For research assistance, please contact University Archives and Special Collections at library.archives@umb.edu.
"Farm School Band," 1862. SC-0040 Thompson Island collection.
Thompson Island is one of 34 islands in Boston Harbor. The island has a long history of education, agriculture, and industry, and has been home to the Boston Asylum for Indigent Boys (1814-1832), the Boston Farm School (1832-1835), the Boston Asylum and Farm School (1835-1907), the Farm and Trades School (1907-1955), and Thompson's Academy (1955-1975). The Joseph P. Healey Library holds the records of these schools in its University Archives and Special Collections department. Please contact library.archives@umb.edu to schedule a research appointment.
Learn about the differences between primary and secondary sources here.
Thompson Island collection, 1814-1990, bulk 1814-1977
Explore all of our archival and manuscript collections that document Thompson Island. To access collections held outside of UMass Boston, search ArchiveGrid, WorldCat, and the Digital Public Library of America. Search for "Thompson Island," "Thompson's Island," and related keywords.
Mass. Memories Road Show photographs
Scrapbook of Thompson Island Farm & Trade School, 1921-1928
Thompson Island Beacon, 1897 May-1959 August
Thompson Island digitized photographs and documents
Thompson Island Farm and Trade School, photograph scrapbook, c. 1920s - 1930s
Search and browse all of our digital collections.
Annual Report of the Headmaster, The Farm and Trades School
Catalogue of Books in Library at Boston Farm-School, Thompson's Island
Catalogue of the Farm School Library, Thompson's Island, Boston, Mass.
Charter and Amendments and Other Special Acts Relating to the Farm and Trades School and By-Laws
Course in Agriculture, Farm School, Thompson's Island, Boston, Massachusetts
The Farm and Trades School, 1814-1914
The Farm and Trades School, Course of Study, 1924-25, One Hundred and Tenth Year
The Farm and Trades School, Thompson's Island, 53 Songs We Sing
The Farm and Trades School, Thompson's Island, Boston, Mass.
The Farm and Trades School, Thompson's Island, Boston, Mass., One Hundred and Sixteenth Year
The Farm and Trades School Revisited
In Memorium, Henry Clay Whitcomb, Read Before the Franklin Typographical Society, September 3, 1914
One Hundredth Anniversary, The Farm and Trades School, 1814-1914
The Organization and Management of Trade Schools
Regulations and Course of Study of the Farm School, Thompson's Island, Boston, Mass.
These publications were digitized from the Healey Library's Thompson Island collection. Search the Internet Archive for other digitized publications about Thompson Island.
Posey, Trisha. “‘Little Tanned Agriculturalists’: The Boston Asylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys.” Massachusetts Historical Review, vol. 16, 2014, pp. 49–72., www.jstor.org/stable/10.5224/masshistrevi.16.1.0049.
Storch, Susan E. “Diplomatics: Modern Archival Method or Medieval Artifact.” The American Archivist, vol. 61, no. 2, 1998, pp. 365–383., www.jstor.org/stable/40294092.
Search the Healey Library's databases for articles about Thompson Island. Popular databases include Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, and ProQuest Central.
These books include a number of texts on orphanages and poverty in America. While the schools on Thompson Island were not orphanages and students were not necessarily orphaned (nor were they delinquent), these sources provide context for decisions that families had to make to sign away guardianship of their sons in order to gain the benefits of a Thompson Island education. Search the Healey Library's catalog for books about Thompson Island.
Search the Healey Library's catalog, ScholarWorks, or WorldCat for dissertations, theses, and other scholarly works about Thompson Island.
Search the Healey Library's video databases for videos about Thompson Island.
Search Google for websites about Thompson Island.