Collection Name: Lord Jeffery
Amherst Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1759–1793
Size: 1 linear foot
Contents:
Correspondence (5 letters)
Lists
Map
Warrants
Commissions
Main Entry: Amherst, Lord Jeffery (1717–1797)
Subject—Personal Names:
Amherst, Lord Jeffery
Col. Bradstreet
Col. Whiting
George III
Hancock, Thomas
Marquis of Granby
Reynolds, Ebenezer
Yonge, George
Subject—Corporate Names:
Subject—Topical Heading:
United States—History—Colonial Period
United States—History—French and Indian War
Subject—Geographical Name:
Montreal, Canada
United States
Note: This small collection of papers relating to Lord
Jeffery Amherst are a sample of his official papers as a soldier and royal
administrator. Notably it contains five letters by Jeffery Amherst and
a c.1770 map of his expedition to Montreal. The lists are inventories of
stores and munitions.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: Ray Stannard Baker Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: c. 1896–1946
Size: 21.5 linear feet
Contents:
Correspondence (7.5 linear feet)
News clippings
Images—Photographs
Published writings—Typescripts, manuscripts (6.5 linear feet)
Main Entry: Baker, Ray Stannard (1870–1946)
Subject—Personal Names:
Baker, Ray Stannard
Dyer, Walter (approximately 50 letters)
Grayson, David
Wilson, Woodrow
Subject—Corporate Names:
Subject—Topical Heading:
Local History
United States—History—World War I, 1914–1918
United States—Intellectual Life
United States—Politics and Government
United States—Presidents
Subject—Geographical Name:
United States
Amherst, Massachusetts
Note: Ray Stannard Baker, who also used the pseudonym David Grayson, was a journalist, essayist, and historian as well as a writer of fiction. Baker was an Amherst resident from 1910 until his death in 1946. His most important work is arguably an eight-volume authorized biography of Woodrow Wilson's life and letters, although it was as David Grayson that he published his most popular and enduring work. These papers contain personal correspondence as well as 6.5 linear feet of correspondence, much of it fan mail, addressed to “David Grayson.” The papers also contain manuscripts and typescripts of the nine David Grayson novels as well as news clippings relating to them. There are substantial collections of Baker's papers at the Library of Congress and at Princeton University.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: John William Burgess Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: c. 1868–1931
Size: 3.5 linear feet
Contents:
Correspondence
Images—Photographs
Scrapbook (1)
Speeches (4)
Manuscripts—Miscellaneous
Financial and legal records
Main Entry: Burgess, John William
Subject—Personal Names:
Burgess, John William
Burgess, Ruth Payne
Wilhelm II
Subject—Corporate Names:
Amherst College
Columbia University
Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin
Subject—Topical Heading:
Germany—History
United States—Foreign Relations
United States—Intellectual Life
United States—Politics and Government
Subject—Geographical Name:
Germany
The Netherlands
Note: John Burgess was the founder of the school of political science at Columbia and one of the early proponents of the university system in the United States. The papers include correspondence with scholars, politicians, and heads of state. There are several important letters and manuscripts relating to the German imperial household in exile at Doorn, the Netherlands, including letters of Hermine, the second wife of Wilhelm II. The papers of his wife, Ruth Payne Burgess, are also at the Jones Library. Burgess attended Amherst College, which holds some biographical material on him in its Alumni Biographical Files.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: Ruth Payne Burgess Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1871–1934
Size: 4.5 linear feet
Contents:
Images—Art—Paintings, oil and watercolor
Images—Art—Sketchbooks (.5 linear foot)
Correspondence (3.5 linear feet)
Diaries (.5 linear foot)
Main Entry: Burgess, Ruth Payne (1865–1934)
Subject—Personal Names:
Burgess, John William
Burgess, Ruth Payne
Butler, Nicholas
Davis, Varinda Howell (widow of Confederate president Jefferson Davis)
(20 letters)
Wilhelm II
Subject—Corporate Names:
Subject—Topical Heading:
Local History
United States—Intellectual Life—1865–1918
Women—History Women—Social Conditions
Women—United States
Subject—Geographical Name:
United States
Amherst, Massachusetts
Note: Ruth Payne Burgess (1865–1934) studied art in New York City, Germany, and Italy before marrying John Burgess (see related collection), then a political scientist at Columbia University. Noted for her work in both oils and watercolors, she had studios first in New York City and later in Newport, Rhode Island. Her preferred subjects were still lifes and portraits. Twenty-four of her paintings are in the library's possession. The papers relate primarily to her work as an artist. Her personal and professional correspondence dates from 1871 to 1934. There are also a number of official documents relating to the German imperial household in exile at Doorn, the Netherlands, including correspondence from Hermine, the wife of Wilhelm II. Other important correspondents include Varinda Davis, widow of Confederate president Jefferson Davis; and Nicholas Butler, a president of Columbia University.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: Diary Collection—Alley, Florence
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1915–1987
Size: 25 volumes; 1 linear foot
Contents: Diaries
Main Entry: Alley, Florence E. (1906–1995)
Subject—Personal Names:
Alley, Florence E.
