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

Collecting area: Education

Adams, Maurianne

Maurianne Adams Papers

1973-2015
8 boxes 12 linear feet
Call no.: FS 171
Depiction of Maurianne Adams
Maurianne Adams

Maurianne Adams was one of the pioneers in social justice education at UMass Amherst. Arriving at the university in 1973 as Coordinator of Academic Affairs for Project 10, the experimental residential education program in the Southwest Residential Area, she developed an elective curriculum focused on racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and ableism. When that project was ended in 1982, she took her ideas to the School of Education, where she became the Director for Social Issues and Instructional Development for Residential Academic Programs (RAP). Over the next several years, she and her colleagues developed one of the first general education diversity courses and she became part of the founding faculty for the graduate program in Social Justice Education. Since her retirement in 2015, she has remained active in promoting social justice activities working with the Coalition of Amherst Neighborhoods (CAN) and the Amherst Community Land Trust, which provides opportunities for affordable homeownership.

The Maurianne Adams Papers document a career committed to teaching, learning, and writing about diversity and equality on this campus and in the residential neighborhoods nearby. The papers offer an important perspective on the emergence of social justice courses in the General Education Program and the formation of the Social Justice Education Program within the College of Education, and given the extensive collaboration among social justice education faculty, it includes materials from several of Adams’ colleagues. The collection includes early drafts of curricula; course and workshop materials on diversity, inclusive teaching, religious oppression, anti-Semitism, and classism; and materials relating to grants to support her efforts.

Gift of Maurianne Adams, Dec. 2015

Subjects

Diversity in higher educationSocial justice--Study and teachingUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. College of Education
Africa-America Institute

Africa-America Institute Records

ca.1953-2014
439 boxes 658.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 849
Depiction of Studying in Lesotho, 1963
Studying in Lesotho, 1963

Temporarily stored offsite; contact SCUA to request materials from this collection.

Founded in 1953 by a multi-racial collective of educators including Horace Mann Bond, then President of Lincoln University, and William Leo Hansberry, a professor of history at Howard University, the Africa American Institute has encouraged and supported African students in pursuit of higher education in the United States. From its early years, AAI provided financial and social support for African students studying in the U.S., but it has expanded its activities in scope with the goal of helping to building leadership for Africa within the academic, professional, business, and policy making classes. It has become a vibrant intellectual center for developing human capacity, drawing together thought leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs interested in issues relating to the continent.

A massive body of material documenting the history of the AAI from its founding in the early 1950s to the present, the collection is a remarkable resource for study of American relations with Africa as the continent emerged from colonial domination. With a focus on the history of educational support and exchange between the continents, the collection contains a vibrant record of the growth of leadership in Africa.

Gift of Africa America Institute, 2014-2015

Subjects

Africa--Foreign relations--United StatesEducation, Higher--AfricaUnited States--Foreign relations--Africa

Contributors

Bond, Horace Mann, 1904-1972

Types of material

Photographs
Allen, Dwight William, 1931-

Dwight William Allen Papers

1967-1975
7 boxes 8.5 linear feet
Call no.: FS 165
Depiction of Dwight Allen in classroom
Dwight Allen in classroom

A influential and flamboyant educational reformer, Dwight W. Allen served as Director of Teacher Education at his alma mater Stanford from 1959 until accepting a position as Dean of the School of Education at UMass Amherst in 1967. A proponent of integrating technology into teaching and co-developer of the technique of microteaching, Allen cemented his reputation as an innovator during his time at UMass (1968-1975), a time that coincided with the rapid expansion of the university. Allen helped recruit students of color to the graduate program in significant numbers, opened admissions to students with unconvential credentials, allowed students a voice in directing and governing the program, and abolished grading, among other initiatives, but while supporters lauded the creativity and excitement of the period, his radical ideas elicited considerable opposition as well. He resigned in 1975, in part due to the increasing demands his international consulting, later accepting a position at Old Dominion University, where he remained until his retirement in 2008. Allen is author of nine books, including American Schools: The $100 Billion Challenge, written with his former graduate student Bill Cosby.
The Allen papers contain a wealth of materials pertaining to the tumultuous years at UMass, including Allen’s curricular and teaching reforms, special projects, and his efforts to recruit African American students and address institutional racism. The correspondence, memos, and private reports that Allen maintained are particularly valuable for understanding the period as are the various surveys, studies, and reports on the state of the School of Education. The collection also includes material relating to some of Allen’s academic interests in education, including microteaching, alternative schools, and certification.

