The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Collections: mss

Cambridge Central Labor Union

Cambridge Central Labor Union Minute book

1926-1932
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 482 bd

The Central Labor Union was active in the Boston and Cambridge area as early as the 1870s, and by the turn of the twentieth century, the Cambridge Central Labor Union was a thriving organization. Active in many of the significant labor campaigns of the day, including the struggle for an eight hour day, the regulation of child labor, and the fight for collective bargaining, the Cambridge Central Labor Union was said in the late 1930s to represent nearly 30,000 workers in the city.

The minutes of the Cambridge Central Labor Union document the day to day operations of a union representing a cross-section of trades in the city of Cambridge, its relations to other organized labor groups, and the impact of the Depression of 1929 on working people in Massachusetts.

Subjects

Cambridge (Mass.)--History--20th centuryLabor unions--Massachusetts--Cambridge

Types of material

Minute books
Campano, Anthony

Anthony Campano Papers

1956-2007
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 617

Anthony “Tony” Campano and Shizuko Shirai met by chance in January 1955 as Tony was passing through Yokohama en route to his new post in Akiya. Recently transferred to Japan, Tony enlisted in the U.S. Army a little over a year earlier, serving first in Korea. As their relationship blossomed, Tony and Shizuko set up housekeeping until his enlistment ended and he returned home to Boston. Determined to get back to Japan quickly and marry Shizuko, the two continued their courtship by mail, sending letters through Conrad Totman and Albert Braggs, both stationed in Japan. By the summer of 1956, Tony re-enlisted in the Army, this time stationed in the Medical Battalion of the 24th Division located in Seoul, Korea. There he remained until August 1957 when he was finally able to secure official authorization to marry Shizuko. Cutting their honeymoon short to deal with her medical emergency, Tony returned to his post in Korea. The couple reunited in November of that year after Tony secured a new assignment in Yokohama.

The letters of Tony Campano to Shizuko Shirai during the year or more they were separated document their unlikely romance. Soon after Tony returned home when his first enlistment ended, friends and family tried to discourage him from pursuing a relationship with Shizuko. Despite their age difference–Shizuko was eleven years older– and the language barrier, the two ultimately married. In addition to the couple’s long-distance courtship letters, the collection also contains about 100 letters exchanged between Campano and Conrad Totman, dating from their early days in the U.S. Army to the present; taken together they document a friendship of more than fifty years.

Subjects

Japan--Social life and customs--1945-United States. Army--Non-commissioned officers--Correspondence

Contributors

Campano, AnthonyCampano, Shizuko ShiraiTotman, Conrad D

Types of material

Letters (Correspondence)
Campbell, Sadie

Sadie Campbell Papers

1812-2002
19 boxes 10.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 439
Depiction of Sadie Campbell and sons Harold and Robert Leslie
Sadie Campbell and sons Harold and Robert Leslie

A housewife, mother and active community member, Sadie Campbell was born in 1881 and lived at 1 Depot Street in Cheshire, Massachusetts for most of her life until she died in 1971. Sadie was closely tied to the Cheshire community where she had a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and was active in a a number of organizations, such as: the Cheshire Ladies Reading Club, the Merry Wives of Cheshire Shakespeare Club, and the Cheshire Cash Tearoom.

The collection documents three generations of a western Massachusetts family. The variety and nature of the materials in this collection offer a good view into the local and social history of western Massachusetts through the lives of Sadie Campbell and her family.

Subjects

Cheshire (Mass.)--HistoryCheshire Cash TearoomFamily--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryFamily--Massachusetts--History--20th centuryHousekeeping--Massachusetts--CheshireHousewives--Massachusetts--CheshireMassachusetts--Social life and customs--19th centuryMerry Wives of Cheshire Shakespeare ClubSmall business--MassachusettsTyrell, AugustusWilliams Manufacturing CompanyWomen--Societies and clubs--History--19th century

Contributors

Campbell, Sadie

Types of material

Account booksInvitationsLetters (Correspondence)PamphletsPhotographsRecipes
Canning, Josiah D. (Josiah Dean), 1816-1892

Josiah D. Canning, The Shad-Fishers Manuscript

1854
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1009 bd

The “Peasant Bard” of Gill, Mass., Josiah D. Canning, published five books of poetry between 1838 and 1892 extolling the spiritual virtues of nature and the agrarian life. The son of a minister, Canning worked as a printer for several years before settling down to farming life, churning out poetry that reflected his reverence for the land.

