Page 3 – Special Collections & University Archives

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UMass Educational Television Collection

1994-2000

6 boxes 9 linear feet

Call no.: RG 13/1/3

In 1993, UMass Educational Television was created by Dean Bailey Jackson and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Jay Carey to establish a creative media outreach project for the School of Education. Professor Liane Brandon was asked to be the Director with Associate Dean Jay Carey as Co-director. Working in collaboration with staff member Scott Perry, they designed UMass Educational Television to provide the public with innovative, original, educational programming using the resources of the School of Education and the University, and to serve as a hands-on learning laboratory for students and teachers. They became the only School of Education in the country to produce original educational programming for cable/home audiences. Despite the positive reception of the programs produced, funding for the UMass Educational Television was cut and production ceased in 2003.

The UMass Educational Television Collection consists of many of the original programs they developed and created: Try This At Home, Fresh Ink, Who Knows? Pet Tales, Valley Vignettes, Hi Mom!, and Fine Print. Show flyers, posters, production files, and awards provide insight into the creation and reception of programs.

Gift of Liane Brandon, Jay Carey, Scott Penny, 2006.

Subjects

Educational television programs--Massachusetts

Contributors

Brandon, LianeCarey, JayPerry, ScottUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherst. School of Education

Hansen, Jacqueline

Jacqueline Hansen Papers

1970-2020

7 boxes 9.5 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1200

Jacqueline Hansen (born November 20, 1948) is a former long-distance runner from the United States who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set a world best in the marathon on two occasions. At California State University Northridge she became serious about long distance running and soon won 12 of her first 15 marathons. Among these victories, she won the prestigious Boston Marathon in 1973, the Honolulu Marathon in 1975, and the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in 1976. At age 36 she qualified for the 1984 Olympic Marathon Trials. Hansen was the president of the International Runners Committee from 1979-1986, which lobbied the International Olympic Committee to add women’s marathon and then sued them to include the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meters races for women. In 2009 she participated in a lawsuit against the Vancouver Organizing Committee to include women’s ski jumping at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Jacqueline Hansen Papers are primarily composed of documents and legal papers related to International Runners Committee and it’s lawsuit with the IOC in the early 1980s. Some files include Nike’s support of the International Runners Committee. Other materials include research files on the history of road racing for Hansen’s published and unpublished books and articles, programs and newspapers from the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas, and photographs and training journals of her running career.

Gift of Jacqueline Hansen, 2022.

Subjects

Long-distance running--HistoryMarathon running--HistoryOlympic Games (23rd : 1984 : Los Angeles, Calif.)--Litigation

Related collections: Sport, Women & feminism

Ruth Mansberg Collection of Bernard Bender

1971-1973 Bulk: 1972

1 .2 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1204

Finding aid

Ruth Mansberg was a writer, editor, poet, mother, and ardent peace activist. She worked with several civic, social, service, and political organizations dedicated to social change including a Pound Ridge, NY Nuclear Freeze chapter, the League of Women Voters, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She lived with her husband Hyman Mansberg and children Laura and Daniel in Pound Ridge, NY until moving to Chapel Hill, NC in 1991. After sidelining a writing career due to family obligations, she returned to writing upon her children entering adulthood. She enrolled in a continuing education writing course at the University of Connecticut, Stamford, where, thanks to a teacher there named Mel Goldberg, she picked up freelance work with two trade journals, Dental Management and Optometric Management. In 1971 she pitched a story to Dental Management on Bernard Bender, a 52 year old Los Angeles dentist who was convicted of helping young men avoid the draft by applying braces to their teeth. He was convicted in February of 1972 and sentenced to 15 years in Federal prison, but was later released in late 1973. Mansberg worked for a number of newspapers and trade publications and co-authored two books. She died in November of 2000 in Chapel Hill

This small collection consists of Mansberg’s correspondence and research materials related to her article, “The Strange Case of Dr. Bender”, which was published in the June 1972 issue of Dental Management. This includes correspondence between Mansberg, Dr. Bender and his wife Bea discussing the article and other things. In addition, there is correspondence with Mel Goldberg, the editor of Dental Management and others, whom she wrote for information about the case. There is also a reporter’s transcript of the trial and the testimony of dentist Spiro J. Chacanos.