Gift of Dwight Allen, Aug. 2013

Subjects

Alternative educationEducational changeRacism in educationUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. School of Education
Amherst Study Circles: Dialogues on Race and Class

Amherst Study Circles: Dialogues on Race and Class Records

2002-2016 Bulk: 2002-2006
1 box .4 linear feet
Call no.: MS 917

Amherst Study Circles: Dialogues on Race and Class flier

The Amherst Study Circles: Dialogues on Race and Class were a series of dialogue and project action groups begun in 2002 to discuss and enact social change in the school districts and communities around Amherst, MA. They arose as a response by the Amherst Regional High School (ARHS) Parent Center to a question to their group: What were they going to do about racism in the Amherst Schools? The ARHS Parent Center Board suggested the study circle model, and a round of facilitated pilot groups were run in February 2003. The successful pilots stirred the organizers to seek additional support, and with funding from the Amherst Education Foundation and the Amherst Drugs Free Partnership, additional groups were organized each year, building awareness, trust, and power amongst those striving to improve the community’s schools for all students. Almost 200 people, including school administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members participated over the course of several years, and each group culminated in an action forum and set up action groups to propose and enact tangible steps towards specific goals. Action groups affected change in school climate, policies, and course offerings, and organized a standing committee of the ARHS Parent Center called RaDAR: Race and Discipline, Action, Rights.

The Amherst Study Circles: Dialogues on Race and Class Records consist of descriptive materials from the ARHS Parent Center; an organizer’s binder with sections on the origin in 2002, participants, action groups, finances, curriculum, and evaluations; and additional materials such as evaluations for study circle sessions and facilitators, newspaper clippings of articles about the group and their work, and documents for student study circles, such as advertisements, curriculum, and certificates.

Subjects

Amherst (Mass.)--HistoryAmherst Regional High School (Amherst, Mass.)Classism--MassachusettsEducation--MassachusettsRacism--Massachusetts

Contributors

Amherst Regional High School Parent CenterWolf, Jackie
Anne Wiley Collection

Anne Wiley Collection

1976-2014 Bulk: 1985-2005
9 boxes 4 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1198
Anne Wiley

Anne Wiley, a lifelong feminist, taught women’s studies and psychology at Greenfield Community College (GCC) for over 40 years. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from LeMoyne College in Syracuse New York in June 1971, her MA in education at the State University of New York in 1975, and her PhD in education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1993. From 1977 to 2013 she was a full time Gender and Women’s Studies and Psychology professor at GCC. She strove to make the curriculum more inclusive and received several grants in order to fund projects to this end such as GCC’s Women’s Resource Center and the Gender and Women’s Studies program. She also coordinated the Women’s Reentry Program for three years and helped organize the New England Women’s Studies Conference. She was also an adjunct professor at Keene State College. She has published many articles in feminist publications and the journal Women’s Studies Quarterly and was a member of the board and president of the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition (NWLCWIT). When she retired from full-time teaching in 2013, she was given the title of Professor Emerita and the Anne M. Wiley Gender and Social Justice Scholarship was set up in her honor. She continued to teach following her retirement and won awards for her online psychology course.

This collection is centered around the professional life of Anne Wiley as a women’s studies professor at Greenfield Community College from 1976 to 2014. This includes summaries of department meetings and conferences for women’s studies, event descriptions and flyers, some course information, administrative material related to Wiley career such as resumes and sabbatical requests, and reports on programs designed to change GCC’s curriculum. It also includes material collection by Wiley related to her interest in women’s issues. It is organized into three series: Programs and Events, Publications and Clippings, and Academics.

