Tag Archives: Saturday Evening Girls

Barbara Maysles Kramer: Saturday Evening Girls papers – Now open for research

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"Barbara Maysles Kramer with Revere pottery made by Saturday Evening Girls." Boston Globe, May 12, 1991.

“Barbara Maysles Kramer with Revere pottery made by Saturday Evening Girls.” Boston Globe. May 12, 1991.

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston is pleased to announce that the Barbara Maysles Kramer: Saturday Evening Girls papers are now open and available for research. Spanning eight linear feet, this collection documents Barbara Maysles Kramer’s research, in collaboration with her husband, Dr. Bernard M. Kramer, on the Saturday Evening Girls (1899-1969) and the Paul Revere Pottery (1908-1942). Barbara Maysles Kramer was the daughter of Ethel Epstein Maysles, a long-standing member of the Saturday Evening Girls. The collection also documents the Kramers’ preparations for a book entitled Tales of the Paul Revere Pottery (unpublished).

Members of the Saturday Evening Girls at work in the Paul Revere Pottery. Circa 1915.

Members of the Saturday Evening Girls at work in the Paul Revere Pottery. Early 1900s.

The Saturday Evening Girls, or SEG, was a club established by BPL librarian Edith Guerrier for young immigrant women living in Boston’s North End. Members were involved in a variety of activities, including singing, theater, folk dancing, discussions of classic literature, lectures from prominent Bostonians, arts and crafts, and the publication of a newspaper, the SEG News. In 1908, Edith Guerrier and her partner, Edith Brown, established the Paul Revere Pottery with financial support from local philanthropist Helen Osborne Storrow. Members of the Saturday Evening Girls worked at the Paul Revere Pottery, creating colorful, often whimsically-themed pottery that was part of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Pieces of Paul Revere Pottery.

Pieces of Paul Revere Pottery.

The Barbara Kramer papers include issues of the SEG News, photographs of the SEG members and their activities, and response forms from a survey that Kramer conducted with surviving SEG members and their descendants. The collection also documents an exhibit held at UMass Boston’s original campus in Park Square in 1975, The Saturday Evening Girls: Opening a door to America. Also available in the Healey Library’s Special Collections is Barbara Maysles Kramer’s personal copy of An Independent Woman: The Autobiography of Edith Guerrier (call number: Z720.G89 A3 1992).

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

View the finding aid for this collection.

Flyer for "The Saturday Evening Girls: Opening a door to America" exhibit. 1975.

Flyer for “The Saturday Evening Girls: Opening a door to America” exhibit. 1975.

 

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.

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.

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.