Collecting area: Uncategorized

Karen Manners Smith (“Sister Meredith”) and Chris O’Carroll (“Brother Jerome”) were both members of the Process Church of the Final Judgement (Process Church) from 1969-1974. Following their departure from the Process Church, Manners Smith and O’Carroll (then “Charles C. Smith”) moved to Amherst, Massachusetts where O’Carroll worked for The Valley Advocate, the alternative newsweekly and the UMass Magazine in the late 1970s and 1980s. 

The Process Church was founded in 1966 by Mary Ann MacLean and Robert de Grimston, former members of Scientology. While it was initially based in the United Kingdom, the Process Church also spread to the United States, where it attracted over one hundred members. In 1972, American poet and singer Ed Sanders published The Family, a memoir accusing the Process Church of working with convicted murderer Charles Manson and the Manson Family. While no connection between the Manson Family and the Process Church was ever officially established during police investigations, the Process Church faced a public decline in reputation. In the late 1970s, the Process Church split, with members loyal to MacLean joining the newly established Foundation Faith of God (“The Foundation”) in 1980. In 1983, the organization rebranded to the Best Friends Animal Society, where it continues to operate in Kanab, Utah, and throughout the United States. 

The bulk of this collection is comprised of periodicals and marketing materials, collected by O’Carroll for his research on new religious movements during his time in Amherst, Northampton, and Pelham. Most of the material pertains to the Process Church (including the Foundation Faith of God), though there are also news clippings, magazines and pamphlets about other movements, mostly from new age magazines based in Western Mass as well as materials on Scientology, Ekankar, and Transcendental Meditation. The collection also contains small pamphlets and flyers from various Christian publishing houses, with topics ranging from the dangers of Rock n’ Roll to the Satanic Rules of the Earth. 

The Sports Business Daily was founded in February 1994 by American sports executive and entrepreneur Jeffrey Pollack (M.S. in Sport Management from UMass Amherst ‘03) at age 29. It was initially published by Digital Sports Network, a company also founded by Pollack and for which he served as CEO. The Daily, as it was commonly known in its early years, was the first daily trade publication for the sports industry and one of the first-ever digital trade publications for any industry. The Daily’s primary goal was to “cover the coverage,” or aggregate and organize daily news related to the business of sports from news outlets throughout North America. After assembling a small editorial, marketing, and sales team, The Sports Business Daily launched on September 12, 1994. Through Pollack’s vision and direction as founding President and Publisher, The Daily pioneered a new genre of sports journalism, became an industry standard and must-read for sports executives, and gave rise to a proliferation of sports business news and information services around the world. By the time Digital Sports Network and subsequently The Sports Business Daily were sold in 1996 to Interzine Productions, it was the recognized leader in sports industry news and progenitor of other publications about the business of sports. In 1998 The Daily was acquired by Street & Smith’s, which publishes Sports Business Journal.

The collection contains materials related to the founding and early years of The Sport Business Daily’s management and production. It includes correspondence, contracts, and financial and marketing information. Several boxes include original copies of The Daily plus early prototype mock-ups and copies of the NBA Daily trade publication from 1995.

E. Ann Sheridan was a longtime professor and dean emerita at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who made significant contributions to the field of nursing in both of her professional and academic practices. Ann spent much of her life supporting the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst School of Nursing through her advocacy, teaching, alumni relations, and history work.

Ann was born on February 17th, 1934 in Lawrence, Massachusettsto parents Eva C. (Lambart) Sheridan and John J. Sheridan. Ann was raised in Salem, Massachusetts where she spent most of her childhood and was educated at the St. Mary’s Grammar School and the St. James High School. In her senior year of highschool, Ann was the recipient of a diocesan scholarship to the Catherine Laboure School of Nursing in Boston, Massachusetts where she would later graduate from in 1954, having earned a degree in nursing. After earning her degree, Ann began her career as a pediatric nurse, where her lifetime interest in pediatric nursing began. After several years of working as a pediatric staff nurse, Ann attended Boston College and earned a baccalaureate degree in nursing in 1957. Ann worked in many Boston hospitals, including Boston City Hospital during the Polio epidemic, operating “iron lung” respiration machines. During her time here Ann also cared for polio-patient and future mayor of Boston, John Collins who came down with the disease in 1955 and ran for Boston City Council from his hospital room.

