University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MA) (Campus History)

The University of Massachusetts Amherst, situated one hundred miles west of Boston, began as a modest land-grant institution with four buildings and has since grown to a sprawling campus with three hundred fifty buildings and twenty-four thousand students. Founded in 1863 to serve students in the fields of agriculture and science, the university has survived in the shadow of some of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in America. Irreplaceable images from the Special Collections and Archives department of the W. E. B. Du Bois Library include the many famous people in business, entertainment, professional sports, journalism, science, and politics who proudly refer to themselves as alumni of the place known as UMass Amherst.