The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
CredoResearch digital collections in Credo

Collections: D

D'Annunzio, Gabriele, 1863-1938

Gabriele D'Annunzio Collection

1919-1920
1 box 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 763
Depiction of Seal of the City of Fiume
Seal of the City of Fiume

An Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist, Gabriele D’Annunzio enjoyed a flamboyant career in international affairs after the First World War when he raised a small army and seized the port of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia). Failing in his attempts to annex his territory to Italy, D’Annunzio reigned as Duce over the micro-state for over a year before being forced to relinquish control.

The fifteen imprints comprising this collection of scarce broadsides, all printed in the short-lived Free State of Fiume. During the brief period of his reign in Fiume, D’Annunzio issued propagandistic broadsides, proclamations, and leaflets almost daily, often distributing them by airplane drop over the city. Included is a rare first edition of D’Annunzio’s most famous piece from the Fiume period, Italia e vita.

Acquired from Steve Resnick, Jan. 2013
Language(s): Italian

Subjects

Free State of Fiume--History--20th centuryItaly--History--1914-1922Rijeka (Croatia)--History--20th centuryWorld War, 1914-1918--Baltic StateWorld War, 1914-1918--Italy

Contributors

D'Annunzio, Gabriele, 1863-1938Druscovich, MarcoZoll, Corrado

Types of material

BroadsidesFliers (Printed material)
d'Errico, Peter

Peter d'Errico Papers

1976-2011
8 boxes 11 linear feet
Call no.: FS 154

With a law degree from Yale in hand in 1968, Peter d’Errico began work as a staff attorney with Dinebeiina Nahiilna Be Agaditahe Navajo Legal Services in Shiprock, Arizona, representing indigenous People’s interests in the US courts. Stemming from his frustrations with a stilted legal system, however, he evolved into an “anti-lawyer,” and in 1970 returned to academia. Joining the faculty at UMass Amherst, d’Errico focused his research and writing on the legal issues affecting indigenous Peoples, and he regularly taught courses on indigenous People’s law and the role of the law in imposing state systems on non-state societies. His impact was instrumental in establishing the Department of Legal Studies. Both before and after his retirment in 2002, d’Errico also remained active as a practitioner in indigenous People’s law.

The d’Errico collection contains a significant record of d’Errico’s high profile legal work in indigenous People’s law, including his work with Western Shoshone land rights and on the case Randall Trapp, et al. v. Commissioner DuBois, et al. In Trapp, a long-running, but ultimately successful First Amendment case, he and Robert Doyle represented prisoners in the Massachusetts Department of Corrections seeking to establish a sweat lodge.

Gift of Peter d'Errico, Feb. 2012

Subjects

Freedom of religionIndians of North America--Legal status, laws, etc.University of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of Legal Studies

Contributors

d'Errico, Peter
Dall Family

Dall Family Correspondence

1810-1843
2 boxes 2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 282

Chiefly correspondence from various Dall family members in Boston, Massachusetts, particularly father William Dall, Revolutionary War veteran, merchant, businessman and former Yale College writing master, to sons William and James Dall in Baltimore, Maryland. Letters of son James Dall, then a student at Harvard University, provide accounts of Boston political and cultural activities of the time.

The correspondence documents the daily changes in the life of a merchant’s family in the early 19th century, reflecting anxiety over trade restrictions, embargoes, and other economic disruptions resulting from the War of 1812. The elder Dall (William 3rd) and much of his family lived in Boston, but two sons lived in Baltimore. The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters to the younger son, William 4th, who was then apprenticed to a Baltimore merchant. The letters of son James Dall, then a student at Harvard University, provide accounts of Boston political and cultural activities.

Acquired 1989

Subjects

Baltimore (Md.)--BiographyBaltimore (Md.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryBoston (Mass.)--BiographyBoston (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryBoston (Mass.)--Intellectual life--19th centuryBoston (Mass.)--Politics and government--19th centuryDall familyFamily--United States--History--19th centuryHarvard University--StudentsMerchants--Maryland--BaltimoreMerchants--Massachusetts--Boston

Contributors

Dall, James, 1781-1863Dall, John Robert, 1798-1851Dall, John, 1791-1852Dall, Joseph, 1801-1840Dall, Maria, 1783-1836Dall, Rebecca KeenDall, Sarah Keen, 1798-1878Dall, William, 1753-1829Dall, William, 1794 or 5-1875
Dalsimer, Susan

Susan Dalsimer Papers

1969-1970
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 578
Depiction of Steve Diamond, Ray Mungo, and Susan Dalsimer, ca.1969
Steve Diamond, Ray Mungo, and Susan Dalsimer, ca.1969

Famous Long Ago launched the literary career of Raymond Mungo with a splash, but even before the book had reached the shelves, he turned to his next project. In October 1969, Mungo began planning for a memoir of his life at the Packer Corners commune. Soon entitled Total Loss Farm, the book would become a classic in the literature of the 1960s counterculture. Signing a contract in November with E.P. Dutton, he worked with a young and sympathetic editor, Susan Stern (later Susan Dalsimer).