Subjects

Trials (Conspiracy)--California--Los AngelesWomen journalists--United States

Contributors

Bender, Bernard

Types of material

Clippings (information artifacts)Correspondence

Restrictions: none

Huntington, Gladys Parrish, 1887-1959

Gladys Parrish Huntington Papers

1871-1961

13 boxes 15.5 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1173

Finding aid

Part of: Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers

Born on December 13, 1887, Gladys Theodora Parrish to wealthy birthright Quaker Alfred Parrish and Katharine Broadwood Jennings. Gladys married Constant Davis Huntington on October 17, 1916, who had been chairman of the London office of G. P. Putnam’s publishing company since 1905. The couple first resided in Hyde Park Gardens in London and then at Amberley House in Sussex. They had one daughter on January 11, 1922, Georgiana Mary Alfreda (Urquhart). Gladys Huntington wrote many plays and novels, including the bestselling book Madame Solario, published anonymously in 1956. Other published titles include; Carfrae’s Comedy (1915, novel), Barton’s Folly (1924, play), and Turgeniev (c. 1930, play). She died at St. George’s Hospital (Westminster) on May 31, 1959, at the age of 71.

The Gladys Parrish Huntington Papers is primarily composed of the correspondence of Gladys Huntington with her mother, Katharine “Kate” Parrish, husband Constant, daughter Alfreda, various friends, relatives, and professional contacts. Additionally, the collection contains a sizable amount of Gladys’ correspondence and traded manuscripts, short stories, poetry, and drafts with fellow authors such as Leo Myers, Nicolo Tucci, Helen Granville-Barker, Viola Mynell, Eric Clough Taylor, Cynthia Asquith, Clifford Bax, and others. Many of her own manuscripts and typed drafts of novels and plays (Madame Solario, Turgeniev, her unfinished final work, The Ladies’ Mile), along with childhood writings, photo albums, datebooks, and diaries spanning her lifetime are contained within the collection.

Gift of Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation, Inc.

Subjects

Authors and publishersAuthors--CorrespondenceGreat Britain--Social life and customs--20th century

Contributors

Huntington, ConstantHuntington, Gladys, 1887-1959Parrish, Katharine

Types of material

CorrespondenceDiariesWritings

Steve Alves Collection

1971-2021 Bulk: 1998-2010

75 boxes 93.75 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1203

Head and shoulders photograph of Steve Alves

Steve Alves is a western Massachusetts-based documentary filmmaker who, through his company Hometown Productions, later Home Planet Pictures, has written, produced, and directed several documentaries that examine New England’s natural and cultural history. Alves’ films, Beneath the River (1999), A Sweet Tradition (1999), Together in Time (2001), Everyone’s Business (1997), Life After High School (1990) and Talking to the Wall (2003) look at inter-generational ties and the role of community in American life and the tensions between tradition and modern capitalism at the dawn of the 21st century. His films examine a range of topics including local business, sprawl development, work, the Connecticut river, contra dance, and maple syrup and incorporate an array of storytelling techniques including animation, film clips, and dramatic vignettes. His 2014 film, Food for Change focuses on food co-ops as a force for dynamic social and economic change in American culture. His films have won numerous awards and honors from a host of entities including the Chicago International Film Festival, International Family Film Festival, the United Nations, and more.

Alves began his career as a filmmaker in the early 1970s as a student at the University of Southern California Film School where he made several documentary and experimental student films on 8 and 16mm in and around Los Angeles. Following graduation, he worked in Hollywood and New York City as a film editor on such films as Dancing’s All of You (1980), Sacred Hearts (1981), Ski New Hampshire (1981), The Garden of Eden (1984 Academy Award® nominee), Niagara Falls (1984), and The Adirondacks (1987). He moved to western Massachusetts in 1988 and formed his own film company, Home Planet Pictures. He has also produced several educational films and award-winning television commercials.

Alves’ collection documents the 50 year career of a working independent filmmaker. It includes all of the elements for most of his films which include outtakes, b-roll, and full interviews for all of his documentary films; from his earliest film Life After High School to Food for Change, his most recent. The collection covers a wide range of film and video formats including ¾” U-Matic, Betacam SP, S-VHS, Mini-DV, DVD, Super 8mm and 16mm. Also included are screenplays, correspondence, transcripts, interview releases, funding proposals, financial records, production documents, posters, and photographs related to the filming, production, release, and screening of all of his films. An inventory of the collection is available upon request.

