Myra A. Gallond Autograph Album
Myra Gallond (1849-1924) was the eldest daughter of the proprietor of a successful boarding house and livery stable on South Prospect Street in Amherst, Mass. After marrying Henry E. Paige, a veterinary surgeon and brother of Massachusetts Agricultural College faculty member James B. Paige, Myra maintained her own boarding house on South Prospect.
This diminutive autograph album was assembled in Amherst, Mass., between 1867 and 1874, presumably at the boarding house Myra Gallond’s family operated on South Prospect Street. Gallond’s long association with nearby Massachusetts Agricultural College included taking in boarders from the school and working there briefly as a housekeeper, and she was the sister-in-law of one of the college’s best known faculty members. Several of the College’s earliest students appear in the album, including three of the first international students, Saitaro Naito (Japan), Gabriel Codina (Spain), and Elesbam Fiuza Barreto (Brazil) and several from the Pioneer Class of 1871.
Background on Mira A. Gallond
Born in Petersham, Mass., on Oct. 27, 1849, Almira Adaline Gallond was the eldest of five children born to George Babbitt Gallond (1824-1888) and Adeline. Although originally from Petersham, Myra’s father had settled in Amherst prior to 1860 and found great success as a butcher, becoming proprietor of a successful boarding house and livery stable on South Prospect Street in the center of town by the end of the decade, earning appointment as Deputy Sheriff.
In August 1874, Myra married Henry Elisha Paige (1853-1923), originally of Prescott, but then employed at the Paige Brothers Livery stable and feed store on South Prospect Street. Although listed as a “keeper” at the Agricultural College in 1880, Myra and Henry followed her father in running a boarding house, as Henry’s career as a veterinary surgeon took off. Henry’s younger brother James B. Paige (1861-1922) was a professor of veterinary science at Massachusetts Agricultural College and is the man after whom two buildings on campus are named: Paige Laboratory and the building now known as Munson Hall. Myra and Henry lived for many years at 17 South Prospect and continued to take boarders until after the turn of the century. Henry died in 1923 with Myra following on July 4, 1924. Both are buried in Wildwood Cemetery.
Contents of Collection
This diminutive autograph album was assembled in Amherst, Mass., between 1867 and 1874, presumably at the boarding house Myra Gallond’s family operated on South Prospect Street. Gallond’s long association with nearby Massachusetts Agricultural College included taking in boarders from the school and working there briefly as a housekeeper, and she was the sister-in-law of one of the college’s best known faculty members. Several of the College’s earliest students appear in the album, including three of the first international students, Saitaro Naito (Japan), Gabriel Codina (Spain), and Elesbam Fiuza Barreto (Brazil) and several from the Pioneer Class of 1871.
Administrative information
Access
The collection is open for research.
Language:
Provenance
Gift of I. Eliot Wentworth, Jan. 2017.
Processing Information
Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, Jan. 2017.
Copyright and Use (More information)
Cite as: Myra A. Gallond Autograph Album (MS 954 bd). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
Names
Genre terms
|