Subjects

Feminism and higher education--MassachusettsWomen's studies

Contributors

Hayes, Joanne McNeilValley Women's History Collaborative

Types of material

CorrespondenceFliers (printed matter)
Restrictions: none
Arena, Natalie C.

Natalie C. Arena Photograph Collection

1956-1961
1 box 1 linear feet
Call no.: PH 087
Depiction of Joanne Fortune in her dorm room, photo by Nancy Arena
Joanne Fortune in her dorm room, photo by Nancy Arena

Raised in Short Hills, New Jersey, Natalie “Nancy” Arena’s early education included the Lexington School for the Deaf in New York and the Bruce Street School in Newark, N.J. In 1956, her father transferred her to the Clarke School for the Deaf because of the school’s emphasis on speech and use of the English language. She stayed at Clarke until she graduated with honors in 1961. After Clarke, Arena went to Millburn High in Millburn, N.J., where she was integrated with hearing students. Arena had a long career in data processing and translated the love of sewing she learned at Clarke into a life-long hobby of quilting.

The Natalie C. Arena Photograph Collection consists of photographs taken by Arena of her friends, teachers, and Clarke School outings and activities. Her photographs show the life of a student at the Clarke School during the late-50s and early-60s. Subjects include dorm rooms, camping trips, gym activities, and class trips.

Subjects

Clarke School for the DeafDeaf--Education

Types of material

Photographs
Austin, Samuel

Samuel Austin Collection

1718-1920
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 937

An historian and educator, Samuel Austin (1816-1897) was known for his long association with the Friends Boarding School in Providence, R.I. (later renamed the Moses Brown School). An alumnus who married an alumna, Elizabeth H. Osborn, Austin taught at the Boarding school for decades and was instrumental in gathering and preserving documents relating to the school. He wrote and lectured regularly on the history of Friends’ education and on the Boarding School, and its noted teachers and alumni.

A product of the historical work of Samuel Austin, the collection contains both essays, notes, and talks on the Friends’ Boarding School in Providence and on Moses and Obadiah Brown, and some significant original documents used by Austin in his research. Noteworthy among the original materials are a fascinating series of records from monthly and quarterly meetings in and near Rhode Island, mostly in 1787-1793; a rich series of epistles received by Smithfield Monthly Meeting from other meetings in New England (1718-1767); some key printed epistles from Yearly Meetings, including those on war (London, New England, and Philadelphia Yearly) and slavery (London and Philadelphia). Of equal note are a series of letters from Elisha Thornton (a New Bedford merchant, educator, and antislavery advocate), a lengthy letter on doctrine from John Wilbur, and a 1765 sermon from Rachel Wilson.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, 2016

Subjects

Antislavery movementsBrown, Moses, 1738-1832Friends Boarding School (Providence, R.I.)Peace movements--Rhode IslandQuaker women--Rhode Island--18th centuryQuakers--Education--Rhode IslandRhode Island--History--18th centurySociety of Friends--History--Rhode Island

Contributors

Thornton, Elisha, 1748-1816Wilbur, John 1774-1856

Types of material

CorrespondenceMinutes (Administrative records)
Banks, William S. M.

William S. M. Banks, From beginnings in the Sip

1997
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 997 bd

Born in Amite County, Miss., in 1914, William S. M. Banks received his early education from his mother at home, who instilled in him an abiding respect for education. Despite the hardships of the Depression years, Banks used his athletic skills and work ethic to earn a degree at Dillard College, where he attracted the attention of Horace Mann Bond. Bond encouraged him to continue for a MA in Sociology and helped him land a position at Fort Valley State. After service during the Second World War, where he rose to rank of Captain and was awarded a Silver Star, Banks returned to Fort Valley State, completed a doctorate at Ohio State. He retired from Fort Valley after 38 years in 1978.

In his autobiography, a study of the impact of racial and class attitudes as much as personal achievement, William Banks describes his experiences growing up in a poor African American family in rural Mississippi and working his way up through distinguished military service and concerted effort to earn a doctorate at Ohio State and a career as a professor of sociology at Fort Valley State University.

