Category Archives: UMass Boston History

UMass Boston Interim Dean of Libraries Joanne Riley receives 2019 Bay State Legacy Award

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Portrait photograph of Joanne RileyUniversity Archives & Special Collections in the Healey Library is so proud to announce that the Massachusetts History Alliance‘s 2019 Bay State Legacy Award is being presented to our colleague Joanne Riley, Interim Dean of University Libraries at UMass Boston, for her dedication to preserving and interpreting Massachusetts history through her early and ground-breaking involvement in digital humanities work. The Bay State Legacy Award goes to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the interpretation and presentation of Massachusetts history.

Joanne’s efforts to preserve Massachusetts history began in 1998 when she joined the Massachusetts Studies Project, founded by her mentor Barbara (Bobby) Robinson to empower educators to help their students situate themselves within their local communities. Joanne went on to develop the Massachusetts Studies Network in 2007, which provided an “online social network specifically for those who are involved in local studies in Massachusetts” – several years before platforms like Facebook became widely used by the general public.

Joanne is most-frequently associated with the Mass. Memories Road Show, an event-based public history project she launched in 2004 that digitizes family photos and memories shared by the people of Massachusetts. The Road Show, which has been recognized as a trailblazer in participatory and community archiving, has preserved 11,000 photographs and stories from more than 75 Massachusetts communities and has engaged hundreds of volunteers and contributors across the Commonwealth.

Currently, Joanne leads the 1919 Boston Police Strike Project, working with the Boston Police Department Archives, UMass Boston colleagues and community volunteers to research the 1,100+ policemen who participated in that historic event. Joanne is training volunteers to research the strikers’ lives and is developing a publicly-accessible database to store and share the researched data. She co-developed a free, online course on how to conduct accurate biographical research using open resources, and for the strike’s centennial this year, she is spearheading the coordination of a community celebration honoring the strikers, their descendants, and the project volunteers.

As University Archivist and Curator of Special Collections at UMass Boston (2011-2017), Joanne oversaw unprecedented growth of the department, bolstering the department’s mission to document the social and cultural history of Boston. In her current role as Interim Dean of University Libraries, she serves as a teacher, mentor, and leader to 25+ staff.

The award will be formally presented on Monday, June 24 at the Massachusetts History Conference at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Click here to learn more about the conference.

Massachusetts History Alliance Logo

Learn more about the Massachusetts History Alliance.

About the Bay State Legacy Award

For many years, the Bay State Historical League presented the John F. Ayer Award in recognition of an individual’s contributions to the interpretation and presentation of Massachusetts history. After 101 years of service, the BSHL dissolved in 2005, at which time the Massachusetts History Conference planning committee decided to continue this recognition of an individual’s contribution to Massachusetts history by inaugurating the Bay State Legacy Award.

 

“Bless you for guaranteeing survival / Of poem after poem. In a home archival”: Remembering Duncan Nelson

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Professor Duncan Nelson sits with a bunch of light pink carnations, holding one in his hand.

Professor Duncan Nelson handing out carnations at the 1996 Commencement.

Describing his career in 2015, UMass Boston’s Professor Duncan Nelson said: “I’m in the English department. I’ve been here since 1967. I came from two years at Harvard, three years at MIT, and then came home. This is the greatest school I could ever want to teach at.” Professor Nelson earned his BA at Wesleyan University in 1952 and his PhD at Harvard University in 1964. One of UMass Boston’s earliest faculty members, he taught at the university until his retirement in 2016. Professor Nelson passed away on December 20, 2018.

Known as UMass Boston’s “Poet Laureate,” Professor Nelson wrote more than 1,000 odes commemorating university events, such as building groundbreakings and openings, commencement breakfasts, chancellor farewell parties, and Years of Service galas, which he often wrote and delivered on the spot. Professor Nelson appeared on the cover of Lux, UMass Boston’s student magazine, in 2008. In 2010, he received the university’s Shining Beacon Award.

In 2015, Professor Nelson participated in the UMass Boston Mass. Memories Road Show, where he delivered one of his most well-loved pieces, “Butterfly Poem”:

Duncan Nelson at the UMass Boston Mass. Memories Road Show: Video Interview from UMass Boston Archives on Vimeo.

In 2017, Professor Nelson and his family began the process of transferring his large body of odes to University Archives and Special Collections, where they will be preserved and made available for research. He even wrote an ode in honor of the transfer:

Bless you for guaranteeing survival
Of poem after poem. In a home archival
We’ll amass hordes of odes — full of adjectival
And adverbial tropes — that I trust have no rival
In terms of both volume and traces of wit
That match with what Swift, Pope, and Dryden hath writ!

Professor Duncan Nelson stands on a chair and recites an ode at the 1999 Years of Service event.

Professor Duncan Nelson reciting a poem at the 1999 Years of Service event.

Contact library.archives@umb.edu for more information about Professor Nelson’s collection. View digitized historic university photographs of Professor Nelson, his contributions to the Mass. Memories Road Show, or a video of his ode “UMass Boston Runs on Duncan (Nelson).” You can also listen to and read a transcription of a 1998 oral history interview with Professor Nelson.

