Esma-Marie N'Doi Booth was born into a missionary family in the Belgian Congo in Dec. 1932, and attended school there until entering Boston University. She earned her degree in art and art history in 1954, the same year she married the philosopher Frederick Feree, and for much of the next four decades, she worked as an archivist at the colleges and universities where her husband found an academic home: Vanderbilt, Mount Holyoke, and Dickinson. After retiring to Northfield, Mass., in 2000, she became active in local history and historic preservation, including working as archivist for the Association for Gravestone Studies. She died in Greenfield, Mass., in 2016 at the age of 83.
The Ferre collection contains articles, news clippings, and notes on New England gravestones, along with several dozen images taken by Ferre in graveyards during the early 2000s, primarily in Massachusetts.
Esma-Marie N'Doi Booth was born to Methodist missionaries in what was then the Belgian Congo on Dec. 30, 1932, and attended school at the Central School for Missionaries' Children in Ludondai until entering college at Boston University. Graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in art and art history in 1954, Ferre married the philosopher and metaphysician Frederick Feree, building a careere as an archivist at the institutions where he found an academic home: Vanderbilt, Mount Holyoke, and Dickinson.
After retiring in 2000, Ferre moved to Northfield, Mass., and became active in local history and historic preservation. In addition to serving on the town historic commission, she volunteered as a docent at Historic Deerfield and became active in the Association for Gravestone Studies, serving for several years as archivist. In 2008, she founded the Friends of Northfield's Old Cemeteries and conducted a comprehensive survey of the town's Center, setting the stage for its listing on the National Register. Ferre died in Greenfield, Mass., on March 4, 2016.
Scope of collection
The Ferre collection contains articles, news clippings, and notes on New England gravestones, along with several dozen images taken by Ferre in graveyards during the early 2000s, primarily in Massachusetts.
Association for Gravestone Studies: Ralph Tucker Papers
2005
Box 2: 2
Carvers: miscellaneous
undated
Box 2: 3
Carvers: miscellaneous on various carvers
1984-2013
Box 2: 4
Carvers: Soules, B.
ca.1980
Box 2: 5
Perley, Sidney: Early gravestones in Essex County [photocopy], Essex Antiquarian 3
1899
Box 2: 6
Drinkwater, Robert: From quarry to graveyard: a schematic reconstruction of early New England gravestone carving technology. Senior thesis, UMass Amherst
1972
Box 2: 7
Olsen, Susan: Graveyard discoveries: Association for Gravestone Studies sets sights on Pennsylvania, American Cemetery
2006-08
Box 2: 8
Graveyard tours: maps and notes
1988-2005
Box 2: 9
Introductions to gravestones [photocopies of articles]
0000
Box 2: 10
Ludwig, Allan I.: Sermons in stone, FMR, no. 6
1984
Box 2: 11
Symbolism and letters on gravestones
2003
Box 2: 12
Town of Hanover 2005 Annual Calendar -- Burying grounds
2005
Box 2: 13
Trinkley, Michael: Why sandstone monuments have so many problems, AGS Quarterly, vo. 37, 1
2013
Box 2: 14
Administrative information
Access
The collection is open for research.
Provenance
Gift of Association for Gravestone Studies, June 2018.
