What we collect

Our approach to collecting

Drawing upon the philosophy of W. E. B. Du Bois, SCUA collects original materials that document the histories and experiences of social change in America and the organizational, intellectual, and individual ties that unite disparate struggles for social justice, human dignity, and equality. Our decision to adopt social change as a collecting focus emerged from considering one of Du Bois’s most profound insights: that the most fundamental issues in social justice are so deeply interconnected that no movement — and no solution to social ills — can succeed in isolation. Rather than focus on individual movements, we therefore focus on the connections between and among movements and the flow of people, organizations, and ideas. Our hope is to provide a more robust framework for interpreting the deep histories of social engagement in America and to lay the foundation for a deeper understanding of the experience of social change.

A related feature of SCUA’s approach to collecting is our commitment to documenting “whole lives and whole communities.” Rather than focus solely on a person’s “significant” actions or ideas, our goal is to document the entire life in all its complexity: the person’s background, the events themselves, and the aftermath, as well as the range of colleagues and organizations engaged. Our goal is not simply to highlight the great achievements and great people, but to reveal the broad underpinnings of influences, interests, and organizations that shaped them and the communities in which they operated.

Social change

Emphasizing the cross-fertilization between social movements and centers of activist energy, SCUA collects materials from individuals and organizations involved in the struggles for peace and non-violence, social and racial justice, economic justice, drug policy, agricultural reform, environmentalism, sustainability, alternative energy, organized labor, gay rights, disability rights, spiritual activism, antinuclear activism, and intentional communities. Our collections branch out to include anti-fluoridation activism, campaigns for voting rights and clean elections, community and charitable organizations, and the history of revolutionary-era Europe (1789-1848).

• African and African American history and culture:
  The history of race and ethnicity in America, with particular emphasis on the struggle for racial equality and social justice.
• Agriculture, horticulture, botany:
  Including agricultural science and practice, horticulture, animal husbandry, natural history, organic farming, sustainable living, and heritage breeds.
• Antifluoridation movement:
  Including right-wing, left-wing, libertarian, popular, and scientific opposition to fluoridation of public water supplies.
• Antinuclear movement:
  SCUA holds numerous collections documenting grassroots opposition to nuclear power and nuclear weaponry.
• Arts management and arts administration:
  In partnership with the UMass Amherst Arts Extension Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, Americans for the Arts, and several other arts agencies, SCUA documents the history of arts administration in America. Collecting the records of state and national arts agencies, we will provide a foundation for research into the evolution of arts policy, strategies for supporting the arts, and the economic and cultural impact of the arts on our communities. SCUA also documents the field of Creative Aging, as well as local arts organizations, theatre companies, and others in the performing arts.
• Black women’s experience:
  Growing and diverse group of collections documenting Black women, allies, movements, and organizations.
• Cold War Culture:
  The culture of the Cold War, with an emphasis upon East Germany, Poland, and Yugoslavia. Among other areas, SCUA has a strong interest in the Solidarity movement and in partnership with the DEFA Film Library, in East German cinema and graphic arts.
• Counterculture and political radicalism:
  SCUA’s collections focus on a variety of both cultural and political “alternatives” to mainstream society, including materials on various forms of political radicalism, Communism and Socialism, drug policy reform, prisoners and mass imprisonment, and the underground press.
• Disability:
  Organizational records and collections of personal papers documenting the history of disability and disability rights in the United States. Among other focal points for our collections are cross-disability activism and the psychiatric survivors’ movement.
• Drug policy:
  Records of and pertaining to organizations and individuals working to repeal cannabis prohibition laws and other drug-related legislation, or other work that relates to drug policy. SCUA is interested in all aspects of drug policy: activist, entrepreneurial, legal, cultural, scientific, and experiences of and impacts on society and individuals.
• Folk, blues, and traditional music:
  The revival of interest in folk, blues, and traditional music and the rich and evolving heritage of regional musical traditions are an important focal point for SCUA. In addition to documenting the music itself, SCUA actively collects manuscripts, ephemera, and photographs relating to the performers, behind the scenes actors, venues, and audiences, as well as the extraordinary connections linking the sounds and social movements.
• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender issues:
  Materials relating to the history and experience of the LGBTQ community and liberation struggles.
• Intentional communities:
  SCUA documents the extended history of alternative approaches to social organization, including the individual and communal lives of communards and the full gamut of intentional communities from communes to co-housing and the back to the land movement. SCUA.
• Labor, work, and industry:
  Organized labor, industrialization, manufacturing, business history, and the experience and culture of labor and working people.
• Peace:
  Materials relating to the peace and antiwar movements and non-violence, with an emphasis on New England.
• Spirituality and religion:
  SCUA documents the experiences of people and organizations motivated to take social action through spiritual consideration. As repository of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, we have a strong interest in the history of Quakers and Quakerism.
• Visual culture:
  SCUA’s commitment to the visual culture of social change includes a close focus on artistically-informed documentary photography, including the archives of photojournalists, photographers, videographers, and documentarians, as well as amateur and vernacular photography centered on the daily lives of New Englanders.

Innovation and entrepreneurship

SCUA collects materials that document innovative and entrepreneurial activities and particularly social entrepreneurship. Representative collections in SCUA include the papers of Mark H. McCormack (a pioneer in sport and entertainment marketing), Carl C. Harris (inventor and President of Rodney Hunt Co.), and numerous collections that document our region’s distinctive history of innovation in manufacturing and technology.

New England history and culture

The social, political, cultural, intellectual, literary, and economic life, with an emphasis upon western New England. The department houses thousands of books on New England cookery, with a particular emphasis on charitable and community cookbooks and cookbooks and ephemera published by corporations and the food industry.

• Cookery and culinary history
  SCUA has thousands of cookbooks and other materials on New England regional cuisine, including community and charitable cookbooks, commercial cookbooks by New England authors, corporate cookbooks, and culinary ephemera.
• Literature and the arts
  Emphasizing poets and writers, playwrights, and the performing arts in New England.
• Politics and political culture
  SCUA has rich collections documenting the history and politics of the Commonwealth, including the papers of Congressmen Silvio O. Conte and John Olver, State Senator Stanley Rosenberg, and State Representatives John Clark and Ellen Story. The records of the Hampshire Council of Governments and several individual towns add great historical depth.

University Archives collecting

Serving as the memory of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, SCUA is steward for the official and unofficial records of the university that document the people, policies, programs, facilities, and activities of the campus community. The collections are a rich record of administrative activity at all levels, from system to program, but they focus on documenting the lives and activities of individual administrators, faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Other areas

SCUA has developed depth in a handful of other collecting areas, including:

• American Study of Japan and Asia
  American relations with Japan from the Meiji period to the present, and connections with China and other Asian countries.
• Gravestone studies and death
  Materials relating to the history, culture, preservation, and interpretation of gravestones and related subjects.
• Protistology
  Records of the scholarly study of the protista (protozoans).