BY ERICH MESLIN
Deep in the archives of Stonehill College, a piece of hidden American history is tucked away.
It is a document, signed by John Hancock, dating back to the post-Revolutionary War framed under glass.
This document is a governmental decree instituting John Ames as a Captain in the Plymouth County Militia.
“GIVEN under my Hand, and the Seal of the said Commonwealth, the first Day of July in the Year of our Lord, 1781 in the fifth Year of the Independence of the United States of America,” signed by John Hancock.
Captain John Ames was the father of Oliver Ames, who purchased the bankrupt nail-making shop in Easton, Massachusetts and repurposed it for shovel manufacturing.
Nicole Casper ’95, head of the archives at Stonehill College, said she was grateful to the Ames Family for donating such a historical document.
“The Ames family is still really involved in our collections at Stonehill,” Casper Said.
In 2016, the Ames family donated the commissioning letter of Captain John Ames to the archives.
“We always knew he was a captain but never had any physical proof to prove it, now we do,” Casper said.
This unique piece of history falls under the Ames Family Collection and is comprised of documents following a successful industrial family from the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries.
The Stonehill College archives are also comprised of about 13 other collections including the Arnold B. Tofias, the Brockton shoe collection, Stanley A. Bauman, James “Lou” Gorman, and the Joesph W. Martin Jr. papers.
Arnold B. Tofias Collection is commonly known as the shovel museum on campus.
Discovered by a real estate developer, Arnold B. Tofias, the collection contains 783 shovels and 1500 linear feet of manuscript materials.
Every year, the Stonehill College senior class president tours the museum’s collection looking for a shovel that best represents their class.
This shovel is then presented to the president of the school at the annual convocation gathering and is then put on display for the remainder of the year.
The shovel collection also has a shovel out on loan to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Within the shovel museum is also the Brockton shoe collection which contains over 500 vintage shoes and records relating to the shoe industry.
The collection houses a civil war boot, boots worn and signed by Steven Tyler, Jared Leto’s shoes, and other Massachusetts artifacts celebrity memorabilia.
The Stanley A. Bauman Collection is compiled of over 500,000 negatives of Brockton and Southeastern Massachusetts from 1930s to 2003.
Bauman was a well-known photographer in the Brockton area and began taking photographs in the 1930s.
Bauman announced in 1997 that upon his death his collection of negatives would be donated to Stonehill College.
Bauman died in 2007 at the age of 93.
The James “Lou” Gorman Collection is comprised of various artifacts, awards, clothing, furniture, and memorabilia.
Gorman played minor league baseball, graduated from Stonehill College in 1953, served 8 years of active duty in the navy, retired as a captain, and was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2002.
Gorman died in 2011 at the age of 82.
The Joseph W. Martin Jr. papers consist of various documents, artifacts, and photographs.
Joseph W. Martin Jr. was one of the most powerful Republicans in American politics from the 1920s to 1960s and served as the 44th Speaker of the U.S House of Representatives.
Martin, 83, died in 1968, a little more than a year after his retirement from congress.
The Martin papers were received by Stonehill College in 1969.
The Joseph W. Martin, Jr. Institute for Law and Society was established in 1989 on Stonehill’s campus to honor the memory of the former Speaker.
The Martin Institute for Law and Society serves as a center for the study of social, economic, and political issues in the United States and around the world.
The Stonehill College archive staff can provide access to information or a tour for anyone interested in any of the collections, please contact barchives.@stonehill.edu or 508-565-1121.
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