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

Collecting area: Arts & literature

Association of American Cultures

Association of American Cultures Collection

1985-2010
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1070

The Association of American Cultures (TAAC) was founded in 1985, following the success of the first Open Dialogue conference in which cultural workers from an array of arts disciplines gathered to discuss issues confronting arts organizations and artists in communities of color. As a national arts service agency, TAAC advocates for racial equity in the arts and arts organizations and provides support for those concerned with the preservation of their culturally specific identities through the arts.

The TAAC collection consists primarily of materials distributed to participants at several of the Open Dialogues conferences, along with a handful of promotional materials. A videotape in the collection is one of several produced by TAAC in the 1980s on aspects of cultural diversity in the American arts.

Gift of Mayumi Tsutakawa, Jan. 2016 (2016-008).

Subjects

Arts--ManagementOpen Dialogue

Types of material

Videocassettes
Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers

Independent Film and Video Monthly Collection

1975-2006
28 boxes 42 linear feet
Call no.: MS 771

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

Begun in 1978 by the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, The Independent is a leading source of information for independent, grassroots, and activist media-makers. Published monthly, The Independent carries articles and criticism on documentary and independent films and fulfills an important role in providing inspiration and connections for the independent media community. Although the AIVF shut its doors in July 2006, suspending print publication of The Independent, Independent Media Publications acquired the rights to the publications and archives of The Independent Film & Video Monthly in 2007 and will continue the journal online.

In addition to a nearly complete run of The Independent, now fully digitized, the collection contains the surviving editorial and production records for the journal.

Subjects

Documentary films--PeriodicalsExperimental films--Periodicals

Contributors

Association of Independent Video and FilmakersFoundation for Independent Video and Film (U.S.)
Autoharp and Folk Song Periodicals

Autoharp and Folk Song Periodicals Collection

Bulk: 1981-1993
2 boxes .63 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1161

This collection consists of periodicals on the subject of the autoharp and folk song education. Autoharp Quarterly was published out of Pennsylvania with quarterly issues until summer of 2021. It was edited by Mary Lou Orthery and Ivan Stiles. It features letters, songs and tablature, and columns called “‘Harpers at Large” and “Auto-suggestion,” which includes tips from readers. Autoharp Teachers Digest was published out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and edited by Jacalyn Post. Most issues, which are two or three pages, include a lesson plan with some tablature. Autoharpoholic was edited by Becky Blackley, the author of The Authoharp Book (1983), published by i.a.d, in Brisbane, CA. Folksong in the Classroom was a newsletter established in 1979 by members of the American Historical Association’s Committee on History in the Classroom, led by Laurence I. Seidman, a folklorist and professor at Post College, New York. It was issued three times a year, and reached an audience composed primarily of upper elementary, junior high, and high school teachers. It was self-published, edited by John A. Scott of the Fieldston School (New York) and Rutgers University (NJ); and Laurence I. Seidman. Each issue has a themed section, such as Lullabies or “Teaching about Slavery through Folk Song,” with historical background information and songs, including lyrics and music, and sample lesson plans. Issues also include correspondence with readers, and lists of useful resources for classroom teachers like books and workshop offerings.

Sarah Bilotta, January 2020

Subjects

Autoharp musicFolk music

Types of material

periodicals
Bajgier Family

Bajgier Family Papers

1925-1986
2 boxes 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 400
Depiction of Joseph and Martha Bajgier at Bell Market, Chicopee, 1937
Joseph and Martha Bajgier at Bell Market, Chicopee, 1937

On March 13, 1903, Joseph Michael Bajgier was born in Odrzykon, Poland, the youngest of three sons in a farming family. Schooled only through the third grade, Joseph served as a young man in the First Air Division of the Polish Army before following his older brother in emigrating to the United States in 1927. Settling in Chicopee, Mass., with its large and active Polish community, Bajgier began work as a slaughterer of pigs for a meat processing company, but within a few years, he had saved enough money to purchase a small grocery store in Longmeadow. In about 1935, he returned to Chicopee, purchasing a grocery and deli, Bell Market, that his family ran for 36 years. Bajgier was deeply involved in the local Polish community as a member of the Polish National Alliance, the Holy Name Society of St. Stanislaus Parish, and an organization of Polish veterans in exile (Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantow). He and his wife Martha (Misiaszek) had two sons, Casimir and Edward

The Bajgier collection documents the lives of a Polish family in Chicopee, Mass., from the time of immigration through the 1970s. The core of the collection surrounds the life of Joseph Bajgier, and includes a number of documents and a diary from the time of his emigration in 1927, a fascinating series of letters from relatives in Turaszowka, Poland before and after the Second World War, and several photographs of the family and their business in Chicopee.

Subjects

Chicopee (Mass.)--Social life and customsPolish Americans--MassachusettsWorld War, 1939-1945

Contributors

Bajgier, Joseph M

Types of material

Photographs
Baker, James

James Baker Free Spirit Press Collection

1969-2005 Bulk: 1969-1974
3 boxes 1.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 834
Depiction of Spirit in Flesh tour bus
Spirit in Flesh tour bus

James Baker was a member of the Brotherhood of the Spirit commune (later the Renaissance Community) in the early 1970s, and a key contributor to the Free Spirit Press, the commune’s publishing operation. Part promotion, information, and entertainment, the Free Spirit Press magazine ran for four issues in the winter and spring 1972-1973.

