Winsor Bradford Leach scrapbook of Civilian Conservation Corps camp print shops
Scope and Contents
This scrapbook was created by Winsor Bradford Leach, a printing instructor at Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in Plymouth and Holyoke, Massachusetts, between 1936 and 1938. The scrapbook contains photographs of life in the camps and print samples compiled by Leach.
The scrapbook contains over fifty printed items created by Leach’s presses. Most of the ephemera relate to his work at the 1173rd Company where he created the Mt. Tom Academy Press. The Mt. Tom enrollees set an 8x12 Old-Style Gordon treadle press to print letterhead, envelopes, handbills and broadsides, CCC forms, calling cards, and even a napkin commemorating the fifth anniversary of the CCC, all of which are included in this scrapbook. Several booklets printed by the enrollees were also tipped into the scrapbook. These include the first two issues of The Ear Bender, a camp magazine for the 1173rd Company and the Brush Hook, the 1937 yearbook for the 102nd Company. There is also a copy of Extracts from the Association Manual and Administrative Directive printed by the Mount Tom Academy Press in January 1938.
While most of the photographs are portraits or group shots, there are several images of baseball teams, men working in the print shop, and the CCC camps themselves. Several photographs show that the camps were integrated, including an image of white and African American enrollees posed outside the dispensary and a shot of the 1173rd Company Drum Corps. This collection also includes around twenty pieces of correspondence, mostly commending Leach’s printing work at the two camps.
The scrapbook is bound with faux black leather over stiff boards that are secured with string. The front cover features stamped decoration and words “PHOTO ALBUM.” The album contains seventy pages with thirty-seven black-and-white photographs and approximately fifty-five items of ephemera. The final twenty-four pages of the scrapbook are blank.
Dates
- Creation: 1936-1938
Creator
- Leach, Winsor Bradford (Person)
- Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.) (Organization)
Language of Materials
Materials entirely in English.
Access Information
The collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce isrequired from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec
Biographical and Historical Note
This scrapbook and related materials were created by Winsor Bradford Leach, a teacher for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) who established print shops at two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps: the 102nd (Myles Standish St. Forest) in Plymouth and 1173rd (Mount Tom Reservation) in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The CCC was a public work relief program established in 1933 by the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt to mitigate the effects of the Great Depression and provide job training to young American men. In July 1935, despite language in the legislation that created the CCC that prevented discrimination based on race, its director issued an order requiring the complete segregation of the camps with the caveat that “only those states where colored strength is too low to form a company unit will the mixing of colored men in white units be permitted.” The First Corps Area, which included Massachusetts, had a low African American population and therefore remained integrated. Leach’s scrapbook contains images of both white and African American men engaged in activities at the CCC camps.
This collection provides some information on Winsor Leach, including a short biography in the Brush Hook, the 1937 yearbook for the Myles Standish camp. Leach was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 27, 1908. After graduating from Plymouth High School in 1926, he attended Tufts University, but due to financial problems caused by the Great Depression, Leach was forced to withdraw prior to his final semester of study. A CCC memorandum in this collection notes that Leach could not be hired as an educational adviser because he did have a college degree. By 1935, Leach taught English, journalism, botany, and chemistry at the Brewster Academy, part of the CCC’s 1189th Company. He reported for duty at Standish Academy in Plymouth in April 1936, where he conducted classes in English, printing, chemistry, and biology. He established the Standish Academy Press, one of the few presses operating in a CCC camp. Leach later brought his expertise to the Mt. Tom Reservation camp, where he and more than twenty enrollees printed material for the camp, other government agencies, and private individuals.
Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy website, “CCC Camps Massachusetts” (accessed December 8, 2017) http://www.ccclegacy.org/CCC_Camps_Massachusetts.htmlInformation derived from the collection.
Extent
1 volume (1 scrapbook and 20 pieces of correspondence) ; 38.5 cm
Abstract
This scrapbook was created by Winsor Bradford Leach, a printing instructor at two integrated Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in Plymouth and Holyoke, Massachusetts, between 1936 and 1938. The scrapbook contains photographs of life in the camps and print samples compiled by Leach.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase, November 2017.
Shelving Summary
Item 0067: Shelved in SPEC MSS 0093 folio+
Processing Information
Processed and encoded by Elizabeth Jones-Minsinger, December 2017.
Subject
- Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.) (Organization)
- Title
- Finding aid for Winsor Bradford Leach scrapbook of Civilian Conservation Corps camp print shops
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
- Date
- 2017 December 8
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University of Delaware Library Special Collections Repository