The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Collections: A

Adams, Leonard

Leonard Adams Papers

1976-2008
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: FS 093

Leonard Adams (1946-) began his career with the UMass Amherst Libraries in May 1974 when he was hired to work as an Exit Check on the night shift. Before earning his MLS at the University of Rhode Island in 1975, Adams worked in Circulation and Serials, after which he became Serials Cataloger and Bindery Supervisor, and in 1980, Government Documents Librarian. He added Patents and Trademarks to his job duties in 2004. A founding member of the Boston Library Consortium’s Government Documents Interest Group, Leonard Adams served the UMass Amherst Libraries for 33 years before his retirement in May 2008.

Adams’s papers provide insight into the inner-workings of a Government Documents Repository and convey, even in their brevity, the nature of the work of a Government Documents librarian. Included among the papers are professional correspondence, a Government Documents Technical Processing Manual and articles written by Adams, Adams’s annual reports and performance reviews, and other documents relating to Adams’s long tenure at the University Libraries.

Gift of Leonard Adams, May 2008

Subjects

Government documentsUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Library

Contributors

Adams, Leonard, 1946-
Adams, Maurianne

Maurianne Adams Papers

1973-2015
8 boxes 12 linear feet
Call no.: FS 171
Depiction of Maurianne Adams
Maurianne Adams

Maurianne Adams was one of the pioneers in social justice education at UMass Amherst. Arriving at the university in 1973 as Coordinator of Academic Affairs for Project 10, the experimental residential education program in the Southwest Residential Area, she developed an elective curriculum focused on racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and ableism. When that project was ended in 1982, she took her ideas to the School of Education, where she became the Director for Social Issues and Instructional Development for Residential Academic Programs (RAP). Over the next several years, she and her colleagues developed one of the first general education diversity courses and she became part of the founding faculty for the graduate program in Social Justice Education. Since her retirement in 2015, she has remained active in promoting social justice activities working with the Coalition of Amherst Neighborhoods (CAN) and the Amherst Community Land Trust, which provides opportunities for affordable homeownership.

The Maurianne Adams Papers document a career committed to teaching, learning, and writing about diversity and equality on this campus and in the residential neighborhoods nearby. The papers offer an important perspective on the emergence of social justice courses in the General Education Program and the formation of the Social Justice Education Program within the College of Education, and given the extensive collaboration among social justice education faculty, it includes materials from several of Adams’ colleagues. The collection includes early drafts of curricula; course and workshop materials on diversity, inclusive teaching, religious oppression, anti-Semitism, and classism; and materials relating to grants to support her efforts.

Gift of Maurianne Adams, Dec. 2015

Subjects

Diversity in higher educationSocial justice--Study and teachingUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. College of Education
Adams, William A.

William A. Adams Daybook

1876-1878
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 624 bd

During the 1870s, William A. Adams maintained a blacksmithing shop close to the intersection of Walnut and Hickory Streets in Springfield, Mass. His trade ran from farriery to repairing iron work, wheels, and wagons, and situated as he was near the southern end of Watershops Pond, one of the industrial centers of the city, his customers ranged from local residents to manufacturing firms, the city, and the Armory.

The Adams account book contains approximately 150 pages containing brief records of blacksmithing work for a range of customers located in the immediate area. Among the more names mentioned are the grocers Perkins and Nye, W. and E.W. Pease Co., J. Kimberley and Co., and Common Councilman William H. Pinney and J. W. Lull, all of whom can be located within a few blocks of Adams’ shop.

Acquired from Dan Casavant, 1999

Subjects

Blacksmiths--Massachusetts--SpringfieldHorseshoers--Massachusetts--SpringfieldSpringfield (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

Adams, William A

Types of material

Daybooks
AFL-CIO Hampshire-Franklin Central Labor Council

AFL-CIO Hampshire-Franklin Central Labor Council Records

1977-2007
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1074

The Hampshire-Franklin Central Labor Council is a democratically-elected body drawn from among AFL-CIO-affiliated unions in Hampshire and Franklin Counties, Mass. The Labor Council advocates for workers’ interests at the state and local level and works with its members and communities on social and economic justice issues.

