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

Collections: I

International Fluoride Information Network

International Fluoride Information Network Bulletins

1999-2004
2 boxes 3 linear feet
Call no.: MS 718

Founded by Paul Connett, a Professor of Chemistry at St. Lawrence University, the International Fluoride Information Network was dedicated to broadening public awareness about the issues involved in fluoridating public water supplies and organizing opposition.

The IFIN Bulletin first appeared in 1999 and over the next five years, 917 issues were published. The Bulletin was succeeded by the Fluoride Action Network Bulletin in 2004. This collection includes a complete series of the Bulletins, printed out.

Subjects

Antifluoridation movement

Contributors

Connett, P. H. (Paul H.)

Types of material

Bulletins
International Oil Working Group

International Oil Working Group Collection

1957-1987 Bulk: 1980-1985
29 boxes 15 linear feet
Call no.: MS 268

The International Oil Working Group (IOWG) is one of a number of organizations that worked to implement an oil embargo initiated by the United Nations General Assembly against South Africa to protest the country’s policies of apartheid. The IOWG grew out of the Sanctions Working Group established in 1979. Although the nature and timing of the change in names is unclear, it appears that Dr. Teresa Turner was instrumental in the formation of both groups and was primarily responsible for their organization and administration. Other directors included Luis Prado, Arnold Baker and Kassahun Checole. While the group was loosely organized, it maintained the basic structure of a special advisory board with a pool of research associates. Primary activities involved researching topics related to the oil embargo; writing papers for regional, national, and international conferences; giving testimony at UN meetings; providing information to governments, unions and other groups committed to aiding in the implementation of the oil embargo; lecturing to students and members of the community on the subject of sanctions against South Africa; and collaborating with the UN Center Against Apartheid. Research topics included tanker monitoring to detect and expose those shipping companies that broke the embargo; the energy needs in those countries in southern Africa which depend upon South Africa to meet some of their energy demands; ways to effectively implement and enforce the oil embargo; trade union action by oil transport workers; Namibian independence and decolonization; and underground oil storage in South Africa.

Collection consists of administrative papers including financial records, minutes and association history materials; correspondence; printed materials produced by the IOWG; conference files; UN documents relating to South Africa and sanctions; and reference materials, including published reports, news clippings, newsletters and journals, related to oil shipping, tanker information and South African economic and political activity generally.

Subjects

Apartheid--South Africa--HistoryEconomic sanctions--South Africa--HistoryEmbargoNamibia--History--Autonomy and independence movementsNamibia--Politics and government--1946-1990Petroleum industry and trade--History--20th centuryPetroleum industry and trade--Political aspects--South AfricaSouth Africa--Politics and government--1978-1989Tankers--South Africa--History

Contributors

International Oil Working GroupTurner, Terisa
International Union of Electrical Workers. Local 213

IUE Local 213 Arbitration and Grievance Records

1955-1970
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 326

Restricted arbitration and grievance files for individual employees organized under Local 213 of the IUE in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Subjects

Electricians--Labor unions--MassachusettsLabor unions--Massachusetts
International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers

IUE Connecticut Locals Records

1981-1992
18 boxes 27 linear feet
Call no.: MS 559

Local chapters of the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers representing workers in Connecticut. Records document a full range of union activities from elections and contract negotiations to arbitration and grievances. Also includes some union realia such as button, t-shirts, and bumper stickers.

Subjects

International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine WorkersLabor unions--Connecticut

Types of material

Realia
International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. Local 206

IUERMW Local 206 Records

1936-1986
30 boxes 14.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 132

Union that represented workers at the American Bosch plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, affiliated with the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers after 1949.

Records include by-laws, minutes of the Executive Board, General Council, and Membership meetings, correspondence, membership reports, grievance and arbitration records, contract negotiation proposals and counter-proposals, strike materials, and publications documenting the administration, activities, and membership of Local 206. Effects of changing national economy and international trade on workers and union affairs, through time, are evident.

Subjects

American Bosch--HistoryCollective bargaining--Machinery industry--Massachusetts --SpringfieldIndustrial relations--Massachusetts--SpringfieldInternational Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. Local 206 (Springfield, Mass.)Labor unions--Massachusetts--SpringfieldMachinists--Labor unions--Massachusetts--SpringfieldMetal-working machinery industry--Massachusetts --SpringfieldPlant shutdowns--Massachusetts--SpringfieldSpringfield (Mass.)--Economic conditionsSpringfield (Mass.)--IndustriesStrikes and lockouts--Machinery industry--Massachusetts --SpringfieldUnited Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Local 206 (Springfield, Mass.)

Types of material

Letters (Correspondence)
International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. Local 278

IUERMW Local 278 Records

1942-1984
4 boxes 2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 252

Local chapter of the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers that represented workers at the Chapman Valve Manufacturing Company of Indian Orchard, Massachusetts. Records include detailed minute books of general and executive board meetings as well as several ledgers that reflect the activities of the credit union and the Chapman Valve Athletic Association.

