Robert W. Wilder Papers
Born in the Quabbin town of Enfield, Mass., Bob Wilder (1933-2015) rose from a life of poverty to a successful career in the Marine Corps and the aerospace industry. Becoming an avid local historian in his retirement, he drew upon his rural childhood while working later as an interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village and became a popular lecturer on topics in regional history.
This small collection consists of materials relating to Wilder’s family and his research into the history of the Swift River Valley and the Quabbin Reservoir. In addition to some Wilder family photographs, the collection includes hand-drawn maps, newspaper clippings, town reports, magazine articles, oral histories, and poems about the towns of the Swift River Valley. Of particular note are several video recordings of Wilder’s lectures and an extensive series of oral histories with Wilder recorded by Marc Peloquin.
Background on Bob Wilder
Born in Enfield, Mass., on August 18, 1933, Robert Wayne “Bob” Wilder knew the hardships of poverty as a young child. The son of Joseph Edward Wilder, Jr., a laborer from old Yankee stock, and his second wife Beulah (Turner), an Eastern Abenaki woman originally from Maine, Bob was raised in Smith Village during the depths of the Great Depression. Rarely traveling further afield than the neighboring town of Ware, the family scraped through the Depression until 1938, when they, like all the residents of Enfield, were evicted to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.
The trauma of losing their farm and relocating miles from home affected Wilder deeply. Settling among several of their former neighbors in Warren, Mass., the family started over, though as poor as ever. After attending grammar school in Warren and graduated at the top of his class from Brookfield High School in 1951, Wilder joined the Marine Corps, determined to escape the poverty he had always known. A bunkmate of Red Sox star Ted Williams and comrade of the golfer Lee Trevino, he made the most of his time in service. Excelling as a Marine, Wilder gained practical experience in engineering that became the basis for his future career, also earning an associate’s degree in military science and hydraulics from the Marine Corps Institute in Quantico, Va.
When he left the Corps in 1960 with the rank of Staff Sergeant, Wilder secured a job in the aerospace industry, working for many years as a quality engineer and rising from production foreman to chief inspector while working on projects related to NASA’s moon mission. Retiring at only 52, he returned to Brookfield, where he had the good fortune of running into a woman he had met in town many years before, Nancy Cronin. She became his wife.
A gifted storyteller fascinated with local history, Wilder drew upon his rural upbringing while working for Old Sturbridge Village as an interpreter in their farming operations. Haying, milking, blacksmithing, and working ox teams were part of his repertoire. Wilder was an active member of the Quaboag Historical Society, the Swift River Historical Society, the Friends of Quabbin, and the Ware Chapter of the Marine Corps League, and emerged as a popular lecturer on regional history, giving talks on everything from the Boston Post Road and King Phillips War to life in the Quabbin towns. Wilder died in Brookfield on Nov. 29, 2015, nine months after his beloved wife Nancy.
Contents of Collection
Assembled by Robert “Bob” Wilder, a native of Enfield, Mass., this small collection consists of family papers and research into the history of the Swift River Valley and the Quabbin Reservoir. Focused primarily on Enfield, the collection includes genealogical information, census records, and photographs relating to Wilder’s family, along with some of his hand-drawn maps, newspaper clippings, town reports, magazine articles, oral histories, and poems about the towns of the Swift River Valley, with a handful of newspaper clippings and photographs from the other Quabbin towns, Greenwich, Prescott, and Dana. Of particular note is an extensive series of oral histories with Wilder recorded by Marc Peloquin and a number of historical lectures by Bob Wilder.
The effect of the Quabbin Reservoir project on the residence of the Swift River Valley is seen throughout the collection. The scope of the collection documents the impact of both the Great Depression and World War Two on the lives of both the Wilder family and the people of the Swift River Valley.
Administrative information
Access
The collection is open for research.
Language:
Provenance
Gift of Robert W. Wilder, Nov. 2015.
Processing Information
Processed by Jennifer Momaney, June 2016.
Copyright and Use (More information
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Cite as: Robert Wilder Papers (MS 884). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.