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

Collecting area: Massachusetts (Central)

Drury, Luke, 1737-1811

Luke Drury Papers

1746-1831
4 boxes 3 linear feet
Call no.: MS 258

Soldier in Revolutionary War and Shays Rebellion, later a state legislator and local politician from Grafton and Marlboro, Massachusetts. Drury’s papers contain family and business (farm and mill) correspondence, notes of hand, bills, receipts, and legal papers as well as records pertaining to the town of Grafton. Collection also includes papers of Timothy Darling and the Goulding, Place, and Sherman families.

Acquired from Cedric Robinson, 1989

Subjects

Grafton (Mass.)--HistoryMassachusetts--HistoryShays' Rebellion, 1786-1787

Contributors

Darling, TimothyDrury, Luke, 1737-1811Goulding, IsraelSherman, Thankful Temple

Types of material

Deeds
Duckert, Audrey R.

Audrey R. Duckert Quabbin Valley Oral History Collection

1966-1980
53 items
Call no.: MS 756

The linguist Audrey R. Duckert was a pioneer in the study of American regional English. Born in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, Duckert studied dialect at the University of Wisconsin, and after completing her doctorate at Radcliffe College in 1959, she joined the faculty at UMass Amherst. During her forty year career at UMass, Duckert became a founding member of the Dictionary of American Regional English (1965) and she was the first UMass woman admitted to Phi Beta Kappa. In addition to her linguistic work, she developed an avid interest in local history and was involved with several local historical societies, including the Swift River Valley Historical Society in New Salem.

The Duckert oral history collection consists of a series of 53 audiocassette recordings containing interviews with persons displaced when the Swift River Valley was flooded to create the Quabbin Reservoir in 1939. The histories include rich recollections of life in the towns of Greenwich, Enfield, Dana, and Prescott, with village life, education, family, and the changes that accompanied the inundation of the region. The original audiocassettes are in the possession of the Swift River Valley Historical Society.

Subjects

Dana (Mass.)--HistoryEnfield (Mass.)--HistoryGreenwich (Mass.)--HistoryPrescott (Mass.)--HistoryQuabbin Reservoir (Mass.)Swift River Valley (Mass.)--History

Contributors

Duckert, Audrey R.

Types of material

Oral histories
Dunham, Benjamin W.

Benjamin W. Dunham Papers

ca.1897-1907
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 573

Situated on a hill overlooking Quabbin Lake, the Quabbin Inn was a well known resort near Greenwich, Mass. During its peak years during the turn of the twentieth century, the Inn was owned by Otis Dunham, but it figured prominently in the lives of the entire Dunham family.

The Dunham papers contain family correspondence addressed to Benjamin W. Dunham during his service as a machinist with the U.S. Navy. In addition to discussions of the business of the Quabbin Inn, the collection includes news and gossip from the town of Greenwich, the attempted suicide and subsequent hospitalization of Benjamin’s brother Asa, and the migration west of another brother, Herbert.

Subjects

Greenwich (Mass.)--Social life and customsMachinists--MassachusettsQuabbin Inn (Greenwich, Mass.)Quabbin Reservoir Region (Mass.)--HistorySpanish American War, 1898United States. Navy

Contributors

Dunham, Benjamin W
Emmons, Marcus A.

Marcus A. Emmons Papers

1858-1864
1 folder 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 034

A 21 year-old farmer from Hardwick, Mass., Marcus A. Emmons enlisted in the 21st Massachusetts Infantry in August 1861, and saw active service in North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Having survived many of the great battles of the eastern theatre, Emmons was killed in action at Bethesda Church on June 2, 1864.

The letters and journals that comprise this collection document Emmons’ tragically brief experience in the Civil War. Both letters date from April 1864, while the 21st Massachusetts was stationed in Annapolis, Md., prior to the campaigns of that summer. One journal includes some miscellaneous pre-war accounts, a complete list of the Civil War volunteers from Hardwick and their regiments (some with notation of fate in service); a list of conscripts added to Co. K, 21st Mass., in 1863; a list of Civil War battles; military accounts; recruits added to the regiment in 1862, listing place of residence; and a roster of Co. K, 21st Mass. Infantry, with place of residence and fate in the service. The other journal begins as a spelling exercise book and includes diary entries for Mar.-Sept., 1862, discussing farm work.

Subjects

Farmers--Massachusetts--HardwickHardwick (Mass.)--HistoryUnited States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865United States. Army. Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 21st (1861-1864)

Contributors

Emmons, Marcus A.

Types of material

Account booksDiaries
Enfield (Mass.)

Enfield (Mass.) Collection

1800-1939
8 boxes 4 linear feet
Call no.: MS 010
Depiction of Birdseye view of Enfield, ca.1915
Birdseye view of Enfield, ca.1915

Situated at the confluence of the east and west branches of the Swift River in western Massachusetts, Enfield was the largest and southernmost of the four towns inundated in 1939 to create the Quabbin Reservoir. Incorporated as a town in 1816, Enfield was relatively prosperous in the nineteenth century on an economy based on agriculture and small-scale manufacturing, reaching a population of just over 1,000 by 1837. After thirty years of seeking a suitably large and reliable water supply for Boston, the state designated the Swift River Valley as the site for a new reservoir and with its population relocated, Enfield was officially disincorporated on April 28, 1938.

The records of the town of Enfield, Mass., document nearly the entire history of the largest of four towns inundated to create the Quabbin Reservoir. The core of the collection consists of records of town meetings and of the activities of the town Selectmen, 1804-1938, but there are substantial records for the Enfield Congregational Church. The School Committee, Overseers of the Poor, the town Library Association, and groups such as the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Bethel Masonic Lodge.

