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

Collecting area: New England

Pledger, Lynne

Lynne Pledger Collection

1968-2007
3 boxes 4.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 726

Lynne Pledger became active in waste management issues when Casella Waste Systems, a New England-based landfill company, applied to expand operations in Hardwick, Mass., potentially threatening the public water supply. Organizing a grassroots campaign, Pledger succeeded in getting Casella to drop plans to rezone the landfill in 2007, after the company failed to garner the necessary support in town meeting. Pledger has remained active in zero waste and waste reduction efforts, serving on the Zero Waste Committee for the Sierra Club, on the Clean Water Action Campaign, on the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and co-founding Don’t Waste Massachusetts, an alliance of 25 environmental organizations supporting waste reduction measures.

This small collection contains documentation of grassroots opposition to the expansion of the landfill at Hardwick, Mass. Collected by Pledger, the material includes environmental and site reports, some filings, background information on the site and landfills, and some correspondence relating to the controversy.

Gift of Lynne Pledger, Dec. 2011

Subjects

Casella Waste SystemsFills (Earthwork)--MassachusettsHardwick (Mass.)--HistoryRefuse and refuse disposal--Massachusetts

Contributors

Pledger, Lynne
Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts

Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts Collection

1990-2018
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 366

Founded in 1989, the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts is a not-for-profit organization devoted to encouraging and supporting research into Polish family history and more generally into Polish culture and history. The Society sponsors educational programs and publications and operates a research library at the Polish Center of Discovery in Chicopee, Mass.
The collection consists of a nearly complete run of the semiannual newsletter of the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts, Biuletyn Korzenie (Roots Bulletin).

Gift of the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts
Language(s): Polish

Subjects

Poland--GenealogyPolish Americans--Massachusetts

Types of material

Newsletters
Polish Jubilee

Polish Jubilee Catalogs and Souvenirs

1906-1988
5 boxes 2.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 057

Includes booklets containing parish and community histories, photographs, and local advertisements celebrating Jubilee, other anniversaries, and events in over twenty Massachusetts Polish American parishes; booklets furnishing histories and names associated with Polish American groups (such as the Brotherly Aid Society and Polish American Veterans); an historical paper on the Chicopee Polish Community; a pamphlet including songs and recipes; photographs; a booklet; and two books.

Subjects

Chicopee (Mass.)--HistoryPolish Americans--Massachusetts
Polish Women’s Club of Three Rivers (Mass.)

Polish Women's Club of Three Rivers Records

1924-1994
3 boxes 1.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 391

Polish-American women’s club located near Palmer, Massachusetts, that aims to encourage Polish women to become United States citizens and provide them with classes in the English language; to take an active part in local, state and federal politics; to support local Polish-owned businesses; to preserve and integrate Polish culture with those of other ethnicities present in the United States; to encourage higher education in the Polish-American community.

Includes meeting minutes (primarily in Polish), histories, anniversary programs, town and state citations, and government publications, documenting the activities, membership, and national recognition of the club over a period of seventy years.

Gift of Helen B. Grzywna and Sophie Wojtowicz-Valtelhas, 1995

Subjects

Americanization--History--20th centuryPalmer (Mass.)--Ethnic relations--20th centuryPalmer (Mass.)--Social conditions--20th centuryPoles--Cultural assimilation--Massachusetts--History--20th centuryPolish American friendly societies--Massachusetts--Palmer--HistoryPolish Americans--Ethnic identity--History--20th centuryPolish Americans--Massachusetts--PalmerPolish Americans--Political activity--History--20th century

Contributors

Massachusetts Federation of Polish Women's ClubsPolish American Women Citizens Political Club of Three Rivers and Thorndike (Palmer, Mass.)Polish Women's Club of Three Rivers (Palmer, Mass.)

Types of material

Programs
Ponakin Mill

Ponakin Mill Ledger

1910-1916
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1073 bd

A textile manufacturer, Ponakin (or Ponikin) Mill was established on the north branch of the Nashua River, half a mile from North Lancaster, in 1861, near the site of an earlier cotton mill. By the end of the Civil War, it boasted 40 employees who produced 500,000 yards of brown sheeting, but by the time it was incorporated in 1888, specializing in the production of cotton yarn, manufacturing in Lancaster was already on the decline. The company survived at least into the 1920s.

This survival from a central Massachusetts textile manufacturer contains miscellaneous business records copied into a letterpress (or wet press) copy book, in which a combination of moisture and pressure was used to transfer ink from the original onto a sheet of tissue paper. This records cover a wide terrain, including inventories of stock on hand, accounts payable, insurance and IRS tax information, payroll data (without names), shipping lists and lists of customers, and a few copies of business letters.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Lancaster (Mass.)--Economic conditions--20th centuryTextile manufacturers--Massachusetts--Lancaster

Types of material

Letterpress copybooks
Pondtown Monthly Meeting of Friends

Pondtown Monthly Meeting of Friends Records

1991-1993
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 P663

Pondtown Monthly Meeting of Friends, based in Winthrop, Maine, began as a worship group under the care of the Winthrop, Maine Monthly Meeting in 1982. After a year, it was set off from Winthrop Monthly Meeting to become a monthly meeting as part of the Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting. Eight years later, in 1991, the Farmington Monthly Meeting was set off from Pondtown.

