© University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.
© 2010 University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.
Chuck Light and Nina Finestone
A wave of experimentation in communal living crested in New England in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with dozens of communities springing up across the landscape of western Massachusetts and Vermont. Cheap land, exhaustion with the fractious politics of the day, and a desire to rebuild society on new principles all fueled the communitarian impulse, but to say that no commune was typical is to underestimate how atypical they could be. At least 75 communes were established in Vermont alone, reflecting varying shades of political or spiritual commitments, varying degrees of communality, and a wide range of social theories. The radicals and revolutionaries of Red Clover and the back-to-the-landers of Earthworks were all part of the same general fabric as the hippies of Tree Frog Farm, which was once said to be dedicated to "nudity, psychedelic drugs and free love." Nearly all shared a commitment to sparking change for a more egalitarian world.
Straddling the Vermont-Massachusetts border was a group of three particularly tightly knit communes that shared a common history that extends into the present. In the summer of 1968, Raymond Mungo, Verandah Porche and seven of their friends established Total Loss Farm on 90 acres in Packer Corners, Vermont. A small commune by most standards, the Farm emerged out of the vituperative split in the Liberation News Service, of which Mungo and Porche were founders. The personality of Total Loss Farm was distinctly bent toward the literary and artistic, reflected both in Porche's poetry and Mungo's memoir of his first year there,
During that same summer, Marshall Bloom, another LNS founder and refugee, established another commune just down the road in Montague, Massachusetts. Similarly anarchic in orientation, without leaders or plan, the Montague Farm had a somewhat more explicitly political flavor to it than Total Loss Farm, and several of its members were (or went on to become) prominent political and social activists. One member, Tom Fels, wrote that the Farm "was a place where you could become a new person and, we thought, create a real opening in the social fabric."
A third commune, Johnson Pasture in Guilford, Vermont, was a different story. Rough hewn, muddy, and "medieval" in appearance, Johnson Pasture had an open door policy, accepting anyone who appeared on the doorstep, and although there was a small core of committed residents, the commune did not long survive. After a faulty stovepipe ignited a fire that destroyed the commune on April 16, 1970, killing four, several residents took shelter at Montague Farm.
Providing exceptional visual documentation of life at Johnson Pasture, Montague Farm, and Wendell Farm between 1969 and 1990, the Finestone collection is centered on the lives and family of Daniel and Nina (Finestone) Keller. A resident of Johnson Pasture, Nina moved to Montague after the 1970 fire. She later married her fellow Montague farmer, Daniel Keller, and the couple moved to Wendell in 1980. All images were taken by Nina's father, Roy Finestone, with a medium format camera using color transparency film.
The collection is open for research.
Acquired from Dan and Nina Keller, 1999.
Processed by Dex Haven, August 2010.
A part of the Famous Long Ago Archive, the Finestone Collection is one of several in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives that document the alternative communities and counterculture of New England.
Nina Keller as young girl. Glass slide 2x2'
'Rules: No illegal drugs, no more pets, no soap in stream, no picknicers, visitors welcome, no minors overnight without parents okay, use trench'
Building construction
Building construction
Field
Field, with squash harvest in foreground
Front of the house, Volkswagen beetle
Group, infant, outside house
Kitchen at Johnson Pasture
Kitchen at Johnson Pasture
Lounging at dusk
Lumber stacked in front of house, Volkswagen beetle
Preparing food in front of house
Rear view of house, laundry, and make shift table
Red pickup truck in front of house, Johnson Pasture
Teepee and signboard
Tent by stream
Three women, Johnson Pasture
Road to Johnson Pasture
Breakfast at Brattleboro (Chuck Light and Nina)
Janis Light and Sequoia
Nina, Chuck Light, Smoky, Janis, baby
Nina, Smoky, Chuck, Janis (Smoky and Nina on bikes)
'17 room house and Nina's wagon,' Montague
'Cows in barn,' Montague
'Cows in barn,' Montague
'Field in back of house,' [Montague]
'Ill fated load of apples,' Montague
'John Wilton, Janis, Tony Matthew,' Montague
Nina Keller (8 months pregnant) and mother
'Paper mache in barn'
'Tony, Alex Kelly, Rick, and 'Burn'' (the dog)
'View down from road,' Montague
Montague barn
Dogs and baby (Eben) in snow in front of house, Montague
'View from the window' (over snow covered field, looking east, Montague)
Attic bedroom, Montague
Baby (Eben) in basket
Baby (Eben) in basket
Chuck Light and baby (Eben), Montague
Chuck, Nina, and baby (Eben)
Chuck, Nina, baby (Eben)
Nina and baby
Nina asleep by the baby (Eben) basket
Nina feeding baby (Eben)
Nina feeding baby (Eben), Chuck
Nina lying down, holding baby (Eben)
Nina standing, holding baby (Eben)
Nina, baby (Eben), Nina's parents
Nina, baby, [John Wilton?], and cat, Montague
Chuck, Nina, et al.
