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

Collecting area: Transport

Taylor, Levi E. (Levi Ely), 1795-1858

Levi E. Taylor Daybook

1836-1843
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 483 bd

The wheelwright Levi Ely Taylor was born in Longmeadow, Mass., on Nov. 17, 1795, the son of Nathaniel and Jerusha Taylor. Marrying a woman from Rocky Hill, Conn., Laura Peirce, he settled in Longmeadow and built a prosperous life for himself in his trade. His eldest son, Newton, followed him into the business.

Taylor’s daybook contains careful records of a wheelwright from Longmeadow, Mass., documenting his varied work in the repair of carriages. The transactions that appear in the volume range from making whiffletrees to shortening wheels, making and fitting out carriage seats, and painting and varnishing vehicles, with occasional forays into selling goods such as wheelbarrows and straw cutters.

Subjects

Carriage industry--History--Massachusetts--LongmeadowLongmeadow (Mass.)--HistoryWheelwrights--Massachusetts--Longmeadow

Types of material

Daybooks
U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission. Bureau of Valuation

U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Valuation, Engineering Report upon the Boston and Maine Railroad Company

1931
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 641

Chartered in 1835, the Boston and Maine Railroad was one of the largest and most successful railroad operations in northern New England for over a century, hauling both freight and passengers. The Railway began a slow decline as early as the 1930s with the decline in manufacturing in the region and later with the decline of passenger service. It came through a bankruptcy in 1970 and continues as a non-operating ward of Pan Am Railways.

This collection consists of blueprint valuations of the assets of the Boston and Maine Railroad, compiled by the Bureau of Valuation of the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission in 1931.

Subjects

Boston and Maine RailroadRailroads--New England
West Springfield Airport, Inc.

West Springfield Airport, Inc. Records

1946-1954
2 boxes 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 497 bd

Shortly after the end of the Second World War, a small group of residents formed a corporation to build an airport in West Springfield, Mass. Chartered on June 3, 1946, and based on Riverdale Street, the corporation attracted a small group of investors, but appears never to have prospered. After many months of attempting to sell off their real estate, the corporation voted to liquidate in August 1954.

The records of the West Springfield Airport, Inc., offer a brief, but relatively complete history of small, failed corporation. Although sparsely detailed, the collection documents the financial and organizational uncertainties that led to the early cessation of operations.

Acquired from Peter Masi, Mar. 2005

Subjects

Airports--Massachusetts--West SpringfieldWest Springfield (Mass.)--History

Types of material

Minute books
Williams, Roger

Roger Williams Account Book

1808-1822
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 619 bd

During the early decades of the nineteenth century, Roger Williams ran a ferry in West Springfield, Mass., carrying passengers and freight across the Connecticut River.

The Williams ledger is a combination daybook and account book, recording several dozen transactions of a Connecticut River ferryman, centered on the years around the War of 1812. Most of the entries are brief records of trips carrying individuals or freight across the river, however a few provide indications of other economic activity, including framing and joining, making a coffin, fixing sleds, and cidering.

Subjects

Ferries--Massachusetts--Connecticut RiverWest Springfield (Mass.)

Contributors

Williams, Roger

Types of material

Account booksDaybooks
Wright, John

John Wright Account Books

1818-1859
9 vols. 3 linear feet
Call no.: MS 162

Descendants of one of the founding families of Northampton, Mass., John Wright and his brother Samuel were farmers and freight haulers during the first half of the nineteenth century. Before the 1840s, the brothers hauled freight by wagon from Northampton as far away as Hartford and Boston, however the advent of lower-cost carriers over canal and rail, led them to restrict their operations to a local clientele.

The Wright collection includes nine bound volumes and four folders of loose material associated with the businesses of John Wright, his brother Samuel, and son Edwin. They document the growth of a freight hauling firm that supported a substantial trade stretching to Boston, as well as the eventual decline of that business.

Subjects

Farmers--Massachusetts--NorthamptonFreight and freightage--MassachusettsNorthampton (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Types of material

Account books