Subject—Corporate Names:
Amherst Record
Subject—Topical Heading:
Local History
Social History
Women—Social Conditions
Women—United States—History
Subject—Geographical Name:
United States
Amherst, Massachusetts
Note: Florence E. Alley (1906–1995) was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, but lived much of her life in Amherst, Massachusetts, moving there with her family in 1918. She worked for the Amherst Record until 1952, when she opened the first laundromat in town. The bulk of her papers is diaries. Most of these diary entries are only a line or two, usually with remarks about the weather and local events; nevertheless, they are extensive and complete. These diaries are part of the Jones Library Diary Collection listing.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: Hamlin Family Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1859–1861; 1882–1957
Size: 1 linear foot
Contents:
Diaries
Scrapbooks
Images—Photographs
Main Entry: Hamlin Family
Subject—Personal Names:
Hamlin, Charles
Hamlin, Frances
Hamlin, Margaret P.
Hamlin, William R.
Subject—Corporate Names:
Subject—Topical Heading:
Germany—History
Local History
Travel
Subject—Geographical Name: Germany
Note: Many of these diaries, kept by different members of the Hamlin family, are of the line-a-day variety; one notable exception is a diary maintained by William R. Hamlin in 1895. This contains lengthy reflections and observations made during travel in Europe, particularly in Germany. Diaries of Frances Hamlin are also quite extensive, full of original and copied poetry as well as scriptural verses. The photograph albums contain images taken in Europe, presumably in the same period during which the travel diaries were composed.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: Town of Amherst—Tax Lists
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1750–1949
Size: Oversized boxes; 140 volumes
Contents:
Lists
Bound volumes
Financial records
Main Entry: Town of Amherst
Subject—Personal Names:
Subject—Corporate Names:
Town of Amherst
Subject—Topical Heading:
Economic History
Local History
Tax Lists
Subject—Geographical Name: Amherst, Massachusetts
Note: These tax valuation lists provide a nearly complete record of tax assessment in the town of Amherst dating to its existence as a parish of the town of Hadley. Lists reference assessments for personal estate taxes as well as real estate taxes. These are town of Amherst records on deposit at the library.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: The Clifton Johnson Collection
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: c. 1890–1940
Size: 27.5 linear feet of papers
Contents:
Correspondence (2 linear feet)
Sketchbooks (1.5 linear feet)
Images—Photographs (approximately 4,000 prints and negatives, 23.5
linear feet)
Books (approximately 1,000 volumes)
Main Entry: Johnson, Clifton (1865–1940)
Subject—Personal Names:
Burroughs, John (22 letters, 1 box of photographs)
Carver, George Washington (1 letter, photographs)
Coolidge, Calvin (2 letters)
Howells, William Dean (20 letters)
Maxim, Hudson (photographs)
Parrish, Maxfield (3 letters)
Washington, Booker T. (1 letter)
Subject—Corporate Names:
Subject—Topical Heading:
Education—Children
Education—History
Juvenile Literature—History
Photography
Travel
United States—Intellectual Life
Subject—Geographical Name:
Note: Clifton Johnson (1865–1940) was a writer and educator. He was particularly interested in the history of education and collected many 17th- and 18th-century schoolbooks and works on pedagogy. These form a substantial part of the collection. He was also a photographer and portraitist who photographed throughout the United States and Europe.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: Field Family Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1820–1949
