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Smith, Jonathan, 1757-1820

Jonathan Smith Collection

1788-1831
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 500
Finding aid

A prominent local politician from West Springfield, Mass., Jonathan Smith was born July 31, 1757. Among other offices, he served as town moderator, state representative, selectman, and Justice of the Peace. Most famously, lame duck Governor Elbridge Gerry appointed Smith to become the first sheriff of Hampden County shortly before the county was officially incorporated. The partisan appointment was immediately contested and brief. Smith died in Boston on February 5, 1820.

This miscellaneous collection contains a variety of professional and personal records of Jonathan Smith and other members of his family, falling almost exclusively in the first two decades of the nineteenth century.

Acquired from Dan Casavant, Jan. 2005

Subjects

Cattle--Massachusetts--West SpringfieldWest Springfield (Mass.)--History--19th century

Contributors

Hampden County (Mass.). Sheriff
Related collections: Family, Massachusetts (West)
Smith, Gilbert, b. 1801

Gilbert Smith and Gilbert Smith, Jr. Account Books

1798-1846
2 vols. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 205 bd
Finding aid

Gilbert Smith was a shoemaker and doctor from New Marlborough, Massachusetts, and his son Gilbert Jr. was a prosperous farmer from Sheffield, Massachusetts. Includes merchandise sales, labor accounts, lists of boarders, and documentation of the sale of homemade butter and cheese to local merchants, as well as trade with the substantial rural black community of the region.

Subjects

African Americans--Massachusetts--Economic conditions--19th centuryAgricultural laborers--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryAgricultural wages--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryDairy products--Massachusetts--Marketing--History--19th centuryFamily--Economic aspects--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryFarmers--Massachusetts--Sheffield--History--19th centuryNew Marlborough (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centurySheffield (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

Smith, Gilbert, 1801-Smith, Gilbert, d. 1804

Types of material

Account books
Related collections: African American, Business & industry, Farming & rural life, Massachusetts (West)
Smith, Lewis

Lewis Smith Account Book

1784-1828
2 folders 0.15 linear feet
Call no.: MS 085 b
Finding aid

A resident of Northampton, Mass., directly across the Connecticut River from South Hadley, Lewis Smith ran a substantial farm during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Settling in the village of Smith’s Ferry shortly after service in the American Revolution, Smith owned a part stake in a sawmill and produced and traded in an array of farm products, from grains and vegetables to grain, beef, and pork. A producer of apples and owner of his own mill, he produced large quantities of cider and vinegar.

In a standard double-column account book kept somewhat erratically, Lewis Smith recorded an extensive exchange of goods and services befitting a prosperous Northamptonite. Smith sold an array of goods he produced, from apples to dairy products, grain, beef, lard, and tallow, with cider from his mill (and briefly brandy) being the most consistent producer of revenue.

Subjects

Cider industry--Massachusetts--NorthamptonFarmers--Massachusetts--NorthamptonNorthampton (Mass.)--History

Types of material

Account books
Related collections: Farming & rural life, Massachusetts (West), Mercantile
Smith, W. R.

W.R. Smith Papers

1914-1947
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 243
Finding aid

W.R. Smith was a Vice President and organizer for the International Brotherhood of Papers Makers (I.B.P.M.) who principally attempted to gain union conditions for papers workers near Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Includes letters to and from I.B.P.M. president James T. Carey as well as a 116-page transcript of Smith’s organizing reports for the years 1914-1920, documenting his activities in Holyoke, Massachusetts, among other cities and towns in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington.

Subjects

Holyoke (Mass.)--Economic conditions--20th centuryInternational Brotherhood of Paper MakersKalamazoo (Mich.)--Economic conditions--20th centuryKalamazoo (Mich.)--Social conditions--20th centuryLabor unions--MassachusettsLabor unions--Organizing--United States--History--20th centuryLabor unions--United States--Officials and employees--History--20th centuryPaper industry workers--Labor unions--MassachusettsPaper industry workers--Labor unions--Organizing--Massachusetts--Holyoke--HistoryPaper industry workers--Labor unions--Organizing--Michigan --Kalamazoo--History

Contributors

Carey, Jeremiah T., 1870-1957Smith, W. R
Related collections: Labor, Massachusetts (West)
Snow, Ephraim

Ephraim Snow Daybook

1822-1878
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 198 bd
Digital (+)
Finding aid
Depiction of

The wheelwright Ephraim Snow was born in Rochester, Mass., on Sept. 9, 1821, the son of Samuel and Rhoda (Stewart) Snow. Apparently beginning as a general carpenter, he moved to neighboring Mattapoisett shortly after 1850, where he worked as a wheelwright for many years. He married Silvia A. Nickerson on July 1, 1858, who died after giving birth to their fourth child in 1874. Ephraim Snow appears to have died in Mattapoisett in either 1880 or 1881.

This unusual daybook offers an intimate glimpse into the lively shipbuilding and whaling village of Mattapoisett as these industries peaked and begin to decline. The earliest portions of the books include sparse accounts apparently kept by Samuel Snow, Ephraim’s father, with Ephraim’s day book covering the period 1842-1878. Most of his work involved repairing or manufacturing wagon wheels or shafts, but he applied his skills quite widely in repairing wheelbarrows, chairs, cradles, and boxes, hanging doors or doing general house carpentry, and taking boarders in his home. Interspersed in the volume are a large number of poems, a few nicely rendered pen and ink drawings, and a small handful of letters.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Mattapoisett (Mass.)--HistoryMattapoisett (Mass.)--Social conditionsWheelwrights--Massachusetts--Mattapoisett

Contributors

Snow, Ephraim

Types of material

Pen drawingPoemsTintypes (Prints)
Related collections: Massachusetts (East), Trades
Social Change Collection

Social Change Collection

1937-2008
6 boxes 3 linear feet
Call no.: MS 457
Digital (+)
Finding aid
Depiction of Join the SMC, 1970
Join the SMC, 1970

The term social change is used in SCUA to refer to individuals and organizations who actively seek to better the world around them, as well as to individuals experiencing shifts in economic, cultural, and social life. Few movements for change exist in isolation. Following W.E.B. Du Bois, we recognize that seemingly disparate issues in social justice are often intrinsically and deeply interconnected, so that to create change in one area requires close attention to others. It is the flow of ideas, people, and organizations that constitutes the warp and weft of social change in the twentieth century.

