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

Alford Marble Works

Alford Marble Works Records

1870-1873
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 649 bd

Beginning in the early nineteenth century, the small town of Alford in far southwestern Massachusetts was the site of significant marble quarrying operations. Highly profitable for several decades, the quarries began to decline in profitability by mid-century when new sites became accessible by rail. By the early 1870s, the Alford Marble Works stood as one of the last quarries in the region to remain active.

The Alford Marble Works ledger includes pay and work records for quarrymen during its last years of operation. Although the Marble Works is sometimes recorded as suspending activity in 1872, it is clear from these records that their work continued through the end of 1873.

Subjects

Marble industry and trade--MassachusettsSepulchral monuments--Massachusetts

Contributors

Alford Marble WorksAssociation for Gravestone Studies

Types of material

Account books
Andrews, Carol D.

Carol D. Andrews Collection

2001-2002
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: PH 031

A resident of New Braintree, Massachusetts, Carol Andrews became interested in the work of gravestone carvers when working on the history of her local cemetery. She has subsequently conducted research on the history and production of carvers from central and western Massachusetts during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The Andrews Collection contains photographs and research notes arranged in alphabetical order regarding the work of identified Massachusetts carvers. Among the names represented in the collection are Abercrombie, Codner, Colburn, Daugherty, Geyer, Hartwell, Hastings, Kenfield, Kilburn, Kinney, Lewis, New, Park, Pool, Pratt, Rankin, Reed, Sikes, White, and Woods. Andrews assembled more comprehensive representations of the work of the Soules (Beza Sr. and Jr., Coomer, et al.), William Young, and Thomas Harmon. The collection also includes some correspondence with Vincent Luti and Robert Drinkwater relating to her research.

Subjects

Sepulchral monuments--MassachusettsStone carving--Massachusetts

Contributors

Andrews, Carol DAssociation for Gravestone StudiesDrinkwater, RobertLuti, Vincent

Types of material

Letters (Correspondence)Photographs
Association for Gravestone Studies

Association for Gravestone Studies Collection

1975-2008
46 collections
Call no.: MS 610

Founded in 1977, the Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) is an international organization dedicated to the study and preservation of gravestones of all periods and styles. Based in Greenfield, Mass., the AGS sponsors conferences, workshops and exhibits, and publishes an annual journal, Markers, and quarterly bulletin. Their mission is to promote the study of gravestones from historical and artistic perspectives, expand public awareness of the significance of historic grave markers, and encourage individuals and groups to record and preserve gravestones.

The AGS Collection consists of the central records of the organization plus a growing number of photographic archives of gravestone art donated by members and associates. Offering critical documentation of gravestones, tombs, and cemeteries throughout the country, but especially New England.

Collections include:

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Gift of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 2009-2017
Connect to another siteThe AGS publications, Markers
and Newsletter of the AGS are digitized and available online through Credo

Subjects

Sepulchral monumentsStone carving

Contributors

Association for Gravestone Studies
Association for Gravestone Studies

Association for Gravestone Studies Ephemera Collection

1788-1939
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 651
Depiction of Lamprey and Dickey business card
Lamprey and Dickey business card

Founded in 1977, the Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) is an international organization dedicated to furthering the study and preservation of gravestones. Based in Greenfield, Mass., the Association promotes the study of gravestones from historical and artistic perspectives. To raise public awareness about the significance of historic gravemarkers and the issues surrounding their preservation, the AGS sponsors conferences and workshops, publishes both a quarterly newsletter and annual journal, Markers, and has built an archive of collections documenting gravestones and the memorial industry.

The AGS Ephemera Collections contains a mix of materials relating to gravestones and the slate and marble industries. Most of the items relate to the marble and slate industries in Western Massachusetts and adjacent areas in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Subjects

Marble industry and tradeSlate industry

Contributors

Association for Gravestone StudiesFair Haven Marble and Marbleized Slate CoFarr Alpaca Co

Types of material

Business cardsCircular lettersEphemeraMemorial cards
Association for Gravestone Studies

Association for Gravestone Studies Printed Materials Collection

1812-2005
269 items 14 linear feet
Call no.: RB 004

Founded in 1977, the Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) is an international organization dedicated to furthering the study and preservation of gravestones. Based in Greenfield, Mass., the Association promotes the study of gravestones from historical and artistic perspectives. To raise public awareness about the significance of historic gravemarkers and the issues surrounding their preservation, the AGS sponsors conferences and workshops, publishes both a quarterly newsletter and annual journal, Markers, and has built an archive of collections documenting gravestones and the memorial industry.

The AGS collection contains scarce, out of print, and rare printed works on cemeteries and graveyards, epitaphs and inscriptions, and gravemarkers, with an emphasis on North America. The AGS Books Collection also includes the AGS publication, Markers. The collection is divided into three series: Series 1 (Monographs and Offprints), Series 2 (Theses and Dissertations), and Series 3 (AGS Publications).