This slender collection consists of the minutes of monthly meetings of HFCLC for three decades beginning in 1977, with some brief gaps in the latter years.

Gift of Dale Melcher, Aug. 2016

Subjects

Labor unions--Massachusetts

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)
Africa-America Institute

Africa-America Institute Records

ca.1953-2014
439 boxes 658.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 849
Depiction of Studying in Lesotho, 1963
Studying in Lesotho, 1963

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

Founded in 1953 by a multi-racial collective of educators including Horace Mann Bond, then President of Lincoln University, and William Leo Hansberry, a professor of history at Howard University, the Africa American Institute has encouraged and supported African students in pursuit of higher education in the United States. From its early years, AAI provided financial and social support for African students studying in the U.S., but it has expanded its activities in scope with the goal of helping to building leadership for Africa within the academic, professional, business, and policy making classes. It has become a vibrant intellectual center for developing human capacity, drawing together thought leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs interested in issues relating to the continent.

A massive body of material documenting the history of the AAI from its founding in the early 1950s to the present, the collection is a remarkable resource for study of American relations with Africa as the continent emerged from colonial domination. With a focus on the history of educational support and exchange between the continents, the collection contains a vibrant record of the growth of leadership in Africa.

Gift of Africa America Institute, 2014-2015

Subjects

Africa--Foreign relations--United StatesEducation, Higher--AfricaUnited States--Foreign relations--Africa

Contributors

Bond, Horace Mann, 1904-1972

Types of material

Photographs
Agha, Shahid Ali, 1949-

Shahid Ali Agha Collection

1972-1979
2 vols. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 636

A poet and translator of Kashmiri descent, Agha Shahid was raised in a household where poetry was recited in Persian, Urdu, Hindi, and English. Born in New Delhi on February 4, 1949, he was educated at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, and University of Delhi, earning earned a doctorate in English from Pennsylvania State University in 1984 and an MFA from the University of Arizona in 1985. The author of nine volumes of poetry, and widely anthologized, Ali was on faculty in the MFA Program at University of Massachusetts Amherst, when he died of brain cancer in December, 2001.

This small collection contains copies of Ali’s first two books, Bone-Sculpture (1972) and In Memory of Begum Akhtar (1979), a self-produced chapbook, and a rough manuscript of poems. All are inscribed to his colleague and friend Zabelle Stodola.

Subjects

Poets--MassachusettsUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of English

Contributors

Agha, Shahid Ali, 1949-
Akin, Benjamin

Benjamin Akin Daybook and Ledger

1737-1764
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 204 bd

A tanner, currier, and shoemaker, Benjamin Akin was born into a prominent Bristol County family in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, on May 18, 1715. With a prolific and well-connected family and successful in his own business endeavors, Akin attained some stature in Dartmouth. First appointed town clerk in 1745, he filled that office from 1754-1770 and again from 1776-1780, adding the title “Esq.” to his name by the 1760s. During the Revolutionary years, he served on the town’s public safety committee. He died on April 10, 1802.

The Akin ledger offers insight into the fortunes of an 18th-century artisan during the most productive years of his life, as well as into the structure of a local community in southeastern Massachusetts. The ledger includes accounts of with customers for tanning and currying of calf and sheepskin, day-book entries, and accounts with the Town of Dartmouth for services performed at Town Clerk.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Artisans--MassachusettsDartmouth (Mass.)--History--18th centuryEarthquakes--MassachusettsShoemaking--MassachusettsTanning--Massachusetts

Contributors

Akin, Benjamin, 1715-1802Akin, Eunice Taber, 1711-1762

Types of material

Account booksDaybooks
Akin, Ebenezer, Jr.

Ebenezer Akin Account Book

1842-1869
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 220 bd

A merchant, town clerk, part-owner of many ships, and involved citizen, Ebenezer Akin lived nearly all of his 87 years in the town of Fairhaven, Mass.