The Baker collection consists of the surviving materials from the production of Free Spirit Press concentrated heavily in the period between winter 1972 and summer 1974. Accumulated mostly while preparing a brochure for the commune, the manuscript material contains copies of the commune’s by-laws and membership rolls, comments from community members on how they wished to be represented, and a story board for the brochure and series of quotes from community members to be included. The second half of the collection contains hundreds of images, mostly 35mm negatives, taken of or by the commune and its residents. The images depict the production and distribution of Free Spirit Press and the commune band (Spirit in Flesh, later called Rapunzel), but they also include several rolls of film taken by commune members of major rock and roll acts of the era, including the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jethro Tull, Santana, Chuck Berry, Hot Tuna, and Fleetwood Mac.

Subjects

Berry, ChuckBrotherhood of the Spirit (Commune)Communal living--MassachusettsGrateful Dead (Musical group)Grateful Dead (Musical group)--PhotographsMetelica, MichaelRenaissance Community (Commune)Rock music--1971-1980--PhotographsTaj Mahal (Musician)Taj Mahal (Musician)--Photographs

Contributors

Geisler, Bruce

Types of material

Photographs
Barbershop music

Barbershop Music Collection

1952-1985
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 893

Founded in 1938, the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America was one of the earliest organziation devoted to promoting barbershop harmony singing.

Mostly undated, the dozens of printed SPEBSQSA songbooks and sheet music in this collection appear to have been printed between the early 1950s and mid-1980s.

Gift of William R. Lenville, Oct. 2013

Subjects

Barbershop (Music)

Types of material

Sheet musicSongbooks
Barnard, Ellsworth, 1907-

Ellsworth Barnard Papers

1924-2004
12.25 linear feet
Call no.: FS 002
Depiction of Ellsworth Barnard
Ellsworth Barnard

Ellsworth “Dutchy” Barnard attended Massachusetts Agricultural College, and received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1928. Barnard began teaching college English in 1930 at Massachusetts State College. In the fall of 1957 he took a position at Northern Michigan University (NMU). As chairman of the English department, Barnard presided over a selection committee which brought the first African-American faculty member to NMU. During the 1967-1968 academic year, he led the faculty and student body in protesting the dismissal of Bob McClellan, a history professor. Although the effort to reappoint McClellan was successful, Barnard had already tendered his resignation at NMU and returned to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for the 1968-1969 academic year. He ended his career at UMass as the Ombudsperson, the first to fill that office. Barnard retired in 1973 and lived in Amherst until his death in December 2003.

Barnard’s papers document his distinguished career as an English professor and author, as well as his social activism, particularly on behalf of the environment. They consist of course materials, personal and professional correspondence, drafts of essays, lectures and chapters, published works, a collection of political mailings, a number of artifacts both from the University of Massachusetts and other educational institutions and organizations, and a number of poems by Barnard and others.

Subjects

English--Study and teachingUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of English

Contributors

Barnard, Ellsworth, 1907-2003
Barter, Judith A.

Judith A. Barter Papers

1951-2021 Bulk: 1992-2000
5 boxes
Call no.: MS 1134

Judith Barter is an art historian and curator of American art. She is currently the Field-McCormick Chair, American Art at The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), where she has worked since 1992. Born in 1951 in Chicago, IL, she earned degrees at Indiana University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before completing a PhD in Cultural and Social History at UMass Amherst in 1991. While earning her PhD, she worked as the curator of collections and associate director at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. She has written and contributed writing to a number of exhibition catalogs for exhibitions held across the United States; notable among these is Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, which originated at the AIC in 1998. She was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal at UMass in 1999.

The papers document Barter’s professional career as a celebrated scholar of American art. The collection includes documentation of her research, writing, and lectures on topics such as trompe l’oeil and photography. Also included are VHS and cassette tapes documenting exhibitions and lectures. 

Gift of Judith A. Barter, 2021

Subjects

University of Massachusetts Amherst--AlumniUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of History

Contributors

Barter, Judith A.

Types of material

AudiocassettesPhotographsResearch (documents)Videocassettes
Barton, George W.

George W. Barton Papers

1889-1984 Bulk: 1914-1920
4.5 linear feet
Call no.: RG 050 B37

George W. Barton was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts in 1896. After attending Concord High School in Concord, Barton began his studies in horticulture and agriculture at Massachusetts Agricultural College.

The Barton collection includes diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, newspaper clippings, programs, announcements, and his herbarium, and relates primarily to his career at the Massachusetts Agricultural College where he studied horticulture and agriculture from 1914-1918.

Subjects

Botany--Study and teachingHorticulture--Study and teachingMassachusetts Agricultural College--Students

Contributors

Barton, George W

Types of material

DiariesHerbariaPhotographsScrapbooks
Bascom, Eric

Eric Bascom Collection of Jazz Recordings

ca. 1940-1950
ca. 500 phonograph records 10 linear feet
Call no.: MS 882
Depiction of David Stone Martin cover for Slim Gaillard and Bam Brown's 'Opera in Vout'
David Stone Martin cover for Slim Gaillard and Bam Brown's 'Opera in Vout'

When he was fifteen or sixteen, Eric Bascom’s life changed forever when he saw renowned jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery perform. Though Bascom had been playing guitar himself since he was young, seeing Montgomery opened his eyes to a completely new way of playing guitar and a completely new approach to music. Since that time, Bascom has been an avid listener, collector, and practitioner of jazz. He is currently performing as the Eric Bascom Trio with Ed Brainerd and Genevieve Rose.
The Eric Bascom Collection of Jazz Recordings consists of hundreds of jazz 78 rpm records from the 1940s and 1950s, including a number of 78 books with beautifully illustrated covers. In addition to the records are player piano rolls, several of which were punched by Fats Waller, and a portable Walters Conley Phonola 78 record player.

Subjects

Bop (Music)Jazz musicians

Contributors

Basie, Count, 1904-1984Christian, Charlie, 1916-1942Fitzgerald, EllaParker, Charlie, 1920-1955

Types of material

78 rpm recordsPiano rolls