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

Collecting area: New England

Abbe, Edward H.

Edward H. Abbe Papers

1828-2004
22 boxes 28.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 736
Depiction of Ed Abbe in Bora Bora, 1987
Ed Abbe in Bora Bora, 1987

Born in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1915 and raised largely in Hampton, Va., Edward Abbe seemed destined to be an engineer. The great nephew of Elihu Thomson, an inventor and founding partner in General Electric, and grandson of Edward Folger Peck, an early employee of a precursor of that firm, Abbe came from a family with a deep involvement in electrification and the development of street railways. After prepping at the Rectory and Kent Schools, Abbe studied engineering at the Sheffield School at Yale, and after graduation in 1938, accepted a position with GE. For 36 years, he worked in the Industrial Control Division in New York and Virginia, spending summers at the family home on Martha’s Vineyard. After retirement in 1975, he and his wife Gladys traveled frequently, cruising both the Atlantic and Pacific.

Ranging from an extensive correspondence from his high school and college days to materials relating to his family’s involvement in engineering, the Abbe collection offers an in depth perspective on an educated family. An avid traveler and inveterate keeper, Ed Abbe gathered a diverse assemblage of letters, diaries, and memorabilia relating to the history of the Abbe, Peck, Booth, Gifford, and Boardman families. The collection is particularly rich in visual materials, including albums and photographs, depicting homes, travel, and family life over nearly a century.

Gift of Edward Abbe, Mar. 2012

Subjects

Abbe familyBoardman familyBooth familyElectrical engineersGeneral ElectricGifford familyKent School--StudentsPeck familyRectory School--StudentsYale University--Students

Contributors

Abbe, Edward HAbbe, Gladys HowardAbbe, William ParkerPeck, Edward FPeck, Mary Booth

Types of material

DiariesLetters (Correspondence)Photographs
Abramson, Doris E.

Doris E. Abramson Papers

ca.1930-2007
25 linear feet
Call no.: FS 127
Depiction of Doris Abramson
Doris Abramson

After earning her masters degree from Smith College in 1951, Doris Abramson (class of 1949) returned to UMass in 1953 to become instructor in the English Department, remaining at her alma mater through a long and productive career. An historian of theatre and poet, she was a founding member of the Speech Department, Theatre Department, and the Massachusetts Review. In 1959, a Danforth grant helped Abramson pursue doctoral work at Columbia. Published in 1969, her dissertation, Negro Playwrights in the American Theatre, 1925-1969, was a pioneering work in the field. After her retirement, she and her partner of more than 40 years, Dorothy Johnson, ran the Common Reader Bookshop in New Salem.
An extensive collection covering her entire career, Abramson’s papers are a valuable record of the performing arts at UMass, her research on African American playwrights, her teaching and directing, and many other topics relating to her diverse interests in literature and the arts.

Gift of Dorothy Johnson, Apr. 2008

Subjects

African-American theaterPoets--MassachusettsUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of Theater

Contributors

Abramson, Doris E.
Acadia Friends Meeting

Acadia Friends Meeting Records

1978-2007
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 A233

The Acadia Friends Meeting in Northeast Harbor, Maine, began as an independent worship group in 1975 under the care of Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting. It was accorded status as a monthly meeting in 1978.

This small collection consists of an imperfect run of meeting minutes and newsletters for the Acadia Monthly Meeting.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Northeast Harbor (Maine)--Religious life and customsQuakers--MaineSociety of Friends--Massachusetts

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)Newsletters
Activism of the 1980s

Activism of the 1980s Photograph Collection

1985-1987
0.5 linear feet
Call no.: PH 012
Depiction of Die-in at the Student Union
Die-in at the Student Union

During the academic year 1986-1987, the campus at UMass Amherst was a hotbed of political protest, fueled in part by the US intervention in Central America. The arrival on campus of a CIA recruiting officer in November set off a string of demonstrations that attracted the support of activists Abbie Hoffman and Amy Carter, daughter of former president Jimmy Carter. The occupation of the Whitmore Administration Building was followed by a larger occupation of adjacent Munson Hall, resulting in a number of arrests. Hoffman, Carter, and eleven co-defendants were tried and acquitted on charges of disorderly conduct were tried in April 1987.

The Collection contains 61 mounted photographs of marches, demonstrations, and protests in Amherst and Northampton, Mass., taken by Charles F. Carroll, Byrne Guarnotta, and Libby Hubbard, all students at UMass Amherst. The photographs are a vivid record of campus and community activism, and particularly the mobilization against the CIA and American intervention in Central America, as well as the arrest and trial of Abbie Hoffman and Amy Carter.

Acquired Aug. 12, 1999

Subjects

Amherst (Mass.)--PhotographsAnti-apartheid movements--MassachusettsCIA on Trial Project (Amherst, Mass.)Carter, AmyCentral America--Foreign relations--United StatesDemonstrations--MassachusettsHoffman, AbbieNorthampton (Mass.)--PhotographsStudent movementsUnited States--Foreign relations--Central AmericaUnited States. Central Intelligence AgencyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Students

Contributors

Carroll, Charles FGuarnotta, ByrneHubbard, LibbyRadical Student Union

Types of material

Photographs
Acton Monthly Meeting of Friends

Acton Monthly Meeting of Friends Records

1954-2012
3 boxes 1.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 A286

Acton Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends began in 1956 as a worship group under care of Cambridge Monthly. By 1965, Acton was set off as a monthly meeting of its own, part of Salem Quarterly.

