The records of the Western Massachusetts locals and district councils of the UBCJA documents the rise of unionization among carpenters in the Connecticut River Valley since the 1880s. This collection represents a merger of separate accessions for the District Councils in Springfield (MS 110), the Pioneer Valley (MS 231), and Holyoke (MS 108), along with post-merger records for Local 108. In general, each has been maintained as a distinct series.
Oral history with the Gagnon family, part of the Franco-American community in Springfield since 1953. Topics include their participation in Franco-American activities at St. Joseph’s Church, their interest in Franco-American studies, and what nationality means to them, as people with roots in America, Canada, and France.
Collection includes statutes and by-laws, minutes, administrative records, correspondence, financial records and receipts, scholarship records, publications, records of programs and events, and artifacts and ephemera.
Marguerite Delavarre Dubois kept this diary from 1907-1908. Most entries were made in 1907 and describe her social life in New York City; study of French and German; painting; attendance at theaters; visits to Saratoga, Lake George, Plattsburgh, Montreal, Albany, and the Catskills.
Paul Sevigny, a dowser living in Danville, Vermont, talks about the founding of the American Society of Dowsers in Danville in 1961. He relates anecdotes about his dowsing abilities, stating that he documents all of his dowsing jobs, racking up a 96% success rate. Sevigny tells how dowsing can be used to find not only water but objects and people. He talks about the tools of the trade and states that one needs to "get all doubt out of your mind" to be successful at it.