Subjects

CemeteriesEpitaphsSepulchral monuments

Contributors

Association for Gravestone Studies
Azzola, Friedrich Karl

Karl Friedrich Azzola Collection

1976-2009
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 665

Born in December 1931, Friedrich Karl Azzola fled with his family to Germany in 1944. Settling in the state of Hesse, he earned a degree in chemistry at the University of Giessen and doctorate at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in 1965. After five years in the chemical industry, he was called to the Fachhochschule Wiesbaden-Russelsheim as professor, teaching chemistry and materials science to engineers until his retirement in 1997. Beginning in the 1950s, Azzola earned a wide reputation for his research on gravemarkers and “cemetery culture,” publishing widely on Medieval and early modern monuments in Germany.

Part of the Association for Gravestone Studies Collection, the Azzola collection consists of a run of Friedhof und Denkmal (2000-2009, with a few earlier issues), along with a suite of offprints of articles and pamphlets by Azzola and others on cemeteries and gravemarkers.

Subjects

Friedhof und DenkmalSepulchral monuments--Germany

Contributors

Association for Gravestone StudiesAzzola, Friedrich Karl
Benes, Peter

Peter Benes Collection

ca.1975-1986
1 box 1 linear feet
Call no.: PH 017
Depiction of Soule Fishwing
Soule Fishwing

Peter Benes might be called the father of the Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS). In 1976, he organized a meeting in Dublin, New Hampshire, of people interested in colonial gravestones, naming the group the Dublin Seminar. Following a committee meeting in December 1976, the group met again in the summer 1977 to organize as the AGS. Benes served as Treasurer in 1977 and Archives Officer in 1978. He received the Forbes Award of the AGS in 1979 for his role in founding the organization and in recognition of the contributions made to gravestone studies by his first book, The Masks of Orthodoxy: Folk Gravestone Carving in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1689-1805 (1977). He is currently (2009) Director of the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife at Boston University.

The Benes Collection contains 2,826 black and white photographic prints documenting a majority of the eighteenth century grave markers in southeastern Massachusetts, taken for his book The Masks of Orthodoxy. The images were taken in Plymouth and surrounding counties.

Subjects

Sepulchral monuments--MassachusettsStone carving--Massachusetts

Contributors

Association for Gravestone StudiesBenes, Peter

Types of material

Photographs
Brock, Eric J.

Eric J. Brock Collection

1957-1995
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 693

A consulting architectural historian and urban planner based in Shreveport, Louisiana, Eric J. Brock was born in San Francisco, California, but with deep family roots in New York, New England, and the coastal Deep South. The author of sixteen books and several hundred popular and academic journal articles on Louisiana history, Brock is a member of the board and former president of the Oakland Cemetery Preservation Society of Shreveport, a former board member of the Louisiana Preservation Alliance, a member of Save Our Cemeteries of New Orleans, of Friends of New Orleans Cemeteries, and a current or former member of multiple preservation and museum organizations. Brock has a deep interest in cemetery preservation and in the multi-faceted role of cemeteries as archives of architectural, historical, genealogical, and artistic importance and as benchmarks of cultural change and development.

With an emphasis on New Orleans and Shreveport, the Brock collection consists primarily of articles and newsclippings on Jewish and other Louisiana cemeteries.

Subjects

Cemeteries--LouisianaJewish cemeteries--Louisiana

Contributors

Brock, Eric J.
Broderick, Warren F.

Warren F. Broderick Photograph Collection

1982-1983
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: PH 028

A senior archives and records management specialist at the New York State Archives, Warren F. Broderick has published extensively on topics ranging from gravestone carving to the history of the upper Hudson River Valley. He is co-author of Pottery Works (1995), editor of a new edition of Granville Hicks’s Small Town (2004), and a contributor of numerous journal articles of historical subjects.

The Broderick Collection includes photographs of tombstones in Old Catholic Cemeteries in, Lansingburgh and Lebanon Springs, N.Y., and St. Josephs Cemetery, Pittsfield, Mass. The collection includes a folder of slides taken of St. Josephs Cemetery by Barbara Rotundo.

Subjects

Sepulchral monuments--MassachusettsSepulchral monuments--New YorkStone carving--New York

Contributors

Association for Gravestone StudiesBroderick, Warren F

Types of material

Photographs
Bunton, Alice Bice

Alice Bice Bunton Collection

1979-1993
1 box 1 linear feet
Call no.: PH 018
Depiction of Timothy Lindall, Salem, Mass., 1699
Timothy Lindall, Salem, Mass., 1699

A local historian from Bethany, Connecticut, Alice Bice Bunton (1924-2000) was a long-time member of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Author of a book on the historic houses of Bethany in 1972, she attended AGS conferences regularly beginning in the late 1970s. Bunton died on October 18, 2000, at the age of 75.

Many of Bunton’s photographs documenting cemeteries in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey were taken during tours associated with the AGS annual conferences. Also included in the collection are AGS conference brochures and other printed material, newspaper clippings, grave rubbings, and a small amount of correspondence.

Subjects

Sepulchral monuments--ConnecticutSepulchral monuments--MassachusettsSepulchral monuments--New JerseyStone carving--ConnecticutStone carving--Massachusetts

Contributors

Association for Gravestone StudiesBunton Alice Bice

Types of material

PhotographsRubbings