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

Page 118 of 162

Common Reader Bookshop (New Salem, Mass.)

Common Reader Bookshop Collection

1977-1997
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 472
Digital (+)
Finding aid
Depiction of Abramson, Johnson, and cats on the porch of their New Salem home, 1977
Abramson, Johnson, and cats on the porch of their New Salem home, 1977

Co-owned by Dorothy Johnson and Doris Abramson, the Common Reader Bookshop in New Salem, Massachusetts, specialized in women’s studies materials, or in their words, “books by, for, and about women.” A couple for almost 40 years and married in 2004, Johnson and Abramson opened the store in 1977 and as they grew, relocated to the town’s old Center School building across the street in 1983. The shop closed for business in 2000.

Comprised of two scrapbooks and folder of ephemera, the collection highlights the Common Reader Bookshop not only as a place for buying antiquarian books, but also for the community it fostered.

Gift of Doris Abramson and Dorothy Johson, Jan. 2005.

Subjects

Antiquarian booksellers--MassachusettsNew Salem (Mass.)--HistoryWomen--Massachusetts

Contributors

Abramson, Doris E.Common Reader Bookshop (New Salem, Mass.)Johnson, Dorothy

Types of material

EphemeraPhotographs
Related collections: Books and book history, LGBTQ, Massachusetts (West), Photographs, Women & feminism
Communist Party of Massachusetts

Communist Party of Massachusetts Collection

1932-1957
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 538
Digital (+)
Finding aid

A branch of the Communist Party of the United States of America, the Communist Party of Massachusetts enjoyed strong popularity during the 1930s and 1940s, organizing the textile and other manufacturing industries.

This small collection is comprised of a miscellaneous assemblage of fliers, broadsides, and ephemera issued by the Communist Party of Massachusetts and its affiliates from the mid-1930s through the repression of the McCarthy era. Originating mostly from Boston, the items in the collection center on significant themes in Communist thought, including opposition to Fascism and militarism, labor solidarity against capital, and elections. A small number of items relate to Party-approved cultural productions, including plays and gatherings to celebrate Lenin or the Russian Revolution. Many items are associated with Otis A. Hood, a perpetual candidate for public office on the Communist Party ticket who became a target for McCarthy-era repression in the mid-1950s.

Acquired from Eugene Povirk, 2008

Subjects

Antiwar movements--MassachusettsCommunists--MassachusettsElections--MassachusettsWorld War, 1939-1945

Contributors

Communist Party of Massachusetts

Types of material

BroadsidesFliers
Related collections: Communism & Socialism, Labor, Massachusetts (East), Peace, Political radicalism, Social justice, World War II
Connecticut River Watershed

Connecticut River Watershed Survey Reports

1949-1950
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 067
Finding aid

The US Department of Agriculture was already actively engaged in water control and management issues prior to the enactment of the Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1944. Pursuant to the 1936 Act, and the extensive flooding of 1936 and 1938, the USDA conducted an extensive survey of the Connecticut River Watershed.

Issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1950 in compliance with the Flood Control Act of 1936, these flood reports present the results of a survey and the outline of a program of land use and management developed to alleviate flood and sediment problems in Connecticut River Watershed. The collection includes both a preliminary draft (in typescript) and completed report and appendix of the survey, with the final reports marked “Confidential. For Departmental review only.”

Subjects

Connecticut RiverFlood control--Connecticut RiverGroundwater flow--Connecticut River WatershedRunoff--Connecticut River Watershed
Related collections: Connecticut, Environment, Massachusetts (West), Vermont
Constitutionalism in American Life Conference

Constitutionalism in American Life Conference Collection

1986
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 140
Finding aid

A conference hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst on November 7-9, 1986, that examined the impact of the Constitution on politics and government, foreign policy, race relations, and the economy, and also discussed the impact on the constitution of popular struggles and the emergence of “rights consciousness.” Includes papers presented at the conference that were to be subsequently published in a special bicentennial issue of the Journal of American History.

Subjects

Constitutional history--United States--CongressesConstitutional law--United States--CongressesJournal of American historyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--History
Related collections: Antiracism, Civil rights, Social change, Social justice, UMass (1947- )
Conte, Silvio O. (Silvio Oltavio), 1921-1991

Silvio O. Conte Papers

1950-1991
389 boxes 583.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 371
Digital
Finding aid
Depiction of Silvio Conte, 1973
Silvio Conte, 1973

Temporarily stored offsite; contact SCUA to request materials from this collection.

Massachusetts State Senator for the Berkshire District, 1950-1958, and representative for Massachusetts’s First District in the United States Congress for 17 terms, 1959-1991, where he made significant contributions in the areas of health and human services, the environment, education, energy, transportation, and small business.

Spanning four decades and eight presidents, the papers offer an extraordinary perspective on the major social, economic, and cultural changes experienced by the American people. Includes correspondence, speeches, press releases, bill files, his voting record, committee files, scrapbooks, travel files, audio-visual materials and over 5,000 photographs and slides.

