Archives and Special Collections

Governor Dukakis and Boston’s 4-Day-Long Valentine’s Celebration

A square black and white valentine featuring Michael Dukakis' face in the middle of a heart of flowers with other flowers in the background
This Duka-KISS is for you

When you look in the Boston Globe Library Collection folder labeled “Valentines,” you might be surprised to find a photo of a Valentine whose central feature is former Governor Michael Dukakis. The reason the Globe had this Dukakis Valentine from 1978? In 1978, Valentine’s Day was four days long.

The year of 1978 is infamous in Boston history due primarily to a blizzard bringing over 27 inches of snow on February 6. With a week-long driving ban imposed by Governor Dukakis, along with families and businesses navigating the damage of the blizzard, the incredible amount of snow over such a short period of time deeply impacted and impeded the city economically and socially. This all happened leading up to Valentine’s Day, worrying businesses who heavily relied on the holiday’s sales of flowers, cards, and candies. Governor Dukakis had a creative solution.

In a February 1978 State House Press Conference, Dukakis said that “for spiritual as well as economic reasons,” the Valentine’s Day holiday would not only be observed on Tuesday, February 14th, but also February 15th, 16th, and 17th, and it would culminate with a Valentine’s party on Friday afternoon at the State House.

Thanks to Dukakis’ Valentine’s decree, sweethearts across Boston had ample time to secure flowers and chocolates for their loved ones, and stores furnishing those gifts wouldn’t be stuck with an abundance of Valentine’s stock.

The Boston Globe printed this Valentine dedicated to Dukakis in their February 14, 1978, paper, beginning their documentation of Valentine’s observances throughout the four-day-long celebration.

Box By Box: Inside Archival Processing of the Stull & Lee Records

Since October, Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections processing assistants have been inventorying the records of Stull & Lee, a Boston-based architectural and urban design firm founded by Donald Stull in 1966. The firm is still active today, under the leadership of David Lee. The records held by Northeastern date from the 1960s to the early 2000s, spanning over 400 boxes and 700 tubes, and they document hundreds of projects, including the Southwest Corridor, Ruggles Station, and Roxbury Community College. Meet our processing assistants as they go through the collection, box by box.

A collage of images of the Stull & Lee collection, including boxes of documents, blueprints, and an image of two men posing in front of a building
A peek inside the Stull & Lee collection

Samuel

A smiling man wearing glasses and a gray hoodie holds a disposable camera while standing in front of an archival box

I’m Samuel Edwards (he/him). I just completed my Master of Arts degree in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archives Management at Simmons University, and I have a Bachelor of Arts in History and Playwriting from Hampshire College in western Massachusetts. Some of my interests in archives include the history of social movements, LGBTQ+ history, local history, and anti-racist archival work. Outside of my archival work, I enjoy creative writing, theater, and playing Dungeons & Dragons with my friends.

Working on the Stull & Lee records has been an enlightening experience. I didn’t have a lot of familiarity with architecture or architectural records prior to working on this collection, but it’s fascinating to realize how much goes into creating just one building. You don’t just have the architects, but also electricians, plumbers, and other trades that help create the building. I have a newfound appreciation for buildings that previously just blended into the background, especially the buildings I walk by daily on my way to Northeastern which were designed by Stull & Lee, such as Ruggles Station.

Julia

A smiling woman with glasses and a red shirt pulls a box from a shelf

I’m Julia Lee (she/her). I recently graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre, and my final co-op was as a digital assistant for the Massachusetts Archives. My archival interests include early American history, including the Revolutionary War, Asian-American history, and the history of Boston.

For me, working with the Stull & Lee records started with inventorying boxes of files belonging to several architects, including the firm’s namesakes Donald Stull and David Lee. It turns out that the two men had quite distinct organizational styles. While several of Lee’s folders included colorful titles patterned after the T’s Orange Line signs, Stull favored concise alphabetization for his files. I’ve enjoyed the greater understanding I’ve gained of Boston’s architecture, transit, and public works through working with the collection, especially about the area around Northeastern, where I’ve lived for over four years now. This is my second time working in an archive, and it has served to solidify my goal of obtaining a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science in the coming years.

