The first local of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners to be founded in western Massachusetts was chartered in 1885 as Springfield Local 96, followed in quick order by locals in Holyoke (390) and Chicopee (685). With the pace of unionization picking up at the turn of the century, the Springfield District Council was established in 1906 to coordinate collective bargaining efforts and apprenticeships, and to enforce work rules in the local construction industry. Holyoke carpenters formed their own District Council soon thereafter. Tthe logic of consolidation and a unified voice eventually led the Springfield locals to consolidate as Local 32 in 1968, which in turn merged with the Holyoke District Council in 1973 to form Local 108.
The records of the Western Massachusetts locals and district councils of the UBCJA documents the rise of unionization among carpenters in the Connecticut River Valley since the 1880s. This collection represents a merger of separate accessions for the District Councils in Springfield (MS 110), the Pioneer Valley (MS 231), and Holyoke (MS 108), along with post-merger records for Local 108. In general, each has been maintained as a distinct series
One of the largest building trade unions in the U.S., the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America was established in 1881 by a convention of carpenters’ unions. An early member of the American Federation of Labor, the Brotherhood began as a radical organization, but beginning in the 1930s, were typically aligned with the conservative wing of the labor movement.
The records of the Massachusetts State Council of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America contain reports and other information generated during the union’s annual conventions as well as copies of the constitution and by-laws, handbooks, and histories of the union.
United Congregational Church of Holyoke (Holyoke, Mass.) Records
ca.1830-1990
9 boxes13.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 787
First Congregational Church, ca.1910
The present day United Congregational Church of Holyoke is the product of complex history of growth and consolidation of five separate churches responding to the changing demographics and spiritual needs of the city. Established in 1799, the First Congregational Church in Holyoke was initially a small congregation perched above the floodplain south of the center of town, sharing preachers with the equally sparse population of Baptists until the establishment of the First Baptist Church in 1826. The First Congregational Church was finally erected in 1838, and ten years later, the Second Church was established in to serve the needs of the growing Protestant population in the city center, building their own church in 1853 as the mill economy was booming. Reaching out to the millworkers, members of the Second Church opened the Grace Mission in 1870, which spun off into its own church in 1896. Skinner Chapel was founded in 1909 as an addition to the Second Congregational Church, dedicated to the prominent Skinner family. Finally, the German Reformed Church was organized in 1892, though meetings were held years earlier. In the latter part of the twentieth century, however, declining memberships in each of these churches led to a series of mergers, beginning in 1961 when the German Reformed Church united with the First Congregational to become the First United Congregational Church. Grace Church and the First UCC merged in 1973 to become Grace United, and in 1996, Grace joined with the Second Congregational Church to become the present UCC of Holyoke.
The records of the UCC of Holyoke document over 200 years of the ecclesiatical history of an industrial city. In addition to records of membership, baptisms, marriages, and church governance, the collection includes valuable records of the women’s missionary society, the German Maenner Bund, and a long run of church newsletters that offer insight into the weekly course of events in the religious community. Materials relating to Skinner Chapel are part of the collections of Wistariahurst Museum.
Subjects
Congregational churches--Massachusetts--HolyokeHolyoke (Mass.)--Religious life and customsMissionaries--Massachusetts
Contributors
First Congregational Church (Holyoke, Mass.)German Reformed Church (Holyoke, Mass.)Grace Church (Holyoke, Mass.)Second Congregational Church (Holyoke, Mass.)
Established in Springfield, Mass., in 1938, Local 1459 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union represents the interests of its members in the workplace and the community in western Massachusetts and Vermont. The UCFW was formed in June 1979 from the merger of the Retail Clerks International Union and Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, creating the largest affiliated union in the AFL-CIO. Mergers with the Barbers, Beauticians and Allied Industries International Association and United Retail Workers Union followed in 1980 and 1981.
The records of UFCW Local 1459 include the 1979 constitution and merger agreement with UFCW, contracts with local businesses, and several issues of the newsletter, The Union Leader, both before and after chartering with UFCW.
Subjects
Food industry and trade--Labor unions--MassachusettsLabor unions--Massachusetts
Contributors
Retail Clerks International Union. Local 1459 (Springfield, Mass.)
United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union Local 4 Records
1945-1995
10 boxes15 linear feet
Call no.: MS 415
The United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union (UHCMW) was formed in 1934 by the merger of the United Hatters of North America and the Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union, settling deep rifts between the competing unions. For five decades, the UHCMW organized the declining hat and millinery trade in the United States until it merged into the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) in 1983, which merged in 1995 into the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to form UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees).
The collection documents UHCMW Local 4, representing workers in Boston and Framingham, from 1945 through the time of its merger into the ACTWU. The series of ledgers and documents in the collection include documents concerning health and retirement benefits for union members, bargaining agreements, and financial records for the local, as well as a small assortment of correspondence, memoranda, and minutes of meetings.
Subjects
Hat trade--Labor unions--MassachusettsLabor unions--Massachusetts
Contributors
United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union
The collection contains the records of the United Paperworkers International Union as well as their predecessors including the International Brotherhood of Papermakers; United Paperworkers of America; United Papermakers and Paperworkers; and the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers.
Subjects
Labor unions--MassachusettsPaper industry workers--Labor unions--Massachusetts
United Paperworkers International Strike Support Group Collection
1988
1 folder0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 322
By February 1988 members of of United Paperworkers International Union Local 14 of Jay, Maine, had been on strike for seven months. With the support of their state officials and officials of Massachusetts and Northampton AFL-CIO, a caravan of strikers traveled to Northampton to inform the public of their struggle. Collection is limited to a city of Northampton resolution and a brief report of the strikers position and their trip to the city.
Subjects
Paper industry workers--Labor unions--MaineStrikes and lockouts--Paper industry--Maine
United States Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts Water Pollution Surveys Collection
1936-1938
1 box0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 068
Under the federal New Deal in the late 1930s, the Works Project Administration authorized a series of surveys of major watersheds to gauge water quality and sources of pollution. In Massachusetts, the studies were coordinated by the Massachusetts Department of Health and resulted in a series of more or less detailed reports issued between September 1936 and January 1938.
The pollution survey collection contains reports for six major watersheds in New England — the Blackstone, Hoosic, Housatonic, Merrimack, Nashua, and Ten Mile — measuring the impact of both civic and industrial waste on regional water resources.
Subjects
Blackstone River Watershed (Mass. and R.I.)Hoosic River WatershedHousatonic River Watershed (Mass. and Conn.)Merrimack River Watershed (N.H. and Mass.)Nashua River Watershed (Mass. and N.H.)Ten Mile River Watershed (Mass.)Water--Pollution--MassachusettsWater-resources--Massachusetts
Contributors
Massachusetts. Department of Public HealthMassachusetts. State Planning Board
Local 3654 of the United Steel Workers of America was organized in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. Records include Minutes, by-laws, newsletters, grievances, company reports, and publications.
University Anti-Intervention, Disarmament and Conversion Project Resource Guide
1989
1 envelope0.2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 280 bd
Founded in September 1989, the University Anti-Intervention, Disarmament & Conversion Project was developed by individuals in the UMass Amherst community who wanted to eliminate the university’s dependence on defense research. The purpose of the project was to serve as a resource center for students, faculty, and community activists working to break the link between the nation’s institutions of higher learning and the military industrial complex.
The collection consists of a resource guide created by the group.