This miscellaneous personal ledger includes documentation of Ebenezer Akin’s work as town clerk and includes accounts for ships he may have owned, entries made as an estate executor, accounts of expenditures for clothing and incidentals, and accounts of lot purchases and loans. The volume also contains genealogical information about the Blossom family of Bridgewater and the family of Benjamin and Eunice Akin, Ebenezer’s great-grandfather.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Akin, Benjamin, 1715-1802Akin, EuniceBlossom familyClothing and dress--Prices--Massachusetts--FairhavenFairhaven (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryFairhaven (Mass.)--Politics and government--19th centuryHesper (Bark)Merchants--Massachusetts--FairhavenNapoleon (Ship)Shipowners--Massachusetts--FairhavenShipping--Massachusetts--FairhavenWilliam Rotch (Ship)Winthrop (Bark)

Contributors

Akin, Ebenezer, 1816-

Types of material

Account booksGenealogiesInventories of decedents estates
Albertson, Dean, 1920-

Dean Albertson Papers

1966-1968
11 boxes 16.5 linear feet
Call no.: FS 109

A long-time faculty member at UMass Amherst, Dean Albertson was a twentieth century U.S. historian with a specialty in oral history. A veteran of the Second World War, Albertson received his BA from University of California Berkeley (1942) and doctorate from Columbia (1955), joining the Department of History at UMass in 1965 after several years at Brooklyn College. Interested throughout his career in new methods in research and teaching history, he was author of books on Dwight Eisenhower, Claude Wickard (Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of Agriculture), and the student movements of the 1960s. Albertson died at his home in Longmeadow, Mass., on March 31, 1989, at the age of 68.

The Albertson Papers consist of the records of three summer institutes in history at UMass run during the summer 1966-1968, and funded by the National Defence Education Act (NDEA). Aimed at high school teachers of social sciences and history in western Massachusetts, the institutes were designed to provide in-service training and to expose teachers to newer material and techniques in teaching U.S. history. See also Dean Albertson’s collection of oral histories.

Subjects

University of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of History

Contributors

Albertson, Dean, 1920-
Albertson, Dean, 1920-

Dean Albertson Oral History Collection

1975-1977
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 224

A long-time faculty member at UMass Amherst, Dean Albertson was an historian of the twentieth century United States with a specialty in oral history. A veteran of the Second World War, Albertson received his BA from University of California Berkeley (1942) and doctorate from Columbia (1955), joining the Department of History at UMass in 1965 after several years at Brooklyn College. The author of books on Dwight Eisenhower, Claude Wickard (Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of Agriculture), and the student movements of the 1960s, Albertson was interested throughout his career in new methods in research and teaching history. He died at his home in Longmeadow, Mass., on March 31, 1989, at the age of 68.

Dean Albertson’s History 384 class at UMass Amherst, required students to conduct oral histories relating to a theme in contemporary U.S. history chosen each year. Between 1975 and 1977, Albertson’s students interviewed social activists of the 1960s and early 1970s, participants and observers in the North End riots of 1975 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and war and nuclear power resisters. The collection includes transcripts of 15 interviews conducted during this period, as well as the students’ papers, which put the transcripts into context.

Subjects

Antinuclear movement--MassachusettsCivil rights--Massachusetts--Hampden CountyDemonstrations--Massachusetts--ChicopeeHistory--Study and teaching (Higher)--Massachusetts-- AmherstPolice shootings--Massachusetts--SpringfieldPolitical activists--Massachusetts--InterviewsPrison riots--New York (State)--atticaPuerto Ricans--Massachusetts--SpringfieldRiots--Massachusetts--SpringfieldSelma-Montgomery rights March, 1965.Springfield (Mass.)--Race relationsSpringfield (Mass.)--Social conditionsVenceremos BrigadeVietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--Protest movements -- Massachusetts--SpringfieldWelfare rights movement--Massachusetts--SpringfieldWestover Air Force Base (Mass.)

Types of material

Oral histories