Special Collections & University Archives

James Ricci Machine Tool Companies Printed Materials Collection

ca. 1940s-1980s

17 boxes 25.5 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1214

For more than fifty years, Jim Ricci collected both machine tools and the books, catalogs, and manuals that relate to the machinery and the industry as a whole. A graduate of UMass Amherst (’71) and the son of a faculty member, Ricci is an historian of reel lawn mowers who has written extensively on the subject, publishing the book Hand, Horse, and Motor: The Development of the Lawn Mower Industry in the United States in 2016.

The collection represents more than 750 companies and includes brochures, catalogs, manuals, and parts lists from machine tool manufacturers. The majority of the companies represented are located in the United States; international companies are located in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, East Germany, West Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey.

Machine tools are machines that make parts and pieces for end products or other machine tools. These tools range from lathes, range from lathes, milling machines, grinders, manual and hydraulic presses, drill presses and saws to drills, mills, grinding wheels and cutting tools as well as measuring tools, jigs and fixtures. The machine tool industry evolved dramatically throughout the 20th century with the introduction of multi-function workstations. Multi-axis machines with attached tools changers are driven by sophisticated computer-controlled programs. The evolution of the industry is reflected, in part, in this historical collection of printed materials.

Gift of James B. Ricci, 2023.

Helping Hand Society Papers

1888-2017

6 boxes

Call no.: MS 1216

Sign from the Helping Hand House, out of which the Helping Hand Society operated.

Formed in 1887, the Helping Hand Society began as a missionary society for young girls who learned about the world (foreign missions) while also learning how to sew, developed by Emily Graves Williston. Within that same year, the Emily Mission Circle transformed into The Young Ladies’ Missionary Society, a society which became devoted to charitable work in Easthampton. The Society’s name was changed to the Helping Hand Society in 1894, and the group was incorporated in 1913. In 1919, the Society started operating out of a house purchased and endowed by Franklin W. Pitcher. The Society went on to establish a Visiting Nurse program, providing room for the nurse in the house, as well as an apartment rented out to caretakers, and at one time the Society operated a Benefit Shop. Membership in the Society has fluctuated over the years, and while specific projects may have been discontinued over time, the Society continues forward with its mission to provide help to those in need by donating time and resources to Easthampton and the surrounding communities.

The collection documents the history of the Helping Hand Society from its inception to around 2017. This includes minutes and annual reports, by-laws, and ledger books. There are also scrapbooks and photo albums, the framed incorporation document, and the original sign that adorned the Helping Hand House.

Gift of the Helping Hand Society, 2023

Subjects

Social service--Massachusetts--EasthamptonWomen in charitable work--Massachusetts--Easthampton

Contributors

Helping Hand Society (Easthampton, Mass.)

Types of material

Annual reportsMinutes (administrative records)Scrapbooks

Related collections: Massachusetts (West), New England

New Bedford Monthly Meeting of Friends

New Bedford Monthly Meeting of Friends Records

1709-1999

34 vols., 11 boxes 14.75 linear feet

Call no.: MS 902 N493

Finding aid

Part of: New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Records

New Bedford began meetings for worship in 1772, and was set off from Dartmouth Monthly Meeting in 1792. This meeting was divided by the split of 1845. Members of the Nantucket Monthly Meeting were received in 1867, and from Pembroke Monthly Meeting in 1876. Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting was set off in 1992.

Records for the New Bedford Monthly Meeting include minutes, correspondence and reports, worship and ministry, vital records, financial and property, New Bedford Preparative, and Long Plain Preparative.

Gift of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Records, March 2016.

Subjects

New Bedford (Mass.)--Religious life and customs

Contributors

New Bedford Monthly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Newsletters

Related collections: Massachusetts, New England, Quakers, Religion

Alvarez, Sonia E.

Sonia E. Alvarez Papers

ca. 1980s-2022

33 boxes 53 linear feet

Call no.: FS 216

Sonia E. Alvarez’s research specializes in social movements and protest politics, comparative and transnational feminisms, and Latin American politics and cultures, with a focus on Brazil and the Southern Cone. Before coming to the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the fall of 2005, she taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for nearly two decades and also served as visiting Professor at the University of São Paulo in Campinas, the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and the Federal University of Bahia.