Size: 3.5 linear feet
Contents:
Correspondence
Literary manuscripts
News clippings
Images—Photographs
Main Entry: Field Family
Subject—Personal Names:
Field, Eugene
Field, Martin
Field, Roswell
Kellogg, Esther Smith
Scott, Dred
Subject—Corporate Names:
Subject—Topical Heading:
Local History
United States—Intellectual Life
Women—History
Subject—Geographical Name:
Amherst, Massachusetts
Newfane, Vermont
Note: The Field Family Papers include material relating to five generations of the family. While much of the family was from Vermont and the Midwest, it had close ties to Amherst. Notable family members include Roswell Field Sr. (1807–1869) and his son Eugene (1850–1895). Roswell Sr. was the lawyer who represented Dred Scott. His elder son, Eugene, while best known for his children's poetry, also wrote editorials and political commentary. Materials relating to Eugene Field include articles, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and ephemera. Other family members are well represented in a collection of the correspondence of Julia Kellogg Field (1829–1880); manuscript material of Roswell Field Jr. (1851–1919), younger brother of Eugene; and correspondence and poetry of Charles Kellogg Field (1873–1948). The letters and papers, taken as a whole, show one family's growth and movement throughout the 19th century as they went south and westward.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: The Winthrop S. and Janet Wilder Dakin Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1930–1990
Size: 4 linear feet
Contents:
Yearbooks (Mount Holyoke 1930–1933) (.5 linear foot)
Diaries
Images—Photographs (.75 linear foot)
Lectures
Published writings—Typescripts
Published writings—Books
Published writings—Articles (.5 linear foot)
Awards
Correspondence (1 folder to parents of WSD)
Main Entry:
Dakin, Janet Wilder (1910–1994)
Dakin, Winthrop Saltonstall (1906–1982)
Subject—Personal Names:
Dakin, Janet Wilder
Dakin, Winthrop Saltonstall
Wilder, Thornton N.
Subject—Corporate Names:
Amherst Conservation Commission
“Common Topics” (newspaper column by Winthrop Dakin)
Hampshire College
Jeffy's Journal (book by Janet Dakin)
Kestrel Trust
Subject—Topical Heading:
Asia—History
China—History
Conservation
Local History
Japan—History
United States—History—World War II, 1939–1945
Subject—Geographical Name: Amherst, Massachusetts
Note: The Dakin papers are a collection of material on the lives and civic activities of both Winthrop and Janet Dakin. Winthrop Dakin (1906–1982) was a Northampton lawyer from 1937 until 1974. He was also a founding trustee of Hampshire College, a trustee of the Clarke School for the Deaf, and a town moderator. His service in World War II is well documented by a diary. After earning a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1939, and teaching at her alma mater (Mount Holyoke) for two years, Janet Dakin married and moved to Amherst, where she pursued lifelong interests in Morgan horses and conservation projects. The papers contain the typescripts for her book on the birth and early life of one of her horses (Jeffy's Journal), as well as material on conservation committees.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: The Photograph Collections
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates:
Size: approximately 50,000 prints and negatives
Contents:
Images—Photographs
Images—Daguerreotypes
Images—Steriopticon views
Images—Negatives
Images—Postcards
Images—Slides
Main Entry: Photograph Collections
Subject—Personal Names:
Barnes, Lincoln
Gates, Winifred Carpenter
Howes Brothers
Howes, Alvah
Howes, George
Howes, Walter
Johnson, Clifton
Lacroix, Donald
Lovell, John L.
Puffer, Stephen
Rand, Frank Prentice
Scott, Edgar
Tilley, Nathan S.
Waugh, Frank A.