Gift of Bil Banks, Oct. 2017

Subjects

African Americans--GeorgiaAfrican Americans--MississippiBond, Horace Mann, 1904-1972Fort Valley State University

Types of material

Autobiographies
Bond, Horace Mann, 1904-1972

Horace Mann Bond Papers

1830-1979
169 boxes 84.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 411
Depiction of Horace Mann Bond, ca.1930
Horace Mann Bond, ca.1930

Educator, sociologist, scholar, and author. Includes personal and professional correspondence; administrative and teaching records; research data; manuscripts of published and unpublished speeches, articles and books; photographs; and Bond family papers, especially those of Horace Bond’s father, James Bond. Fully represented are Bond’s two major interests: black education, especially its history and sociological aspects, and Africa, particularly as related to educational and political conditions.

Correspondents include many notable African American educators, Africanists, activists, authors and others, such as Albert C. Barnes, Claude A. Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Arna Bontemps, Ralph Bunche, Rufus Clement, J.G. St. Clair Drake, W.E.B. Du Bois, Edwin Embree, John Hope Franklin, E. Franklin Frazier, W.C. Handy, Thurgood Marshall, Benjamin E. Mays, Pauli Murray, Kwame Nkrumah, Robert Ezra Park, A. Phillip Randolph, Lawrence P. Reddick, A.A. Schomburg, George Shepperson, Carter G. Woodson and Monroe Work.

Subjects

Africa--Description and travelAfrican American educatorsAfrican Americans--Education--History--20th centuryAmerican Society of African CultureAtlanta UniversityDillard UniversityFort Valley State CollegeInternational African American CorporationJulius Rosenwald FundLincoln UniversityRace relations--United States

Contributors

Barnes, Albert C. (Albert Coombs), 1872-1951Bond, Horace Mann, 1904-1972Bond, James, 1863-1929Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963Nkrumah, Kwame, 1909-1972

Types of material

Photographs
Brooks, Burt V.

Burt V. Brooks Photograph Collection

1889-1934
3 boxes 1.5 linear feet
Call no.: PH 060
Depiction of

The artist Burt Vernon Brooks was one of the outstanding chroniclers of daily life in the Swift River Valley before it was inundated to create the Quabbin Reservoir. Born in Brimfield, Mass., in 1849 and raised in Monson, Brooks moved to Greenwich with his family in the 1870s, where he worked on the family farm. At some unclear point before he turned 40, Brooks became active as an artist, painting local homes and scenery and taking photographs of the landscape, residents, and daily life in the Quabbin region. A prolific photographer, he was, in the words of historian Donald W. Howe, “hardly ever seen without his camera strapped to his back,” remaining active for decades. Three years after following his second wife to the west, Brooks died in Los Angeles in 1934.

The great majority of the 92 photographs in this collection are 5×7″ dry plate glass negatives taken by Brooks in the earliest years of the twentieth century, documenting the houses and people of Greenwich. Brooks’ work includes landscapes, houses, and a significant series of images of the Hillside School, but some of his best works are studio portraits, images of people at home or with their carriages, and posed scenes of children at play or at work. The collection also includes eight images by Brooks at Enfield, Greenwich, and Dana that are the property of the Swift River Valley Historical Society, and six images taken by Chetwynd and Pike in the Quabbin region to document properties slated for removal.

Gift of Friends of Quabbin through Gene Theroux, Paul Godfrey, and Les Campbell, June 2014

Subjects

Agriculture--Massachusetts--Greenwich--PhotographsCarriages and carts--Massachusetts--Greenwich--PhotographsChildren--Massachusetts--Greenwich--PhotographsDana (Mass.)--PhotographsDwellings--Massachusetts--Greenwich--PhotographsEnfield (Mass.)--PhotographsGreenwich (Mass.)--PhotographsHillside School (Marlborough, Mass.)Horses--Massachusetts--Greenwich--PhotographsNew Salem (Mass.)--PhotographsPlowing--Massachusetts--Greenwich--PhotographsPrescott (Mass.)--Photographs

Types of material

Dry plate gelatin negativesGelatin silver negativesPhotographs