Created to collocate small groups of manuscripts, documents, letters, and other unpublished materials relating to the history and experience of social change, the Social Change Collection is focused largely on movements of the 1960s and after. While entirely miscellaneous, the collection includes interesting material relating to the peace and antiwar movements during the 1960s, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the conflict in Vietnam, antiimperialist movements in Central and South America, and a small number of items relating to sexuality, gender, and feminism.

Acquired variously.

Subjects

Anti-imperialist movementsCommunismFeminismPeace movementsVietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements

Contributors

Students for a Democratic Society (U.S.)
Related collections: Communism & Socialism, Counterculture, Peace, Political activism, Political radicalism, Social change, Vietnam War, Women & feminism
Social Change Periodicals

Social Change Periodicals Collection

1969-2006
14 boxes 21 linear feet
Call no.: MS 306
Finding aid
Depiction of Peace and Freedom, Mar. 1980
Peace and Freedom, Mar. 1980

Assembled to bring together short and broken runs of periodicals produced by activists and movements for social justice, the Social Change Periodicals Collection touches on a wide variety of topics. Much of the original collection came from subscriptions held by the Everywoman’s Center at UMass Amherst, however the collection has grown to include materials supplied by many other donors. The bulk of periodicals come from the period 1965-1990 and the subjects covered range from feminism to gay rights, and political radicalism, to peace, prison, labor, antiracism, and the counterculture more generally. The collection has been organized thematically into 19 series.

Subjects

African Americans--Suffrage--PeriodicalsCentral America--Politics and government--PeriodicalsDisarmament--PeriodicalsFeminism--PeriodicalsGay liberation movement--PeriodicalsLabor--United States--PeriodicalsLesbians--PeriodicalsNonviolence--PeriodicalsPeace--PeriodicalsPrisons--United States--PeriodicalsRadicalism--United States--PeriodicalsSocialism--PeriodicalWomen--Periodical

Types of material

Periodicals
Related collections: African American, Counterculture, LGBTQ, Peace, Political activism, Political radicalism, Social change, Social justice, Vietnam War, Women & feminism
Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia Collection

1925-1986
32 boxes 48 linear feet
Call no.: MS 407
Finding aid

The Southeast Asia Collection highlights the regional wars from the 1970s to the 1980s, including a series on Southeast Asian refugees in America, along with materials on regional economic development, especially in the Mekong River Basin. The collection contains hundreds of reports on agricultural and industrial projects in the region, examining everything from the impact of electrification on village life in Thailand to a description of a Soviet-built hospital in Cambodia in 1961, to an assessment of herbicide in Vietnam in 1971.

Collected primarily by Joel Halpern and James Hafner, the collection includes background, field, and situation reports by U.S. Operations Missions and U.S. Agency for International Development; reports, publications, statistics, and background information from other U.S. government agencies, governments of Laos and Thailand, and the United Nations; correspondence, reports, and reference materials of nongovernmental organizations; reports and essays by individuals about Southeast Asia; news releases and newspapers; published and unpublished bibliographies; and interviews with U.S. military personnel. Most material comes from governmental and organizational sources, but there are papers by, and debriefs of, numerous individuals.

Subjects

Cambodia--History--1953-1975Laos--HistoryVietnam War, 1961-1975

Contributors

Hafner, JamesHalpern, Joel Martin
Related collections: Asia, Social change, Southeast Asians, Vietnam War
Spragens, John

John Spragens Cambodian Photograph Collection

1983
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 116
Finding aid

The photojournalist John Spragens spent the better part of a decade living in Southeast Asia from 1966-1974, working for a variety of relief and peace organizations.

Taken by John Spragens late in 1983, the black-and-white photographs in this collection document Cambodia shortly after the Vietnamese Army defeated Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge and installed a new order.

Acquired from John Spragens, 1986

Subjects

Agriculture--Cambodia--PhotographsCambodia--PhotographsFarmers markets--Cambodia--PhotographsFishing--Cambodia--PhotographsOrphans--Cambodia--Photographs

Types of material

Photographs
Restrictions: The photographer retains copyright to all images in the collection.
Related collections: Immigration & ethnicity, Photographs, Photojournalism, Southeast Asians, Vietnam War
Sroka Family

Sroka Family Papers

1842-1960
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 216

Polish family who emigrated to the United States in 1912-1913 and settled in Chicopee, Massachusetts, working in meat packing firms and textile factories, and also as seamstresses and farmers.

Includes birth and wedding certificates, military and employment documentation, residential and passport applications, photographs, and lists of baptisms, weddings, and deaths. Also contains a family history written by Gary Sroka, correspondence, payment book for the Society of St. Joseph (Chicopee, Massachusetts), and a news clipping. All materials exist as photocopies and are written primarily in Polish, German, and Hungarian, though some are in English, Ukrainian, and Russian.

Subjects

Chicopee (Mass.)--HistoryImmigrants--MassachusettsPolish Americans--Massachusetts
Related collections: Family, Massachusetts (West), Poland & Polish Americans
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