Microforms are books, journals, or other items printed in miniaturized form on rolls of film, sheets of transparent plastic, or opaque sheets. The long rolls are called microfilm while those on small rectangular sheets are called microfiche. The white, opaque sheets are known as microprints or microcards. Microforms are used because they allow materials to be preserved in non-paper format and conserve storage space.

The Periodicals/Microforms area of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library has special machines (microform reader printers) for viewing all microform formats.

There are many specialized collections and items of potential interest to researchers in the Microforms area, including current and historical newspapers, periodicals, UMass Amherst dissertations, government documents, and individual and family papers. Examples of microform collections of relevance to legal studies follow.

Massachusetts. Probate Court (Suffolk County)
Probate records
Microfilm A 430
Microfilm of 42 vols. of original records in the office of the Register of Probate of Suffolk County.
Dates of these papers are 1636-1766.

Massachusetts. Supreme Judicial Court.
Probate records
UM/Microform Storage A 1189 A
Microfilm of 2 volumes of original manuscript court records covering 1760-October term 1870. From 1760 to 1783 the court proceedings were held before the Governor and Council.

Underground Newspaper Collection
Collection of over 200 underground newspapers filmed from 1965-1985.

For further information on the materials in the microforms collections, contact Melinda McIntosh (413-545-6802; mmcintosh@library.umass.edu).