Special Collections & University Archives University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

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Transfer of archival records

Transfer of archival records

Instructions for transferring departmental records to the University Archives

To transfer records to the archives and facilitate their retrieval as required, please keep the following in mind:

  • Verify that the records you wish to transfer are no longer needed for normal operations in your unit or department. Remove and destroy duplicate or redundant files and those that are not scheduled for retention.
    • Offices should retain the last three years of records in-house before transfer to archives.
  • Rehouse the records to be transferred, retaining their current filing order, into banker boxes which we provide.
  • Create an inventory of the records using the transfer form provided and label the boxes accordingly using the box labels template.
    • File names should be clear, concise, and memorable to assist in accurate retrieval.
  • Note any restrictions on access to the files being transferred and if any records are scheduled for future destruction, please note carefully which records are to be destroyed and when.
  • Schedule a time for pick up: email or call (413-545-2780) the Archives, allowing 2-3 business days.
    • Upon pick up, we will complete the gray box on the transmittal form acknowledging receipt of transfer.
    • Upon receipt of the materials at the Archives, we will provide you with an accession number for the transfer. Record this number carefully, which will be needed for retrieval.
    • Make three copies of form: two for us to take away and one for you: your copy serves as a record of transfer and a guide for requesting the return of files as needed.

Is this your first time transferring records to the archives?

Email or call (413-545-2780) us for a consultation. We will survey your collection, discuss best practices for caring for your files, and review the transfer process.

How can you retrieve items that have been sent to the archives?

Email or call (413-545-2780) us with the following information: accession number, RG number, Box number, folder title We will retrieve requested materials and deliver them in person or via campus mail. Requests typically take 2-3 business days to process.

Bartlett, Simeon

Simeon Bartlett Account Books, 1792-1867.
2 vols. (0.5 linear feet).

Freight hauler, farmer, sawmill owner, and possibly a hatmaker from Williamsburg, Massachusetts.

The first volume of Bartlett’s accounts includes records of Bartlett’s income, sales and exchange of goods and services, and details about his employees and family (such as family births, deaths, and marriages). Volume 2 contains lists of hat purchases, lists of teachers and their pay, his participation in town affairs, and a number of lyrics to Civil War songs.

Subjects
  • Clapp, Joseph
  • Hat trade--Massachusetts--South Hadley
  • Lyman, Joseph
  • Rice, Aaron
  • Songs
  • Songs, English
  • United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Songs and music
  • Williamsburg (Mass.)--Economic conditions
Contributors
  • Bartlett, Simeon, b. 1764
Types of material
  • Account books
Call no.: MS 175 bd
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Bent, Arthur Cleveland, 1866-1954

Arthur Cleveland Bent Collection, 1880-1942.
8 boxes (5.5 linear feet).

A.C. Bent, 1929
A.C. Bent, 1929

An avid birder and eminent ornithologist, Arthur Cleveland Bent was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, on November 25, 1866. After receiving his A.B. from Harvard in 1889, bent was employed as an agent for the Safety Pocket Company and from 1900 to 1914, he was General Manager of Mason Machine Works. His passion, however, was birds. An associate in Ornithology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, Bent became a collaborator at the Smithsonian and president (1935-1937) of the American Ornithologists’ Union. The culmination of his research was the massive, 26 volume Life Histories of North American Birds (1919-1968).

The Bent collection is a glimpse into the birding life of a remarkable amateur ornithologist. It contains the field notebooks of his collaborator, Owen Durfee (1880-1909), his own journals (1887-1942), photographs and negatives (1896-1930), correspondence concerning the photographs (1925-1946), and mimeographed and printed material. Bent’s records cover nest observations, egg measurements, bird sightings, and notes on specimens provided to organizations such as the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Bristol County Agricultural School, and the United States National Museum.

