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

Collecting area: Mass Agricultural College (1863-1931)

Alexander, Charles P. (Charles Paul), 1889-1981

Charles P. Alexander Papers

1922-1959
4 boxes 2 linear feet
Call no.: FS 036
Depiction of Charles P. Alexander
Charles P. Alexander

Charles Paul Alexander, a professor and head of the Entomology Department from 1922 until 1959, was the international expert on the crane fly (Tipulidae). Alexander was born in Gloversville, New York in 1889, earned his B.S. (1913) and Ph.D. (1918) from Cornell University and joined the Massachusetts Agricultural College faculty in 1922. Alexander became the head of the Entomology Dept. and the Zoology Dept. in 1937 and then the dean of the the School of Science in 1945 and while at the University, classified nearly 13,000 species of crane fly. His personal collection of crane flies is held by the Smithsonian Institute. Alexander died in 1981.

The Charles Paul Alexander Papers contains mainly Alexander’s published reports on the crane fly as well as some of his lecture notes.

Subjects

EntomologyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of Entomology

Contributors

Alexander, Charles P. (Charles Paul), 1889-1981
Alvord, Henry E.

Henry E. Alvord Papers

1859-1866
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: FS 037

An officer in the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry during the Civil War, Henry Alvord (1844-1904) became a Professor of Dairy Science at Massachusetts Agricultural College and a founder of the American Association of Land Grant Colleges. He went on to a distinguished career in education and work with agricultural experiment stations in Maryland and Oklahoma.

Subjects

Massachusetts Agricultural College--Faculty

Contributors

Alvord, Henry E
Baker, Hugh P. (Hugh Potter), 1878-1950

Hugh Potter Baker Papers

1919-1951
4.5 linear feet
Call no.: RG 003/1 B35
Depiction of Hugh P. Baker, ca.1945
Hugh P. Baker, ca.1945

Hugh Baker served as President during most of the existence of Massachusetts State College, taking office in 1933, two years after it changed name from Massachusetts Agricultural College, and retiring in 1947, just as the college became the University of Massachusetts. A forester by training, Baker began his career as a professor, and later dean, in the College of Forestry at Syracuse University. In 1920, he left Syracuse to become Executive Secretary of the American Paper and Pulp Association, and for nearly a decade, he worked in the forestry industry. He returned to academia in 1930, when he resumed the deanship at the New York State School of Forestry. During his presidency at Massachusetts State College, Baker oversaw the construction of improved housing and classroom facilities for students, a new library, the expansion of the liberal arts curriculum, and a near doubling of student enrollment. Further, chapel services were reorganized to be voluntary, and a weekly convocation was initiated. Baker also founded popular annual conferences on recreation and country life.

The Baker Papers include correspondence with college, state, and federal officials, college suppliers, and alumni; speeches and articles; reports and other papers on topics at issue during Baker’s college presidency, 1933-1947, particularly the building program. Also included are several biographical sketches and memorial tributes; clippings and other papers, relating to Baker’s career as professor of forestry at several colleges, trade association executive, and college president.

Subjects

Clock chimes--Massachusetts--Amherst--HistoryCollege buildings--Massachusetts--Amherst--HistoryMassachusetts State College--Anniversaries, etcMassachusetts State College--BuildingsMassachusetts State College--HistoryMassachusetts State College--Student housingMassachusetts State College. PresidentMassachusetts State College. School of Home EconomicsMassachusetts--Politics and government--1865-1950Old Chapel (Amherst, Mass.)--HistoryStudent housing--Massachusetts--Amherst--HistoryUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--History

Contributors

Baker, Hugh P. (Hugh Potter), 1878-1950
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
Boardman, Charles M.

Charles M. Boardman Papers

1919-1949
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: FS 035

A member of of QTV fraternity, Charles Meade Boardman graduated from the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1920 with a degree in landscape gardening.

Boardman’s Papers include two of his college yearbooks, a smattering of correspondence from the 1920s relating to landscape gardening, and approximately 30 photographs, apparently taken during or shortly after his time at MAC.

Subjects

Landscape gardeningUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Students

Contributors

Boardman, Charles M
Brooks Farm

Summer Scenes, Brooke Farm, 1922

1922-1923
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: PH 037
Depiction of Haying at MAC
Haying at MAC

In 1922, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts appropriated $15,000 for the Massachusetts Agricultural College to purchase sixty acres of land lying immediately north of the existing Experiment Station. Known as the William P. Brooks Experimental Farm, the property was intended as a site for experimental work devoted to the dominant crops of the Connecticut Valley, tobacco and onions.

This small homemade photograph album documents a picnic and group outing at the Brooke (i.e. Brooks) Farm at Massachusetts Agricultural College in September 1922. Although the participants — over thirty of them — are unidentified, they took part in standard picnic activities, including a tug of war, three legged race, and rope jumping. The album contains labeled snapshots pasted onto thick brown paper, tied with a brown ribbon, and includes images of haying on the farm (with Stockbridge Hall in the background) and the homes of William P. Brooks and Prof. Arthur N. Julian.

Subjects

Amherst (Mass.)--PhotographsBrooks Experimental Farm (Amherst, Mass.)HayMassachusetts Agricultural College--PhotographsPicnics--Photographs

Contributors

Fay, Harry W.

Types of material

Photograph albumsPhotographs
Brooks, William Penn, 1851-

William Penn Brooks Papers

1863-1939
3 boxes 1.5 linear feet
Call no.: RG 003/1 B76
Depiction of Sapporo Ag. College students, 1881
Sapporo Ag. College students, 1881

Two years after graduating from Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1875, William Penn Brooks accepted an invitation from the Japanese government — and his mentor, William Smith Clark — to help establish the Sapporo Agricultural School. Spending over a decade in Hokkaido, Brooks helped to introduce western scientific agricultural practices and the outlines of a program in agricultural education, and he built a solid foundation for the School. After his return to the states in 1888, he earned a doctorate at the University of Halle, Germany, and then accepted a position at his alma mater, becoming a leading figure at the Massachusetts Experiment Station until his retirement in 1921.

