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

Collecting area: Women

Mount Ida College

Mount Ida College Records

ca. 1899-2018
95 141 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1028
Depiction of Three Mount Ida College students with a mare and foal
Three Mount Ida College students with a mare and foal

Mount Ida College was a regional, co-educational college with 1500 students, over forty majors, and a graduate program designed for working adults. The college began in 1899 when George Franklin Jewett and his wife Abigail Fay Jewett purchased a property on a hill in Newton Corner named Mount Ida and began a college prep and finishing school program, the Mount Ida School for Girls, that steadily grew, adding a junior college curriculum in 1917. Under the financial stress of the Great Depression, the school closed in 1935, but was purchased four years later by William F. Carlson and reopened on the newly acquired Robert Gould Shaw II estate in Newton Centre. Mount Ida officially became a college in 1967, began admitting men in 1976, and in the late 1980s it merged with Chamberlayne Junior College and the New England Institute of Funeral Service Education. However, after a period of protracted financial difficulties in the early 2000s, Mount Ida College closed its doors on May 17, 2018, and the land and campus buildings were purchased by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The Mount Ida College Records contain the historical records of the college, including photographs, yearbooks, course catalogs, student scrapbooks and memorabilia, publicity materials, the college’s web and social media presence, and artifacts that document Mount Ida’s athletic programs. The records of the New England Institute of Funeral Service were moved with the program itself to Cape Cod Community College.

Subjects

Education, Higher--Massachusetts--NewtonSingle-sex schools--United StatesUniversities and colleges--Massachusetts--NewtonWomen--Education--United States

Contributors

Mount Ida College
New Victoria Publishers

New Victoria Publishers Records

1974-2009
6 boxes 11 linear feet
Call no.: MS 883
Depiction of From the top down: Beth Dingman, Claudia McKay Lamperti, Petey Becker, Bonnie Arnold, and ReBecca Béguin (ca. 1976)
From the top down: Beth Dingman, Claudia McKay Lamperti, Petey Becker, Bonnie Arnold, and ReBecca Béguin (ca. 1976)

Founded in 1975 in Lebanon, NH, by Beth Dingman, Claudia McKay (Lamperti), Katie Cahill, Nina Swaim, and Shelby Grantham, New Victoria Printers became one of two all-female print shops in New England at the time. Believing strongly that “the power of the press belongs to those who own it,” they began to solicit work from non-profit and politically-oriented groups. Like its namesake Victoria Press, an 1860s women run print shop in London owned by Emily Faithful, an early advocate of women’s rights, New Victoria was also committed to feminist principles. The shop offered work and training in printing, machine work, and other traditionally male dominated fields; initially focused on printing materials from the women’s movement; and was organized as a collectively owned and democratically run organization.
Additionally, the shop functioned as a de facto women’s center and lesbian hub for Lebanon and the surrounding area, often overlapping with the lesbian social club Amelia Earhart’s Underground Flying Society, (a.k.a. the Amelia’s). The print shop was a place of education, community, creativity, and activism, and soon publishing opportunities, as the group founded New Victoria Publishers in 1976 to publish works from their community. The print shop closed in 1985, with Dingman and McKay taking over the running of the non-profit publishing company out of their home in Norwich, VT, with an emphasis on lesbian fiction in addition to other women-focused works. An early bestseller, Stoner McTavish by Sarah Dreher, put them on the map, with the company publishing over a hundred books by and about lesbians, winning three Lambda Literary Awards and several other honors.
The New Victoria Publishers Records consist of photographs, newsletters, and cards put out by the collective, materials printed by the press, marketing and promotional materials, author correspondence, graphics and cover art, book reviews, financial and legal records, histories of the organization, news clippings, and an almost full run of the books published by the company. The collection is particularly rich in documenting the work and production of a women owned business within the feminist press movement as well as the lesbian publishing industry.