Alvarez is the author of Engendering Democracy in Brazil: Women’s Movements in Transition Politics and co-editor of Quem São as Mulheres das Políticas para as Mulheres no Brazil? Vol. I, O Feminismo Estatal Participativo Brasileiro; Vol. II, Expressões Femnistas nas Conferências Nacionais de Políticas para as Mulheres (2018); Beyond Civil Society: Activism, Participation, and Protest in Latin America (2017); Translocalities/Translocalidades: Feminist Politics of Translation in the Latin/a Américas (2014); Cultures of Politics/Politics of Cultures: Re-visioning Latin American Social Movements (1998) and The Making of New Social Movements in Latin America: Identity, Stragegy and Democracy (1992), as well as a two-part special issue of the journal Meridians on “Afro-descendant Feminisms in Latin America” (2016) and five additional special journal issues. Alvarez has published over 120 journal articles and book chapters, many written collaboratively, and in Portuguese and Spanish, as well as English, on topics including movements, feminist politics, NGOs, civil society, race and racism, transnational activism, and democratization. At UMass Amherst, she served as the Leonard J. Horwitz Professor of Latin American Politics and Studies (2005-2022) as well as the Director of the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies (2005-2018) before assuming the role of Distinguished Professor Emerita of Political Science and Leonard J. Horwits Professor Emerita in 2022.

The Sonia E. Alvarez Papers features an extensive collection of her research materials and notes, writings, lectures and talks, conference materials, and publications related to feminism and women’s movements and Latin American politics and cultures.

Subjects

Brazil--Politics and government

Yolande Du Bois Scrapbook Collection

1915-1929 Bulk: 1915-1929

1 1.25 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1183

Finding aid

Nina Yolande Du Bois (1900-1961), better known as Yolande Du Bois, was an American teacher best regarded for her contributions to the Harlem Renaissance. Her father was sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois and her mother was Nina (née Gomer) Du Bois. She was born on October 21, 1900, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. She faced many health-related issues in her early childhood and also quarreled often with her parents. In her early adulthood, she enrolled at Fisk University in 1920 and graduated in 1924. While attending Fisk, she was in a relationship with Jimmie Lunceford, a prominent jazz musician. At her father’s insistence, she ended her relationship with Lunceford and would later go on to marry acclaimed Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen on April 9, 1928. Their highly-publicized wedding was the talk of many African-American socialites at the time, with every minor detail recorded by the press. However, Yolande and Countee soon grew distant in their marriage, resorting to counseling at first and then divorce following Countee’s coming out as gay to Yolande. With the divorce finalized in the spring of 1930, Yolande chose to pursue higher education and rewrite the course of her life.

After a period of illness, she began to teach English and history at Dunbar High School in Baltimore, Maryland. There, she met Arnette Franklin Williams, whom she married in September 1931 and then later divorced in 1936. She had one daughter with Williams, Yolande Du Bois Irvin Williams, whom she took care of following the divorce. However, during this period, Yolande also moved to New York City with her mother, where she began to take courses at Columbia University’s Teachers College, eventually earning her master’s. She then continued to work as a teacher and to raise her daughter in Baltimore until her death in March 1961. She was survived by her father and her daughter.

Yolande’s scrapbooks, photo albums, and other personal artifacts from her youth (approximately 1915-1929) reflect her travels, undergraduate experiences at Fisk University, outings with her family and friends, artistic pursuits, and more. These scrapbooks showcase trips to England, France, Switzerland, and elsewhere in Europe, across Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and New York, as well as other sites of importance in her life. These scrapbooks capture snapshots of her time at Fisk University, from breakups to athletic events, and from classical music concerts to Zeta Beta Phi rush week materials. Each scrapbook showcases a different aspect of Yolande’s late teenage life as well as her early adulthood, coupled with notes, sketches, and illustrations from friends, postcards and fliers from all over the United States and Europe, and her personal takes on the world around her.