Subjects
  • American Ornithologists' Union
  • Bent, Arthur Cleveland, 1866-1954. Life Histories of North American Birds
  • Birds
  • Birds--Eggs
  • Birds--Eggs--Photographs
  • Birds--Nests
  • Birds--Nests--Photographs
  • Birds--Photographs
  • Bristol County Agricultural School (Bristol County, Mass.)
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society
  • Ornithologists--Massachusetts
  • United States National Museum
Contributors
  • Bent, Arthur Cleveland, 1866-1954
  • Durfee, Owen
Types of material
  • Field notes
  • Photographs
Call no.: MS 413
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Burnett, Bela, 1778-

Bela Burnett Account Book, 1801-1842.
1 vol. (0.25 linear feet).

A storeowner, farmer, and citizen of Granby, Mass., Bela Burnett was born October 4, 1778, the second of seven children of Jonathan and Mehitabel (Dickinson) Burnett. Having relocated from Southampton, New York, to Battleboro, Vermont, in 1770, Jonathan and Mehitable settled in Granby in 1774, purchasing the farm of Aaron Nash where in 2010, Burnett descendants still live. Burnett had at least five children by two marriages, first to Clarissa Warner (1801) and second to Sally Allen (1808). Burnett died in Granby on April 16, 1846.

The Burnett account book includes careful records of goods sold, customers’ accounts, and the form and method of payment (cash, credit, or barter), as well as some information on family members and boarders, along with a handful of miscellaneous items laid in, such as calculations, notes, and a remedy for yellow jaundice.

Subjects
  • Agricultural laborers--Massachusetts--Granby
  • Barter--Massachusetts--Granby
  • Boardinghouses--Massachusetts--Granby--19th century
  • Farmers--Massachusetts--Granby
  • Food prices--Massachusetts--Granby
  • General stores--Massachusetts--Granby
  • Granby (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century
  • Jaundice
  • Marsh, Tim A. P
  • Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions
  • Produce trade--Massachusetts--Granby--19th century
  • Robbins, Asa
  • Shopping--Massachusetts--Granby
  • Smith, David
Contributors
  • Burnett, Bela, 1778-
Types of material
  • Account books
Call no.: MS 385 bd
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. Hampshire-Franklin County Chapter

Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts Hampshire-Franklin County Chapter Records, 1947-1973.
2 boxes (1 linear feet).

Minutes and correspondence of the Executive Committee, correspondence and general files of chairmen Philip Eddy, David E. Matz, and Donn Kesselheim, as well as correspondence, briefs, and clippings related to legal cases and inquiries undertaken by the chapter.

Subjects
  • Civil rights--Massachusetts
Contributors
  • Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. Hampshire-Franklin County Chapter
  • Eddy, Philip
  • Kesselheim, Donn
  • Matz, David E
Call no.: MS 303
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

League of Women Voters of Amherst (Amherst, Mass.)

League of Women Voters of Amherst Records, 1939-2001.
60 boxes (33 linear feet).

Non-partisan political organization based in Amherst, Massachusetts that influences public policy through education and advocacy by registering voters, organizing candidate forums, publishing voting guides, and disseminating general information on the legislative process and the functioning of government on the local, state, and federal levels.

Includes minutes, annual reports, financial records, publications, extensive files on specific programs, photographs, video- and audio-tapes, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings. Also contains information on two league members who rose to national prominence: Lucy Wilson Benson (Under Secretary of State in the federal government in 1977) and Jane F. Garvey (Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in 1997).

Subjects
  • Amherst (Mass.)--Politics and government
  • Education--Massachusetts--Amherst--History
  • Housing--Massachusetts--Amherst--History
  • Massachusetts--Politics and government--1951-
Contributors
  • Benson, Lucy Wilson
  • Garvey, Jane F
  • League of Women Voters of Amherst (Amherst, Mass.)
Types of material
  • Oral histories
  • Photographs
  • Scrapbooks
Call no.: MS 296
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Northampton Cutlery Company

Northampton Cutlery Company Records, 1869-1987.
113 boxes (55.75 linear feet).

The Northampton Cutlery Company was among the major firms in a region known for high quality cutlery manufacture. Incorporated in 1871 with Judge Samuel L. Hinckley, its largest stockholder, as its first President, the company was located along the Mill River in Northampton, Massachusetts, where operations continued until its closing in 1987.