Subjects

Cities and towns--GrowthCountry dancing--New EnglandDocumentary films--New EnglandEducational filmsFood cooperatives--United StatesIndependent filmmakersSmall business--New EnglandVideo tapes

Contributors

Alves, Steve

Types of material

16mm film8mm filmBetacam SPCorrespondenceGrant proposalsS-VHSVHSVideo tapes

Restrictions: none

Related collections: Agriculture, Arts & literature, Film & video, New England, Social change

Wolff, Richard D.

Richard D. Wolff Papers

1912-2020 Bulk: 1989-2008

8 boxes 7.55 linear feet

Call no.: FS 210

Richard Wolff delivering a lecture at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2011. Photo by Joel Simpson

Hired to the UMass Amherst Economics Department as part of the “radical package” in 1973, Richard D. Wolff is an influential Marxian economist and professor emeritus of economics. Wolff was born in 1942 to Max and Lieselotte Wolff, who emigrated to the United States during World War II. He earned a BA in History from Harvard, MA in Economics from Stanford, and MA and PhD in Economics from Yale University, during which time he was an instructor at Yale. Before coming to UMass, Wolff also taught at the City College of the City University of New York. Wolff and his colleague and frequent collaborator, Stephen Resnick, wrote prolifically during their career at UMass, developing a new framework for considering political economy. While teaching at UMass, Wolff and his colleagues established the Association for Economic and Social Analysis (AESA), which sponsors publication of the journal Rethinking Marxism. In 2012, Wolff co-founded Democracy at Work, a non-profit producing media that provides education and analysis of capitalism, Marxism, and democratic workplaces.

The Richard Wolff Papers document the professorial and professional career of Wolff through course material, writings and publications, book contracts, floppy disks, and a plethora of correspondence in the form of handwritten letters and printed out emails. There is also a small but significant amount of personal material, including family scrapbooks from Germany and his mother’s manuscript on surviving the Holocaust.

Gift of Richard Wolff, 2022

Language(s): GermanFrench

Subjects

Capitalism--United StatesEconomic historyMarxian economicsUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Faculty

Contributors

Resnick, Stephen A.Wolff, Richard D.

Types of material

CorrespondenceLecture notesProfessional papersPrograms (documents)

Related collections: Communism & Socialism, Political activism, UMass faculty

Elysian Spring

Elysian Spring Collection

1969-2020

1 box, 1 LP 0.20 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1119

Finding aid

Elysian Spring performing on stage, ca. 1969.

Formed by UMass Amherst students in the late 1960s, Elysian Spring proved to be a popular jazz band during their time on campus. The band’s name and member lineup changed over time, but by the time they recorded their first–and only–record in 1969, the band consisted of Rainer Bertrams, Jimmy Bridges, Lenny Ezbicki, Bruce Krasin, and Jerry Mirliani. The group was focused on improvisational, modal jazz compositions reflecting the beauty found in nature, with the band name itself referencing the Elysian Fields of Greek mythology. Elysian Spring played several venues on and off campus and were the highlight of the University Jazz Workshop concerts. The band released Glass Flowers in 1969, which features back cover notes written by Andy Haigh, Music Librarian at UMass at the time. After the album came out, and after graduations and moves, the band went their separate ways. However, their album became a cult favorite, being sought after by collectors and prompting a reissue of Glass Flowers that was released in 2018.

The Elysian Spring Collection includes the 2018 reissue of their 1969 album, Glass Flowers, color photographs, contact sheets, negatives, and a poster from a 1969 concert. There are also typed interviews with Bruce Krasin and Rainer Bertrams, and a DVD with a brief interview with Lenny Ezbicki and Bruce Krasin on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the release of their album.

Gift of Jerry Mirliani, 2020

Subjects

Jazz musicians--Massachusetts--Amherst

Contributors

Elysian Spring (Musical group)

Types of material

InterviewsLong-playing recordsPhotographs

Related collections: Jazz, Music, UMass students

Olney, Peter B.

Peter B. Olney Papers

1973-2014

32 boxes 48 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1196

A writer, scholar and leader in organized labor for over 50 years, Peter B. Olney began his career in the early 1970s by organizing the machine shop where he worked in Roxbury, Massachusetts into the United Electrical Workers, fully committed to helping the workforce take control of their own lives and destiny. Through periods of extraordinary cultural, technological and industry upheaval, with a particular focus on the immigrant working class community, Olney followed where that commitment led, becoming an “industrial salt” in Boston and Cambridge, bringing a union into non-union facilities or strengthening the union’s position in union facilities; an organizer and researcher at the ILGWU in Southern California; an organizer/coordinator at the Furniture Workers’ office of the IUE in Huntington Park, CA; an organizer at the Janitors’ office of the SEIU in Los Angeles and active in Justice for Janitors; a founding member of the LAMAP (Los Angeles Manufacturing Action Project); the Director of Organizing at the ILWU (International Longshoremen Warehouse Union) for 16 years; Associate Director of the ILE (Institute for Labor and Employment) at the University of California for 3 years; and a member of the faculty at the Building Trades Academy at Michigan State University. He has a Masters in Business Administration from UCLA and regularly contributes to ongoing discussions, publications and scholarship, online and in print, about the changing face of the Labor Movement with particular focus on organizing strategies, class struggles, immigration and the political climate.

