NU Archives & Special Collections

Today the archives held an open house for library staff to celebrate the archival labors of Julia Lee and Aleks Renerts our processing assistants! Both Aleks and Julia recently finished processing a collection of papers from individuals. In Charles Glenn's papers, processed by Aleks Renerts, you can see the administrative side of school desegregation and the fight for equity in education and also include documents from widely known events like the Freedom School Stay Out.  In Beth Bower's papers, processed by Julia Lee, you can see records of Bower's work on the Central Artery/Tunnel project, including her archaeological work linked to the Big Dig on locations such as Spectacle Island. Want a copy of our zine? Email us to come visit our reading room or we can send you a copy to print and fold yourself!

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! AAPI Month celebrates the contributions, cultures, and lives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. One organization that has been instrumental in supporting local Asian Pacific Islander communities is the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW). Founded in 1979 and originally based in Boston’s Chinatown, AARW is one of Boston’s first pan-Asian organizations, dedicated to political education, creative celebration, and issue-based organizing.⁠ ⁠ AARW runs various programs focused on housing justice, deportation defence, youth leadership, and the arts. The organization hosted Boston’s first exhibition of Asian American artists in 1979, and has since launched multiple workshops on Asian American history and identity. In 1982, AARW sponsored the Asian American International Film Festival, which has evolved into the Boston Asian American Film Festival that runs annually to this day. AARW also played a key role in the Coalition to Protect Parcel C for Chinatown in 1993, the fight against Liberty Place in 2001, and the protests against the demolition of the Gaiety Theater in 2005. ⁠ ⁠ AARW collaborated with Northeastern University in 2006, hosting their Asian American International Film Festival in Shillman Hall. Northeastern’s Asian American Center notes, “sometimes light, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic[...] films provide another medium for learning about the Asian American community.”⁠ ⁠ To learn more about AARW and Boston’s Asian American history, check out Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections’ History Portal at the link in bio!⁠

Happy #InternationalWorkersDay ! Here are photos of past May Day celebrations by the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA). CPA from its founding in 1976, advocates for workers' rights, especially immigrant workers’ rights, as a part of their core mission. In 1987, the Chinese Progressive Association established the Workers’ Center, in response to the sudden closing of two sportswear factories, P & L Sportswear and Beverly Rose, and the resulting displacement of garment workers. The Chinese Progressive Association worked to establish Commonwealth-funded bilingual retraining programs and greater awareness for the issues concerning garment workers and, more generally, immigrant workers in Boston. In 1988, the Center produced a video documentary about the garment workers, titled "Through Strength and Struggle” which they premiered at one of their May Day celebrations. In the Chinese Progressive Association records we have years worth of May Day International Workers’ Day celebrations. You can find an array of flyers and photos from May Day’s past here: https://bit.ly/May1CPA

The @nu_archives has recently processed the Beth A. Bower papers, a collection of materials from an archaeologist who worked on the Big Dig. Documents, photos, and artifacts provide a rich history of the project, as well as archaeological findings. Learn more in the latest blog post by Julia Lee (link in bio).

Happy Earth Day! Celebrate by grabbing a limited edition zine at our open house featuring the Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) records. The second issue of our “Special Selections from Special Collections” shares highlights from ACE’s records curated by Irene Gates, our Processing Archivist, and Julia Lee and Aleks Renerts, our Processing Assistants. We hope to see you from 12-2pm today in Snell Library 160!

We suspect after yesterday you have heard of the Boston Marathon, but have you heard of the Boston Bus Marathon? The Bus Marathon was a creative demonstration held by Alternatives for Community and Environment to demonstrate how vital the need for faster, reliable service on MBTA buses was in the city of Boston. Come see records like this and more at our Earth Day in the Archives Open House tomorrow highlighting the Alternatives for Community and Environment records. It’s from 12-2pm in Snell Library 160. /event/16736003

Spend a little time on your Earth Day with the historic records of environmental activism in Boston! Join the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections on April 22nd for an open house from 12pm to 2pm highlighting the Alternatives for Community and Environment records, which were recently processed and described by archives staff. Come see highlights from the collection documenting environmental activism, advocacy for sustainable and adequate public transit, outreach and education about pollution and asthma, and creative modes of convening and advocating for environmental justice and awareness through activism and legal support. No advance registration is required, the event will be held in the library event space, Room 160 that is to the left as you enter Snell Library, prior to the library entrance gates. You can follow the event page for updates here: /event/16736003 (and linked in our bio) Have any questions? Email [email protected]

The @nu_archives houses and carefully curates a diverse and growing collection of historical records relating to the history of @northeastern , as well as Boston’s fight for social justice. Giving to the Archives/Documenting Boston fund will help us preserve this important history. And thanks to generous parent donors, your support will count double! When the library receives $5,000, it will unlock an additional $5,000 to the Archives/Documenting Boston fund. Link in bio.

We all have an inner critic - some just happen to have their inner critic archivally documented, like these Boston Globe photographers. While browsing the Boston Globe Library Collection’s negatives boxes, you can read some colorful commentary from Globe photographers on their negatives files submitted after completing an assignment.

This April, we honor our planet with Earth Month! Earth Month celebrates the individuals and organizations that fight for a healthy and sustainable future. One Boston organization that has blazed a trail for environmental activism is the Roxbury-based Alternatives for Community and Environment, the first environmental justice organization in Massachusetts. Founded in 1993 by Charlie Lord and Bill Shutkin, ACE aims to empower low-income communities of color to eliminate environmental racism and classism, create sustainable communities, and achieve environmental justice. ⁠ ⁠ ACE began by legally representing the group Coalition Against the Asphalt Plant, successfully halting the construction of a plant which would have polluted Lower Roxbury. Since then, ACE has tirelessly worked within low-income and diverse communities to dismantle systemic injustice. Some of their major programs include the Roxbury Environment Empowerment Project (REEP), a project seeking to build youth of color’s environmental justice leadership skills, and T Riders Union (TRU), a group advocating for more equitable and efficient MBTA service. ACE has won numerous victories within Boston and Massachusetts, helping implement Massachusetts’ first Environmental Justice Policy in 2002 and Boston’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Ordinance in 2015.⁠ ⁠ As David Hall, former Dean of Northeastern University School of Law, said in a 1998 ACE fundraiser: “From its birth, ACE was not only concerned with making the various communities of Boston a better place to live[;] it was also committed to ensuring that ACE would be an organization of the community and not just in the community[...] You must leave here knowing that this is the way through which your dreams for a better society can be fulfilled.”⁠ ⁠ To learn more about ACE, browse Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections’ extensive ACE records at the link in bio!

Exhibits of the history of Boston's neighborhoods, and the organizations and people who shaped them, are now available in the lower level of Snell Library. Curated by archivist Molly Brown, the displays feature photos and information available in @nu_archives . Learn more about the exhibits in the latest blog post by Molly (link in bio)

This Women’s History Month, meet Beth A. Bower, archaeologist for the Big Dig. Archaeological excavations in the North End and on Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor preceded Central Artery Project construction to document and save any historical sites and artifacts that would be disturbed by the Big Dig. Here, Bower leads children on a tour of one downtown site and shows off artifacts, including an animal skull, recovered from the archaeological excavations. Thanks to processing assistant, Julia Lee, for her work processing the Beth A. Bower papers!