An integral part of UMass Boston’s history, Professor Nelson was beloved on this campus for many years. He will be greatly missed.

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.

Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning records, 1964-2012, now available

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Original UMass Boston Plan, 1964 September

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston is pleased to announce that archival materials from the university’s Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning records, 1964-2012, have been fully processed and are available for research. Read the finding aid for this collection.

This collection documents the activities of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning at the University of Massachusetts Boston from the establishment of UMass Boston in 1964 through 2012. The bulk of this collection contains long range plans, five-year plans, enrollment reports, statistical portraits pertaining to retention and student enrollment, white papers, notes, and correspondence.

One document of note is the 1964 University of Massachusetts plan for the creation of a public university in Boston to serve the educational needs of the metropolitan area. Included in the plan are the minutes of task force meetings, proposed curriculum, space projections, student distribution information, and sites for consideration downtown and in the Greater Boston area.

The Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning provides data in support of policy formation, decision making, assessment, and planning. Annual publications include: Fast Facts, Who Are Our Students? and Statistical Portraits. The office is the primary source for official campus statistics, complying with federal, state, and university reporting standards and requirements. The office coordinates or completes the major college guides and professional association surveys, and conducts student surveys and special research studies in support of university policy formation, assessment, and accountability (1).

The finding aid for the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning records is available here.

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

For more information about the history of UMass Boston and related collections held in University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston, click here.

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Sources:

1. “Home Page.” Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning. University of Massachusetts Boston, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2017.

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.

Ann E. Berthoff papers now available for research

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University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston is pleased to announce that the Ann E. Berthoff papers have been processed and are available for research. The papers were processed by Ashlie Duarte-Smith and Donna Russo, graduate students in UMass Boston’s History Department.

Ann E. Berthoff, Red notebook: Advanced Composition, 1983-1986

Ann E. Berthoff, red notebook: Advanced Composition, 1983-1986

This collection documents the career of Ann E. Berthoff as an instructor and philosopher of the English language while at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Prior to joining the faculty at UMass Boston, Berthoff taught English at Bradford Junior College, Bryn Mawr College, Swarthmore College, and Haverford College.

Very little material pertains to Berthoff’s personal life. Correspondence primarily consists of communications with editors regarding various publications and intellectual exchanges with other authors and teachers. The collection also includes Berthoff’s records of her teachings, personal research materials that include work not her own, manuscripts of Berthoff’s published writing, and one unpublished manuscript.

The bulk of the collection contains professional and personal research that Berthoff collected over the course of her lifetime related to her writing and teaching. These materials include newspaper and magazine clippings, printouts of published third-party work, copious handwritten notecards, classroom exercises, syllabi, student work and grades (student names have been redacted), lectures, correspondence, and course reviews.

Subject matter includes reviews of student and colleague work, colleagues’ teaching syllabi, ventilation systems and air quality at the University of Massachusetts Boston, I.A. Richards, Susanne K. Langer, Paulo Freire, and various authors and their publications. Much of the collection was annotated and arranged in a secondary order by Hephzibah Roskelly as she conducted research for a book about Berthoff’s work.

Materials in this collection are now available for consultation in the Archives Research Room (Healey Library, 5th floor). View the finding aid for this collection here.

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.

Betty Taymor papers now available for research

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Letter from Hubert H. Humphrey to Betty Taymor, March 24, 1967

Letter from Hubert H. Humphrey to Betty Taymor, March 24, 1967

Guest post by Rachel Sherman, graduate student in UMass Boston’s History Department. Sherman processed this collection.

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston is pleased to announce that the papers of Betty Taymor are now processed and available for research. UASC’s recent acquisition of this collection reflects the university’s urban mission and strong support of community service.

Betty Taymor pioneered the path for women entering politics in Boston. This small collection of personal papers documents the activities of Betty Taymor during her democratic political career. The collection includes Taymor’s correspondence with political leaders including John F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, Michael Dukakis, and Jimmy Carter. It also includes manuscripts and scrapbooks featuring articles about Taymor’s political work.

Taymor served as a trailblazer for women entering community politics and public policy in the Greater Boston area. From her beginnings with volunteering for the Americans for Democratic Action to combat McCarthyism in the 1950s, to campaigning for both President John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy in the 1960s, Taymor aimed to speak for the voices unheard. She established the Program for Women in Politics in 1968 at Simmons College. Over the subsequent two decades, the program developed into what is today the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP) at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Taymor’s legacy continues as the CWPPP serves to provide education and professional certification and experience for women leaders in politics. This collection sheds light on the political activities of women in Boston and helps document the history of the CWPPP at UMass Boston.

The timeline of the documents ranges from 1955 to 2009, with the bulk of the records dating from 1960 to 1994. The materials within the collection include correspondence such as letters, invitations, and telegrams between local, regional, and national democratic political members. Other documents include four scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and photographs focusing on Betty Taymor’s political career and personal life.

Materials in this collection are now available for consultation in the Archives Research Room (Healey Library, 5th floor). View the finding aid for this collection here.

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.