Special Collections & University Archives University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

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UMass : 116 collections

Totman, Ruth J.

Ruth J. Totman Papers, ca. 1914-1999
6 boxes (3 linear feet).

Ruth Totman and Jean Lewis, ca.1935
Ruth Totman and Jean Lewis, ca.1935

Trained as a teacher of physical education at the Sargent School in Boston, Ruth J. Totman enjoyed a career at state normal schools and teachers colleges in New York and Pennsylvania before joining the faculty at Massachusetts State College in 1943, building the program in women’s physical education almost from scratch and culminating in 1958 with the opening of a new Women’s Physical Education Building, which was one of the largest and finest of its kind in the nation. Totman retired at the mandatory age of 70 in 1964, and twenty years later, the women’s PE building was rededicated in her honor. Totman died in November 1989, three days after her 95th birthday.

The Totman Papers are composed mostly of personal materials pertaining to her residence in Amherst, correspondence, and Totman family materials. The sparse material in this collection relating to Totman’s professional career touches lightly on her retirement in 1964 and the dedication of the Ruth J. Totman Physical Education Building at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Supplementing the documents is a sizeable quantity of photographs and 8mm films, with the former spanning nearly her entire 95 years. The 8mm films, though fragile, provide an interesting, though soundless view into Totman’s activities from the 1940s through the 1960s, including a cross-country trip with Gertrude “Jean” Lewis, women’s Physical Education events at the New Jersey College for Women, and trips to Japan to visit her nephew, Conrad Totman..

Subjects
  • College buildings--Massachusetts--Amherst--History--Sources
  • Conway (Mass.)--Genealogy
  • Dairy farms--Massachusetts
  • Family farms--United States
  • Farm life--United States
  • Physical Education for women
  • Totman family
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst--Faculty
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst--History
  • Women physical education teachers
Contributors
  • Drew, Raymond Totman, 1923-1981
  • Lewis, Gertrude Minnie, 1896-
  • Totman, Conrad D
  • Totman, Ruth J
Types of material
  • Genealogies
Call no.: FS 097
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Tracy, Susan

Susan Tracy Papers, 1966-1985
9 boxes (4.5 linear feet).

Susan Tracy, Dean of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies and Professor of American Studies and History at Hampshire College, received a B.A. in English and an MA. in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before earning her PhD. in history from Rutgers University. Her primary interests are in American social and intellectual history, particularly labor history; Afro-American history; and women’s history. She has taught United States history and women’s studies courses at the UMass Amherst.

The Susan Tracy Papers consist largely of Tracy’s files during her tenure as a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (ca. 1966) and her time as a member of the University staff (ca. 1984). Included in the collection are documentation of the campus Everywoman’s Center and the Chancellor’s Committees on Sexual Harassment and Human Relations; issues of the “What’s Left” newsletter; records of the Women’s Studies Policies Board; and research for a student project on the Southwest Residential area.

Subjects
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Everywoman's Center
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Students
  • Women college students
Contributors
  • Tracy, Susan
Call no.: FS 005

Tragle, Henry I.

Henry I. Tragle Papers, 1968-1978
3 boxes (4.5 linear feet).

Henry I. Tragle served in the United States Army from 1941 until his retirement in 1964. He was a company commander of the 8th Armored Division during World War II and earned a Bronze Star for singlehandedly capturing a German general and his staff. After his retirement from the Army, he earned a B.A. (1966), M.A. (1967), and Ph.D in history (1971) from the University of Massachusetts, where he became a professor of history and assistant dean of the graduate school. Tragle was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1914 and worked in the Virginia dairy industry before joining the Army. Tragle studied military history but wrote his dissertation on the slave revolt led by Nat Turner in 1831. Tragle continued his historical research after his retirement from the University in 1972, collecting material on General Douglas MacArthur as well as editing several of Jackdraw Publications’ history packets. Tragle died December 15, 1991.

The Henry I. Tragle Papers contain Tragle’s historical research from 1968 until 1978, which includes scrapbooks of photos, notes, and clippings, bound together by research topic. There are also several shrink wrapped editions of Jackdraw Publications packets that Tragle was likely to have edited.

Subjects
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst--Faculty
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of History
Contributors
  • Tragle, Henry I
Call no.: FS 021

Tymoczko, Maria

Maria Tymoczko Papers, 1973-2002
3 boxes (2.5 linear feet).