Acquired from Brody Drake, 2023.

Subjects

African Americans--History--1877-1964Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963Du Bois, Yolande Nina, 1900-1961

Contributors

Du Bois, Yolande Nina, 1900-1961

Types of material

Black-and-white photographsClippings (information artifacts)Notes (documents)Photograph albumsScrapbooks

Restrictions: none none

Alfange, Jr., Dean

Dean Alfange, Jr. Papers

3 boxes 4.5 linear feet

Call no.: FS 214

Dean Alfange, Jr. was a professor in the political science department at UMass Amherst teaching constitutional law and civil liberties until his retirement in 1999. During that time he also served in the positions of Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Acting Provost. Growing up on New York’s West Side, he earned a B.A. at Hamilton College in 1950. He served in the military from 1952 to 1957; this was followed by twenty years of serving in the Air Force Reserves, retiring in 1980 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1960 he earned a master’s degree from the University of Colorado followed by a doctorate from Cornell University in 1967. During his teaching career he received distinguished teaching awards from both Lafayette and UMass. The Dean Alfange Lecture Series in Constitutional Law was funded by a group of former students and brought distinguished scholars in that field to speak annually. Following his retirement from teaching, he was able to pursue his interest in the arts and became a supporter of several small theatrical groups in New York City.

The Alfange papers contain a small array of correspondence, photographs, course syllabi, handwritten lecture notes, writings, awards, and documents related to the Alfange lecture series. A small amount of files relate to his time in the military and his interest in theater and music.

Gift of Barbara Alfange, 2024.

Related collections: UMass academics, UMass faculty

Knott, Janet

Janet Knott Collection

ca. 1984-2007

20 boxes 30 linear feet

Call no.: PH 088

An award-winning photojournalist, Janet Knott was one of the first woman to become a staff photographer at the Boston Globe. Over a 31-year career, she covered a broad range of topics, from local assignments to longer-form photo essays and international coverage, producing iconic images of the space shuttle Challenger disaster, the late 1980s famine in the Sudan, and the violence accompanying the Haitian elections of 1987. She was only the third woman recognized with the Robert Capa Gold Medal and, among many other awards, won first place for spot news from the World Press Photography Foundation. After leaving the Globe in 2007, she became Chief of Staff for Boston City Councilor Salvatore La Mattina, representing East Boston and the first district.

The Knott Collection contains an array of letters, ephemera, and photographs documenting both her photographic and political careers. There is an extensive body of work from her years working as a photojournalist at the Boston Globe comprised of slides, negatives, prints, and contacts sheets.

Gift of Janet Knott, 2019-2024.

Subjects

Boston (Mass.)—Politics and government

Fletcher, Bill, Jr.

Bill Fletcher, Jr., Papers

1968-2016

9 boxes 11.25 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1212

An activist and advocate for social and racial justice since he was a teenager, Bill Fletcher, Jr., born in New York in 1954, graduated from Harvard, and went to work as a welder in a Massachusetts shipyard. He soon became active in the labor movement, as a worker, an organizer, and a union staff member, and in electoral campaigns. Fletcher became a union staff person in Boston in 1986 with District 65-United Auto Workers. In 1990, he and his family moved to Washington, D.C. where he held a series of positions with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the Service Employees International Union, and the national AFL-CIO. He has also held positions with the George Meany Center for Labor Studies/National Labor College and with TransAfrica Forum, for which he served as president and CEO. Fletcher is author of “They’re Bankrupting Us!” And Twenty Other Myths About Unions; he is coauthor of The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941 and Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice. He has also published two murder/mystery novels, The Man Who Fell From the Sky and The Man Who Changed Colors. He serves on the editorial board of BlackCommentator.com and has contributed to numerous publications. As a writer, scholar, speaker, and activist, as well as an organizational consultant and a mentor, Fletcher continues his advocacy work. He lives with his wife, Candice, in Maryland.

The Bill Fletcher, Jr., Papers document the activities and interests of a lifelong radical and includes speeches, correspondence, material on the Black Radical Congress, and materials from an array of left-wing organizations. In addition to materials directly connected to Fletcher’s work, there are also pamphlets and other publications that he collected.