The collection consists of six folders, containing minutes from 1991-1993, State-of-the-Society reports for 1991 and 1992, some correspondence and a query.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Maine--Religious life and customsQuakers--MaineSociety of Friends--Maine

Types of material

Annual reportsCorrespondenceMinutes (Administrative records)
Pope, Ebenezer

Ebenezer Pope Ledger

1810-1821
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 167 bd

Blacksmith who was prominent in the town affairs of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Includes debit and credit entries, the method and form of customer payment (cash, services, labor, and goods such as corn, potatoes, wheat, cider brandy, hog, veal, sheep, lambs, and an ox), and an entry noting the building of the Great Barrington and Alford Turnpike in 1812. Also includes documentation of seamstress activity and of African American customers.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

African Americans--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th centuryBarter--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th centuryBlacksmiths--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--Economic conditions--19th centuryGeorge, NegroGreat Barrington (Mass.)--History--19th centuryGreat Barrington and Alford Turnpike (Mass.)--HistoryPalmer, Anna MToll roads--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryWages--Men--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th centuryWages--Women--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th centuryWages-in-kind--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th century

Contributors

Pope, Ebenezer

Types of material

Account books
Port of Dennis (Mass.)

Port of Dennis Enrollment Bonds Collection

1889-1894
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 290 bd

Bonds entered in application for a Certificate of Enrollment for commerce vessels at the port of Dennis in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Volume contains 200 bonds (80 of which are completed), that provide names of the managing owner(s), the name and weight of the vessel, the sum of the bond, and the master of the vessel, and document the commercial activities of some residents in the towns of Dennis, Yarmouth, and Harwich.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Barnstable County (Mass.)--Commerce--History--19th centuryBarnstable County (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryDennis (Mass. : Town)--Economic conditions--19th centuryDennis (Mass.)--Commerce--History--19th centuryEnrollmentsHarwich (Mass.)--Commerce--History--19th centuryHarwich (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryShip registers--Massachusetts--Barnstable County--HistoryShipping--Massachusetts--Barnstable County--History--19th centuryYarmouth (Mass.)--Commerce--History--19th centuryYarmouth (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century
Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers

Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers

1698-1968 Bulk: 1800-1950
200 boxes 90 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1148

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers document the history of one extended family
over 270 years (or eight complete generations) and the family’s connection to its ancestral
home, “Forty Acres,” in Hadley, Massachusetts. Forty Acres was a working farm, its name not a
true description of the land under cultivation, which consisted of six hundred acres acquired
by its first owner, Moses Porter, and a significant growth in acreage under his son-in-law,
Charles Phelps. Subsequent generations produced a number of clergy, lawyers, a sea captain,
merchants, factory owners, army officers and doctors. There were artists, writers, publishers,
an actress, and numerous housewives, of necessity, multi-skilled.

The personal papers from these family members contribute valuable insights into our understanding of the evolution
of American society during the last 250 years. Letters and diaries reveal the significant
impact of major events in American history, beginning with the French and Indian War up
through the twentieth century. These writings provide scholars a glimpse into personal
perspectives on wars, political and economic upheavals, religious revivals, social
developments, family relationships, divisions of labor between men and women, as well as the
day-by-day domestic life of the family, their servants and enslaved people.

Related family collections include:

Gift of Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation, Inc., December 2021.

Subjects

Clergy--MassachusettsFamily farms--Massachusetts--HadleyForty Acres (Hadley, Mass.)Hadley (Mass. : Town)--HistoryHistoric sites--Massachusetts--Hadley--Conservation and restorationHuntington familyPhelps familyPorter familyPorter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum (Mass.)Social reformers--New York (State)Theater--Massachusetts

Contributors

Barrett, Lucy Stearns, 1828-1916Huntington, Catharine Sargent, 1887-1987Huntington, Elizabeth Whiting Phelps, 1779-1847Huntington, George Putnam, 1844-1904Huntington, Hannah Dane Sargent, 1822-1910Huntington, James O. S., 1854-1935Huntington, Lilly St. Agnan Barrett, 1848-1926Phelps, Charles, 1717-1789Phelps, Elizabeth Porter, 1747-1817Porter, Elizabeth Pitkin, 1719-1798Porter, Moses, 1722-1755

Types of material

DiariesLettersPhotographs
Porter, William and Eleanor

William and Eleanor Porter Papers

1800-1809
1 folder 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 091

The collection includes demands and receipts 1804-1809 for taxes (parish, highway, town, county, and state) on various tracts of land in Greenwich, Massachusetts owned by Dr. William and Eleanor Porter. It also includes three documents dating from 1800-1808 regarding the settling of accounts with local individuals: Ichabod [Trandell], James Mills, and Isaac Hunter, and an agreement ca. 1807 to sell pasture land to Captain West of Greenwich.

Acquired from Donald Howe, 1960

Subjects

Greenwich (Mass.)--History--19th centuryQuabbin Reservoir Region (Mass.)--History

Contributors

Porter, EleanorPorter, William