Subjects

Collective labor agreements – Printing industryFeminist literature – PublishingLesbian authorsLesbians' writings -- PublishingWomen printers – New EnglandWomen publishers – New England

Contributors

Beth DingmanClaudia McKayNew Victoria PrintersNew Victoria Publishers

Types of material

Photographs
Nguyen, Lucy Hong Nhiem, 1939-

Lucy Nguyen Papers

1983-2001
2 boxes 0.75 linear feet
Call no.: FS 026

A scholar of Francophone literature in Asia and Director of the United Asia Learning Resource Center, Lucy Nguyen Hong Nhiem was born in Kontum, Vietnam, in 1939. A graduate of the University of Saigon and teacher of French, she fled Saigon in 1975 just three days before its fall. From a refugee camp in Arkansas, she traveled through Connecticut and then to Springfield, Mass., before arriving at UMass in 1976 to resume her studies. After completing her MA (1978) and PhD (1982), she held positions at Smith, Amherst, and Mount Holyoke Colleges before beginning her tenure at UMass in 1984. An Adjunct Professor of Asian Languages and Literatures, she also served as Academic Advisor to the Bilingual Collegiate Program and Vice-Chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants.

Nguyen’s papers are a small but critical collection of materials on Southeast Asian Refugees. Included among the papers are materials relating to the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees, materials relating to the Governor’s Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants (1983), and a paper on the status of refugees in Massachusetts in 1987, along with unpublished writings, professional correspondence, and a handful of notes from a search committee.

Subjects

Refugees--VietnamUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Bilingual Collegiate ProgramUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Program in Asian Languages and LiteraturesVietnamese--Massachusetts

Contributors

Nguyen, Lucy Hong Nhiem, 1939-
Nir, Naomi

Naomi Nir Papers

1948-1973
15 boxes 8.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 952

Naomi Nir spent much of her life exploring the deep inner workings of the self through writing, painting, drawing, studying the writings of mystics, and exploring — both as subject and scholar — Jungian analysis and philosophy. Nir was born in Manchester, England in 1917. Her father, Shmuel (Samuel) Tolkowsky, was an agronomist working in Palestine and her mother, Hannah, was the daughter of a prominent Zionist and philanthropist. Nir lived in Tel Aviv and then Jerusalem for her entire life, married folklorist and anthropologist Raphael Patai in 1940, and then ended the marriage in 1948. That same year, Nir sought out Jungian analysis with Erich Neumann, a German psychologist and student of Carl Jung, who had moved to Palestine in 1934. Nir’s formal analysis with Neumann was brief, but the two maintained an intensive correspondence and relationship for several years following. Between 1953 and 1954, Nir was in Switzerland at the C. G. Jung Institute, where she underwent analysis with Emma Jung (wife of Carl Jung). Nir then returned to Israel, where she worked assembling pottery from archaeological digs and did play therapy with troubled children. Nir died in Jerusalem in 2004.

The Naomi Nir Papers contain Nir’s original journals spanning 1948-1973, in her original handwriting and also as a typescript version, totaling over 2,600 pages in length. The journals, or “Notes” as she called them, explore Nir’s journey of psychological and spiritual self-reflection in the context of and following a Jungian analysis with Erich Neumann, and provide an intimate look at the world and players of Jungian society and her contentious relationship with Jungian thought. The collection also includes more than one hundred letters written to Nir by Neumann, as well as a small group of Neumann’s writings and lectures collected by Nir. In addition, there are multiple works of art in the form of pastel and charcoal drawings created by Nir during periods of intense self-reflection.

Gift of Daphne Patai
Language(s): Hebrew

Subjects

Jungian psychologyJungian psychology--IsraelMiddle East--Israel

Contributors

Neumann, Erich

Types of material

CorrespondenceDiariesDrawings
Nourse, Rebecca Towne

Rebecca Towne Nourse Collection

1944-1993
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1023

Rebecca Nourse, born on October 5, 1928, was Laurence G. Nourse’s second child. Laurence, a graduate of Dartmouth College, was a long time educator and served as the Superintendent of Schools for Norton, Mass. from 1924 to 1958. Rebecca was born with intellectual disabilities and after attending the Norton Public Schools and the Deveraux School, now known as Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, she was committed to the Belchertown State School in 1949. She remained at Belchertown for eleven years, transferring to the Laconia State School in Laconia, New Hampshire so she could be closer to her parents’ home in Deery. Rebecca died on March 12, 1993.

The Rebecca T. Nourse Collection though small, paints a rich portrait of the challenges of managing a daughter’s care in a State institution. The collection is made up of Laurence’s correspondence leading up to Rebecca’s commitment and with State School administration about issues ranging from replacing Rebecca’s broken glasses to attempts to make her tuition more affordable for their family. There are also a small number of letters from Rebecca to her father and mother and Rebecca’s commitment papers, school reports, certificates, brochures, and her death certificate.