Subjects

Massachusetts--Politics and government--1951-Massachusetts. SenateUnited States--Politics and government--20th centuryUnited States. Congress. House

Contributors

Conte, Silvio O. (Silvio Oltavio), 1921-1991

Types of material

PhotographsScrapbooksSound recordings
Related collections: China, Civil rights, Disability, Environment, Massachusetts (West), Medical, Politics & governance, Social change, Vietnam War
Cook Borden & Co.

Cook Borden and Co. Account Books

1863-1914
3 vols. 1.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 288 bd
Finding aid

Cook Borden (a great uncle of Lizzie Borden) and his sons were prosperous lumber dealers from Fall River, Massachusetts who supplied large mills and transportation companies in the region. Three volumes include lists of customers and building contractors, company and personal profits and losses, accounts for expenses, horses, harnesses, lumber, and the planing mill, as well as accounts indicating the cost of rent, labor (with the “teamers”), insurance, interest, and other items.

Subjects

Callahan, Daley & CoConstruction industry--Massachusetts--HistoryContractors--Massachusetts--HistoryCratesLumberLumber trade--Massachusetts--Fall River--Accounting--HistoryTextile factories--Massachusetts--HistoryTextile industry--MassachusettsTransportation--Massachusetts--HistoryWages--Manufacturing industries--Massachusetts

Contributors

Borden, Cook, 1810-Borden, JeromeBorden, Philip HBorden, Theodore WCook Borden & Co

Types of material

Account books
Related collections: Business & industry, Massachusetts (East)
Cooley, Bertha Strong

Bertha Strong Cooley Collection

1901-1949
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 506
Finding aid

An educator, farmer’s wife, and resident of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, Bertha Strong Cooley was an ardent Socialist who published regularly in local newspapers on topics ranging from anti-imperialism, democracy, capitalism, Communism, Russia, World War II, and civil rights.

The Cooley scrapbooks reflect the views of a teacher and farmer’s wife who used the newspapers to express her passion for social justice. Cooley ranged widely in responding to the news of the day, espousing Socialism and opposing racial injustice, war, imperialism, economic oppression, and Capitalism. One scrapbook contains writings by Cooley, the other clippings of articles dealing with topics of interest.

Subjects

African Americans--Civil rightsPacifists--MassachusettsRace relations--United StatesSocial justice--MassachusettsSocialists--MassachusettsWorld War, 1939-1945

Contributors

Cooley, Bertha Strong

Types of material

Letters to the editorScrapbooks
Related collections: African American, Antiracism, Civil rights, Communism & Socialism, Massachusetts (West), Peace, Social change, Social justice
Coon, John H.

John H. Coon Ledger

1862-1873
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 230 bd
Finding aid

Owner of a general store and a farmer in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Ledger includes lists of customers, the goods that they purchased, and how they paid (cash and exchange of goods or services).

Subjects

Arnold, EmmonsCrippen, FrankCroslear, Aaron, MrsCurtiss, IraGeneral stores--Massachusetts--SheffieldNoteware, FrankSheffield (Mass.)--Economic conditionsTuttle, Leonard

Contributors

Coon, John H

Types of material

Account books
Related collections: Massachusetts (West), Mercantile
Copeland, Thomas W.

Thomas W. Copeland Papers

1923-1979
22 boxes 10 linear feet
Call no.: FS 050
Finding aid
Depiction of Thomas W. Copeland, 1940
Thomas W. Copeland, 1940

A scholar of eighteenth century British literature and culture, Thomas W. Copeland began what would become more than half a century of research on the statesman and political philosopher Edmund Burke while studying for his doctorate at Yale (1933). After publication of his dissertation in 1949 as Our Eminent Friend Edmund Burke, Copeland was named managing editor of the ten-volume Correspondence (1958-1978). After academic appointments at Yale and the University of Chicago, he joined the faculty at UMass in 1957, remaining here until his retirement in 1976. A chair was established in his name in the Department of English.

The Copeland Papers are a rich collection of personal and professional correspondence, journals and writings from Copeland’s Yale years, manuscripts, typescripts, notes, and draft revisions of his works on Edmund Burke, and a journal chronicling Copeland’s four-year exercise in the daily practice of writing.

Subjects

Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797University of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of English

Contributors

Golden, Morris
Related collections: Literature & language, UMass (1947- ), UMass faculty
Craig, Edward Gordon, 1872-1966

Edward Gordon Craig Collection

1951-1956
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 344
Digital
Finding aid

A noted figure in modernist theater, Edward Gordon Craig was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on Jan. 16, 1872, the illegitimate son of the renowned actress Ellen Terry and the architect Edward William Craig. Although the most productive portion of his career was brief, he exerted a strong influence on the field of set design and lighting, and was fairly prolific as a writer on theatre.

The six audio recordings that comprise the Craig collection originated from a series of BBC radio talks in the early 1950s. The reel to reel tapes include Craig’s reminiscences of Ellen Terry, Isadora Duncan, the old school of acting, celebrities, masks, and how he played Hamlet in Salford, Lancashire, but are more generally his thoughts on acting, the theater, and art.

Gift of Walther Richard Volbach via Vincent Brann, 1990

Subjects

ActingActors--Great BritainDuncan, Isadora, 1877-1927Terry, Ellen, Dame, 1847-1928Theater--Great Britain

Types of material

Open reel audiotapesSound recordings
Related collections: Performing arts
« Older posts Newer posts »