Ready to Research

Ready to Research: Beth A. Bower Papers

by Julia Lee
April 27, 2026April 28, 2026

The papers of Beth A. Bower, an archaeologist who worked on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, have been processed and are ready for research at the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections (NUASC).

The Central Artery/Tunnel Project, also known as the Big Dig, refers to the infrastructure project that moved the downtown Boston portion of I-93 underground. It also created a third tunnel under Boston Harbor. Construction took place from 1991-2006.

Bower was an employee of Bechtel/Parsons Brinkerhoff, the project management company of the Big Dig. She held several different positions during her time on the project, including External Affairs Manager, but she is largely known for her archaeological work. The North End and Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor were both sites of archaeological excavations that Bower worked on for the Big Dig.

Five people in orange vests and hardhats look into a hole in the dirt — *Spectacle Island Archaeological Excavations, circa 1992. Beth A. Bower papers, M228. Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.*

Excavations in the North End revealed remnants of structures such as wharves, warehouses, and even a Colonial privy that yielded many artifacts. Items such as dish shards, fruit seeds, and animal bones provided information on the diet and lives of 17th century Bostonians.

Archaeological work on Spectacle Island focused on a shell midden, an archaeological term for a trash pile created by prolonged human occupation; in Spectacle Island’s case, a significant portion was made of mollusk shells. Radiocarbon dating of the site ranged from 535-1590 CE, placing the shell midden in the pre-European contact eras known as the Middle and Late Woodland periods. Besides shells, Spectacle Island artifacts included bone and stone tools, broken pottery, and animal bones.

On the left: Three baseball cards, showing a photo of Ted Williams swinging a bat, a photo of an elderly Ted Williams sitting in a golf cart, and a graphic of the Boston skyline and a gravel truck noting "Ted Williams Tunnel Limited Edition 3000 Sets Sponsored by Boston Sand and Gravel."On the right: three buttons that say "Opening Day December 15, 1995" with a graphic of Ted Williams; "#1 24 September, 1992) with an outline of construction work in front of the Boston skyline; and "September 27, 1993 South Boston Haul Road Central Artery/Tunnel Project 'A New Road Ahead'" with a graphic of a dump truck — *Baseball cards and buttons celebrating the Ted Williams Tunnel and other Big Dig milestones, 1992-1996.*
*Beth A. Bower papers, M228. Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.*

One of the highlights of Bower’s collection is the memorabilia related to the Big Dig, including hard hats, buttons, and mugs. Many of the objects focus on the Ted Williams Tunnel, which connects the Massachusetts Turnpike to Logan Airport and was named for the famous Red Sox left fielder who played from 1939-1960 (with a break from 1942-46 to serve during World War II). Limited edition Ted Williams Tunnel baseball cards were given out to commemorate the opening of the tunnel, which they called “Opening Day” after the baseball season’s first game of the year.

This finding aid provides background information and a folder-level inventory of the collection’s eight boxes of archaeological, external affairs, and engineering files, as well as Bower’s notebooks and Big Dig paraphernalia. Overall, the collection documents Bower’s work on the Big Dig and the milestones the project reached while she was a part of it.

To learn more about the Beth A. Bower papers, email archives@northeastern.edu.

Processing Assistant Julia Lee (she/her) is in her last semester of the Simmons University Library and Information Science graduate program. She has been with NUASC for over two years and received her BA from Northeastern University with a combined major in English and Theatre.

Ready to Research: Charles L. Glenn Papers

by Aleks Renerts
March 12, 2026March 12, 2026

The Dr. Charles L. Glenn papers are now fully processed and ready for research at the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.

These papers are from Glenn’s career as Director of Urban Education and Equity under the Massachusetts Department of Education, spanning from 1963 to 2000 and centering on the desegregation process of Massachusetts public schools. As director, Glenn (who served as a minister in Roxbury during the 1960s) was charged with developing the procedures for racial integration and administering these and other equal opportunity plans in the state.

Black and white image of a white man wearing traditional clergy clothes (black clothes and a white collar). His hands are clasped together. Behind him are several people of various raches — Rev. Charles Glenn singing at St. John’s, Roxbury, ca. 1964. Photograph by Edward Jenner, courtesy of the Boston Globe Library collection, M214. Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.

The collection provides a fascinating look into the administrative side of school desegregation. Reports, newsletters, periodicals, correspondence, notes, and memoranda document the long and sometimes difficult process of achieving equitable access to education.

These papers also show a broad history of desegregation, with some of the earliest documents including materials from the “Freedom Stayout Day” boycott. In June 1964, Glenn and other community leaders hosted public school students at alternate locations dubbed “Freedom Schools,” that were held in churches, community centers, and other locations across the city during the Freedom School Stayouts. They reflect on the meanings of equality, racial injustice, and the goal of desegregation with their peers, exercising their civil right to protest.

Later collection materials highlight the legal and administrative work undertaken to achieve educational equity. A bird’s-eye view of the decades-long integration process can be discovered in files on individual school districts, correspondence between departments, notes and statistical data, and reports generated by various offices and involved parties.

This collection is of great use to those researching school desegregation history, the administrative background of school integration, bilingual education programs, magnet school programs, and the application of these processes in Boston and Massachusetts specifically.

The finding aid provides more contextual information on Glenn and the collection, including series arrangement and container inventories. Email archives@northeastern.edu with any questions or to schedule a visit.

Aleks Renerts (he/him) has dual master’s degrees in history and library and information science, with a concentration in archives management, from Simmons University. He received his BA in history from McGill University.

A group of protestors stand on a sidewalk, one holding a sign that reads "CANCER = ASTHMA DEATH"

Ready to Research: Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) Records

by Irene Gates
February 18, 2026February 19, 2026

Records for Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), a non-profit environmental justice organization, have been processed and are ready for research in the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections (NUASC).

ACE was founded in 1993 and is still active today. Based in Roxbury, the group seeks to eradicate environmental racism and classism through legal strategy, community organizing, and outreach. Examples of urban pollutants that disproportionately impact low-income communities and communities of color, and that are the focus of ACE’s attention, include vehicle transmissions, waste management, and industrial facilities such as asphalt plants.

The collection guide provides contextual information and folder-level container lists for 130 boxes of records containing administrative, staff, program, and communications files; audiovisual recordings and photographs; born-digital media formats such as floppy disks and compact discs; and published and unpublished literature. Overall, these records document regional and occasionally national environmental justice activism, community organizing, and the workings of a small non-profit organization.

Side-by-side images. Left shows a person sitting in front of a desk, looking down at a lightbox with an archival box of folders next to them. Right shows a person standing on a stool in front of a large shelf of archival boxes — *Processing assistants Julia Lee and Aleks Renerts working on the ACE records.*

Processing assistants Julia Lee and Aleks Renerts, who have both been with NUASC for over two years, contributed significantly to the processing of this collection. They conducted preservation and arranged material in over 100 boxes, maintained spreadsheets, consolidated and labeled boxes, numbered folders, sleeved and organized thousands of photographs, interfiled newspaper clippings into one chronological sequence, and more.

To access the Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) records, email NUASC at archives@northeastern.edu.

Ready to Research: Roxbury Tenants of Harvard records (Jeane Neville) and Ken Kruckemeyer papers

by Irene Gates
February 7, 2025September 12, 2025

Two recently processed collections document the organizing power of everyday Bostonians who fought development proposals that would have negatively impacted their neighborhoods.

Roxbury Tenants of Harvard records (Jeane Neville)

The Roxbury Tenants of Harvard (RTH) formed in 1969 to oppose Harvard University’s proposed expansion into the Mission Hill neighborhood, which would have displaced residents. RTH was successful in pressuring Harvard to build a relocation housing development instead of a teaching hospital complex.

The RTH collection captures the unfolding of events, and the negotiations between RTH and Harvard University, over the course of the 1960s and ’70s through meeting minutes and agendas, notes, reports, flyers, canvas sheets, writings, correspondence, and media coverage. Jeane Neville, a Radcliffe student in the late ’60s, became involved in organizing the Mission Hill residents; these records were retained by her and donated to the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections by her brother Padraic Neville after her death.

To learn more about the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard (Jeane Neville) records, explore the finding aid.

Ken Kruckemeyer papers

Hand-drawn map of proposed highways in Boston, outlined with snakes. Title reads "Caution! Highly Poisonous" with a skull and crossbones. Bottom left corner reads "Cuidado bastante peligroso!" — *Cover illustration by D. Chandler Jr. of bilingual “Stop Turnpikes Over People” informational resource, undated. Ken Kruckemeyer papers, Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections*

An architect by training, Ken Kruckemeyer began organizing around issues such as transit and housing in the 1960s after moving to the South End. He soon became involved in the local anti-highway movement of that period. His papers document anti-highway activism, as well as activism around Tent City and Melnea Cass Boulevard. They also document the planning, environmental impact studies, and construction of the Southwest Corridor Project, for which Kruckemeyer served as project manager.

Explore meeting materials, reports, studies, notes, correspondence, newsletters, flyers, and more in Kruckemeyer’s papers. To learn more about what’s in the collection, check out the finding aid.

To access the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard (Jeane Neville) records or the Ken Kruckemeyer papers, email Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections at archives@northeastern.edu.

Ready to Research: Newly Processed Collections Asian American Resource Workshop and the Fenway Alliance

by Irene Gates
May 16, 2024September 12, 2025

Black and white image of people marching and holding signs — Demonstration against the construction of the DD Ramp into Chinatown, circa 1997, photographer Anne Marie Booth. Asian American Resource Workshop records, Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.

Introducing the Asian American Resource Workshop Finding Aid
Contributed by Dominique Medal

The Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW) was founded in 1979 as one of Boston’s first pan-Asian organizations. AARW expanded from an initial focus on cultural and educational programming to addressing social and economic justice issues facing the Asian American community, including violence against Asian Americans and urban renewal and development in Chinatown.

*Two women painting a mural of faces, circa 1990, photographer unknown. Asian American Resource Workshop records, Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.*

The records held by the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections date from 1979 to 2012 and document AARW’s activities through administrative records, photographs, reports, documentaries, promotional materials, and subject files.

The collection focuses on AARW programs, including Asian and Pacific American Heritage Week, the Boston Asian American Film Festival, the Civil Rights Capacity Building Project, the SafetyNet Violence Prevention Project, and the Sticky Rice Project.

To learn more about the Asian American Resource Workshop records, explore the finding aid and digitized content from the collection in the Digital Repository Service.

Introducing the Fenway Alliance Finding Aid
Contributed by Irene Gates

The Fenway Alliance is a consortium of Fenway neighborhood cultural organizations and educational institutions (including Northeastern University). It was first founded in 1977 as The Boston Plan. The consortium addresses areas of shared concern that range from security and parking to physical improvements of the neighborhood.

The records date from the 1970s to the 2010s and document the administrative records, plans, reports, photographs, and subject files. A recent donation by the organization’s Director of Planning from the late 1970s to the 1990s includes photographic slides such as the one featured here.

A body of water with lush trees and grass behind it. A stone bridge is visible in the distance — *Back Bay Fens, July 1988, photographer unknown. Fenway Alliance records, Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.*

Collection topics include Fenway area transportation, housing, demographics, physical landscape, historic preservation, and cultural programming. Some major projects undertaken by the Fenway Alliance in the past include the Avenue of the Arts designation, the Fenway Cultural District designation, and the Muddy River restoration.

To learn more about the Fenway Alliance records, explore the finding aid.