Nash-Scott Family Papers
Long-time residents of Hadley, Massachusetts, the Nash and Scott families were united in 1881 when John Nash, a farmer, married Lizzie Scott. Of their seven children, Herman B. Nash, graduated from the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1917, and immediately enlisted in the army, serving in France at the close of World War I. His youngest sister, Helen, kept the family connected during these years by writing and distributing a family newsletter, the Plainville News.
The Nash-Scott Family Papers contain a number of photographs, including an album capturing a trip to the west coast in 1915 and a canoe trip to Labrador in 1920. Herman B. Nash’s scrapbook documents not only his time as a student at M.A.C., but also his service in France, featuring candid photographs taken by Nash during and after the war as well as identification cards, company rosters, and a German propaganda leaflet picked up near the front. Pamphlets, genealogical notes and postcards complete the collection.
Background on Nash-Scott family
John Nash was the son of Samuel Nash and was raised on the family homestead in Hadley, Massachusetts. He was born in January 1847 and became a farmer. John met Lizzie Scott at the North Hadley Church. Lizzie was born in North Hadley in July 1858. Her mother died when she was fifteen and she was therefore left to care for her younger siblings. The two were married in May 1881 and went on to have seven children, George, Alice, Ethel, Luella, Ruth, Herman, and Helen. Lizzie died in July 1927 and John died two years later in 1929.
Not all of the Nash children survived into childhood. Alice died when she was only nine years old after being bitten by a dog. George had several health issues growing up and died when he was 37. Ethel became a teacher in Connecticut after going to Smith College and Northampton Commercial College. Ruth went to New York City for a time after graduating. She helped keep up the family farm along with operating a poultry farm.
Luella worked at the Amherst Library after graduating from Mount Holyoke College. During World War I, she helped in the war effort by taking a job as a secretary in the Department of Agriculture in Washington D.C. After the war in August of 1920 she married Walter Buchanan, a high school math teacher. The two lived in several towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Luella died in 1971.
The youngest Nash sibling, Helen, never lived far from home. Like Ethel, Helen became a teacher after studying at Northampton Commercial College in 1920. She taught in Brooklyn for a while but returned home to help her mother who was ill. She became in Elementary school in Hadley for almost forty years before become the librarian at Hopkins Academy for two years before retiring. Helen lived to be 86 years old when she died in June 1987.
Herman Nash, the second of John and Lizzie’s two boys was born in 1895. He graduated from Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1917 and immediately joined the Army. During World War I, Herman served in France from 1918-1919. He ended up teaching agriculture in Allerey, France at the American Expeditionary Forces University.
Upon returning home Herman met Grace Leonard; she taught at Hopkins Academy while he served on the school committee board. Herman taught school in Connecticut and Massachusetts before the family settled in Springfield where he worked for the Post Office until he retired in 1961. Until 1955 he served in the Army Reserves and served in a training post during World War II. Herman was 82 when he died in 1977.
Before marrying Herman, Grace taught at various schools in Massachusetts. She was originally from Marshfield, Massachusetts and went to Boston University to study teaching. The couple had three children, Howard, Herman Jr. and John. Grace spent the rest of her life raising her children. In 1973 Grace died at the age of 77.
Contents of Collection
Joined together by the marriage of John and Lizzie in 1881, the Nash and Scott families were both long-time Hadley residents. This collection of family papers features the history of individual family members as well as of the area of western Massachusetts in which the lived and worked. Highlights include scrapbooks from the Massachusetts Agricultural College, World War I era letters, genealogical materials, a family newsletter, and numerous photographs and photo albums.
A significant amount of the collection includes the correspondence of Herman Nash. While serving in World War I, Herman wrote almost daily to his family and friends back home. In his letters he discussed daily routines and where he was. The letters his family wrote to him, mainly from his mother are also in the collection. After the war and throughout their marriage Grace kept a lengthy correspondence with her friends from college and other Nash family members.
The Nash-Scott papers includes a wide variety of family materials from diaries and school papers to genealogies and scrapbooks. An extensive amount of area history to be found in the collection along with family history and genealogy. Postcards from family travels are included in the collection from New York to California to Texas. Several family members assembled scrapbooks to commemorate special events or local news. Information about daily life in the Nash family during the 1930s and 1940s can also be found. Issues of the newsletter Plainville News, created by Helen Nash, kept her older siblings apprised of the happenings at home.
