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.
Entries include brief biographical information, a typed biography relating to Reed's impoverished upbringing when after the age of five she was moved to convents in New Brunswick, Canada, and Portland, Maine, and boarded with families other than her own, and handwritten letters of correspondence with the Maine State Library concerning her book of verse written in the French dialect De Leetle Jesus of St. Basil: and other poems. Date range: 1932-01/1932-08