Subjects

Mental retardation--Social aspectsPeople with disabilities--Civil rightsPeople with disabilities--Institutional care--Massachusetts

Contributors

Belchertown State SchoolNourse, Laurence G.

Types of material

Correspondence
Noyes, Helen Haskell

Helen Haskell Noyes Diary

1885
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 072 bd

A fine bookbinder and daughter of New Thought dietary reformer Charles C. Haskell, Helen Haskell Noyes (“Nellie”) was raised in privilege in Deer Isle, Maine, and Norwich, Conn. At the age of 21, Nellie and a group of friends embarked on a grand tour, visiting Switzerland, Italy, France, and England over the course of several months, taking in the usual fare of art and antiquities, cathedrals, palaces, fortifications, museums, and hotels.

In her diary for 1885, Noyes kept a careful record of her experiences while on her grand European tour. In sometimes perfunctory, but often interesting and humorous detail, she notes the challenges and pleasures of European travel, but more importantly, she offers a reflection of a young American woman’s first encounter with a foreign culture and her growing fascination with the deep art history in Italy.

Subjects

France--Description and travel--19th centuryGrand tours (Education)Great Britain--Description and travel--19th centuryItaly--Description and travel--19th centurySwitzerland--Description and travel--19th century

Contributors

Haskell, Nellie Gowan

Types of material

Diaries
Patai, Daphne

Daphne Patai Papers

1961-ca. 2007
94 boxes 47 linear feet
Call no.: FS 182

Daphne Patai joined the faculty of UMass Amherst in 1978, as assistant professor of Brazilian literature, and retired in 2017. She has published more than a dozen books, in a number of separate fields. These books reflect the range of her research interests, in Brazilian literature and culture; feminism and women’s studies;  utopian literature and thought; literary and cultural theory; higher education; and the “culture wars.”  In each of these areas she has produced substantive articles and books.  She has received several major national grants – from the NEH, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Humanities Center, in support of her scholarly work. In each area, the books she has produced have been considered significant contributions (and some have aroused considerable controversy) and have been widely reviewed.

The Daphne Patai Papers features an extensive collection of her research materials and notes, drafts of published works, book reviews, and professional correspondence. Also included is a vast family archive of correspondence with letters from Daphne Patai and family members: Naomi Nir, mother, Raphael Patai, father, and Jennifer Schneider, sister.

Gift of Daphne Patai, 2017.

Subjects

Brazilian literatureFeminismUtopian literatureWomen’s studies

Contributors

Nir, NaomiPatai, Raphael, 1910-1996Schneider, Jennifer

Types of material

Book reviewsCorrespondenceManuscripts
Perreault, Alida

Alida Perreault Papers

1906-1957 Bulk: 1928-1933
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 808
Depiction of

Alida Capistrant was the eleventh of twelve children in a large French-Canadian family in South Hadley, Massachusetts, born on July 24, 1914. Her parents both immigrated from Quebec in 1885. On September 30, 1895, they were married in South Hadley. The Capistrant family rented their home until 1912 when they purchased their first house in South Hadley. Alida had an active social life as a teenager and considered attending college or university, but did not pursue any further education until about 1943, when she studied at the Providence Hospital School of Nursing in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Two years later she married James Perreault and the couple had two children, a daughter, Marcia (Perreault) Matthieu, and a son, David James Perreault. They lived in South Hadley until 2003, when they moved to Chandler, Arizona, to be near their daughter. Alida Perreault died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on April 7, 2006, and James died in 2008. Both are buried in Saint Rose Cemetery in South Hadley next to Alida’s family.

Alida’s correspondence and diaries during her high school years (1928-1932) and in the years after reveal a young woman with a substantial network of friends and family. The bulk of the collection consists of letters from several friends, including two potential romantic interests, and short diary entries. These document daily activities, family happenings, and later Alida’s interest in a career as a nurse and her leadership role in the South Hadley Women’s Club.

Gift of Danielle Kovacs, 2014 and Marcia Matthieu, 2023.

Subjects

Capistrant family--CorrespondenceFamily--Massachusetts--HistoryHigh school students--MassachusettsSouth Hadley (Mass.)--HistoryWilliston Northampton School (Easthampton, Mass.)