This small, but rich collection consists of a series of letters between Raymond Mungo and his editor at E.P. Dutton, Susan Stern, regarding his ideas on writing and life. Beginning in October 1969 with editorial commentary on Famous Long Ago and Mungo’s additions, the Dalsimer Papers offer insight into the development of Total Loss Farm from concept to printed page.

Gift of Susan Dalsimer, Nov. 2008

Subjects

Bloom, Marshall, 1944-1969Communal living--MassachusettsCommunal living--VermontDiamond, StephenMcLardy, PeterMontague Farm Community (Mass.)Mungo, Raymond, 1946- . Famous Long AgoMungo, Raymond, 1946- . Total Loss FarmNineteen SixtiesPacker Corners Community (Vt.)Simon, Peter, 1947-

Contributors

Dalsimer, SusanMungo, Raymond, 1946-

Types of material

Photographs
Dana (Mass.)

Dana (Mass.) Collection

1801-1938
21 vols. (digital), 1 folder 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 012

Situated in the northeastern reaches of the Swift River Valley in western Massachusetts, Dana was one of four towns inundated in the 1930s to create the Quabbin Reservoir. Rural and relatively sparsely populated, Dana’s economy centered on agriculture, leavened with manufacturing wood products and soapstone quarrying.

The Dana Collections include a comprehensive records of town meetings from incorporation through disincorporation (1801-1938), plus rich records for the Congregational Church and its affiliate organizations, the Ladies Aid Society, the Orthodox Congregational Society, and the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor. Most of the materials listed in this finding aid are held at the Swift River Valley Historical Society in New Salem, Mass., and were part of a cooperative digitization project centered on the records of the Quabbin towns.

Gift of Donald Howe, 1960

Subjects

Congregational churches--Massachusetts--Dana--HistoryDana (Mass.)--HistoryDana (Mass.)--Politics and governmentDana (Mass.)--Religious life and customsDana (Mass.)--Social life and customsPoor-Massachusetts--DanaQuabbin Reservoir Region (Mass.)--HistoryQuabbin Reservoir Region (Mass.)--Social life and customsWomen--Massachusetts--DanaWomen--Societies and clubs

Contributors

Dana (Mass. : Town)Dana (Mass. : Town). Overseers of the PoorFirst Universalist Church (North Dana, Mass.)Ladies' Aid Society (Dana, Mass.)Orthodox Congregational Church (Dana, Mass.)Young Peoples Society of Christian Endeavor

Types of material

Church records
Dartmouth Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends)

Dartmouth Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends) Records

1698-2010
2 boxes, 4 vols. 1.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 D378

Located in South Dartmouth, Mass., the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting is one of the oldest Friends meetings in the United States, having been founded by Quakers seeking a haven from religious persecution in nearby Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies. Private worship may have begun in area homes as early as the 1660s, with the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting formally established in 1699. Today, the Meeting has two distinct meetings: the pastoral Smith Neck Meetinghouse and the Apponegansett Meetinghouse.

The records of Dartmouth Monthly Meeting are divided into two centers of gravity. First, the collection contains nineteenth century copies of the meeting’s early minutes (1698-1792) and vital records covering most of that period. Secondly, the collection contains to the meeting since the late 1960s, including minutes (1968-1989) and newsletter (1999-2005). The remaining records of the meeting — the bulk of them — are maintained by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society and available online.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Dartmouth (Mass.)--Religious life and customsQuakers--MassachusettsSociety of Friends--Massachusetts

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of FriendsSmith Neck Monthly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)NewslettersVital records (Document genre)
Dartmouth Monthly Meeting of Friends (Wilburite: 1845-1944)

Dartmouth Monthly Meeting of Friends (Wilburite) Records

1845-1990
2 boxes, 12 vols. 1.75 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 W553 D378
Depiction of North Dartmouth Meeting House, 1981
North Dartmouth Meeting House, 1981

Separating from the main body of the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting in 1845, the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting became one the more successful Wilburite meetings, strengthened by the absorption of smaller peers including Westport (1850), New Bedford (1865), and Berwick (1881). In 1944, just prior to the New England Friends’ reunification, Dartmouth Monthly changed its name to North Dartmouth Monthly to distinguish itself from the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting situated in South Dartmouth.

