Jonathan von Ranson Papers

1910-2023
9 boxes (5.42 linear feet)
Call no.: MS 1219
rotating decorative images from SCUA collections

Background on Jonathan von Ranson

In 1978, after years of working in the fast paced world of journalism, writing for Life Magazine and later serving as editor and publisher of several New England newspapers, Jonathan von Ranson was burnt out. In the summer of that year, after divorcing his wife Linnea and selling his newspaper business, von Ranson moved from Newington, Connecticut to a property in Wendell, Massachusetts. It was here, two miles off a maintained state forest road, that he erected a tent and began constructing a stone house.

To von Ranson, the quiet serenity of rural Massachusetts offered refuge from the hustle and bustle of his previous life. An advocate of subsistence living, he and his second wife Susan fed and sheltered themselves in the home they built together. Von Ranson established himself as a local journalist by writing for the Wendell Post, a humble town newspaper known for its distinctive local perspective. He also contributed to local publications like the Greenfield Recorder, usually penning op-eds about environmental issues both local and global. A passionate craftsman, his writing in other publications focused on sustainable home-building. Von Ranson’s personal writings, particularly those he refers to as his “unintelligible nighttime musings,” reveal a sensitive and introspective man with a spiritual connection to the land he cultivated.

Von Ranson held various positions in Wendell town government, taught fourth graders homesteading skills, and held workshops ranging from writing to masonry, becoming a pillar of the community in his small rural town. He expressed his environmental, political and social convictions in ways large and small, whether it was reusing paper by typing manuscripts on the back of fliers, or refusing to pay taxes in protest of military spending.

Scope of collection

The Jonathan von Ranson papers document von Ranson’s time as a journalist, simple living advocate/homesteader, and Wendell/Franklin County activist and community leader. This is reflected through clippings of many of von Ranson's articles for Maine, Connecticut and Franklin county newspapers, meeting agendas and correspondence from his various positions in Wendell town government, and schematics for his first stone house built in 1978/1979 and his simple living apartment completed in 2015. The collection also includes confessional hand-written manuscripts, fliers for Wendell community events, von Ranson’s Peace Corp application which reveals a breadth of biographical information, and even self-authored root cellaring guides. Other material reveals his involvement in a myriad of social and political groups dealing with environmentalism, the feminist men's movement, rural development, policing, and much more.