Contributors

Fogg, EstherMcEwan, WilliamMitkiewitcz, Freddie A.

Types of material

CorrespondenceGreeting cardsInvitations
Perry, Cynthia Shepard

Cynthia Shepard Perry Papers

1946-2010
7 boxes 10.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 842
Depiction of Cynthia Shepard Perry, ca.1986
Cynthia Shepard Perry, ca.1986

An educator, diplomat, and expert on Africa, Cynthia Shepard Perry was the first recipient of a Ed.D. from of the Program in International Education at UMass Amherst (1972). Born in Burnett, Indiana, in 1928, Perry was raising a family when she set a twenty-five year goal of earning a doctorate and entering international service. One year after earning a bachelor’s degree at Indiana State University in 1967, she arranged for her first trip to Africa, leading a secretarial training project at the University of Nairobi, and over succeeding decades, her connections to the continent deepened dramatically. On faculty at Texas Southern University (1971-1982), Perry served as Associate Director of the university’s Peace Corps Program, which resulted in her leading educational projects in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, and Kenya. In demand for her expertise, she worked as a consultant to the United States Information Service in Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia and as Staff Development Officer at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa. Having become a full professor and Dean of International Affairs, she left TSU in 1982 to take her first diplomatic post as an officer of the Africa Bureau of the United States Agency for International Development, followed by successive appointments as Ambassador to Sierra Leone (1986-1989) and Burundi (1989-1993), as Honorary Consul General of Rwanda, and finally an appointment as United States Executive Director of the African Development Bank (1996-2001). Although officially retired, Perry remains active in supporting education and development in Africa from her home in Houston. Among many other awards she has received, Perry was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from UMass for her international work and was recognized by the Salute to Service Award.

A record of a life in international service in Africa, the Perry Papers include materials from Perry’s time as head of the African Development Bank and her two ambassadorial appointments, including speeches, some correspondence, and a handful of publications. The collection also includes a series of awards and plaques, some family photographs, and memorabilia.

Gift of Cynthia Shepard Perry, Oct., 2014

Subjects

Africa--Foreign relations--United StatesBurundi--HistorySierra Leone--United StatesUnited States--Foreign relations--Africa

Types of material

MemorabiliaPhotographs
Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers

Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers

1698-1968 Bulk: 1800-1950
200 boxes 90 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1148

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers document the history of one extended family
over 270 years (or eight complete generations) and the family’s connection to its ancestral
home, “Forty Acres,” in Hadley, Massachusetts. Forty Acres was a working farm, its name not a
true description of the land under cultivation, which consisted of six hundred acres acquired
by its first owner, Moses Porter, and a significant growth in acreage under his son-in-law,
Charles Phelps. Subsequent generations produced a number of clergy, lawyers, a sea captain,
merchants, factory owners, army officers and doctors. There were artists, writers, publishers,
an actress, and numerous housewives, of necessity, multi-skilled.

The personal papers from these family members contribute valuable insights into our understanding of the evolution
of American society during the last 250 years. Letters and diaries reveal the significant
impact of major events in American history, beginning with the French and Indian War up
through the twentieth century. These writings provide scholars a glimpse into personal
perspectives on wars, political and economic upheavals, religious revivals, social
developments, family relationships, divisions of labor between men and women, as well as the
day-by-day domestic life of the family, their servants and enslaved people.

Related family collections include:

Gift of Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation, Inc., December 2021.

Subjects

Clergy--MassachusettsFamily farms--Massachusetts--HadleyForty Acres (Hadley, Mass.)Hadley (Mass. : Town)--HistoryHistoric sites--Massachusetts--Hadley--Conservation and restorationHuntington familyPhelps familyPorter familyPorter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum (Mass.)Social reformers--New York (State)Theater--Massachusetts

Contributors

Barrett, Lucy Stearns, 1828-1916Huntington, Catharine Sargent, 1887-1987Huntington, Elizabeth Whiting Phelps, 1779-1847Huntington, George Putnam, 1844-1904Huntington, Hannah Dane Sargent, 1822-1910Huntington, James O. S., 1854-1935Huntington, Lilly St. Agnan Barrett, 1848-1926Phelps, Charles, 1717-1789Phelps, Elizabeth Porter, 1747-1817Porter, Elizabeth Pitkin, 1719-1798Porter, Moses, 1722-1755

Types of material

DiariesLettersPhotographs