Drawing from the records of these many organizations, the Olney Papers provide insights into labor organizing during a period of American history characterized by huge cultural shifts and rapid technological development, and include correspondence, memorandums, notes, white papers, articles, newspaper/magazine clippings and other printed matter, corporate reports and presentations, and a wide variety of internal administrative documents. Of particular note are strategic planning documents for the organizations with which Olney was engaged.

Gift of Peter B. Olney, 2020

Subjects

Labor movementLabor unions

Related collections: Labor, Social change

Brazier, Frederick William

Frederick William Brazier Scrapbooks

1888-1936 Bulk: 1888-1915

2 vols. 1 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1197

Frederick William Brazier (1852-1936) began his railroad career in 1877 as a car builder in his hometown of Boston, before working his way up the railroad business in Fitchburg, MA, where he was also involved with politics, including elected positions such as acting mayor of the city in 1893. He and his family then moved in 1893 to Chicago, IL, while he worked for the Illinois Central Railroad, and then left in 1899 for Yonkers, NY, where Brazier had an office in Grand Central Station while working for the New York Central Railroad. He concluded his career as Superintendent of Rolling Stock for the New York Central Railroad.

Brazier kept scrapbooks about the railroad throughout his life, and this collection includes two small (8×10) scrapbooks filled with clippings about the Fitchburg Railroad (and the town of Fitchburg in general), with a few pages about the New York Central Railroad. In addition to clippings, there is a small amount of related ephemera as well as personal items such as correspondence, Christmas cards, a few family photographs, and a 1904 pin recognizing Brazier as president of the Master Car Builders Association. Some scrapbook pages are stuck together and therefore inaccessible. A short biography of Brazier as well as his own essay, “My Railroad Service,” were included by the donor, a great-granddaughter of Brazier’s.

Gift of Jean Kilbourne, 2023.

Subjects

Boston and Maine Railroad. Fitchburg DivisionFitchburg Railroad CompanyRailroad companies--United States--History

Related collections: Massachusetts, Transport

Levins, Richard

Richard Levins Papers

1902-2016 Bulk: 1977-2004

21 boxes 23.51 linear feet

Call no.: MS 1142

Finding aid

Richard Levins, the John Rock Professor of Population Science who taught at Harvard University for nearly forty years, used his varied interests in ecology, mathematics, population genetics, and politics to form a multifaceted approach towards his studies. Focused on “looking at the whole” and understanding complex issues from a variety of perspectives, Levins was an active contributor to the disciplines of ecology, sustainable development, population dynamics, epidemiology, mathematical theorizing, and disparities in science. Rather than separating academic life from the political, Levins sought to intertwine the two subjects whenever possible. It was through these political connections that he met his wife, Rosario Morales, an author and poet from Puerto Rico. Following his marriage to Rosario, he became increasingly focused on the Puerto Rican independence movement and the mistreatment of the United States towards this territory. Along with holding professorship, Levins remained involved in research throughout his career, with topics including the spread and impact of infectious diseases as a result of a changing environment, human ecology, sustainable development, population dynamics in multi-species systems, agro-ecology, new and resurgent disease, philosophy of science in relation to complex systems, and third world science development.

The Richard Levins Papers spans the early years of his education to the end of his retirement years. Published writings, research materials, course materials, correspondence, and personal items bring multiple perspectives into this survey of Levins’s career and accomplishments.

Gift of Alejandro Levins, 2021

Language(s): Spanish

Subjects

Agricultural ecologyBiology--Social aspectsBiomathematicsCuba--Politics and governmentEcology--Mathematical modelsPopulation geneticsPuerto Rico--Politics and government

Contributors

Levins, RichardLewontin, Richard, 1929-2021

Types of material

ArticlesAudiocassettesCorrespondenceDrafts (documents)Notes (documents)Professional papersWritings (documents)