The records of Acton Monthly Meeting include a nearly complete set of minutes from its days as a worship group through its formal establishment as a monthly meeting to the present, along with less complete material on membership and finances. The minutes are somewhat sporadic in the early years, but have been regularly maintained since 1965.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

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

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)Newsletters
Adams, Maurianne

Maurianne Adams Papers

1973-2015
8 boxes 12 linear feet
Call no.: FS 171
Depiction of Maurianne Adams
Maurianne Adams

Maurianne Adams was one of the pioneers in social justice education at UMass Amherst. Arriving at the university in 1973 as Coordinator of Academic Affairs for Project 10, the experimental residential education program in the Southwest Residential Area, she developed an elective curriculum focused on racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and ableism. When that project was ended in 1982, she took her ideas to the School of Education, where she became the Director for Social Issues and Instructional Development for Residential Academic Programs (RAP). Over the next several years, she and her colleagues developed one of the first general education diversity courses and she became part of the founding faculty for the graduate program in Social Justice Education. Since her retirement in 2015, she has remained active in promoting social justice activities working with the Coalition of Amherst Neighborhoods (CAN) and the Amherst Community Land Trust, which provides opportunities for affordable homeownership.

The Maurianne Adams Papers document a career committed to teaching, learning, and writing about diversity and equality on this campus and in the residential neighborhoods nearby. The papers offer an important perspective on the emergence of social justice courses in the General Education Program and the formation of the Social Justice Education Program within the College of Education, and given the extensive collaboration among social justice education faculty, it includes materials from several of Adams’ colleagues. The collection includes early drafts of curricula; course and workshop materials on diversity, inclusive teaching, religious oppression, anti-Semitism, and classism; and materials relating to grants to support her efforts.

Gift of Maurianne Adams, Dec. 2015

Subjects

Diversity in higher educationSocial justice--Study and teachingUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. College of Education
Adams, William A.

William A. Adams Daybook

1876-1878
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 624 bd

During the 1870s, William A. Adams maintained a blacksmithing shop close to the intersection of Walnut and Hickory Streets in Springfield, Mass. His trade ran from farriery to repairing iron work, wheels, and wagons, and situated as he was near the southern end of Watershops Pond, one of the industrial centers of the city, his customers ranged from local residents to manufacturing firms, the city, and the Armory.

The Adams account book contains approximately 150 pages containing brief records of blacksmithing work for a range of customers located in the immediate area. Among the more names mentioned are the grocers Perkins and Nye, W. and E.W. Pease Co., J. Kimberley and Co., and Common Councilman William H. Pinney and J. W. Lull, all of whom can be located within a few blocks of Adams’ shop.

Acquired from Dan Casavant, 1999

Subjects

Blacksmiths--Massachusetts--SpringfieldHorseshoers--Massachusetts--SpringfieldSpringfield (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

Adams, William A

Types of material

Daybooks
AFL-CIO Hampshire-Franklin Central Labor Council

AFL-CIO Hampshire-Franklin Central Labor Council Records

1977-2007
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1074

The Hampshire-Franklin Central Labor Council is a democratically-elected body drawn from among AFL-CIO-affiliated unions in Hampshire and Franklin Counties, Mass. The Labor Council advocates for workers’ interests at the state and local level and works with its members and communities on social and economic justice issues.

This slender collection consists of the minutes of monthly meetings of HFCLC for three decades beginning in 1977, with some brief gaps in the latter years.

Gift of Dale Melcher, Aug. 2016

Subjects

Labor unions--Massachusetts

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)
Akin, Benjamin

Benjamin Akin Daybook and Ledger

1737-1764
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 204 bd

A tanner, currier, and shoemaker, Benjamin Akin was born into a prominent Bristol County family in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, on May 18, 1715. With a prolific and well-connected family and successful in his own business endeavors, Akin attained some stature in Dartmouth. First appointed town clerk in 1745, he filled that office from 1754-1770 and again from 1776-1780, adding the title “Esq.” to his name by the 1760s. During the Revolutionary years, he served on the town’s public safety committee. He died on April 10, 1802.

The Akin ledger offers insight into the fortunes of an 18th-century artisan during the most productive years of his life, as well as into the structure of a local community in southeastern Massachusetts. The ledger includes accounts of with customers for tanning and currying of calf and sheepskin, day-book entries, and accounts with the Town of Dartmouth for services performed at Town Clerk.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Artisans--MassachusettsDartmouth (Mass.)--History--18th centuryEarthquakes--MassachusettsShoemaking--MassachusettsTanning--Massachusetts

Contributors

Akin, Benjamin, 1715-1802Akin, Eunice Taber, 1711-1762

Types of material

Account booksDaybooks
Akin, Ebenezer, Jr.

Ebenezer Akin Account Book

1842-1869
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 220 bd

A merchant, town clerk, part-owner of many ships, and involved citizen, Ebenezer Akin lived nearly all of his 87 years in the town of Fairhaven, Mass.

This miscellaneous personal ledger includes documentation of Ebenezer Akin’s work as town clerk and includes accounts for ships he may have owned, entries made as an estate executor, accounts of expenditures for clothing and incidentals, and accounts of lot purchases and loans. The volume also contains genealogical information about the Blossom family of Bridgewater and the family of Benjamin and Eunice Akin, Ebenezer’s great-grandfather.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Akin, Benjamin, 1715-1802Akin, EuniceBlossom familyClothing and dress--Prices--Massachusetts--FairhavenFairhaven (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryFairhaven (Mass.)--Politics and government--19th centuryHesper (Bark)Merchants--Massachusetts--FairhavenNapoleon (Ship)Shipowners--Massachusetts--FairhavenShipping--Massachusetts--FairhavenWilliam Rotch (Ship)Winthrop (Bark)

Contributors

Akin, Ebenezer, 1816-

Types of material

Account booksGenealogiesInventories of decedents estates