Aleks

A smiling man sits at a table with a laptop and a stack of documents, surrounded by archival boxes

I’m Aleks Renerts (he/him). I am a current graduate student at Simmons University in the dual Master of Arts degree program in History and Library and Information Science, with a concentration in Archives Management. My academic background is in history, with a focus on the Hispanic world and histories of class, gender, and colonialism. I received my Bachelor of Arts in History from McGill University, and have since partially redirected my focus to archives and archival research.

Something I’ve found interesting in the Stull & Lee records is the massive degree of collaboration that every architectural project depends on. Memos, notes, letters, logs, and drawings are sent back and forth with revisions, showing the complex process that goes into completing a project. There’s an incredible level of detail for all the parts of a completed structure, from steel framing and floor tiles to the mechanics of a door lock. Working on Stull & Lee has given me an appreciation of just how much detailed work goes into every part of constructing a building.

Ready to Research: The Newly Processed Boston Gay Men’s Chorus Records and the Frieda Garcia Papers

Introducing the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus records finding aid
By Dominique Medal

A group of men in tuxedos and dress clothes stand informally smiling and chatting. Two men in the center pose for the camera hugging and making kiss faces.
Boston Gay Men’s Chorus members talking pre-performance, 1990.

Records of the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, who have been singing in Boston and beyond for more than 40 years, have been processed and are open for research in the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections. A guide to the collection is available and Series 2 doubles as a chronology of the Chorus’ performances, special appearances, and international tours since its founding in 1982.

The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus was part of a wave of gay choruses established in the wake of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus national tour in 1981. Since then, the Boston Chorus has grown to more than 200 singing members and has toured Europe, the Middle East, and South Africa. It is one of the largest community-based choral groups in New England.

The collection documents the Chorus’ live performances through audio and video recordings, photographs, concert programs, posters and marketing materials, and planning and logistics files. Also included are studio recordings and materials pertaining to the Chorus’ membership in the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, which hosts the triennial GALA Festival for LGBTQ choruses. The collection also documents the Chorus’ advocacy work, internal administration, and fundraising efforts.

A selection of photographs and promotional materials have already been digitized and uploaded to the Digital Repository Service.

Introducing the Frieda Garcia papers finding aid
By Irene Gates

Black and white image of a smiling woman sitting behind a desk
Frieda Garcia, undated

Since starting as Processing Archivist at Northeastern University earlier this year, I’ve been lucky enough to work on the papers of Frieda Garcia, a beloved Boston-based community leader and activist. Garcia received her B.A. from The New School, where I previously worked, a coincidence that made processing her collection a welcome bridge between my past and present positions.

Throughout her career, Garcia advocated for Hispanic and Black communities in Boston, bilingual education, women’s rights, and multicultural media. Her papers, which she donated in 2015, document her work on these themes with community organizations La Alianza Hispana, United South End Settlements (USES), and the Roxbury Multi-Service Center. It also covers her service on several mayoral commissions and boards of organizations such as The Boston Foundation and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and other initiatives and conferences in which she participated. Annual reports to the USES Board of Directors, reports documenting Boston’s South End and Roxbury neighborhoods, and correspondence with individuals across the city are examples of materials in the collection.

To learn more about Frieda Garcia’s papers, explore the finding aid, as well as several born-digital files and digitized analog content from the collection, available in the Digital Repository Service.

Happy Homecoming: 125 Years of Northeastern

A column on the Northeastern Boston campus. It reads 1900s in large lettering on one side and features photos and information about the Automotive School on another side

Automobiles, the World Series, and the Iditarod all have at least one thing in common: Northeastern.

This year, the Archives and Special Collections staff have been doing research and digitizing records to support the observance of the university’s 125th anniversary.

Around the Boston campus, you can still see the signs installed on Founders Day detailing Northeastern’s development and the Boston campus history.

As we approach Homecoming Weekend, here are some features of Husky history to brush up on:

Northeastern’s Automotive School
The Automotive School was established in 1903 as a part of the Evening Institute. Franklin Palmer Speare anticipated that with the rise of automobiles in America, there would be need for related education. Classes offered included automotive engineering, driving lessons, upholstery, and auto repair. It was a high-enrolling school until the 1920s and it officially closed in 1926. The Automotive School even had a jingle written for it: “The Auto-mo-billie-beel.”

Cover of a songbook titled "The Auto-mo-billie-beel: A Song of the Motor Car"

King Husky I
King Husky I was trained by Leonhard Seppala. When Vice President Carl Ell sought out Seppala in 1927, he did so not only because Northeastern needed a mascot, but also because Seppala had already inspired one great tradition: the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. In 1925, Nome, Alaska, experienced an infamous diphtheria epidemic. Teams of sled dogs played an important role in bringing diphtheria serum through extremely harsh conditions. Leonhard Seppala and his team of Siberian huskies carried the serum over 91 miles of the treacherous relay before passing the cargo to the more famous Gunnar Kaasen, driver of the famous Balto, who covered the final stretch of trail and delivered the serum to Nome. The effort made by Seppala and the other teams have since been commemorated yearly by the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Black and white image of a husky dog. Kneeling next to him is a man wearing a fur jacket and a student in a winter coat
King Husky I on the day of his arrival at Northeastern on March 5, 1927. He poses with Leonhard Seppala and Ray Todd, member of the Northeastern Student Council.

King Husky was beloved by the students, and Seppala even provided feeding instructions for the care and keeping of King Husky I.

Northeastern and the World Series
Northeastern’s Cabot Physical Education Center now occupies what were the grounds for the first World Series, which took place in 1903 between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Americans. The Americans became the first-ever World Series champions and the event is commemorated with a statue of Americans pitcher Cy Young located between Cabot Center and Churchill Hall.

A bronze statue of Cy Young leaning forward, ready to throw a pitch
Cy Young Statue on the Boston campus. Craig Bailey/Northeastern University
Black and white image of people crowding the field of the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds
People crowd the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds at the first-ever World Series game in October 1903.

Honoring the 50th Anniversary of the Boston Public Schools’ Desegregation

Black and white image of children and adults walking on a sidewalk holding protest signs
1963 Picket line at the Boston School Committee offices

The year 2024 will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1974 decision by Judge Garrity that found the Boston Public Schools unconstitutionally segregated. A cohort of historians, activists, teachers, former students, civic leaders, and community members have gathered together to build events and outreach to observe this significant anniversary. On Thursday, September 7, at the Massachusetts State House, the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative announced their efforts toward increasing conversation, commemoration, and coalition-building around the history of school desegregation in Boston’s public schools.

Surrounding the press and attendees gathered at the State House were reproductions of records from the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections’ many collections documenting the long history of school desegregation and the fight against racial imbalance in the Boston Public Schools. I worked with members of the initiative to select photographs and records that were emblematic of the key events and stories of school desegregation, busing, and early education activism. Records selected included flyers advertising Freedom Schools as an opportunity for civil protest; Ruth Batson‘s demands issued on behalf of the NAACP to the Boston School Committee; and records of the pre-1974 busing organization Operation Exodus, run by Ellen Jackson, as well as photos of the many pro-busing and anti-busing protests that took place across the city of Boston and photos of the first days and weeks of busing in 1974 and 1975.

Green flyer titled "Stay Out for Freedom" and a typed list of 14 proposals for the Boston School Committee
Left: 1963 flyer about the “Stay Out for Freedom Day.” Right: 1965 Proposal to the School Committee.
Black and white image of a Black student standing in front of a school bus surrounded by police officers, with a crowd of adults looking on
First day of busing at South Boston High, September 12, 1974, photo by Dan Sheehan courtesy of the Boston Globe Library collection

Once the records were selected, reproductions were made to be featured at the many events of the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative, alongside other archives’ historical desegregation records. We are grateful to their work of activating our archival collections and inviting the Greater Boston community to put these records into conversation with the present and their own memories of the past.

To follow the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative and their upcoming events, you can visit their Facebook page. Their first forum, “On the Organizing for Better Schools and Desegregation, 1960-1973,” will be held September 26 at 6 p.m. at Roxbury Community College.

To browse the historic Boston school desegregation records from the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections, as well as other Boston archives, visit https://bpsdesegregation.library.northeastern.edu/.