The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Massachusetts Agricultural Fairs

Massachusetts Agricultural Fairs Posters Collection

1852-1860
19 items
Call no.: MS 169

With one of the first agricultural fairs in the country taking place in Massachusetts in 1807, the state has a special place in the history of agricultural fairs in the United States. Twenty antebellum posters promoting agricultural fairs in western Massachusetts, primarily from agricultural societies in Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Berkshire Counties.

Subjects

Agricultural exhibitions--Massachusetts--PostersAgricultural exhibitions--Rhode Island--Providence--PostersAgriculture--Social aspects--Massachusetts--HistoryAgriculture--Social aspects--Rhode Island--History

Types of material

Posters
Massachusetts Indian Association. Stockbridge Auxilliary

Massachusetts Indian Association Stockbridge Auxiliary Records

1886-1909
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 151 bd

The Stockbridge Auxilliary of the Massachusetts Indian Association was formed by prominent local women in western Berkshire County who sought to aid in educational and missionary work for and among Indians, and to “abolish all oppression of Indians within our national limits.”

Records include minutes that document the group’s committees, meetings, dues, and contributions to Indians on reservations nation-wide, accounts, membership lists, and a letter.

Subjects

Indians of North America--Arizona--Social conditionsIndians of North America--Government relations--HistoryIndians of North America--Missions--HistoryIndians of North America--Social conditionsIndians, Treatment of--United States--HistoryLake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the IndianLake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the Indian and Other Dependent PeoplesStockbridge Indians--Social conditions

Contributors

Carter, Henry JMassachusetts Indian Association. Stockbridge Auxiliary
Massachusetts

Massachusetts Locales Collection

1905-1989
3 boxes 1.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 300

Materials, such as clippings, maps, and photographs, relating to Amherst, but also including items from other western Massachusetts towns. Topics covered include are Amherst writers such as Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, town history, trees and birds of Amherst, and Connecticut River Valley history.

Subjects

Amherst (Mass.)--HistoryMassachusetts--History

Types of material

MapsPhotographs
Massachusetts Public Information Research Group (MassPIRG)

Massachusetts Public Information Research Group Records

1972-1989
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 054

A non-profit, nonpartisan organization, MassPIRG is an advocate for the public interest in Massachusetts. Taking a stand on issues like public health, political corruption, consumer protection, and voting rights, MassPIRG uses the combined power of research, the media, grassroots organizing, and advocacy to initiate change that will improve the lives of citizens of the state.

Records of MassPIRG include reports on topics of research and investigation, issues of their publication, MassPIRG Reports, and documents relating to the establishment of Western Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (WMPIRG) on the UMass Amherst campus in 1972.

Subjects

Massachusetts--Politics and government--1951-

Contributors

Massachusetts Public Information Research Group
University of Massachusetts Amherst

University of Massachusetts Amherst Records

1863-2011
ca.7,500 linear feet
Call no.: RG 001-190
Depiction of MAC postcard
MAC postcard

Established in western Massachusetts in 1863 as the Massachusetts Agricultural College, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is a national research university and the flagship campus of the state’s five-campus University system. UMass, one of the founding members of the Five College Consortium established in 1965, offers reciprocal student access among the University and Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges. The University currently enrolls approximately 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and offers 87 bachelors degree programs, 6 associates, 73 masters, and 51 doctoral programs in 10 schools and colleges.

The Archives of the University of Massachusetts Amherst document the institutional memory of the campus and serve as the largest and most comprehensive source of information on the history and cultural heritage of the University. As the collective memory of the university, the repository contains official records and items having historical value such as records of governance, policy, operation of administrative offices, departments, research, programs, and publications. Unpublished materials in the Archives include photographs, films, memorabilia, administrative records of major university offices, and the papers of presidents, trustees, administrative officers, and members of the faculty.

Please note that collections for individual faculty members, administrators, and students, as well as selected groups and administrative units at the University are listed separately in UMarmot. The Concordance to the Archives is an alphabetical listing of University departments, centers, groups, and other units, providing call numbers, when appropriate. Researchers may also wish to consult the online guide to UMass Amherst collections. Our digital repository, Credo includes a growing number of oral histories and digitized collections of papers and organizational records. YouMass is a wiki devoted to the history of the University and its predecessors, the Massachusetts Agricultural College and Massachusetts State College.