Ann later returned to her hometown of Salem, Masssachussetss where she accepted a position as supervisor of the pediatric unit at Salem Hospital, where she built a strong foundation of both nursing and administrative skills. Over the years she worked in many hospitals across the country including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and California.

Ann Sheridan went on to earn a master’s of science in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964 before being hired as an adjunct professor at UMass Amherst’s School of Nursing in 1965, where she would spend the rest of her academic career. Ann would also go on to earn a pediatric nurse practitioner certification from the University of Wisconsin in 1973, and an Ee.D from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1983. Ann lived through much of the School of Nursings history and growth. When the School of Nursing was merged with the Division of Public Health to create the School of Health Sciences in 1973, Ann was a strong supporter of the School of Nursing’s independence which finally became reality again in 1988. Ann served as Interim Director of the nursing program from 1986-1988. By the time of her retirement in 1998, Ann was instrumental in many committees and activities, such as founding the College of Nursing Alumni Board, helping to establish the Beta Zeta at-Large Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, and by helping document and publish the history of the school of nursing through newspaper articles, commemorative books, and oral histories. Ann was the recipient of the UMass Amherst Chancellor’s Medal in 1997, the Umass Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Living Legend Award from the American Nurses Association, Massachusetts in 2016 among many other recognitions and accolades. Ann spent her retirement in connection with the School of Nursing attending events, working with alumni, creating the Dr. E. Ann Sheridan Scholarship, and supporting the school’s history through researching and writing newspaper articles, commemorative history books, participating in oral history projects, and working with the universities Robert S. Cox Special Collections and Archives on campus, as well as other nursing archives across the country. Ann Sheridan was predeceased by her parents, her partner George L, Balestri, her sisters Alice C. Saben, Claire F. Fosberry, Marion L. Rudolph, her brothers John J. Sheridan Jr. and Thomas J. Sheridan. She was survived by her family of cousins, nieces, and nephews of multiple generations of which she remained close to her whole life. Ann Sheridan passed away on March 26th, 2024 after a short illness.

Ann Sheridan’s dissertation, Contracting and client satisfaction: an inquiry into the delivery of effective nursing care, completed at UMass Amherst in 1983, is available online: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/14435

Rachel Allen was born on September 25, 1941 in Fall River, MA to Peg and Elmer Allen. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts with degrees in Nursing, B.S., Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, M.S., and finally a PhD in Public Health Policy and Management. Dr. Tierney enjoyed an important career spanning over 40 years, notably as Professor of Nursing at UMass Amherst. Dr. Tierney was a leader, initiator, and innovator in her field of nursing including implementing new roles and programs, moving the nursing profession forward, and the first to advance nurse practitioners on the board of registration of nursing. She was the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Living Legends in Massachusetts Nursing Award, the Outstanding Alumni Nursing Education Award, and the Elvira Whiting Ball Award for Improving the Lives of Older Adults. Rachel also had a full life outside of her professional obligations actively serving on several community groups including the Alzheimer’s Association, Pioneer Valley Chapter, the West Springfield, MA School Committee, and the Pioneer Valley Area Health Education Center Advisory Board. She was a longtime member of P.E.O. International, a sisterhood of women who are purposeful and passionate about celebrating, supporting, and motivating women.

The Rachel Tierney Papers consist of one small box containing “The Kids” typewritten newsletter from UMass School of Nursing (1962); School of Nursing publications, memory books, correspondence, and notes; and “Nurses’ Attitudes about Caring for Patients with AIDS” dissertation (1990), published as Rachel Chandler.