This small collection consists of a printed copy of Josiah Canning’s fourth book, The Shad-Fishers, published by R.C. Graves in Greenfield, Mass., in 1854, along with a manuscript copy of the same work bound in workmanlike leather over boards. Although it is not possible to determine with certainty, the manuscript may be Canning’s own.

Acquired from Eugene Povirk, Jan. 2018

Subjects

Poetry--Massachusetts--Gill

Types of material

Manuscripts (Documents)
Carroll, Lucius W.

Lucius W. Carroll Ledger

1841-1862
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 245 bd

Businessman in several partnerships in south-central Worcestor county who owned a general store in Webster, Massachusetts. Includes lists of partners (such as John P. Stockwell of Stockwell and Carroll), yearly salaries and profits, accounts of what he sold and how he was paid, lists of individual customers and manufacturing companies, and labor accounts of workers. Also contains an alphabetical index to the ledger and several pages of notes receivable and notes payable.

Subjects

Barter--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryDudley (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryDudley Woolen Manufacturing Company (Dudley, Mass.)General stores--MassachusettsMerchants--Massachusetts--Economic conditions--19th centuryShopping--Massachusetts--History--19th centurySlater, GeorgeStockwell & CarrollUnion Mills (Webster, Mass.)Uxbridge (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryWebster (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryWebster Woolen Mills (Webster, Mass.)

Contributors

Carroll & CrosbyCarroll, Lucius W

Types of material

Account books
Carton, Robert J.

Robert J. Carton Papers

1935-2002 Bulk: 1983-2002
3 boxes linear feet
Call no.: MS 643

The environmental scientist Robert J. Carton emerged in the mid-1980s as one of the leading scientific critics of fluoridation of the water supply. After receiving his doctorate in Environmental Science from Rutgers University, Carton accepted a position in 1972 with the Office of Toxic Substances in the Environmental Protection Agency, assessing the risks associated with a range of toxic substances from asbestos to arsenic and hexachlorobenzene. By 1985, Carton became concerned about EPA standards for fluoride in drinking water, taking a public stance against undue political influence in framing those standards and insisting that there was no scientific evidence that fluorides prevented tooth decay and that any level of fluoride exposure presented a significant health hazard. In 1992, Carton left the EPA to work for as Chief of Environmental Compliance for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

Consisting primarily of research, notes, and some correspondence relating to the health effects of fluoridation of drinking water, the collection documents Robert Carton’s nearly two decade long struggle against the EPA and federal government. Also included are transcripts of filings relating to various legal challenges against fluoridation during the mid-1980s.

Subjects

Drinking water--Law and legislation--United StatesFluorides--Physiological effectUnited States. Environmental Protection Agency

Contributors

Carton, Robert J
Catholic Church

Book of Hours (Use of Rome)

ca.1465
1 vol. 144 fol. linear feet
Call no.: MS 963
Depiction of Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Books of hours are the most common surviving form of the medieval book and are as diverse as the patrons who commissioned them. Beginning in the mid-thirteenth century, they flourished as part of a rich array of devotional works used to frame the temporal structure of a community’s spiritual lives. In keeping with individual spiritual and aesthetic preferences, books of hours were often customized to appeal to the particular purchaser, and they vary greatly through time and from region to region.

This diminutive and comparatively austere book of hours (Use of Rome) appears to have been produced near Bruges between about 1460 and 1470, possibly influenced by the prolific illuminator Willem Vrelant. Written in Latin in a skilled Gothic Italic Rotunda hand, the book lacks a calendar and miniatures of any kind, nor is there any evidence that any were ever present.