Subjects

Massachusetts Agricultural CollegeMassachusetts Agricultural College--FacultyMassachusetts Agricultural College--StudentsMassachusetts State CollegeMassachusetts State College--FacultyMassachusetts State College--StudentsUniversity of Massachusetts AmherstUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Students

Types of material

Photographs
Western New England Poetry Collection

Western New England Poetry Collection

1977-2008
4 boxes 2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 561
Depiction of Silkworm, 2007
Silkworm, 2007

Since 2004, the Florence Poets Society has been a hub of the poetry communities in Western Massachusetts, promoting the sharing, reading, and publication of works by its members. The group has sponsored outdoor poetry festivals, poetry slams, and readings and it has encouraged publication of poetry through its annual review, The Silkworm, and through chapbooks of its members

Established in partnership with Rich Puchalsky and the Florence Poets Society, the Western New England Poetry Collection constitutes an effort to document the vibrant poetry communities in Western New England. The collection includes all forms of poetry, from the written to the spoken word, in all formats, but with a particular emphasis upon locally produced and often difficult to find chapbooks, small press books, unpublished works, and limited run periodicals. The collection is not limited to members of the Florence Poets Society, and additions from poets in Western New England are eagerly welcomed.

Subjects

Poetry--New England

Contributors

Florence Poets SocietyPuchalsky, Rich
Steve Alves Collection

Steve Alves Collection

1971-2021 Bulk: 1998-2010
75 boxes 93.75 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1203
Head and shoulders photograph of Steve Alves

Steve Alves is a western Massachusetts-based documentary filmmaker who, through his company Hometown Productions, later Home Planet Pictures, has written, produced, and directed several documentaries that examine New England’s natural and cultural history. Alves’ films, Beneath the River (1999), A Sweet Tradition (1999), Together in Time (2001), Everyone’s Business (1997), Life After High School (1990) and Talking to the Wall (2003) look at inter-generational ties and the role of community in American life and the tensions between tradition and modern capitalism at the dawn of the 21st century. His films examine a range of topics including local business, sprawl development, work, the Connecticut river, contra dance, and maple syrup and incorporate an array of storytelling techniques including animation, film clips, and dramatic vignettes. His 2014 film, Food for Change focuses on food co-ops as a force for dynamic social and economic change in American culture. His films have won numerous awards and honors from a host of entities including the Chicago International Film Festival, International Family Film Festival, the United Nations, and more.

Alves began his career as a filmmaker in the early 1970s as a student at the University of Southern California Film School where he made several documentary and experimental student films on 8 and 16mm in and around Los Angeles. Following graduation, he worked in Hollywood and New York City as a film editor on such films as Dancing’s All of You (1980), Sacred Hearts (1981), Ski New Hampshire (1981), The Garden of Eden (1984 Academy Award® nominee), Niagara Falls (1984), and The Adirondacks (1987). He moved to western Massachusetts in 1988 and formed his own film company, Home Planet Pictures. He has also produced several educational films and award-winning television commercials.

Alves’ collection documents the 50 year career of a working independent filmmaker. It includes all of the elements for most of his films which include outtakes, b-roll, and full interviews for all of his documentary films; from his earliest film Life After High School to Food for Change, his most recent. The collection covers a wide range of film and video formats including ¾” U-Matic, Betacam SP, S-VHS, Mini-DV, DVD, Super 8mm and 16mm. Also included are screenplays, correspondence, transcripts, interview releases, funding proposals, financial records, production documents, posters, and photographs related to the filming, production, release, and screening of all of his films. An inventory of the collection is available upon request.

Subjects

Cities and towns--GrowthCountry dancing--New EnglandDocumentary films--New EnglandEducational filmsFood cooperatives--United StatesIndependent filmmakersSmall business--New EnglandVideo tapes

Contributors

Alves, Steve

Types of material

16mm film8mm filmBetacam SPCorrespondenceGrant proposalsS-VHSVHSVideo tapes
Restrictions: none
Tuthill, Robert W.

Robert W. Tuthill Papers

1963-2002
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: FS 206

Robert W. Tuthill taught epidemiology at UMass Amherst for nearly three decades and championed the libraries by both serving on the Friends of the Library board and bringing his students into the stacks for class assignments. Born in Wilkes-Barre, Penna., Tuthill attended high school in Newton, Mass., and earned an associate’s degree from Newton Junior College before coming to the University of Massachusetts. At UMass, he majored in sociology, graduating in 1956, and served at the Valley Forge Army Hospital before returning to academia at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a master’s degree in sociology. At the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, he studied epidemiology, earning his Ph.D. in 1970. When Tuthill returned to UMass to join the faculty in 1970, it was to start the epidemiology program, which would be part of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences. Tuthill joined the Friends of the Library board in 1988 and served for nearly fifteen years, including a term as president. In 2003, he was honored with the Libraries’ Siegfried Feller Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. Tuthill retired from UMass in 1998.

The Tuthill Papers contain teaching materials from some of the notable courses Tuthill taught at UMass, including Environmental Epidemiology and Biases in Epidemiologic Research; a small amount of research materials associated with an ADD/ADHD study; and copies of his publications, which included studies involving a variety of public health issues, from lead poisoning and smoking to family planning and cancer. Much of Tuthill’s research took place in the Western Massachusetts region.