The 1960s and 1970s were decades rich with activist organizations intent on radically transforming U.S. politics and society as well as striving to end racial and gender inequality. One such group was Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Launched in 1962, with the infamous Port Huron Statement, SDS helped the nascent anti-Vietnam war movement gain traction in 1965 by organizing the first national demonstration in Washington, D.C. Over the course of the next four years, the organization grew at a rapid pace, claiming over 300 chapters under its moniker. Arguments over tactics and strategy culminated during an eventful national convention in June of 1969 in which three factions, all claiming to represent “the true SDS”, split the organization apart.
               
The most notorious of these factions was the Weathermen, (later renamed the less patriarchal Weather Underground Organization [WUO]). The WUO aimed to spark revolution in the United States, initially, through the use of targeted political bombings, political communiques, and support of Black liberation movements. Following the March 1970 accidental self-bombing of three of its New York collective members, Ted Gold, Diana Oughton, and Terry Robbins in a New York townhouse owned by Cathy Wilkerson’s father, the organization opted to conduct more targeted bombings where no one would be hurt.
               
After two-to three-years of high-profile bombings, including the U.S. Capitol, Pentagon, corporate buildings, and law enforcement institutions, with minimal impact, the organization began to consider how to regain influence with the greater Left. This began WUO’s “inversion” phase which included the publication of a book/manifesto titled Prairie Fire, the establishment of the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, and a periodical, Osawatomie. The WUO’s Central Committee believed that this inversion strategy would allow them to influence and lead the greater anti-war/anti-imperialist movement.

The inversion strategy did not spark the all-encompassing revolution imagined by the WUO and members slowly began to surface, breaking apart the organization in the mid-late 1970s. While the WUO did not accomplish what they set out to do, their extreme tactics and notoriety with the FBI left lasting impressions on American society and the history of activism in the 1970s.
     
This small collection of materials donated by a member of the WUO includes books, pamphlets, manuscripts, notes, military manuals, maps of correctional facilities, and correspondence between members from 1973 to 1978, many of them coded through the use of letters replacing names. It also holds papers critical of  the WUO written by its own members between 1976 and 1978. This represents the period when Clayton Van Lydegaf gathered members in his “Cadre School”, to rigorously analyze and document how the organization fell apart, including a transcript from a recorded interview session in which Bernadine Dohrn repudiated all methods and practices of the WUO. These papers reflect the power struggle seen later within the WUO, as well as the contempt that many of its members grew to nurture for the organization as it strayed from its original purpose.

The collection also contains many political papers on subjects such as women and their place within the WUO, the anti-fascist movement, Black liberation movements, imperialism, and the origins of fascism. It also holds accounts of the WUO’s history, along with critiques, notes, and adaptations for their manifesto, Prairie Fire.

Anne Wiley, a lifelong feminist, taught women’s studies and psychology at Greenfield Community College (GCC) for over 40 years. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from LeMoyne College in Syracuse New York in June 1971, her MA in education at the State University of New York in 1975, and her PhD in education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1993. From 1977 to 2013 she was a full time Gender and Women’s Studies and Psychology professor at GCC. She strove to make the curriculum more inclusive and received several grants in order to fund projects to this end such as GCC’s Women’s Resource Center and the Gender and Women’s Studies program. She also coordinated the Women’s Reentry Program for three years and helped organize the New England Women’s Studies Conference. She was also an adjunct professor at Keene State College. She has published many articles in feminist publications and the journal Women’s Studies Quarterly and was a member of the board and president of the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition (NWLCWIT). When she retired from full-time teaching in 2013, she was given the title of Professor Emerita and the Anne M. Wiley Gender and Social Justice Scholarship was set up in her honor. She continued to teach following her retirement and won awards for her online psychology course.

This collection is centered around the professional life of Anne Wiley as a women’s studies professor at Greenfield Community College from 1976 to 2014. This includes summaries of department meetings and conferences for women’s studies, event descriptions and flyers, some course information, administrative material related to Wiley career such as resumes and sabbatical requests, and reports on programs designed to change GCC’s curriculum. It also includes material collection by Wiley related to her interest in women’s issues. It is organized into three series: Programs and Events, Publications and Clippings, and Academics.