OPEN ARCHIVES NEWS

Processing*: The benefits of sharing in the archival profession

Date Wednesday Feb 17, 2016

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Processing Manual for Archival and Manuscript Collections, by Meghan Bailey, Jessica Holden, and Joanne Riley

During my time as the processing archivist in University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston, I’ve been working hard to ensure our processing* procedures reflect current professional standards and are efficient and consistent. To that end, I led the department in the development of a processing manual to assist students, interns, and volunteers, as well as other library and archives staff, with archival processing projects. Importantly, my colleagues Jessica Holden and Joanne Riley played pivotal roles in preparing, testing, and championing the development of this manual – not, I should add, a quick and easy undertaking!

(*Processing is the term archivists use to describe the work of making a new collection ready and available for access to researchers, students, and staff. Donated collections often come to the repository in disarray. Boxes and folders are unlabeled, disorganized, and dusty, and may contain duplicate materials and personally identifiable information. It is the archivist’s job to ensure ease of access, and to assimilate the historical relevance and material content of the collection and communicate this knowledge in the finding aid for researchers.)

As part of keeping tabs on activities in the archival professional community, I am a member of the NEAdiscuss listserv, a listserv created for the New England archives community to encourage communication and announcements pertaining to the profession.

Last week, I noticed an email come through the listserv inquiring about processing plans and workflows. Immediately after this email, several other members of the listserv responded, indicating their interest in this information.

At the University of Massachusetts Boston, we are fortunate to have ScholarWorks, an open access digital repository for scholarship and research by faculty, staff, and students at the university and managed by staff in the Joseph P. Healey Library. We had been planning to post the manual to ScholarWorks for some time and this exchange on the NEAdiscuss listserv moved us to action.

After posting our processing manual to ScholarWorks on February 11, I forwarded the link to my colleagues in listserv-land. To my surprise, the manual was downloaded 35 times in 24 hours and, as of today, the manual has been downloaded almost 50 times!

The importance of sharing ideas, workflows, and practices in the archival profession cannot be understated. It encourages collegiality and limits the duplication of effort, ultimately advancing the profession. This is especially important as archivists forge ahead with the digitization of archival collections. As nerdy as it may seem, our seemingly obsessive, hyper-vigilant focus on processes and workflows is essential to providing access to archival collections for communities of researchers, students, faculty, and staff.

I welcome any feedback or thoughts on our department processing manual. The manual will be updated periodically, as our work processes evolve to support current and new materials. Please check ScholarWorks for the most updated version.

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.

Martha’s Vineyard Mass. Memories Road Show materials now online

Date Thursday Jan 28, 2016

Posted by Carolyn Goldstein

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“I have dozens of photographs taken out my back door because I live in the most beautiful place in the world.” Location: Sengekontacket, 2013.
Contributor: Bonnie Stacy.

The photographs and stories gathered at the Martha’s Vineyard Mass. Memories Road Show are available online now for research.

Held at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center on October 25, 2015, the event was organized by the Vineyard Haven Public Library in association with the five other town libraries on the island. The event was made possible by additional support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Twin Oaks Inn, Mansion House on Martha’s Vineyard, and the Steamship Authority. Two dozen local volunteers collaborated with a team of UMass Boston staff members and “Roadies” from past Mass. Memories Road Shows to welcome nearly 100 adults and children with connections to the island.

“My sister and her husband, Richard and Vivian Mitchell of East Orange and Morristown, New Jersey first came to Martha’s Vineyard in 1942. One of the young African American families who gave up the New Jersey shore and Jones Beach in New York for a love of Martha’s Vineyard. In spite of the 8-hour drive, a prefab cottage was built over many weekends, and the summer residence for three generations was set.” Pictured: Vivian Mitchell, Richard Mitchell. Contributor: Joseph Campbell.

Many participants shared photographs and stories of themselves and their families at home or at play around the island. Other individuals contributed memories of attending school concerts, theater performances, and other community gatherings. Life at work on the island– in fishing fleets, fire departments, public schools, and on the set of “Jaws” in 1974–is also documented in the collection. Several images document local businesses such as the S.M. Mayhew Co. store and C.B. Stark jewelers.

Several people brought materials documenting creative and artistic endeavors on Martha’s Vineyard over the decades. In addition, a significant number of items in the collection portray residents enjoying and exploring the natural beauty of the island landscape: playing on the beach, circumnavigating the island with friends and colleagues, or just taking in the view outside their doors.

'This is a photo of the original Gayhead Fire Department in 1959. My father is second from the left. In 1978, I became the first female on the island to become a volunteer fireman. My father gave me his badge, number 16. In 1988 I became the first woman assistant fire chief on the island. The man in the headdress is Napoleon Madison, medicine man of the Wampanoag tribe in Gayhead. His son, Luther Madison, 3rd from the right, eventually became the next medicine man. Donald Malonson, 3rd from the left, was the fire chief. Pictured, from back to front, left to right: Horation Malonson, Jeff Madison, Bill Ryan, Larry Spitz, Donald Malonson, Napoleon Madison, Joe Horiagon, Luther Madison, Grover Ryan, Jesse Smalley. Location: Gayhead.' Contributor: Barbara Bassett.

“This is a photo of the original Gayhead Fire Department in 1959. In 1978, I became the first female on the island to become a volunteer fireman. My father gave me his badge, number 16. In 1988 I became the first woman assistant fire chief on the island. The man in the headdress is Napoleon Madison, medicine man of the Wampanoag tribe in Gayhead. His son, Luther Madison, eventually became the next medicine man. Donald Malonson was the fire chief. Pictured, from back to front, left to right: Horation Malonson, my father Jeff Madison, Bill Ryan, Larry Spitz, Donald Malonson, Napoleon Madison, Joe Horiagon, Luther Madison, Grover Ryan, Jesse Smalley.” Contributor: Barbara Bassett.

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

Browse the Martha’s Vineyard 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.

Happy holidays from University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston!

Date Tuesday Dec 22, 2015

Posted by University Archives and Special Collections

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From a scrapbook compiled by Roland Geist, a bicycle historian and collector, 1930s – 1950s, donated to the Archives’ bicycling history collections by Lorenz Finison, October, 2015. The Roland Geist collection is currently being processed. Subscribe to OPEN ARCHIVES NEWS (in the sidebar) to be notified when this collection is open for research.

We want to take this moment to acknowledge those who have collected, located, or donated the many documents and artifacts that are helping us build the bicycling history research collections at UMass Boston: John Allen, Cathy Buckley, Nelson Dionne, John Dowlin, Harriet Fell, Lorenz Finison, Tom Fortmann, Richard Fries, Ralph Galen, Roland Geist, Phyllis Harmon, Tom Helm, Thomas McDuffee, Melanie Morris, Richard St. Onge, Gary Sanderson, and many others!

To learn more about the bicycling history collections in University Archives & Special Collections, click here.

To learn more about researching bicycling history, visit our Research Guide for bicycling here.

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

Date Thursday Dec 17, 2015

Posted by Andrew M Elder

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Diaries 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, 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

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.

Hingham Mass. Memories Road Show photographs and stories now online

Date Monday Dec 7, 2015

Posted by Carolyn Goldstein

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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.

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.

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.

Browse the Hingham Mass. Memories Road Show collection.

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