Gift of Robert W. Tuthill, 2022

Subjects

University of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherst. School of Public Health

Types of material

ArticlesResearch (documents)
Holyoke Co-operative Bank Collection

Holyoke Co-operative Bank Collection

1908-1971 Bulk: 1940-1970
13 9 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1123

Holyoke Co-operative Bank was the third bank organized in Holyoke during the boom years of the 1870s and 80s. It was organized on July 24, 1880 and was the third bank organized there by E. L. Munn. The bank was located at 243 High Street in 1919 and 319 Appleton St. in 1951. In 1971, the bank merged with Community Savings Bank, which was a combination of Chicopee-Falls, Mechanics, and Springfield Five Cent Savings Banks. In 1988, Community merged with Heritage Bank to become the largest bank in Western Massachusetts. Heritage failed in 1992 and was taken over by Fleet Bank.

The collection here, which was acquired from the Holyoke History Room and Archives at the Holyoke Public Library in 2020, consists mostly of cash journals from the late 1920s to the late 1960s. There is also one box of Board of Investment minutes and shareholder lists. The collection originally resided at the Springfield History Library & Archives, who most likely acquired it after the bank had merged with Community Savings Bank in 1971, since the material in the collection ends in 1970.

For more information on the merger see:
Piccin, N. (1992, December 6). Heritage failure brings to close 158 years of WMass banking. Sunday Republican (Springfield, MA), A26.

Inventory

Box #

Description

Dates

Box 1 (record storage box) Record of share withdrawals
Board of Investment minutes
Shareholders
Shareholders
Proof of Certificates
1951-1970
1953-1970
1940-1960
1963-1970
1943-1960
Box 2 (16″x20″ oversize box) Transferred cash journal
Real estate journal
1941-1943
1940-1941
Box 3 (16″x20″ oversize box) Cash journal 1948-1957
Box 4 (16″x20″ oversize box) General ledger 1970-1971
Box 5 (16″x20″ oversize box) Cash journal
Cash journal
1927-1930
1931-1933
Box 6 (16″x20″ oversize box) Cash journal 1935-1937
Box 7 (16″x20″ oversize box) Cash journal 1960-1962
Box 8 (16″x20″ oversize box) Cash journal 1963-1965
Box 9 (16″x20″ oversize box) Cash journal 1965-1968
Box 10 (16″x20″ oversize box) Cash journal 1968-1970
Box 11 (16″x20″ oversize box) Shareholder ledger 1928-1932
Box 12 (16″x20″ oversize box) Transferred cash journal
Cash journal
1937-1941
1958-1959
Box 13 (16″x20″ oversize box) Shareholders ledger
Collateral transfers
1927
1908-1934
Acquired from Eileen Crosby, Holyoke History Room & Archives, December, 2020

Subjects

Banks and banking, CooperativeCommunity banksFinancial executivesFinancial institutions--Holyoke, Mass.

Types of material

cashbooksledgers (account books)minutes (administrative records)
Restrictions: none
Franklin County (Mass.) Futures Lab Task Force

Franklin County (Mass.) Futures Lab Task Force Records

1993-2014
17 boxes 25.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1113

For the tercentenary of the Massachusetts court system, Paul J. Liacos, Chief Justice of the the Supreme Judicial Court convened a 45-member Commission on the Future of the Courts (also called Reinventing Justice) to examine the court’s role and responsibilities for the next century. The commission was charged both with creating a new vision for justice and for proposing a way for the system to move toward that vision. Responding to this initiative, Franklin County attorney Diane H. Esser and Thomas T. Merrigan, the First Justice of the Orange District Court, established a Franklin County Futures Lab Task Force Proposal to focus on the specific needs in Franklin County. Approved in December 1993 with Esser and Merrigan as chairs, the Task Force worked intensively with community partners, issuing a dozen recommendations on topics ranging from court house facilities to juvenile justice, substance abuse, Appropriate Dispute Resolution, and child care services. Although not all of the recommendations were implemented, the success of their model for court and community collaboration resulted in the creation on a ongoing position of Community Relations Coordinator in 1998. The project continues to evolve to meet community needs, but has continued to reflect the restorative justice values and principles engaged from the beginning.

The records of the Reinventing Justice initiative in Franklin County reflect an intensive, two-decade long effort to facilitate engagement between the courts and the community in western Massachusetts and build a vision for courts in the coming century. In addition to planning, administrative, and grant-seeking records, the collection includes significant documentation of process of engaging community members, and materials relating to their recommendations in restorative justice, substance abuse projects, facilities, and victim-offender mediation.

Gift of Lucinda Brown, June 2018

Subjects

Courts--Massachusetts--Franklin CountyFranklin County (Mass.)--HistoryRestorative justice