Acquired from Scott Gwara, Feb. 2017
Language(s): Latin

Subjects

Books of hours--Belgium--Early works to 1800

Contributors

Catholic Church--Liturgy--Texts--Early works to 1800Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions--Latin--Early works to 1800Hammer, Christian, 1818-1905Virgin, Thore, 1886-1957

Types of material

Books of hoursIlluminated manuscripts
Catholic Church

Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Gertrud (Cologne, Germany) Book of Hours

ca.1481-1488
1 vol. 0.2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1057
Depiction of Close-up of King David
Close-up of King David

The Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Gertud (Dominican Convent of Saint Gertrude) operated in Cologne, Germany, for nearly five and half centuries. An important center in connection with German mysticism in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Kloster survived the Reformation, however persistently poor finances led to its decline in the 18th century. After it was abolished during a wave of secularization on October 14, 1802.

This diminutive book of hours was prepared by Dominican nuns at the Kloster St. Gertrud during the 1480s. Like some other German books of hours it lacks the calendar, Gospel lessons, and the two prayers to the Virgin, Obsecro te and O intemerata, however it includes additional liturgical texts, such as Offices for major feasts, as well as music for the funeral service. This copy may have been made for or by the prioress Magdalena Frankengruenerin (1481-1488), and remained in the convent until the eighteenth century.

Acquired from Les Enluminures, Nov. 2018
Language(s): Latin

Subjects

Books of hours--Germany--Early works to 1800Catholic Church--Liturgy--Texts--Early works to 1800Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions--Latin--Early works to 1800Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Gertrud (Cologne, Germany)

Contributors

Drieschen, Maria CatharinaFrankengruenerin, Magdalena

Types of material

Books of hoursIlluminated manuscripts
Catholic Church

Ordo ad consecrandum virginum [Order for the consecration of nuns]

ca.1360
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1060
Depiction of Ordo ad consecrandum virginum
Ordo ad consecrandum virginum

Founded in 1067, the Benedictine convent of San Pier Maggiore was an ecclesiastical center of medieval Florence, and socially one the city’s most prestigious religious houses for women. A Gothic church was completed at the convent in 1352, featuring an elaborate multi-paneled altarpiece by Jacopo di Cione. The convent remained active until its razing in 1784.

A utilitarian, but ritually significant work, this manuscript contains the text and music used in celebrating the consecration of nuns at the Benedictine convent of San Pier Maggiore. The acanthus border on the first folio suggests a mid-fourteenth century date of origin, though likely prior to the commissioning of Cione’s Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece.

Acquired from Les Enluminures, Dec. 2018
Language(s): Latin

Subjects

Benedictine nuns--Italy--FlorenceCatholic Church--Liturgy--Texts--Early works to 1800Consecration of nuns--Italy--FlorenceFlorence (Italy)--Religious life and customsSan Pier Maggiore (Florence, Italy)

Types of material

Illuminated manuscriptsRituals (liturgical books)
Catholic Church

Book of Hours (Use of Bourges)

ca.1460
1 vol. 0.2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1077
Depiction of

Guillaume Claude Robinet, an avocat du roi from Issoudun (Indre), France, married Catherine Tabouet on Jan. 15, 1591.

A medieval book of hours of the use of Bourges, this manuscript is illuminated with six miniature paintings, each above a four-line initial and accompanied by an originally four-sided floral border (now trimmed at the top). The association of the manuscript with Robinet and Tabouet is based on the use of their names on the front and rear boards of the binding, which may have been commissioned at around the time of their wedding in 1591.

Acquired from Maggs Brothers, Apr. 2019
Language(s): Latin

Subjects

Books of hours--France--Early works to 1800Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions--Latin--Early works to 1800Catholic church--Liturgy--Tests--Early works to 1800

Types of material

Books of hoursIlluminated manuscripts