As an undergraduate at Harvard, Maria Tymoczko was lured away from the study of biochemistry into medieval literature, remaining at Harvard through her doctorate and eventually making the subject into an academic career. Since joining the faculty at UMass Amherst in 1974, she has written or edited six books and has built an international reputation in three fields: Celtic medieval literature, Irish studies, and translation studies. A popular instructor, she has also played a leading role on several university committees.

The Tymoczko Papers document both the career and university service of a scholar of Irish literature and theorist of translation. In addition to her professional correspondence (1973-1980), the collection includes a significant quantity of material documenting Tymoczko’s university service, including notes from her time as chair of the General Education Council (1986-1994), from the Joint Task Force of UMass and Community College Relations, and the Rules Committee and Ad-hoc Committee on Retention of Administrators of the Faculty Senate. Additions to the collection are expected in the future.

Subjects
  • Irish literature
  • Translating and interpreting
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst--Faculty
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Program in Comparative Literature
Contributors
  • Tymoczko, Maria
Call no.: FS 141

UMass Amherst. Dean of Students

UMass Amherst. Dean of Students, 1948-1987. 27 boxes (13.25 linear feet).

The Office of the Dean of Students at UMass Amherst was established by President John Lederle in 1961 to replace the separately structured offices of the Dean of Men and Dean of Women, and to provide more effective, more flexible support for a growing and changing student body. In the 1960s, the Dean of Students had responsibility for almost all operational units related to student life, including Admissions, Records, Residence Halls, Dining Halls, Student Union, Student Activities, Placement, and Financial Aid. As the University became a statewide administrative unit with the opening of UMass Boston and the Medical School, there was an increasing conflict between the Office of the Dean of Students on the Amherst campus and the growing demands for a responsive administrative hierarchy. In 1970, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs was therefore created to provide an appropriate level of supervision for the various Student Affairs divisions with regard to budget, personnel and administration. The Office of the Dean of Students then became a student contact-based office, which cooperated and collaborated with the other divisions. The first Dean of Students, William Field came to UMass in 1951 as a guidance counselor and assistant professor of psychology. His tenure coincided with the massive expansion of campus and the turbulent years of the late 1960s and early 1970s, during which he played an important mediating role. The recipient of the Chancellor’s Medal in 1983, Field retired from office in 1988.

An important series of records documenting student life on the UMass Amherst campus, with an emphasis on the 1960s and 1970s. Among these are an extensive series of bylaws and charters for residence halls and registerred student organizations (RSOs) at UMass, as well as subject files on campus protests and demonstrations, students of color, and student groups of various sorts.

Subjects

  • African American students–Massachusetts.
  • Field, William.
  • Student movements–Massachusetts.
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dean of Students.
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst–Students.
Call no.: RG 30/2

UMass Amherst. Faculty and Staff

UMass Amherst Faculty and Staff Collection, ca.1867-2008
175 boxes (84 linear feet).

Pres. Hugh P. Baker and<br />Cabinet of Faculty, 1936
Pres. Hugh P. Baker and
Cabinet of Faculty, 1936

From its founding in 1863, UMass Amherst has grown from rural agricultural roots into a major research university, and the handful of instructors who present at the inauguration of the college has grown into a diverse faculty of over 1,100.

The Faculty and Staff Collection contains files accumulated by the University Archives relating to the faculty, staff, and administrators of UMass Amherst and its predecessors, the Massachusetts Agricultural College and Massachusetts State College. This list is not an exhaustive accounting of present or past members of the UMass community: although full-time, part-time, and visiting faculty are included, this listing includes only those for whom the University Office of Communications or University Archives collected information. Typically these files consist of some combination of resumes, notices of honors and awards, press releases and news clippings, articles about or by the subject, obituaries, and other miscellaneous information. In many cases, the subjects are represented by only one or two items.

Subjects
  • Massachusetts Agricultural College
  • Massachusetts Agricultural College--Faculty
  • Massachusetts Agricultural College--Staff
  • Massachusetts State College
  • Massachusetts State College--Faculty
  • Massachusetts State College--Staff
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst--Faculty
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst--Staff
Types of material
  • Clippings (Information artifacts)
  • Obituaries
Call no.: RG 40/11
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

University of Massachusetts. Trustees

UMass Amherst. Trustees, 1864-2007
(84.25 linear feet).

When Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew incorporated the Board of Trustees for the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1863, the fourteen members of the board were charged with creating a new agricultural college. Since that time, the Board of Trustees (including student trustees) had governed the University, meeting regularly to act on University-wide matters of policy, mission, finance, and campus maintenance. Governance responsibilities in some areas (e.g., tuition, academic program review and approval) are shared with the statewide Board of Higher Education. The Board of Trustees maintains a Chair and six standing committees: Executive, Administration and Finance, Academic and Student Affairs, Athletics, Audit, and External Affairs. The President and the Five College Chancellors administer board policy.

The bulk of the Board of Trustees records consists of meeting minutes (1906-2007) and Trustee Documents (1963-2007), along with the papers of a small number of individual trustees and the records of the Trustees’ “Commission on the Future of the University of Massachusetts” (1988-1989), which resulted in the consolidation of the state’s five public university campuses under a single President and Board of Trustees. In partnership with the Board of Trustees, SCUA has digitized the complete minutes of the Board from chartering of the university in 1863 through 2004.

Contributors
  • Massachusetts Agricultural College. Trustees
  • Massachusetts State College. Trustees
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Trustees
Types of material
  • Minutes
Call no.: RG 2

Uno, Roberta

Roberta Uno Collection of Asian American Women Playwrights' Scripts, 1924-2005
25 boxes (9 linear feet).

Coconut masquerade postcard
Coconut masquerade postcard

Roberta Uno was the founder and long time artistic director of the New WORLD Theater at UMass Amherst, a theater in residence dedicated to the production of works by playwrights of color.

Established by Uno in 1993, the Asian American Women Playwrights Scripts Collection contains manuscripts of plays, but also production histories, reviews, and articles, along with biographies and audio and videotaped interviews with playwrights. Among the individuals represented are Brenda Wong Aoki, Jeannie Barroga, Marina Feleo Gonzales, Jessica Hagedorn, Velina Hasu Houston, Genny Lim, le thi diem thuy, Ling-Ai Li, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Nobuko Miyamoto, Bina Sharif, and Diana Son.

Subjects
  • Asian American women authors
  • New WORLD Theater
  • Playwrights
Contributors
  • Uno, Roberta, 1956-
Types of material
  • Scripts (Documents)
Call no.: MS 345
View the finding aid: [ html | xml | pdf ]

Váli, Ferenc A. (Ferenc Albert), 1905-

Ferenc A. Vali Papers, 1964-1969
1 box (0.5 linear feet).

Ferenc Vali
Ferenc Vali

A scholar of international politics, Ferenc Vali left his native Hungary during the revolution of 1956 after five years of imprisonment for his political activities. Born on May 25, 1905, Vali was educated at the University of Budapest and London School of Economics (PhD, 1932), and worked as a Professor of International Law at the University of Budapest until his arrest. Following his escape and a brief period as Fellow at Harvard, he joined the faculty in political science at UMass Amherst in 1961. A popular lecturer, he became the first member of the Political Science Department to receive emeritus status in 1975. He died at his home in Amherst in 1984.

The Vali collection includes both published and unpublished essays by Ferenc Vali on Hungary during the post-revolutionary years and idealism and realism in American foreign policy.

Subjects
  • Hungary--History--1945-1989
  • United States--Foreign relations
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst--Faculty
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of Political Science
Contributors
  • Váli, Ferenc A. (Ferenc Albert), 1905-
Call no.: FS 137

Van Meter, Ralph Albert, 1893-

Ralph Van Meter Papers, 1919-1958
2 boxes (1 linear feet).

Ralph Van Meter
Ralph Van Meter

Ralph Van Meter, the first president of the University of Massachusetts after it changed its name from Massachusetts State College in 1947, spent nearly 40 years learning, teaching, and leading on the Amherst campus. A graduate of Ohio State University (B.S., 1917), he came to the Massachusetts Agricultural College as a specialist in Food Conservation in 1917, serving in the Pomology Department first as a professor, and then as the head from 1936 to 1948. The Board of Trustees appointed Van Meter as Acting President in 1947 and President in 1948. He was responsible for a number of innovations, including the creation of the position of Provost (first held by John Paul Mather) and the establishment of new schools of business administration and engineering.

Correspondence, memos, reports, clippings, and other papers, relating to matters at issue during Van Meter’s presidency of University of Massachusetts including the building program, World War II veterans, accreditation, and the university seal; together with published writings, biographical material, military records, and material from Van Meter’s inauguration as university president.

Subjects
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst. President
Contributors
  • Van Meter, Ralph Albert, 1893-
Call no.: RG 3/1 V36

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