Inventory

1910-2023
Barn social flier
ca.2015
Box 1: 1
Basic attendance clinical skills course: Readings, notes
1997
Box 1: 2
Bill Ambler memorial service: Lists of attendees, notes, correspondence
1996
Box 1: 3
Campaign against Route 2 expansion: Correspondence, clippings, diagrams
1998-1999
Box 1: 4
Chicago trip boarding passes
2002 Feb.
Box 1: 5
Chimney repair at Good Life Center: Correspondence, notes, clippings
2001-2002
Box 1: 6
Circle counciling guides
ca.2002
Box 1: 7
Clippings
1969-1979
Box 1: 8
Clippings
1980-2011
Box 1: 9
Clippings
1980-2011
Box 1: 10
Clippings
1980-2011
Box 1: 11
Community Policing Advisory Committee certificate
2001 Jun. 28
Box 1: 12
Composting records: Spreadsheets, invoices, notes
2011-2014
Box 1: 13
Copied readings for "Writing on Earth" workshop
2001
Box 1: 14
Cordwood sale fliers
ca.2000
Box 1: 15
Cuba trip: Correspondence re: donations
2002 Mar.
Box 1: 16
Cuba trip: Havana Club rum label
2002 May
Box 1: 17
Cuba trip: Letter from White House
2005 Nov. 15
Box 1: 18
Divorce: Correspondence
1978-1995
Box 1: 19
Early drafts: Annotated drafts, mauscripts
1991-1999
Box 2: 1
Excercises for writing workshops: Guides. clippings, photo
ca.1999
Box 2: 2
Farm/homestead: Agriculture guides, livestock guides, clippings, notes
1993-2000
Box 2: 3
Fathers Day card
ca.1980
Box 2: 4
Five Rivers Council: Notes, fliers, clippings, meeting agendas, correspondence
2006-2007
Box 2: 5
Five Rivers Council: Notes, fliers, clippings, meeting agendas, correspondence
2005-2006
Box 2: 6
Franklin County Progressive Newsletter
1991-1996
Box 3: 1
Franklin Regional Transit Authority Advisory Board records
2013-2015
Box 3: 2
Friends of the Wendell Meeting House newsletter
2023 Dec.
Box 3: 3
James O'Keefe MA State Treasurer campaign materials, notes
2002
Box 3: 4
Local food and energy: Correspondence, news clippings
2010-2012
Box 3: 5
Lyrics, sheet music
ca.1980-2010
Box 3: 6
Masonry guides, product brochures, schematics
1951-1984
Box 3: 7
Masonry stove construction: Drawings, clippings, resources
1998
Box 3: 8
Mens group: Clippings
1990-1991
Box 3: 9
Mens group: Membership lists, invoices, correspondence, notes
1990-1991
Box 4: 1
NOFA membership expansion: Correspondence, newsletters, notes
2003
Box 4: 2
NOFA Summer Conference workshop presentations: Guides, forms, newsletters
2000
Box 4: 3
Outline of memoir by Charles Smith
2020-2021
Box 4: 4
Parents divorce/post-death giving: Writings, clippings, legal documents
1946-1983
Box 4: 5
Peace Corps: Application, correspondence, assignment pamphlets
1995-1996
Box 4: 6
Peace Corps: Critical readings
1990-1992
Box 4: 7
Poems for "Writing on Earth" workshop
ca.2001
Box 4: 8
Root cellaring guide, photos
ca.2009
Box 4: 9
Route 2 expansion op-eds: Drafts, correspondence
2001
Box 4: 10
Salmon run: Clippings, readings
1910-1990
Box 4: 11
Salmon run: Correspondence, pamphlets
1988
Box 4: 12
Sanctuary Magazine, November 1984
1984 Nov.
Box 4: 13
Secondary dwellings: Permit applications, notes, photos, correspondence
2005-2009
Box 5: 1
Simple living apartment: Barnraising day, photos, lists of volunteers
2008
Box 5: 2
Simple living apartment: Board findings and deed restrictions
2009-2017
Box 5: 3
Simple living apartment: Board of health applications, correspondence, notes
2009-2016
Box 5: 4
Simple living apartment: Clippings
2008-2013
Box 5: 5
Simple living apartment: Correspondence
2008-2014
Box 5: 6
Simple living apartment: Correspondence
1997-2009
Box 5: 7
Simple living apartment: Invoices construction plans, notes
2009-2014
Box 5: 8
Simple living apartment: Permit applications
2010-2014
Box 5: 9
Simple living apartment: Petitions to Wendell town officials
2009
Box 5: 10
Simple living apartment: Schematics diagrams, photos
2014-2015
Box 5: 11
Simple living apartment: Well and septic plans, notes
2010-2014
Box 5: 12
Stone Oak House construction: Invoices, correspondence, notes
1980-1990
Box 6: 1
Stone Oak House property tax disputes: Correspondence. notes, spreadsheets, readings
1990-1998
Box 6: 2
Stone Oak house sale: Correspondence, notes, schematics, contracts
1997-1998
Box 6: 3
Stone Oak house sale: Correspondence, notes, schematics, contracts
1997-1998
Box 6: 4
Stone Oak house sale: Correspondence, notes, schematics, contracts
1997-1998
Box 6: 5
Susan's speech folder: Sheet music, lyrics
ca.2013
Box 6: 6
Systems for a non-electric home workshop pamphlets
2015 Dec.
Box 6: 7
Tax refusal: Clippings, correspondence, fliers
1982-2004
Box 6: 8
The Peoples Voice of Franklin County Newsletter: Correspondence, mailing lists, artwork
1996
Box 7: 1
Town Crier acquisistion agreement
1972
Box 7: 2
Town Moderator: Agendas, budgets, correspondence, guides
1996-1999
Box 7: 3
Unintelligable nighttime musings: Notes, handwritten manuscripts
1989-1990
Box 7: 4
Unpublished "Gaia" project: Drafts, clippings, notes
2011
Box 7: 5
Valley Community Land Trust: Correspondence, pamphlets, notes
1989-1991
Box 7: 6
Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant protests: Lyrics, non-violent protest guides, clippings
2012
Box 7: 7
Victoria Seus epitaph
2001 Jul.
Box 7: 8
VMag volume 30
2000 May
Box 7: 9
Wendell cabin: Drawings, notes, correspondence, product brochures, clippings
1972-1978
Box 7: 10
Wendell Chorus: Programs, sheet music, lyrics, CD
2015
Box 7: 11
Wendell community healing post-9/11: Fliers, correspondence, clippings
2001
Box 7: 12
Wendell Community Policing Committee: Agendas, notes, correspondence, clippings
1988-2000
Box 7: 13
Wendell Community Policing Steering Committee: Correspondence, clippings, evaluations
2002-2003
Box 8: 1
Wendell Community Works: Fliers, readings, correspondence, clippings
1991
Box 8: 2
Wendell emergency planning documents
2009-2014
Box 8: 3
Wendell Energy Taskforce: Agendas, meeting minutes, clippings
2009-2010
Box 8: 4
Wendell Energy Taskforce: Mission statement annotated drafts
ca.2009
Box 8: 5
Wendell Energy Taskforce: Sustainability guides, notes, clippings
2008-2009
Box 8: 6
Wendell Harvest Festival: Artwork, correspondence, clippings, notes
1993
Box 8: 7
Wendell Simple Living Committee: Agendas, correspondence, clippings, notes
2010-2011
Box 8: 8
Wendell town election records
2010
Box 8: 9
Wendell Town Wall construction project: Correspondence, clippings, contract
1994
Box 8: 10
Wendell Towne Forum newspaper: Early correspondence, first issue, notes
2004
Box 8: 11
Works in progress: Fiction/non-fiction manuscripts, correspondence
1999-2015
Box 9: 1
Workshops: Grant applications, guides
2013 Jan.
Box 9: 2
Writing starts and ideas: Annotated drafts, notes, manuscripts
1994-2018
Box 9: 3
Writing workshops: Handouts, lists of members, notes, readings
1999-2001
Box 9: 4
Zookalike: Clipping
2010
Box 9: 5

Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Provenance

Gift of Jonathan von Ranson, 2024.

Processing Information

Processed by Dan McGlynn, August 2024.

Language:

English

Copyright and Use (More information )

Cite as: Jonathan von Ranson Papers (MS 1219). Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Search terms

Subjects

  • Activism--Franklin County (Mass.)
  • Environmentalism
  • Journalism, Regional
  • Sustainable living--Franklin County (Mass.)
  • Wendell (Mass : Town)

Contributors

  • von Ranson, Jonathan [main entry]

Genres and formats

  • Clippings (information artifacts)
  • Correspondence
  • Fliers (printed matter)
  • Manuscripts (documents)