Subject—Corporate Names:
Amherst Picture Gallery
Amherst Record
The Photo Shop
Tilley Camera Shop
Subject—Topical Heading:
Architecture
Geology
Local History
Science—History
Subject—Geographical Name:
Note: The Photograph Collections at the Jones Library consist of about 50,000 negatives and prints showing Amherst and its people as well as some of the surrounding towns. The finding aid gives overview descriptions of 13 discrete collections of images. Nine of these are collections of images by an individual photographer or photography studio; two others are collections of family photographs. The photographic archives of the Amherst Record are also part of this collection. The paper guide gives general information about each collection; further subject access is available through the card catalog
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: Amherst Academy Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: c. 1816–1894
Size: approximately .25 linear foot
Contents:
Broadsides
Catalogs
Manuscript books
Account books
Autograph albums
Financial and legal records—Receipts
Main Entry: Amherst Academy
Subject—Personal Names:
Arnold, Levi, Jr.
Coleman, Fanny
Crowell, Mary Warner
Dickinson, Elijah
Nims, Clarinda
Parkhurst, John L.
Subject—Corporate Names: Amherst Academy
Subject—Topical Heading:
Subject—Geographical Name: Amherst, Massachusetts
Note: The Amherst Academy Collection consists primarily of catalogs of students and faculty at the institution between 1816 and 1850, with gaps and broadsides of exhibitions put on by students. Also of interest are two autograph albums created by students, one from the early 1820s, another from the late 1830s; a microfilmed copy of the deed to the land on which the academy was built; a letter of recommendation for a potential student; a letter written by a student to a friend in 1831; and four manuscript essays written in 1847. There is no discrete finding aid for this collection but its contents are well documented in the card catalog. A similar collection exists at Amherst College; see elsewhere in this guide for a description. There are not box- and folder-level descriptions for the material in this collection, but the card catalog does provide good item-level descriptions of the material in it.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: The Julius Lester Collection
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1953–
Size: approximately 18 linear feet (growing)
Contents:
Diaries
Manuscripts
Correspondence
Images—Photographs
News clippings
Music
Financial and legal records
Sketchbooks
Audiotapes
Galley proofs
Main Entry: Lester, Julius (1939– )
Subject—Personal Names:
Hughes, Langston (2 letters)
Lester, Julius
Walker, Alice (7 letters)
Subject—Corporate Names:
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
New School for Social Research
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Subject—Topical Heading:
Subject—Geographical Name:
Note: An activist in the Civil Rights Movement throughout the 1960s, both in New York and in the South, Mr. Lester worked full time for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1966 to 1968. He taught at the New School for Social Research before joining the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1971, where he is currently a professor in the department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies. He is the author of numerous books including fiction, nonfiction, and children's books. The Julius Lester Collection is comprehensive in scope and of enormous importance for the study of major 20th-century writers and activists. It comprises personal and business correspondence, as well as correspondence with other significant writers; original manuscripts, galley proofs, and signed first editions; translations; his music and photography; essays and reviews both by and about him and his work. The finding aid gives folder-level descriptions of all material received to date. Additions are expected.
Online Guide: Paper guide, card catalog
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents
Repository: The Jones Library; Special Collections
Collection Name: The Noah Webster Papers
Acct. #/Ms. #:
Dates: 1787–1843
Size: 0.5 linear foot
Contents:
Correspondence
Diaries (photostats)
Financial and legal records—Deeds
Main Entry: Webster, Noah (1758–1843)
Subject—Personal Names: Webster, Noah (31 letters)
Subject—Corporate Names: Amherst College
Subject—Topical Heading:
Subject—Geographical Name:
New Haven, Connecticut
Amherst, Massachusetts
Note: The Noah Webster Papers consist of 31 letters written by Webster in the period 1787–1843. They relate to his work as an author and as a driving force behind the creation of Amherst College. Also in the collection is a single entry from the original manuscript of his dictionary and a number of deeds either for his own property or as executed by him in the course of his duties as a justice of the peace in Connecticut. There are also prints, engravings, and news clippings as well as approximately 125 volumes of his publications. The finding aid does not provide box and folder descriptions of material within the collection, but amounts and genres of material are listed and filed alphabetically. The card catalog provides folder descriptions.
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The Jones Library Special Collections table of contents