Gift of Bill Fletcher, Jr.

Subjects

Black Radical CongressLabor movementLabor unionsRaceRacism

Types of material

CorrespondenceDrafts (documents)MemorabiliaPamphletsPeriodicalsSpeechesWritings (documents)

Dennis W. Magee Flora of the Northeast Collection

Dennis Magee Flora of the Northeast Collection

1982-2018 Bulk: 1982-1994

1 .417 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1209

Finding aid

Dennis Magee has spent his life dedicated to the study of the natural world as a hunter, trapper, fisherman, environmental consultant, and scholar. He attended grad school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the 1970s and was a protege of Harry Ahles, a field botanist and Botany professor, who co-wrote books on the flora of Illinois and the Carolinas. Magee and Ahles became friends and spent many hours together, building Ahles’ log cabin located on Horse Mountain in Hatfield, MA, going to diners, and collecting plants for the UMass Herbarium. Ahles taught Magee how to think about classification and how to construct useful keys of genera and species. Following Ahles’ passing in March 1981, Magee petitioned the Botany Department and Ahles’ sister Marjorie Armstrong to take Ahles’ large file of distribution records of New England plant species and the keys he used for his teaching, and turn it into a book on the flora of New England. This turned into a 17 year undertaking in which Magee gathered lists of species, created species and genera keys, secured funding, worked with illustrator Abigail Rorer to create illustrations, and other assorted book-related tasks. Finally, the book was published by UMass Press in September of 1999. It was well received and sold out of its initial 2500 print run within the first five years of publication. It is still widely used by universities as a textbook and a reference book by botanists, consultants, and other professionals.

Magee’s collection consists of his original handwritten species and genera keys as well as the original handwritten manuscript of Flora of the Northeast. An article titled “How I Wrote the Flora of the Northeast: A Manual of the Vascular Flora of New England and Adjacent New York”, which was published in a 2018 issue of Phytoneuron, accompanies the collection.

Subjects

Plants -- New England -- Identification

Types of material

Manuscripts (documents)

People for a Socially Responsible University (PSRU)

People for a Socially Responsible University Records

1988-2009 Bulk: 1989-1990

2 boxes, 1 folder 0.5 linear feet

Call no.: RG 045/80 P5

Digital

Finding aid

Student protesters hold up a sign during a demonstration against military funded research at UMass, April 24, 1989. Photo by David Wettengel

Founded in 1988 as the anti-CIA protests began to wind down, the People for a Socially Responsible University (PSRU) was a student movement that started at UMass and saw participation from Hampshire College students as well as members of the community. The group began when students started to research the university’s military ties and funding from the United States Department of Defense. Concerned about the militarization of higher education, the group organized several non-violent protests. Over the course of six sit-in occupations of UMass campus buildings in the spring of 1989, around 200 students were arrested. After the UMass administration refused to acknowledge PSRU, a chapter was started at Hampshire College, and students opened an office in Amherst. The group also collaborated on demonstrations with the Central American Solidarity Association, and was involved in issues including budget cuts, school investment policy, economic conversion, and environmentalism. PSRU continued to be active until the graduations of the remaining students involved in the group in 1992.

A small collection, the PSRU Records document an important period of student activism in the history of UMass. News clippings serve as a window to the community’s reaction to protests and student arrests, while correspondence, statements, and newsletters written by members of PSRU capture the passion of those involved in the demonstrations against military-funded research on campus. There are also records from the trials of a few of the UMass and Hampshire students arrested during the protests. The collection includes a number of photographs depicting protesters and the police force during the 1989 sit-ins. A copy of Randy Viscio’s book, Under the Bridge: Notes from a Me Generation Dropout, is also part of the collection.

Majority of material gift of Randy Viscio, 2024

Subjects

College students--Political activityStudent movementsStudent protestersUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Students

Contributors

People for a Socially Responsible UniversityViscio, Randy LouisWettengel, David

Types of material

Clippings (information artifacts)Fliers (printed matter)NewslettersPhotographs