The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Miller Family

Miller Family Photographs

ca.1880-1980
1 boxes, 1 oversize envelope 1.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 119

Four generations of the Miller family from Roxbury and Hull, Massachusetts. Includes photographs mounted on twenty-eight sheets of posterboard and 158 slides stored in two slide trays that are comprised of formal and informal family portraits; family businesses; church and business gatherings; a wedding announcement; and postcards from the early 1900s depicting public recreation sites. More recent photographs reveal how the public recreation sites have changed over the years. Robert Parker Miller, a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the Miller family, displayed these images in an exhibit entitled “Trying to Live the American Dream” (1986, Wheeler Gallery).

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The collection consists of family photographs and slides of four generations of the Miller family of Roxbury and Hull, Massachusetts, beginning with Melbourne Parker Miller who emigrated from Nova Scotia. Photographs are mounted on twenty-eight sheets of posterboard; 158 slides are stored in two slide trays.

The slides depict a century in the Miller family history, dating from roughly 1880 to 1980. The photographs are comprised of both formal and informal family portraits; family businesses including Miller’s Boat Landing in Allerton, Mass., Miller’s Bus, Miller Brother’s Furniture and Piano Moving in Roxbury, Mass., and Miller and Lakin Express Transfer; church and business gatherings; and a wedding announcement (1914). There are also slides of postcards from the early 1900s depicting public recreation sites including: Atlantic House, Nantasket Beach, Nantasket Beach and Auto Park, Paragon Park, Bath House and Amusements at Paragon Park, Hull from Paddock’s Island, Allerton (Mass.) Bayside Station, and Park Island. More recent photographs of these sites illustrate the changes that occurred in these locations over the years, for example photographs showing construction of condominiums.

These images were displayed in an exhibit entitled “Trying to Live the American Dream” (1986, Wheeler Gallery) prepared by Robert Parker Miller, then a student at the University of Massachusetts and a member of the Miller family.


Information on Use
Terms of Access and Use
Restrictions on access:

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Miller Family Photograph Collection (MS 119). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

History of the Collection

Placed on deposit by Robert Parker Miller in 1986.

Processing Information

Processed by Linda Seidman.


Additional Information

Sponsor
Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Language
English.

Subjects

Family--United States--HistoryHull (Mass.)--PhotographsMassachusetts--Social life and customs--19th century--PhotographsMassachusetts--Social life and customs--20th century--PhotographsRoxbury (Mass.)--Pictorial works

Contributors

Miller family

Types of material

Photographs