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

Collecting area: Agriculture

Ricci, James B.

James B. Ricci and Margaret E. McCarthy Collection

ca.1870-1970
17 boxes 25.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1075
Depiction of New Easy Lawn Mower trade card
New Easy Lawn Mower trade card

A graduate of UMass Amherst (’71) and the son of a faculty member, Jim Ricci had a childhood encounter with a Locke Power Lawn Mower that led to lifelong fascination with reel lawn mowers. As an historian ofthe field, Ricci has written extensively on mowers and the industy, culminating in his book Hand, Horse, and Motor: The Development of the Lawn Mower Industry in the United States (2016). He and his wife Margaret McCarthy are also advanced collectors of vintage lawn mowers and associated paper and ephemera.

The Ricci and McCarthy collection cuts a wide swath through the subject of pre-World War II lawn mowers, and includes materials ranging from scarce catalogs, trade publications, and letters and documents, as well as Ricci’s extensive research files organized by manufacturer. The collection is rich in visual content, with early tradecards, advertisements, postcards, and photographs.

Gift of James B. Ricci and Margaret E. McCarthy, April 2019

Subjects

Lawn mowers

Contributors

McCarthy, Margaret E.

Types of material

PhotographsPrinted ephemera
Richards family

Richards Family Collection

1692-1818
2 vols. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1030 bd

A prosperous farmer in the southern reaches of Massachusetts Bay Colony, James Richards was born on June 2, 1658, and never ventured far from his from his home in Weymouth or the adjoining town of Braintree. The son of William Richards and his wife Grace Shaw, and a member of the third generation of Richards in the new world, James was characteristically diverse in his economic activities, raising livestock (sheep and pigs), harvesting salt grass, making salt, and raising crops including rye, corn, and barley, which he malted, presumably for the production of beer. Although most of his transactions were local, he traded as far away as Charlestown and Barnstable.

The Richards family ledgers include a daybook from James Richards kept between 1692-1710 and an account book from his great grandson Jacob Richards kept a century later, along with loose receipts from generations of Richards in between. The volume associated with James Richards records sales of goods produced on his Weymouth farm, including barley, rye, “Indian corn,” salt, mutton and lamb, pork, and eggs, along with occasional records of the sale of goods such as shingles, “board nails,” clapboards, molasses and sugar, lamp oil, tobacco, and cloth. The sparser records from Jacob Richards include accounts that include the sale of cider; cord wood; pine, oak, and maple boards; and shoes.

Gift of Carolyn Taylor, June 2017, through the UMass Press.

Subjects

Agriculture--Massachusetts--WeymouthAgriculture--Massachusetts--WeymouthWeymouth (Mass.)--Economic conditions--17th centuryWeymouth (Mass.)--Economic conditions--18th century

Contributors

Richards, Jacob, 1778-Richards, James, 1658-1711

Types of material

Account booksDaybooks
Rural American Women’s Conference

Rural American Women Conference Records

1978-1981
5 boxes 2.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 146

Feeling the frustrations of millions of women and girls in rural America who lacked the support or resources necessary to combat unemployment, inadequate medical care, and domestic violence, Jane Threatt along with several other women decided to form a non-profit organization that would unite these women and give them a national voice. Established in 1978, Rural American Women (RAW) was organized to promote the interests of rural women in the areas of equal rights, employment, education, family life, and freedom of all forms of discrimination.

In 1981 RAW held a series of five regional conferences throughout the country, and the bulk of this collection consists of records relating to the New England meeting. The records also include some materials documenting the group’s activities at their national headquarters in D.C., such as minutes, correspondence, newsletters, and pamphlets.

Subjects

Rural women

Contributors

Rural American Women
Rural Lives audiotape collection

Rural Lives Audiotape Collection

1980
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 507

Rural Lives was a 13 part audio documentary series that aired on WFCR in the early 1980s and focused on rural communities throughout Western Massachusetts. Sponsored by the UMass Cooperative Extension Service, each episode focused on various aspects of rural life such as local business, jobs, the country fair, farming, the impact of development, etc. Some episodes featured local towns such as Hadley or the lost towns of the Quabbin Reservoir. The show was produced by Pat Lewis Zachary, Robbie Leppzer, and Gail Fuhrer.

Subjects

Farmers--Massachusetts--HistoryHadley (Mass.)--HistoryMassachusetts--Economic conditionsMassachusetts--Social life and customs--20th century

Types of material

Sound recordings
Sargent, Orlando, 1728-1803

Orlando Sargent Account Book

1753-1808
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 139

Prosperous, slave-owning farmer from Amesbury, Massachusetts, who also served as town warden, selectman, and representative. Includes details of the purchases of agricultural products (corn, potatoes, lamb, rye, hay, molasses, wood, cheese), and related services with some of the town’s earliest settlers, widow’s expenses, expenses in support of his grandmother, and family dates.