The relatively rich documentation for Dartmouth Monthly Meeting (Wilburite) begins with the meeting’s establishment in the separation of 1845 and continues through reunification as the North Dartmouth Monthly Meeting. This collection includes continuous minutes from 1845 through 1989 (including the men’s and women’s minutes), with less thorough records from the Treasurer and, for a brief period only, for the Ministers and Elders. The vital records are restricted to a single volume of certificates of removal.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Dartmouth (Mass.)--Religious life and customsQuakers--Massachusetts--DartmouthSociety of Friends--MassachusettsWilburites

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

DeedsMinutes (Administrative records)
DasSarma, Shiladitya

Shiladitya DasSarma Papers

ca. 1932-2000
3 boxes 3.75 linear feet
Call no.: FS 209

The microbiologist and genomics researcher Shiladitya DasSarma, a UMass Amherst faculty member from 1986 to 2001, was born in Kolkata, India, in 1957. His father was a chemistry professor and his mother a high school English teacher; the family immigrated to the United States in 1966, shortly after the passage of the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which opened US immigration to Asians. His father joined the faculty of West Virginia State College, and young DasSarma attended public school nearby, graduating first in his high school class. His first scientific publications were with his father, in coordination chemistry, when he was a teenager. At Indiana University, DasSarma majored in chemistry, did research in DNA mapping and transposition, and graduated with honors in December 1978. In the biochemistry program at MIT, he worked as a National Science Foundation fellow under Nobel laureate HG Khorana and earned his PhD in 1984. After postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School, DasSarma joined the department of microbiology at UMass Amherst. His research focused on the molecular biology and genetics of halophilic Archaea, building on pioneering work he had started as a graduate student. In his fifteen years at the university, DasSarma was busy with teaching, mentoring, research grants, publications, patents, launching the company HaloGenetics, and was promoted to full Professor. He made news with his group’s work on the genome sequencing of the first halophilic Archaea and one of the first microbial genomes, in 2000. In 2001, DasSarma moved his research lab to the University of Maryland.

The Shiladitya DasSarma Papers document the life of a pioneering scientist from his childhood in India and West Virginia through his education and his UMass Amherst career. Consisting of correspondence, memorabilia, photographs, photograph albums, family scrapbooks, news clippings, publications, and material related to research and teaching, the papers also include materials from and about DasSarma’s parents and family history and DasSarma’s mother’s compilation of Indian folktales and stories.

Subjects

Families--IndiaImmigrantsMicrobial genomicsMolecular biologistsScientistsUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Faculty

Types of material

ArticlesPhotograph albumsPhotographsResearch (documents)Scrapbooks
Davenport, Janina Smiertka

Janina Smiertka Davenport Papers

1918-1990
7 boxes 3 linear feet
Call no.: MS 343
Depiction of Janina Smiertka, 1934
Janina Smiertka, 1934

Raised in a Polish American family from Greenfield, Mass., Janina Smiertka Davenport was the epitome of a life-long learner. After graduating from Greenfield High School in 1933, Davenport received degrees from the Pratt Institute in Food Management and from the Franklin County Public School for Nurses (1937). In 1938, she began work as a nurse in the U.S. Navy, receiving two special commendations for meritorious service during the Second World War. She continued her formal and informal education later in life, receiving degrees from Arizona State University in 1958 and UMass Amherst in Russian and Eastern European Studies (1982). Davenport died in Greenfield in March 2002.
The Davenport Papers contain a thick sheaf of letters and documents pertaining to her Navy service before and during World War II, along with assorted biographical and genealogical data, materials collected during educational trips to Poland and elsewhere, and approximately one linear foot of family photographs and photo albums.

Subjects

Nurses--MassachusettsPolish Americans--MassachusettsUnited States. NavyWorld War, 1939-1945

Contributors

Davenport, Janina Smiertka

Types of material

Photographs
Davis, Bobby

Bobby Davis Photograph Collection

1980-1983
1 box 0.2 linear feet
Call no.: PH 065

A native of Providence, R.I., Bobby Davis arrived in Amherst in 1977 and soon afterward entered the University Without Walls program at UMass to earn his college degree. A talented jazz musician, Davis became immersed in the vibrant local arts scene, learning photography while writing for the student publications Nummo News and the Collegian, and covering performances by a steady stream of jazz and R&B acts touring through the area. Working later as a photographer for Smith College and traveling for the yearbook company, Delmar Studios, Davis eventually settled in Northampton, where he remains active as a photographer.

The Davis collection contains ten exhibition prints of jazz musicians performing in Amherst, including Art Blakey, Angela Bofill, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Yusef Lateef, Oscar Peterson, Max Roach, Gil Scott-Heron, and Archie Shepp.

Gift of Bobby Davis, Jan. 2015

Subjects

Jazz musicians--Photographs

Types of material

Photographs