Records document company operations and technology used in the cutlery manufacturing process, as well as details about employment of immigrant and working class families in the region. Includes administrative, legal, and financial records; correspondence; personnel and labor relations files; and production schedules and specifications.

Subjects
  • Cutlery trade--Massachusetts
  • Northampton (Mass.)--History
Contributors
  • Northampton Cutlery Company
Call no.: MS 058
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Pope, Ebenezer

Ebenezer Pope Ledger, 1810-1821.
1 vol. (0.25 linear feet).

Blacksmith who was prominent in the town affairs of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Includes debit and credit entries, the method and form of customer payment (cash, services, labor, and goods such as corn, potatoes, wheat, cider brandy, hog, veal, sheep, lambs, and an ox), and an entry noting the building of the Great Barrington and Alford Turnpike in 1812. Also includes documentation of seamstress activity and of African American customers.

Subjects
  • African Americans--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th century
  • Barter--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th century
  • Blacksmiths--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--Economic conditions--19th century
  • George, Negro
  • Great Barrington (Mass.)--History--19th century
  • Great Barrington and Alford Turnpike (Mass.)--History
  • Palmer, Anna M
  • Toll roads--Massachusetts--History--19th century
  • Wages--Men--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th century
  • Wages--Women--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th century
  • Wages-in-kind--Massachusetts--Great Barrington--History--19th century
Contributors
  • Pope, Ebenezer
Types of material
  • Account books
Call no.: MS 167 bd
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Radical Student Union (RSU)

Radical Student Union Records, 1905-2006 (Bulk: 1978-2005).
22 boxes (14.5 linear feet).

Founded by Charles Bagli in 1976, the Revolutionary Student Brigade at UMass Amherst (later the Radical Student Union) has been a focal point for organization by politically radical students. RSU members have responded to issues of social justice, addressing both local, regional, and national concerns ranging from militarism to the environment, racism and sexism to globalization.

The RSU records document the history of a particularly long-lived organization of left-leaning student activists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Beginning in the mid-1970s, as students were searching for ways to build upon the legacy of the previous decade, the RSU has been a constant presence on campus, weathering the Reagan years, tough budgetary times, and dramatic changes in the political culture at the national and state levels. The RSU reached its peak during the 1980s with protests against American involvement in Central America, CIA recruitment on campus, American support for the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and government-funded weapons research, but in later years, the organization has continued to adapt, organizing against globalization, sweatshops, the Iraq War, and a host of other issues.

Subjects
  • Anti-apartheid movements--Massachusetts
  • Central America--Foreign relations--United States
  • College students--Political activity
  • Communism
  • El Salvador--History--1979-1992
  • Guatemala--History--1945-1982
  • Iraq War, 2003-
  • Nicaragua--History--1979-1990
  • Peace movements--Massachusetts
  • Persian Gulf War, 1991
  • Political activists--Massachusetts--History
  • Racism
  • Socialism
  • Student movements
  • United States--Foreign relations--Central America
  • United States. Central Intelligence Agency
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst
Contributors
  • Progressive Student Network
  • Radical Student Union
  • Revolutionary Student Brigade
Types of material
  • Banners
Call no.: RG 45/80 R1
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Smith and Wesson Company

Smith & Wesson Records, 1920-1973.
30 boxes (15 linear feet).

World famous handgun and handcuff-manufacturing company founded in Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1850s.

The Smith and Wesson records are comprised of incoming sales and service correspondence with some outgoing correspondence and administrative and financial/legal subject files, including categories such as ads and advertising, American Railway Express, audits, counselors at law, debtors, insurance, legal actions, newsletters, patents and trademarks, personnel, photos, sample parts, sideline ventures, stocks and bonds awards, and Western Union Telegrams. Includes correspondence with the National Rifle Association, Small Arms Industry Advisory Committee, and the United States Revolver Association.

Subjects
  • Pistols--Design and construction
Contributors
  • National Rifle Association
  • Small Arms Industry Advisory Committee
  • Smith and Wesson
  • United States Revolver Association
Call no.: MS 267
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]
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