Subjects

Agricultural prices--Massachusetts--Amesbury--History--18th centuryAmesbury (Mass.)--Economic conditions--18th centuryAmesbury (Mass.)--History--18th century--BiographyAmesbury (Mass.)--Officials and employees--History--18th centuryFarm produce--Massachusetts--Amesbury--History--18th centuryFarmers--Massachusetts--Amesbury--Economic conditions--18th centurySargent family

Contributors

Sargent, Orlando, 1728-1803

Types of material

Account books
Sears, Fred Coleman, 1866-

Fred C. Sears Papers

1911-1927
3 boxes 1.25 linear feet
Call no.: FS 136
Depiction of Fred C. Sears
Fred C. Sears

For nearly 30 years, Fred C. Sears served as Professor of Pomology at the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Born in Lexington, Mass., in 1866, Sears was raised on the Kansas prairies and educated at Kansas State College. After graduating in 1892, he taught horticulture in Kansas, Utah, and Nova Scotia before returning to Massachusetts and to MAC in 1907. The author of three textbooks and numerous articles on fruit culture and orcharding, he also developed the successful Bay Road Fruit Farm with his colleagues Frank A. Waugh and E.R. Critchett. Sears died at his home in Amherst in October 1949.

In addition to several offprints, the collection contains a set of articles written by Sears for the Country Gentleman bound with editorial correspondence; the well-edited original manuscripts of Sears’ textbooks Productive Orcharding (1914) and Productive Small Fruit Culture (1920), including correspondence, reviews, and photographs; Reports of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers Association (1911-1912, 1914-1916), and editions of Productive Orcharding (1927) and Fruit Growing Projects (1912) bound with Japanese titles.

Subjects

Fruit-culture--MassachusettsMassachusetts Agricultural College--FacultyMassachusetts Agricultural College. Department of Pomology

Contributors

Sears, Fred Coleman, 1866-
Smith, Gilbert, b. 1801

Gilbert Smith and Gilbert Smith, Jr. Account Books

1798-1846
2 vols. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 205 bd

Gilbert Smith was a shoemaker and doctor from New Marlborough, Massachusetts, and his son Gilbert Jr. was a prosperous farmer from Sheffield, Massachusetts. Includes merchandise sales, labor accounts, lists of boarders, and documentation of the sale of homemade butter and cheese to local merchants, as well as trade with the substantial rural black community of the region.

Subjects

African Americans--Massachusetts--Economic conditions--19th centuryAgricultural laborers--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryAgricultural wages--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryDairy products--Massachusetts--Marketing--History--19th centuryFamily--Economic aspects--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryFarmers--Massachusetts--Sheffield--History--19th centuryNew Marlborough (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centurySheffield (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

Smith, Gilbert, 1801-Smith, Gilbert, d. 1804

Types of material

Account books
Smith, Hollis A.

Hollis A. Smith Papers

1910-1940 Bulk: 1929-1931
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 965

A native of Haverhill, Mass., and graduate of the University of Maine (BF, 1925) and Harvard (MF, 1927), Hollis A. Smith attempted to establish a career in forestry in the late 1920s. Working as superintendent of the new Martha’s Vineyard State Forest and as a consulting forester associated with the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Smith worked with clients to develop planting and harvesting plans and to care for the trees. With his practice languishing, Smith settled in Martha’s Vineyard and worked as a surveyor and other positions.

This collection contains correspondence, job reports, and ephemera from Hollis Smith’s relatively brief career as a consulting forester in Massachusetts, nearly all concentrated in the years 1929-1931. Nearly half of the collection consists of correspondence with clients (or potential clients), with a few interesting reports on properties.

Acquired from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Archives, Sept. 2016

Subjects

Forestry--Massachusetts
Smith, Lewis

Lewis Smith Account Book

1784-1828
2 folders 0.15 linear feet
Call no.: MS 085 b

A resident of Northampton, Mass., directly across the Connecticut River from South Hadley, Lewis Smith ran a substantial farm during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Settling in the village of Smith’s Ferry shortly after service in the American Revolution, Smith owned a part stake in a sawmill and produced and traded in an array of farm products, from grains and vegetables to grain, beef, and pork. A producer of apples and owner of his own mill, he produced large quantities of cider and vinegar.

In a standard double-column account book kept somewhat erratically, Lewis Smith recorded an extensive exchange of goods and services befitting a prosperous Northamptonite. Smith sold an array of goods he produced, from apples to dairy products, grain, beef, lard, and tallow, with cider from his mill (and briefly brandy) being the most consistent producer of revenue.

Subjects

Cider industry--Massachusetts--NorthamptonFarmers--Massachusetts--NorthamptonNorthampton (Mass.)--History

Types of material

Account books
Smith, Nelson

Nelson Smith Account book

1835-1846
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 386 bd

Born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in about 1810, Nelson Smith was about thirty when he married Sallena Burnett of Granby. When Burnett’s father Bela died in 1846, Smith inherited the family farm of 125 acres, now situated on Burnett Street, where he and Sallena raised a family of at least six children. Nelson died in 1892 at the age of 81.

This slender book of accounts includes records of Smith’s financial transactions at a time in the 1830s when he was living in South Hadley, Mass. These include entries for rent, records of hiring out for work at a dairying, at Josiah W. Goodman’s brickyard (at a salary of $32 per month), or for unspecified labor. Other entries record the sale of tallow, cider, cordwood, rye, turnips, and other commodities.

Subjects

Agricultural laborers--Massachusetts--South HadleyFarming--Massachusetts--South HadleySouth Hadley (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

Burnett, Bela, 1778-

Types of material

Account books