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

Collecting area: New England

Massachusetts. Department of Agriculture

Farmers’ Produce Market Report Collection

1935-1939
4 vols. 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 588 bd

Established by the Department of Agriculture, the Division of Markets was responsible for determining the demand of agricultural products, encouraging their growth in Massachusetts, and informing purchasers and distributors of the condition of the markets. The division’s daily—except Saturday and Sunday—report provided vital information about the supply and demand of produce in the state.

The Farmers’ Produce Market Report Collection consists of the division’s report for the years 1935-1939. Details recorded include the activity of the market, prices for specific produce, agricultural products shipped within the U.S., and weather forecasts.

Subjects

Agricultural economics--MassachusettsAgriculture--HistoryAgriculture--Massachusetts

Contributors

Massachusetts. Department of Agriculture
Massachusetts. Metropolitan District Commission. Water Division

Massachusetts Metropolitan District Commission, Water Division Maps

1959-1972
1 drawer 0.2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 100

To meet the growing needs for potable water in the Boston metropolitan region, the Massachusetts state legislature ordered the evacuation of the relatively sparsely populated towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott, as well as portions of other adjoining towns such as New Salem, to make way for the construction of a massive reservoir. Over the course of almost two decades, the population of the towns was systematically relocated, the houses moved or razed, and bed of the future reservoir was stripped of trees and brush. The last remaining residents of the region were removed in 1938 and the four primary towns were officially disincorporated as the dam was completed and the waters began to rise.

The numbered blueprint sheets and index that make up this collection offer a detailed depiction of the Swift River Valley towns at the time the state government was seizing land for the Quabbin Reservoir. Apparently surveyed between 1932 and 1938, the maps were prepared by the Metropolitan District Commission of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for a Quabbin Reservoir Real Estate Survey in 1959 and then revised in 1972.

Subjects

Dana (Mass.)--MapsEnfield (Mass.)--MapsGreenwich (Mass.)--MapsNew Salem (Mass.)--MapsPrescott (Mass.)--MapsQuabbin Reservoir (Mass.)--Maps

Contributors

Massachusetts. Metropolitan District Commission. Water Division

Types of material

Maps
Massachusetts. Special Commission on the Reorganization of Higher Education

Massachusetts. Special Commission on the Reorganization of Higher Education Records

1980
1 box 2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 125

The Special Commission on the Reorganization of Higher Education was established to investigate and review Massachusetts laws concerning elementary and secondary education. In order to determine the existence and extent of unequal educational opportunity services, the commission reviewed the state’s school systems as well as the educational laws, programs, and school systems of other states.

Consists of records of the Special Commission on the Reorganization of Higher Education Records, including materials relating to the Boston Community Reorganization, a federal finance proposal, lottery distribution, and school finance reform.

Subjects

Education, Higher--Massachusetts

Contributors

Massachusetts. Special Commission on the Reorganization of Higher Education
Massachusetts. Special Commission on Unequal Educational Opportunity

Massachusetts Special Commission on Unequal Educational Opportunity Records

1970-1986
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 126

The Special Commission on the Reorganization of Higher Education was established to investigate and review Massachusetts laws concerning elementary and secondary education. In order to determine the existence and extent of unequal educational opportunity services, the commission reviewed the state’s school systems as well as the educational laws, programs, and school systems of other states.

Consists of records of the Special Commission on the Reorganization of Higher Education Records, including materials relating to the Boston Community Reorganization, a federal finance proposal, lottery distribution, and school finance reform.

Subjects

Education--Massachusetts--History

Contributors

Massachusetts. Special Commission on Unequal Educational Opportunity
Massachusetts. Treasurer and Receiver General

Massachusetts Bay Warrants Collection

1743-1767
6 folders 0.15 linear feet
Call no.: MS 089

On the eve of the Seven Years War in the Province of Massachusetts, town constables shouldered an array of public responsibilities, including announcing town meetings, serving writs for the town clerk, and collecting local taxes. Although they received a commission for the taxes collected, constables were also held personally responsible for any taxes unpaid, authorized by writ of the Provincial Treasurer and enforced by County Sheriffs.

The warrants in this collection, nearly all printed forms completed in manuscript, were issued by the Treasurer and Receiver General of Massachusetts Bay Province, William Foye or his successor Harrison Gray, authorizing the Hampshire County Sheriff, Oliver Partridge, or Deputy Sheriffs Moses Miller or Ephraim Williams, to attach the goods of local constables in arrears: Brimfield, Greenwich, Sheffield, and Westfield, Mass., along with Somers and Suffield, now part of Connecticut. In instances where the taxes were not delivered, the Sheriff was empowered to “levy by Distress and Sale of the Estate real and personal” of the constable to make up the unpaid difference.