The collection contains a significant number of Nash family photos from John and Lizzie to Herman and Grace. Along with Nash photos there are also a variety of photographs from the Scott and Leonard families. The series includes several photo albums, one of the albums is from John and Lizzie’s trip to Labrador and another from Helen Nash’s time as a school teacher in the early 1920s.
Walter Buchanan’s copy.
Illustrated by Charles G. Noakes.
Presented to two clubs, Real Good Sewers Club and Silver Wing Handicraft Club, led by Helen E. Nash.
Herman B. Nash listed.
Sent from France by Madame Remy about 1923; a wedding gift.
Helen Nash’s copy of the Hopkins Academy yearbook; the students dedicated the yearbook to Nash for her years of service to the school.
Includes photograph of Herman Nash, page 46.
Various family memorabilia including spectacles, leather baby shoes, fans, leather wallet, and medals.
Miscellaneous printed paintings and photographs collected by Nash family.
Cut at age four.
Includes content for Nash’s days as a student at Smith’s Agricultural High School, Northampton and the Massachusetts Agricultural College (MAC) as well as his service during World War I. Approximately 125 photographs from the front lines in France (purchsed there during his service), approximately 75 candid photographs taken by Nash during the war, and ephemera such as identfication cards, arm patch, company rosters, German propoganda leaflet picked up near front, programs, tickets all relating to his service. MAC materials include dance cards, tickets, baseball programs, and miscellaneous ephemera relating to the College.
Appraisal of his estate and effects.
Account book of descriptive entries of work performed, including shoe making and timber milling. Also includes practice pages of cursive handwriting.
Contains newspaper clippings, notes, photographs (18), postcards (30), and real photo postcards (12) of covered bridges in New England.
Copy belonged to Helen E. Nash.
Issue featuring “Attractive Amherst.”
Belonged to John Nash.
Daughter of Ebenezer Dickinson and grandmother of Lizzie Scott Nash. She taught at Mount Holyoke; her three daughters (Martha, Hannah, and Emily) all graduated from Mount Holyoke.
Daguerreotype of husband and wife; Laura B. Dodge granddaughter of Israel Scott.
Includes images of St. Lawrence River, Montreal, slums of Sous le Cap, Quebec City, Ste Anne de Beaupre, “Half breed spinning,” “Indian squaw, San Prin,” Labrador, Maine coast.
Four family photo albums dating from the same time period.
Aaron Scott and sisters, Cornelia and Emily, children of Rufus Porter Scott.
Cased ambrotype of Elvira C. Scott, wife of R. Porter Scott.
Daughter of Rufus Scott.
J. D. Wells, photographer.
Cased daguerreotype of Emily A. Scott, daughter of Rufus Scott, with early albumen print of her husband Charles Cleveland.
Cased ambrotype of Emily, Cornelia, and Hannah Scott, daughters of Rufus Scott.
Cased ambrotype of Cornelia Scott Dickinson, Rufus Porter Scott (back row); Aaron Scott, Hannah Scott Clarke (front row).
Man wearing top hat.
Four gem tintypes; three unidentified women, one unidentified man.
Ruby ambrotype; image indiscernible.
Tintype of two unidentified women enclosed with cased ambrotype.
J.D. Wells, photographer.
Images of trip to West coast including Portland, Oregon, Yellowstone, San Francisco World’s Fair, Los Angeles and Pasadena, San Diego Fair, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Hopi and “Apache” adobe houses; all image identified.
Administrative information
Access
The collection is open for research.
Language:
English
Digitized content
The World War I correspondence and other materials have been digitized and may be viewed online through SCUA’s digital repository, Credo.
Provenance
Acquired from Alice Nash, 2008.
Processing Information
Processed by Ashley Purvis, August 2009.
Acknowledgments
Digitization was made possible through the generous support of the Neal Shipley Fund and Lloyd Bonfield.
Copyright and Use (More information
)
Cite as: Nash-Scott Family Papers (MS 581). Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries.