A Tale of Two Communities in Two Centuries

FAIN: PW-290579-23

Trustees of Reservations (Boston, MA 02110-3036)
Lucinda Brockway (Project Director: July 2022 to present)

Preserving and providing access to the Colonel John Ashley Papers (1755–1818) and the Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) Archives (1977–2014). The project would result in new housing and finding aids for 98 linear feet of materials, three treated and digitized Ashley account books, over 35,500 digitized BNAN slides, and 300 digitized photographs of the Ashley House.

A two-year initiative to conserve and process two important sets of archives currently inaccessible in our collections: the Colonel John Ashley Papers (1755-1818), and the archives of the Boston Natural Areas Network (1977-2014). Spaced nearly two centuries apart and at geographically opposite ends of the state these collections hold powerful opportunities for revealing populations at pivotal moments in Massachusetts history, offering primary accounts of some of Massachusetts’ most under-represented residents – often Black, poor, or women. Requested funds will support the conservation and digitization of three notebooks from the Col. Ashley Papers (contracted work), a project archivist to process non-photographic materials from both collections, a project photo archivist to process photographic and other audio-visual material, a consultant archivist, and digitization of 35,500+ 35mm slides.