Subjects

Brimfield (Mass.)--HistoryGreenwich (Mass.)--HistorySheffield (Mass.)--HistorySomers (Conn.)--HistorySufffield (Conn.)--HistoryTaxation--Massachusetts--18th centuryWestfield (Mass.)--History

Contributors

Massachusetts. Treasurer and Receiver General

Types of material

Warrants
MassEquality

MassEquality Records

ca.1993-2008
18 boxes 23.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 674
Depiction of MassEquality sticker
MassEquality sticker

In the late 1990s, MassEquality was formed as a coalition of advocacy groups that sought to build legislative support for same-sex marriage and gay rights in Massachusetts. Formally incorporated as a 501(c)4 advocacy organization in late 2001, the coalition hired its first employee, Campaign Coordinator Marty Rouse, in late 1993, and achieved a landmark success that November when the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that the state may not “deny the protections, benefits and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry.” On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to allow equal marital rights to same-sex couples. Since that time, MassEquality has continued to champion marriage equality nationally.
The MassEquality Records document the origins, operations, and activism of one of the leading organizations in New England advocating for marriage rights and civic equality for all, regardless of sexual orientation. The collection includes some material generated by the Freedom to Marry Coalition, a partner in the coalition, and a series of large banners and posters, some of which were displayed during the event celebrating the arrival of marriage equality in Massachusetts.

Subjects

Gay rights--New EnglandGays--Legal status, laws, etc.--New EnglandSame-sex marriage--Law and legislation--New England

Contributors

Freed to Marry CoalitionMassEquality

Types of material

BannersPosters
Maynard, Nathaniel

Nathaniel Maynard Exercise and Account Book

1801-1862
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1063
Depiction of Front cover of the Maynard volume
Front cover of the Maynard volume

The farmer Nathaniel Maynard was born in Marlborough (Worcester County), Mass., on Feb. 27, 1780, the eldest of four children of Joseph Maynard and Lovina Barnes. By 1804, when he married Rachel (Hill) of North Brookfield, Nathaniel was already a resident of Leverett, where he had apparently moved with his brother William. Nathaniel and Rachel had four children: Ira B. Maynard (1810-1896), Alvin (1813-1818), Emeline Dudley (1815-1901), and Joseph Bartlett Maynard (1817-1881).

This small volume is a hybrid production. Roughly the first half of the volume consists of relatively standard exercises for learning arithmetic and business activities, including calculating weights, measures, currencies, finances, and interest rates. The remainder consists of accounts, recording a variety of work performed by Maynard, ranging from farm labor (sale of potatoes, plowing and planting, working with oxen, slaughtering, and chopping wood) to weaving (“sheeting”) and especially mending or making shoes.

McArdle, Alan H., 1949-

Alan H. McArdle Collection

1969-1970
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 991

The archaeological anthropologist Alan McArdle received his masters degree (1975) from UMass Amherst for a demographic study of 17th century Hadley, Mass., followed by a doctorate (1986) on late 19th century mortality change and industrialization in the region. He remained at his alma mater for most of his career, becoming Associate Director of Analytical Studies in the Office of Institutional Research, and has been active in local historic preservation efforts.

McArdle took extensive photographs of colonial cemeteries in Hadley, Mass., and in nearby towns Amherst, Belchertown, and Shutesbury, as well as additional images in Concord, Mass., and in Kennebunkport, Wells, and York, Maine.

Gift of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 2010-

Subjects

Sepulchral monuments--MaineSepulchral monuments--Massachusetts

Types of material

Slides (Photographs)
McIntosh, Beatrice A.

Beatrice A. McIntosh Cookery Collection

ca.1880-2022
ca.8,000 items 200 linear feet
Call no.: MS 395

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

The McIntosh Cookery Collection includes books, pamphlets, and ephemera relating to the history of cookery in New England. Of particular note are nearly 7,500 cookbooks prepared by community organizations from the 1880s to the present, usually for fund-raising or charitable purposes. These cookbooks were produced by a variety of organizations, including parent-teacher groups, churches and synagogues, social service agencies, private clubs, and historical societies as fund-raising projects.
These cookbooks document important aspects of the lives of families and women in the region, as well as ethnic groups and their adaptation of traditional foods to New England. The collection is focused primarily on New England, but includes cookbooks from other states for comparative purposes.

Subjects

Community cookbooksCookbooksCookery--New England
McVeigh, Kevin

Kevin McVeigh Papers

1974-2010
15 boxes 22.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 668

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

A lifelong activist for social and environmental justice, Kevin McVeigh was among the founders of two prominent antinuclear and environmental organizations in Northern California, the Pelican Alliance (1978) and Interhelp (1981). After relocating to Massachusetts, he continued in environmental activism, founding the Green River Center in Greenfield in 1987, but in response to the intense public health crisis, he gradually shifted his focus to become an advocate for persons with HIV/AIDS. As a founder of the AIDS Community Group of Franklin County (Mass.), he has coordinated AIDS services for Tapestry Health, a not-for-profit organization providing affordable health care to in Western Massachusetts.

The McVeigh Papers document a career as a committed antinuclear activist and advocate for persons with HIV/AIDS. The collection includes organizational materials from each of the groups McVeigh helped found: The Pelican Alliance, Interhelp, the Green River Center, the AIDS Community Group of Franklin County, and Tapestry Health, as well as correspondence, newspaper clippings, journals and magazines related to the issues concerning, notes from HIV/AIDS caregivers’ conferences, materials relating to men’s support groups, and other material related to environmental protection and anti-war activism. Finally, the collection includes audio files of an oral history (approximately two hours) conducted with McVeigh in July 2010, and a small collection of antinuclear books from small publishing houses.

Subjects

AIDS (Disease)AIDS Community Group of Franklin CountyAIDS activists--MassachusettsAntinuclear movement--CaliforniaGreen River Center (Greenfield, Mass.)InterhelpPelican AlliancePublic health--MassachusettsTapestry Health

Contributors

McVeigh, Kevin

Types of material

Oral histories