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Western Massachusetts Ice Storm Photographs Collection, 1942Finding aid prepared by Linda Seidman.Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.2003
Administrative InformationAcquired from Lawrence Holmes, Shade Tree Lab, in the Malcolm McKenzie Papers, 1991 Processed by Linda Seidman, 1991. Preferred CitationCite as: New England Telephone and Telegraph Company Western Massachusetts Ice Storm Photographs Collection (MS 354). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. The collection is open for research. Return to the Table of Contents Historical NoteTelephone wires, near Becket, Mass.Approximately every twenty years, western New England suffers from devastating ice storms, leaving heavy ice coating on trees and buildings and hazardous conditions. Major storms struck in 1921, 1942, 1961, 1983, 1998, and 2008, with the storm of December 29-30, 1942, disrupting power and closing roads throughout a broad swath of the northeast. In northern New York state, ice depths reached six inches. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThe collection includes twenty six of an original thirty eight photographs depicting damage to power lines in the Pittsfield District (Windsor, Middlefield, Washington Mountain to Becket) resulting from the ice storm of December 1942. The photographs appear to have been taken by the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company to analyze the damage to its poles and wires, and each image is stamped on the verso by Frank R. Camp, District Safety Instructor. The collection also includes a cover letter from the New England Power Service Co. conveying photographs (not present) documenting damage in Northampton. Return to the Table of Contents Search TermsReturn to the Table of Contents |
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