Digital collection now available: Stephen Lewis poster collection

This gallery contains 3 photos.

University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston is pleased to announce that more than 500 activist posters from the Stephen Lewis poster collection, circa 1921-2017 are digitized and available online. UASC has been working with Stephen Lewis to digitize more than 3,000 posters through […]

Empowering Our Communities Through History: Join us at the 2019 Mass History Conference

Photograph of Lawrence, Mass., strikers.What: 2019 Mass History Conference

When: Monday, June 24, 2019 | 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Where: Hogan Campus Center, College of Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass.

Click here for directions.

The 2019 Mass History Conference will focus on empowering our communities and organizations in preserving and telling the many stories of the towns and people of Massachusetts. Learn more about the conference here.

Staff from University Archives & Special Collections in the Healey Library at UMass Boston will be presenting as part of two sessions at the 2019 Mass History Conference:

ENGAGING COMMUNITIES WITH PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH: The 1919 Police Strike and Lawrence World War I Memory Projects
Presenters: Jessica Holden, University Archives & Special Collections, Healey Library, UMass Boston, and Marc Laplante, Lawrence WW1 Project Lawrence History CenterModerator: Caroline Littlewood, University Archives & Special Collections, Healey Library, UMass Boston

Learn how communities are engaging residents in their local history through crowd-fueled research and innovative technology. Presenters will share their research models, training MOOC software, and other technology to help others create community-based research projects. The 1919 Boston Police Strike Project documents and preserves the stories of the more than 1,100 police officers who were involved in this highly influential labor strike which had lasting effects in the City of Boston and across the United States. Project team members will provide an overview of the history, structure, and current status of the project; speak to how they have recruited, trained, and retained volunteers; discuss challenges and successes; and examine how this project may serve as a model for other crowd-fueled local history projects. Through his passion and creativity, Marc Laplante tells the stories, and brings to life, the 35 Lawrence residents who received official recognition with a bridge, park, pool, street corner or buildings for their deaths in World War I.

Skills To Go: CRAFTING PHASE BOXES
Presenter
: Meghan Bailey, University Archives & Special Collections, Healey Library, UMass Boston

Help improve access to important archival collections at your repositories. Learn to create custom enclosures, also known as phase boxes, for items in manuscript collections. This is a unique, hands-on opportunity to learn a skill and be exposed to interesting, historic materials from University Archives and Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston. The types of materials and resulting enclosures will vary greatly in size, age, and format. Training will be provided to participants, and no prior experience is needed. UASC will provide a limited* amount of books in need of enclosures. Instructions will be provided so you may create the enclosures at your institution.

View the full program for the Mass History Conference and register here.


2019 CONFERENCE SUPPORT AND SPONSORSHIPS

Presented by
Massachusetts History Alliance
Mass Humanities

Supported by
Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board (MA SHRAB)
University of Massachusetts Amherst Program in Public History
University of Massachusetts Boston Public History and Archives Tracks
Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston

Supporters: Daedalus, Inc., Museum Textiles Services, Boston Rare Maps

Supporting Members: Dorchester Historical Society, Northeast Document Conservation Services

Supporting Associates: Robert Forrant, Mike Potaski

Contributing Members: Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area, House of the Seven Gables, Waterworks Museum, Digital Commonwealth, Tsongas Industrial History Center, Massachusetts Historical Society

Friends: Epsilon Associates, Inc.; Roberts Consulting; Swift River Press: Public History & Communications by Pleun Bouricius; Lynne Zacek Bassett, Costume & Textile Historian; D.P. Autio, Ornamental Plastering and Plastering of all Types; William G. Pomery Foundation

Donors: University Products


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

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.

Cathy Buckley papers and the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway publications: Explore the history of bicycling in these newly-processed collections

"On The Path," Minuteman Bikeway 4th grade class project

“On The Path” by Mr. Levy’s 4th grade class, 1993-1994

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston is pleased to announce that a number of our collections related to the history of bicycling have been processed and are now available for research. This is the fifth of several planned posts on Open Archives News that will highlight some of the recently-processed collections in University Archives & Special Collections related to the history of bicycling.

Minuteman Commuter Bikeway publications, 1993-1994

This collection contains the signed first edition copy of the booklet On the Path, published by Mr. Levy’s fourth-grade class at the Bowman Elementary School in Lexington, Massachusetts, as well as the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway brochure guide from 1993. View the finding aid for this collection here.

Arlington, Massachusetts celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway in September 2017 by placing art along the bike path and conducting lectures and presentations. Learn more about these events here.

Cathy Buckley papers, 1973-2007

Cathy Buckley worked for the Central Transportation Planning Staff in Boston, Massachusetts and was one of the founders of the Boston Area Bicycle Coalition (now the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition) in 1977. This collection mostly contains correspondence, but also includes notes, proposals, clippings, studies, reports, brochures, and maps. This collection contains documents primarily related to Cathy Buckley’s bicycling work as part of the Central Transportation Planning Staff including planning, design, and construction of the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway. View the finding aid for this collection 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.

Ann E. Berthoff papers now available for research

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.