Baking bread in kitchen (Nina's mother?), Montague
Nina's mother cooking in kitchen, Montague
Nina's mother in kitchen, Montague
Group gathered in kitchen, Montague
Living room and stove, Montague
Living room, Montague
Chickens in coop, barn at Montague
Cows in stalls, barn at Montague
Cows in their stalls, barn at Montague
Milking in the barn, Montague
Outhouse in the snow, Montague
Splitting wood in the snow, Montague
'Five months old' (Chuck Light and Eben?, Nina, unidentified in front of house, Montague)
Baby (Eben) in baby seat
Baby (Eben) in baby seat, laughing
Bathing baby (Eben) in sink
Grandmother(?) holding baby (Eben) at table.
Nina spoon feeding baby (Eben)
Nina(?) spoon feeding baby (Eben)
Nina's mother with baby (Eben)
Unidentified woman holding baby (Eben)
'Janis and Sequoia, Eben 5 months' (also Chuck, Nina, Nina's mother in front of house, Montague)
Nina feeding chickens, mother and Eben, dog
John Wilton(?) et al., seated at table, Montague
Kids looking at pig sty, Montague
Kids playing in field
Nina, mother, and unidentified woman sitting in field, Montague
Chuck and baby in front of car (Scout)
Chuck and baby in front of car (Scout)
Chuck and Nina and Eben(?)
Chuck, Nina, four men, Janis, two babies, Nina's mother, standing by car
Janis and Sequoia in front of greenhouse, Montague
Living room at Montague
Nina, Chuck, and baby (Eben?) in living room, Montague
Nina's father(?), Nina, and two young girls at water pump
Nina's mother and baby (Eben?) in field above Montague farm, looking south over house and barn.
Unidentified child and man inside house at Montague
(?) by the road, sugaring
Checking sap buckets, sugaring
Kids standing in stream, Montague
Nina and young child (Eben?), inside house at Montague(?)
Nina driving tractor, three others, sugaring
Nina, her mother, two children, Janis (end), three others and two dogs in front of house at Montague
Riding the tractor while sugaring
Sap buckets on tree, sugaring (badly overexposed)
Skin curing and stretching (unidentified participants), Montague
Sugar house
Tractor and farmers, sugaring
Barn at Montague
Barn at Montague with van and tractor, view from house looking south
Barn at Montague, roof under repair, duck in foreground
Chickens
House at Montague
Man in wheelchair in Montague barn
Puppet
Roofing work on barn , Montague
Roofing work on barn, Montague
Roofing work on barn, Montague
Roofing work on barn, view from inside, Montague
Roofing work on barn, view from inside, Montague
Silo on barn, Montague
Three girls
Three little girls, Montague
View of field, Montague
View of hills, Montague
Young child on stone wall, Montague
Dan, Nina, and Eben inside at Montague
Kids playing in front of the greenhouse, Montague
Montague barn and silo under snow
Nina, mother, unidentified, child, and milk cow in front of house, Montague
People gathered in the kitchen at Montague (underexposed)
People in the kitchen, Montague (Seabrook No Nukes poster on wall)
Sugaring: collecting sap.
