umb.edu or call 617-287-5784.

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.

Exhibition celebrates thirty-year history of Joiner Institute’s Writers’ Workshop

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The exhibition includes two wall displays. Pictured here, attendees at the exhibition’s opening reception view mounted translations of Zen poems from early Vietnam.

Earlier this summer, University Archives & Special Collections worked with staff from the William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences at UMass Boston on an exhibition celebrating the thirty-year history of the Institute’s Writers’ Workshop.

The display, in the Walter Grossmann Memorial Gallery in the Healey Library, includes a range of materials related to the Writers’ Workshop, as well as archival materials, photographs, and artwork from the Archives’ Joiner Institute collections.

This year’s Writers’ Workshop Festival and Celebration, which was held in June, “celebrated 30 years of community and creative responses to war” and continued the Institute’s “tradition of focusing on the intersections of writing, war, social justice, and peace making.” In this exhibit, we look back on the history of the Writers’ Workshop, as well as the wide range of accomplishments and activities of the Joiner Institute since it was established in 1982. Additionally, this display features materials from a number of archival collections in University Archives & Special Collections that document the history of the Vietnam War (many materials were originally collected by or in collaboration with the Joiner Institute).

Included as part of this exhibition are a number of posters from the archival collections and Vietnamese water puppets. The art and practice of Water puppetry in Vietnam dates back to the 11th century.
Included as part of this exhibition are a number of posters from the archival collections and Vietnamese water puppets. The art and practice of Water puppetry in Vietnam dates back to the 11th century.
This exhibition features archival materials such as newsletters, photographs, flyers, and more, that document the early years of the Writers' Workshop, as well as more recent activities of the Workshop.
This exhibition features archival materials such as newsletters, photographs, flyers, and more, that document the early years of the Writers’ Workshop, as well as more recent activities of the Workshop.
This exhibition features archival materials such as newsletters, photographs, flyers, and more, that document the early years of the Writers' Workshop, as well as more recent activities of the Workshop.
This exhibition features archival materials such as newsletters, photographs, flyers, and more, that document the early years of the Writers’ Workshop, as well as more recent activities of the Workshop.
This exhibition features archival materials such as newsletters, photographs, flyers, and more, that document the early years of the Writers' Workshop, as well as more recent activities of the Workshop. In addition, the exhibition documents a major initiative of the Joiner Institute since the late 1980s: the translation of Vietnamese literature, fiction, and poetry, into English. Included in this display is information about Vietnamese author Le Luu, a former soldier in the North Vietnamese army and the first Vietnamese writer to visit the United States since the war ended in 1975. Luu was a guest of the Writers’ Workshop in 1988.
This exhibition features archival materials such as newsletters, photographs, flyers, and more, that document the early years of the Writers’ Workshop, as well as more recent activities of the Workshop. In addition, the exhibition documents a major initiative of the Joiner Institute since the late 1980s: the translation of Vietnamese literature, fiction, and poetry, into English. Included in this display is information about Vietnamese author Le Luu, a former soldier in the North Vietnamese army and the first Vietnamese writer to visit the United States since the war ended in 1975. Luu was a guest of the Writers’ Workshop in 1988.
This exhibition features a range of materials related to the study of war and social consequences that are part of University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston. Pictured here are materials from the Francois Sully collection. Other collections featured include the photographs and papers of Gloria Emerson, photographs by Philip Jones Griffiths/Magnum, and materials related to WGBH's Vietnam: A Television History.
This exhibition features a range of materials related to the study of war and social consequences that are part of University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston. Pictured here are materials from the Francois Sully collection. Other collections featured include the photographs and papers of Gloria Emerson, photographs by Philip Jones Griffiths/Magnum, and materials related to WGBH’s Vietnam: A Television History.
The exhibition includes two wall displays. Pictured here is a display of photographs related to the Writers' Workshop by Melissa Shook.
The exhibition includes two wall displays. Pictured here is a display of photographs related to the Writers’ Workshop by Melissa Shook.
The exhibition includes two wall displays. Pictured here are mounted translations of Zen poems from early Vietnam.
The exhibition includes two wall displays. Pictured here are mounted translations of Zen poems from early Vietnam.

This display was organized in close collaboration with the Joiner Institute.

University Archives & Special Collections has curatorial responsibility for material acquired by the William Joiner Institute (formerly the William Joiner Center) as part of its mission to study the effects of the Vietnam War on our society, as well as the study of war and social consequences more broadly. The collections of archives, manuscripts, photographs, and videos primarily explore veterans’ issues and experiences.

Explore the Joiner Center/Institute collections and collections related to war and social consequences. For a guide to researching the Vietnam War, click here.

Visit the display in the Grossmann Gallery on the 5th floor of the Healey Library at UMass Boston. The exhibition will run through the fall of 2017.

For questions about the exhibition and these collections, or to schedule a research appointment, please contact library.archives@umb.edu or 617-287-5469.

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.

Photographs by Doug Clifford show Cuba in December 2015, six months after restored diplomatic relations with the U.S.

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exhibit-photo

Cuban artist, on the spot paintings of the local surroundings. (December 2015)

Exhibition: “Cuba Photographs, December 2015” by Doug Clifford

Opening Reception: Thursday, December 8, 2016 | 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Location: Walter Grossmann Gallery, Joseph P. Healey Library (5th floor) | UMass Boston | 100 Morrissey Blvd. | Boston, Mass. | Click here for directions.

Just 6 months after the United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations in 2015, UMass Boston alumnus Doug Clifford and his wife spent eight days traveling around Cuba, from Havana and Cojimar to Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad.

On Thursday, December 8, University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston invites you to the opening of an exhibition that features more than 30 photographs that document that trip.

From Doug Clifford’s introductory statement about the exhibition: “These pictures show some of the places we saw and some of the people we encountered. They do not show the extent of the strength and perseverance of the Cuban people. Cuba is a resilient and vibrant country, and I hope these images portray some of the energy and beauty we experienced there.”

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Doug CliffordAbout the photographer
When Doug Clifford (class of 1974) started his studies at UMass Boston, he had just gotten out of the military after almost four years and had returned from Vietnam less than six months before his classes began. Though he majored in English, Clifford also studied photography while at UMass Boston with Warren Hill and Steve Trefonides. Clifford’s entire professional career was in education, from his work as a tutor in the Veterans Program at UMass Boston through his retirement from the English Department faculty at Bunker Hill Community College. He has had photographs published in venues ranging from student newspapers to the Time-Life series of books on Vietnam. In 1988, the Grossmann Gallery hosted an exhibition of photographs by Clifford called “Return to Vietnam.” Photographs from that exhibition are available online 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.