Subjects

Enfield (Mass.)--HistoryEnfield (Mass.)--Politics and governmentEnfield (Mass.)--Religious life and customsEnfield (Mass.)--Social life and customsQuabbin Reservoir Region (Mass.)--HistoryQuabbin Reservoir Region (Mass.)--Social life and customsWomen--Societies and clubs

Contributors

Daughters of the American Revolution. Captain Joseph Hooker Chapter (Enfield, Mass.)Enfield (Mass. : Town)Enfield (Mass. : Town). Overseers of the PoorEnfield (Mass. : Town). Prudential CommitteeEnfield (Mass. : Town). School CommitteeEnfield Congregational Church (Enfield, Mass.)Enfield Congregational Church (Enfield, Mass.). Women's AuxiliaryEnfield Congregational Church (Enfield, Mass.). Women's Missionary Society

Types of material

Account booksChurch recordsPhotographsSermons
Estey, Joseph W.

Joseph W. Estey Account Book

1809-1827
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 093

Joseph W. Estey was the owner of a farm in Greenwich, Massachusetts with a grist and sawmill. The account book (started in Springfield and Ludlow, Massachusetts with his business partner Abner Putnam) documents business dealings, hired male and female help, personal and farm expenses (hiring tanners and blacksmiths), and a deed.

Subjects

Agricultural laborers--Massachusetts--GreenwichDomestics--Massachusetts--GreenwichFarmers--Massachusetts--GreenwichGreenwich (Mass.)--Economic condition--19th centuryHowe, EdwardHowe, GideonLincoln, BenjaminLudlow (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryMarcy, LabanMills and mill-work--Massachusetts--GreenwichOaks, JohnParson Clapp TavernPutnam, A. W.Putnam, AbnerSpringfield (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryVaughan, JosiahWare Manufacturing Co. (Ware, Mass.)Warner, John

Contributors

Estey, Joseph W.

Types of material

Account books
Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Company

Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Company Records

1799
1 vol. 0.15 linear feet
Call no.: MS 088

Authorized in March 1799, the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Company constructed a toll road through miles of rough terrain and sparse settlements, connecting Leominster, Athol, Greenfield, and Northfield. Having opened areas to land travel that had previously been accessible only over rivers, the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike ceased operations in 1833 after years of declining revenues.

The collection consists primarily of one volume of records of the directors of the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike, including minutes of meetings, accounts of tolls collected, and drafts of letters.

Subjects

Toll roads--Massachusetts

Contributors

Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Company
George H. Gilbert & Company

George H. Gilbert Co. Records

1842-1931
26 boxes, 126 vols. 36 linear feet
Call no.: MS 096

In 1841, George H. Gilbert and Charles A. Stevens formed a partnership to manufacture broadcloth and cloaking in Ware, Massachusetts. Ten years later, the partnership dissolved and each partner carried a part of the business into separate establishments. The newly formed George H. Gilbert Company continued making high-grade woolen flannels, for which it developed a national reputation, until 1930.

Records, consisting of correspondence, financial records and cash books, construction contracts, sales lists, production records, and sample books, document the operation of Gilbert and Stevens and later the Gilbert Company for almost a century. The labor accounts (1851-1930), document the phases of the varying ethnic composition of the workforce — Irish, French-Canadian, and eventually Polish — well as the family orientation of the mills.

Subjects

Textile industry--MassachusettsWare (Mass.)--History

Contributors

George H. Gilbert and Co

Types of material

Account books
Green, Josiah

Josiah Green and Co. Records

1829-1905
2 boxes 2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 683

Josiah Green and Co. were pioneering manufacturers of mass produced pegged boots, one of the earliest and largest firms of its kind in Central Massachusetts. Founded by Josiah Green in the town of Leicester in 1812, the firm relocated to Spencer in 1816 or 1817 and erected its first factory there in 1834. In 1850, J. Green and Co. was the largest of six major shoe- and boot-manufacturers in town, though it lost market share thereafter. Green ran the company until control passed to his sons in 1867.

The records of Josiah Green and Co. document the growth and peak years of operation of one of the most important high-volume manufacturers of boots in central Massachusetts. Although the account books and ledgers extend back into the 1820s, the bulk of the correspondence dates from 1889-1894, when Josiah’s sons controlled the firm and while it was losing ground to its competitors. Although sporadic and incomplete, the correspondence offers a glimpse into the manner in which Green’s business was conducted during a period when the firm sold to a wide network of wholesalers and jobbers in the northeast and Midwest. Most of the correspondence concerns placement or fulfillment of orders and issues over prices and payment. The collection contains four press copybooks containing outgoing letters for the years 1889-1892 and 1904-1905.

Subjects

Shoe industry--Massachusetts--SpencerSpencer (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

Green, JosiahJ. Green and Co

Types of material

Account books
Green, Sybil C.

Sybil C. Green Scrapbook

1908-1909
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 630 bd
Depiction of Cushing Academy student
Cushing Academy student

In the academic year 1908-1909, Sybil C. Green was a high school senior, boarding at the Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass. Born in Spencer, Mass., on August 22, 1889, to Charles H. and Ella M. Green, Green was enrolled in the college preparatory course at Cushing and apparently entered Smith College in the fall of that year. She died in 1984.

The Green scrapbook is a thick and typically chaotic record of a young woman in her senior year of high school in 1908-1909. The scrapbook consists of a bound volume stuffed (or over-stuffed) with tickets to basketball and baseball games, dance cards, invitations, notes, photographs, miscellaneous mementos and ephemera, and a few letters from family and friends.

Subjects

Ashburnham (Mass.)--History--20th centuryCushing Academy--StudentsHigh school students--MassachusettsYoung women--Massachusetts

Contributors

Green, Sybil C

Types of material

EphemeraPhotographsScrapbooks