'Peter fixing roof on garage'
House and arbor in fall color
Nina and mother leading a calf in pasture, Montague
Nina, mother, et al. splitting wood, Montague
Two kids climbing high in a tree
Two unidentified farmers picking vegetables, Motangue
Dan and others around the Christmas tree
'Baking school'
Baking school
Dan, baby, et al., in kitchen at Montague
Dan, Nina, Eben, and baby
Eben and baby
Harvesting (with kids)
Montague farmers
Nina and baby (baby in No Nukes t-shirt)
Nina and Eben
Nina and family at picnic
Nina feeding baby
Nina, baby et al under tree (underexposed image)
Ploughing with tractor (Nina at wheel)
Unidentified with Volvo station wagon in front of Montague Farm
House at Wendell(?)
Keller family at barn
Keller family at barn
Milk cow and newborn calf
Milk cow and newborn calf
Baby with pans
Kellers and other farmers at ??
Logs
Unidentified at ?? (see 193)
Unidentified couple at ?? (see 193)
Sleeping on a mattress on the floor
Farm in snow
In the kitchen
Keller kids on stoop
Nina(?) and kids in kitchen
Underexposed
Dan and Nina Keller, kids
House at Wendell
Keller(?) boys, inside
Kids inside, Wendell?
View of house, Wendell?
House at Wendell
Nina and kids, Wendell
Dan seated by ditch, pickup truck in background, Wendell
Mother, Nina, unidentified at Wendell
Nina and unidentified planting (perennials), mother looking on, Wendell
Three children on front steps, Wendell
Two kids on tractor, Wendell
Nina's mother and children, Wendell
Dan, Nina, children, Wendell
Dan, Nina, tractor at Wendell
Nina in woods, Wendell
Walking through meadow, Wendell
Children walking in from woods, Wendell
Keller family at doorway, Wendell
Keller family, Wendell
Side, house at Wendell
Wendell
Keller family, Wendell
Nina and black lab
Keller son and ?
Three children in living room
Keller children?, dog
Nina Keller and Roy Finestone (father)?, two dogs, Wendell
Nina Keller, mother?, Wendell
Dan Keller and parents (in-laws?)
Dan Keller(?) and children opening Christmas presents
Boy on snowy road
Dan Keller(?) with snowball and two others on snowy road, NH?
Keller daughter with snowball
Keller son with sled
Two kids by road in snow
Two kids in snow
Nina Keller on snowy road
Dan Keller, Family at Christmas
Dan Keller, family, at table
House in snow
Nina and Dan Keller at al., living room, N.H.
Nina Keller and kids, N.,H.
Nina Keller, father (in law?)
Swimming in pool (at hotel?)
Dan and Nina Keller, kids, Roy Finestone(?), Wendell visit
Cabin on hill (cow and chickens in foreground), Wendell
Chicken and chicks, Wendell
Dan and Nina Keller, dogs, mother(?) resting on walk in woods, Wendell
Dan Keller and child, dog, dragging wood through woods, Wendell
Eben Keller and grandmother(?), Brandeis campus
Eben Keller in parking lot, Brandeis
Nina and Dan Keller and children on walk in woods, Wendell
Nina Keller and red dog, Wendell
Nina Keller, Wendell
Nina, Dan Keller and family on walk, Wendell
Stream in the woods, Wendell
Stream in woods, Wendell
Swaddled baby, Florida
Dan driving John Deere tractor, baling hay, Wendell(?)
Dan driving tractor, Wendell(?)
Dan on John Deere tractor, Wendell(?)
Dan on tractor, baling hay, Wendell(?)
Dan on tractor, Wendell(?)
Haying, Wendell(?)
Haying, Wendell(?)
Haying, Wendell(?)
Haying, Wendell(?)and once again and once again
Nina and unidentified woman, haying, Wendell(?)
Nina on hay truck, Wendell(?)
Truck loaded with hay bales, Wendell(?)
Two children on hay truck, Wendell(?)
Calf and German shepherd, Wendell(?)
Nina and Holstein calf, Wendell(?)
Nina and Holstein calf, Wendell(?)
Nina with Holstein calf, Wendell(?)
Rooster and hen
Rooster, Wendell(?)