Brooks’ papers consist of correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, an account book, and translations which provide rich detail on Brooks’ life in Japan, the development of Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University), and practical agricultural education in the post-Civil War years.

Subjects

Agricultural colleges--Japan--HistoryClark, William Smith, 1826-1886Hokkaido (Japan)--HistoryHokkaid¯o DaigakuJapan--Description and travel--19th centuryJapan--History--1868-Massachusetts Agricultural College--HistoryMassachusetts State Agricultural Experiment StationSapporo N¯ogakk¯o--HistorySapporo-shi (Japan)--History

Contributors

Brooks, William Penn, 1851-

Types of material

Letters (Correspondence)
Butterfield, Kenyon L. (Kenyon Leech), 1868-1935

Kenyon Leech Butterfield Papers

1889-1945
26 boxes 12 linear feet
Call no.: RG 003/1 B88
Depiction of Kenyon L. Butterfield
Kenyon L. Butterfield

An agricultural and educational reformer born in 1868, Kenyon Butterfield was the ninth president of Massachusetts Agricultural College and one of the university’s most important figures. An 1891 graduate of Michigan Agricultural College and recipient of MA in Economics and Rural Sociology from the University of Michigan (1902), Butterfield entered university administration early in his career, becoming President of the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1903 and, only three years later, of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Possessed of a Progressive spirit, Butterfield revolutionized the college during his 18 years in Amherst, expanding and diversifying the curriculum, quadrupling the institutional budget, fostering a dramatic increase in the presence of women on campus and expanding the curriculum, and above all, helping to promote the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 and developing the Cooperative Extension Service into a vital asset to the Commonwealth. Nationally, he maintained a leadership role in the field of rural sociology and among Land Grant University presidents. After leaving Amherst in 1924, Butterfield served as President at Michigan Agricultural College for four years and was active in missionary endeavors in Asia before retiring. He died at his home in Amherst on Nov. 25, 1936.

The Butterfield Papers contain biographical materials, administrative and official papers of both of his presidencies, typescripts of his talks, and copies of his published writings. Includes correspondence and memoranda (with students, officials, legislators, officers of organizations, and private individuals), reports, outlines, minutes, surveys, and internal memoranda.

Subjects

Agricultural education--Massachusetts--History--SourcesAgricultural education--Michigan--History--SourcesAgricultural extension work--Massachusetts--History--SourcesAgricultural extension work--United States--History--SourcesAgriculture--United States--History--SourcesEducation--United States--History--SourcesFood supply--Massachusetts--History--SourcesHigher education and state--Massachusetts--History--SourcesMassachusetts Agricultural College--Alumni and alumnaeMassachusetts Agricultural College--HistoryMassachusetts Agricultural College--StudentsMassachusetts Agricultural College. PresidentMassachusetts State College--FacultyMichigan Agricultural College--HistoryMichigan Agricultural College. PresidentRural churches--United States--History--SourcesRural development--Massachusetts--History--SourcesWomen--Education (Higher)--Massachusetts--History--SourcesWorld War, 1914-1918

Contributors

Butterfield, Kenyon L. (Kenyon Leech), 1868-1935
Cance, Alexander E. (Alexander Edmond), 1874-

Alexander E. Cance Papers

1911-1951
6 boxes 2.75 linear feet
Call no.: FS 045
Depiction of Alexander E. Cance
Alexander E. Cance

Professor and Head of the Agricultural Economics Department at the Massachusetts Agricultural College who also worked briefly for Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Hoover, as well as the United States Department of Agriculture.

Includes biographical materials, correspondence concerning Cance’s role in the agricultural cooperative movement, addresses, articles (both in typescript and published), lectures, book reviews, typescript of a Carnegie study of factors in agricultural economics, a summary of a U.S. Senate report of which he was co-author, “Agricultural Cooperation and Rural Credit in Europe,” and research material. No documentation of his role as a delegate to the Hoover Conference on Economic Crisis, 1920, or his position as Supervisor of Market Research with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1922.

Subjects

Massachusetts Agricultural College--FacultyMassachusetts Agricultural College. Department of Agricultural EconomicsMassachusetts Agricultural College. Department of Agricultural EconomicsMassachusetts State College--Faculty

Contributors

Cance, Alexander E. (Alexander Edmond), 1874-
Chadbourne, Paul A. (Paul Ansel),1823-1883

Paul A. Chadbourne Papers

1865-1883
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: RG 003/1 C43
Depiction of Paul A. Chadbourne
Paul A. Chadbourne

After distinguishing himself as a chemist on the faculty at Williams College and serving one term in the State Senate, Paul Chadbourne was called upon in 1866 to become the second president of Massachusetts Agricultural College. Although he pressed an ambitious agenda for building a College from scratch, ill health forced him to resign only a year later. He returned to MAC after holding faculty positions in Wisconsin and at Williams, filling a second stint as president from 1882 until his death in 1883. Though brief, he set an important precedent by creating a “scientific and literary” track of study to complement the “agricultural and scientific” one, and by pushing for the financial support of poor students.

The collection includes correspondence of and about Chadbourne, drafts of speeches and sermons, published writings, biographical and genealogical material, and reports from the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture (1865-1881).

Subjects

Agricultural education--MassachusettsMassachusetts Agricultural College. President

Contributors

Chadbourne, Paul A. (Paul Ansel),1823-1883