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

University of Massachusetts Amherst

University of Massachusetts Amherst. Classes by Year

1871-2018
206 boxes 93 linear feet
Call no.: RG 050/6

The new Massachusetts Agricultural College welcomed its first contingent of 34 students to campus on October 1, 1867, resulting in the first graduating class of 28 — the Pioneer Class of 1871. The student body waxed and waned in ensuing years as the college slowly began to diversify its curriculum and the students population itself, admitting international students as early as 1870, followed by graduate students (first degree awarded 1896), African Americans (class of 1901), and women (class of 1905). Enrollment at the university first topped 1,000 in 1945 rising to 6,000 by 1960. Following a tumultuous period of great expansion, UMass had over 23,000 students in 1970.

Organized by class year, this series includes a diverse body of material generated by undergraduate students at Massachusetts Agricultural College, Mass. State College, and UMass Amherst from its beginning to the present day. Although the content varies widely from class to class and by period of time, typical years includes basic data on the graduating class, publications by alums, reunion information, class notes, photographs, or small collections of letters written while in school. In a few cases, the quantity representing an individual almuna or alumnus has led SCUA to treat the materials as a separate collection with its own finding aid.

Subjects

College students--Massachusetts--AmherstUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Students

Types of material

Photographs
University of Massachusetts Amherst. Black Pioneers Project

Black Pioneers Project Records

2018-2019
0.1 linear feet
Call no.: RG 050/9
UMass Black Pioneer T-Shirt logo
UMass Amherst Black Pioneers T-Shirt logo, 2016

Moved to action after a successful and illuminating 2016 reunion of Black alumni of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, alumna Dr. Cheryl L. Evans (1968) decided to take on the critical project identified by the group, collecting and documenting the stories of the Black alumni who attended the University between 1960 and 1970. Dubbing these students “Black Pioneers,” given the dearth, and then growth, of Black students on campus during the decade, Evans used her connections with alumni and her history as a Black student leader to reach out about recording experiences for preservation and research purposes. In collaboration with Special Collections and University Archives, Evans began the “UMass Black Pioneers Project,” and sent an online questionnaire to around 85 alumni in September 2018. The survey addresses alumni’s backgrounds, academic and social experiences on campus, occasions of racial discrimination and activism, and current perceptions of the University and advice for students. Participation was voluntary, and is ongoing.

The UMass Black Pioneers Project Records contain some planning materials and correspondence for the project, and primarily consist of written answers made in response to the “UMass Black Pioneers Survey.” In addition to the questionnaire, participants were able to send in physical materials, or upload digital content, such as resumes, or videos of their responses, and the collection contains a few of these. Several participants willing to be interviewed were also connected with UMass Public History graduate students for oral histories in the Fall 2018 semester. These videos are a part of the record group, and there are plans to conduct additional interviews.

Aquired with the assistance of Cheryl L. Evans, 2018

Subjects

African American college students--MassachusettsRacism in educationUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--AlumniUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Students

Types of material

Oral historiesQuestionnaires
University of Massachusetts Amherst. Student Affairs and Campus Life

University of Massachusetts Amherst. Student Affairs and Campus Life Records

1867-2007
75.5 linear feet
Call no.: RG 030

This record group consists of materials gathered from university offices, units, and centers responsible for admissions, financial aid, and student services (including housing, health and religious services, disability services, academic support, transportation, and campus safety). Included in this record group are the records of Dean of Students, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, United Christian Foundation, Counseling Center Research Reports, Student Affairs Research and Evaluation Office and Student Affairs Research, Information and Systems (SARIS) reports, and Pulse Surveys.

Subjects

University of Massachusetts Amherst--Students

Contributors

University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dean of StudentsUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life
University of Massachusetts Amherst. Students

University of Massachusetts Amherst. Student Organizations Records

1867-2007
155 linear feet
Call no.: RG 045

Since the arrival of the first class of students at Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1867, the student body at UMass has grown to over 20,500 undergraduates and nearly 6,000 graduate students.

Record Group 45 includes the collected records of student activities at UMass Amherst, from student publications and organizations (fraternities and sororities, unions, and honorary societies) to records of student government, student protests, and religious and social groups. Also included are class notes and correspondence of some individual students while enrolled in the University.

Connect to another siteA number of student publications have been digitized and are indexed in YouMass.

Subjects

Aggie LifeBay State RuralistCollege SignalCollege students--MassachusettsGreek letter societies--MassachusettsStudent newspapers and periodicals--MassachusettsUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Students
Vietnamese Students Association (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Vietnamese Students Association New Year's Day Celebration Collection

1985
1 envelope 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 106 bd

The Vietnamese Students Association hosted a Vietnamese New Year celebration at the Campus Center of the University of Massachusetts Amherst on February 20, 1985. Collection contains twelve photographs and a program listing sponsors, speakers, performers, the sequence of events, descriptions of ancestor worship, the legend of the earth and the sky cakes, the menu, and some song lyrics.

Gift of Lucy Nguyen, 1985

Subjects

Amherst (Mass.)--Social life and customsUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--Students--Social life and customsVietnamese New Year--Massachusetts--PhotographsVietnamese Students Association (University of Massachusetts at Amherst)Vietnamese students--Massachusetts--FolkloreVietnamese students--Massachusetts--Social life and customs

Types of material

PhotographsSongs
Wheeler, William

William Wheeler Papers

1876-1930
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: RG 002/3 W54
Depiction of William Wheeler, ca.1876
William Wheeler, ca.1876

The civil engineer William Wheeler was a member of the first graduating class of Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1871, and was one of its most prominent alumni of the nineteenth century. In 1876, Wheeler joined MAC President William Smith Clark and two other alumni of the college in helping to found the Sapporo Agricultural College in Japan (now Hokkaido University), succeeding Clark as president of SAP from 1877 to 1879. In later life, he was a successful hydraulic engineer and long-time trustee of MAC (1887-1929).

A small, tightly focused collection, the Wheeler Papers consist largely of letters written home by Wheeler while working at the Sapporo Agricultural College, 1876-1880. Typically long and descriptive, the letters include excellent accounts of travel in Japan and Wheeler’s impressions of Japanese culture, but they provide detailed insight as well into the work involved in establishing Sapporo Agricultural College.

Subjects

Agriculture--JapanClark, William Smith, 1826-1886Hokkaido (Japan)--Description and travel--19th centuryHokkaido DaigakuJapan--Description and travel--19th centuryMassachusetts Agricultural CollegePenhallow, D. P. (David Pearce), 1854-1910Sapporo (Japan)--Description and travel--19th century

Contributors

Hudson, WoodwardWheeler, William, 1851-1932

Types of material

Letters (Correspondence)