Subjects

Chapman Valve Manufacturing CompanyElectricians--Labor unions--MassachusettsInternational Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine WorkersLabor unions--Massachusetts
International Women's Year Conference

International Women's Year Conference Collection

1977
6 boxes 2.75 linear feet
Call no.: MS 510
Depiction of IWY printed material
IWY printed material

After 1975 was designated as the first International Women’s Year by the United Nations, later extended to a decade, President Carter created a National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year. A national women’s conference was proposed and funded by the U.S.Congress, the first and only time the federal government funded a nationwide women’s conference. A series of state meetings were held throughout 1977 to elect delegates to the national conference and to identify goals for improving the status of women over the next decade.

This collection consists of state reports prepared and submitted to the National Commission for the Observance of International Women’s Year. Reports include details about the election of national delegates, topics of workshops held at the meetings, and resolutions adopted by individual states.

Subjects

Equal rights amendmentsFeminism--United StatesInternational Women's Year ConferenceWomen's rights--United States
Ireland Lyceum Constitution, By-Laws, and Regular Proceedings

Ireland Lyceum Constitution, By-Laws, and Regular Proceedings

1847-1849
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 481 bd

Obscure in origin, the Ireland Lyceum appears to have been a fairly typical antebellum debating society, organized as an intellectually stimulating social activity for the benefit of its members. Meeting regularly, probably in the city of Holyoke, members formally debated a pre-assigned topic such as “Has America arrived at the zenith of her glory” (decided in the negative) or “are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness inalienable rights,” after which the members might hear an address.

A mangled, fragmentary echo of its former self, the Constitution, by-laws, and regular proceedings of the Ireland Lyceum contains the slender records of a typical antebellum men’s debating society. The volume was later used as a scrapbook with newspaper clippings covering the pages, however the clippings have been removed from the first several pages by a conservator, revealing some of the original content.

Subjects

Debates and debating--Societies, etc.--Massachusetts--HolyokeHolyoke (Mass.)--History--19th centuryLyceums--Massachusetts--Holyoke

Types of material

Scrapbooks
Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive

Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive

ca. 1920-2023
Call no.: MS 1182
Depiction of Maya Angelou at James Baldwin's birthday party, 1984. Photo by Irma McClaurin.
Maya Angelou at James Baldwin's birthday party, 1984. Photo by Irma McClaurin.

The Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive (BFA) is an archival home for Black women and their allies. Founded by Dr. Irma McClaurin, Black feminist anthropologist, academic administrator, award-winning poet and author, past president of Shaw University and leader in higher education, the BFA seeks to identify Black women from all walks of life who are artists, activists, and academics but may not be well known, and document their wide array of contributions at many levels: community, state, national, and global. In addition to being an ongoing resource for academic and community researchers, the BFA also aims to be a training center, where Black archivists can actively participate in their own history and uplift and protect the endangered legacy of Black women. Articles about Dr. McClaurin and the BFA have appeared in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, UMass Magazine and on the the Black Presence website.

The BFA is an umbrella collection, made up of a growing and diverse group of collections documenting Black women, allies, movements, and organizations. Highlights include the papers of renown anthropologists Sheila Walker and Carolyn Martin Shaw; Belizean writer Zee Edgell; activist and educator Cheryl Evans, who founded the Black Pioneers Project documenting the experience of Black students at UMass Amherst during the late 1960s; Lawrence (Larry) Paros, a UMass alum and forerunner of the Alternative Education movement in America, past director of the 1968 Yale Summer High School (YSHS); and the papers of Dr. Irma McClaurin, BFA founder, which include her photographs of iconic Black figures. The development of the BFA has been supported by two grants from the Wenner Gren Foundation: The Historical Archive Grant and The Global Initiative Grant (GIG) for “The Black Feminist Archive Pandemic Preservation Project of Black Women Practicing Anthropologists” project

Collections include:

Irvine, William M.

William M. Irvine Papers

1969-2001
7 boxes 10.5 linear feet
Call no.: FS 157
Depiction of Five College Radio Observatory
Five College Radio Observatory

Beginning with his dissertation in theoretical astrophysics “Local irregularities in a universe satisfying the cosmological principle” (Harvard, 1961), William M. Irvine enjoyed a distinguished career as an astronomer and a role as one of the primary figures in developing astronomy at the Five Colleges. Arriving at UMass in 1966, Irvine helped build the graduate program in astronomy and beginning in 1969, he was a motive force in establishing the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory. Focused largely on the chemistry of dense interstellar clouds and the physics and chemistry of comets, and with a broad interest in bioastronomy/astrobiology, Irvine has been a prolific contributor to his field, and has served as President of the Commission on Bioastronomy at the International Astronomical Union, Chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences at the American Astronomical Society, a Councillor of the International Society for the Study of the origin of Life, and a member of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The Irvine Papers offer a thorough record of the establishment of the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory from 1969 through its dedication in Oct. 1976, along with insights into the growth of astronomy at UMass. Correspondence, memoranda, grant applications, and many dozens of photographs offer insight into the financial and political challenges of building the Observatory in the Quabbin watershed. The collection also includes notes for teaching Astronomy 101 and 223 (planetary science). His history of the department, Reflections on the Growth of Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts and the Five College Astronomy Department (2006), is filed with the Physics and Astronomy Department records and a copy is included in this collection. Irvine’s published works are listed in the Libraries’ ScholarWorks author gallery.

Subjects

Astronomy--Study and teachingFive College Radio Astronomy Observatory (New Salem, Mass.)University of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of Astronomy

Contributors

Irvine, William M.

Types of material

Photographs