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Introduction
This pathfinder is meant for people interested in learning more information about the Ames family of Easton, MA. It should serve to help those associated with the Stonehill College Archives (students, alumni, general public). The college archives holds a collection of Ames family items and it is a natural next step to learn more about this powerful New England family who established the town of Easton as a place of industry with their shovel company in the 19th century. In particular, this pathfinder provides information for more in depth research to the Ames family involvement with the Union-Pacific and Transcontinental Railroad system and the Credit Mobilier scandal.

A Very Short Background on the Ames Family
The story of the Ames family dates back to their forefather's arrival in the colonies in the 1600s. The family were many generations of blacksmiths and farmers and in the 1700s, John Ames became the first of the Ames (really, the first in America) to produce shovels in the the states. In the early 1800s John's son, Oliver, moved to Easton and began the Ames Shovel Works Company. It was shortly after this time that the Ames family began their foray into politics and Oliver's son Oakes served in US Congress. The Ames family's history is not without scandal however, as Oakes Ames was involved in the Credit Mobilier scandal surrounding the Union-Pacific Railroad. The shovel company suffered during this time, but in the end, this family brought prosperity and industry to the small town of Easton, MA.

General Web Sources
The following links provide access to useful information related to the background of the Ames family and their history in the Easton, MA area.

Stonehill College Archives

The college archives are open to students, alumni and general public (by appointment) on the Easton, MA campus of Stonehill College. They house the industrial collections of the Ames family including an impressive number of original shovels and other documents related to the family and their business with the Ames Shovel Company. They also home to the 'Shovel Museum' where these shovels are displayed and can be viewed by appointment or virtually through an online tour [ http://www.youvisit.com/tour/barchives/87501].

Easton Historical Society

The historical society provides easy to use information about the Ames family and the area of Easton. They have helpful timelines of the family and their business ventures.

Oakes Ames Hall

Information about the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall which was built by H. H. Richardson in the late 1800s.

Ames Free Library

The website for the Easton Public Library also provides information on the history of the surrounding area and the Ames family.

The Ames Company

The website for the Ames Shovel Company provides history into the organization and the tools they manufacture.

Massachusetts Environmental and Energy Affairs

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts official website offers information into the lands owned by the Ames family. These lands include Ames Estate, Borderland State Park as well as information about the life of both Oliver and Oakes Ames and Blanche Ames.

The Trustees of Reservations

The Trustees of Reservations is an organization of over 100,000 people who care for over 100 locations around Massachusetts with special historical significance. They protect over 25,000 acres of land in the process.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

PBS covered the Credit Mobilier Scandal on an episode of American Experience. A clip from the show can be found on their website for viewing.

Easton Cable Access-Interesting Ames Stories

Easton Public Access Television once produced a segment that included living members of the Ames family and experts as they discussed stories of the Ames family.

Books In Print
Ames, W. (2002). The Ames family of Easton, Massachusetts. Salem, MA: Higginson Book Company.

Chaplin, A. (2004). Descendants of William Ames of Braintree, Massachusetts. Boston, Mass.: Newbury Street Press.

Galer, G. (2001). Forging ahead: The Ames family of Easton, Massachusetts and two centuries of industrial enterprise, 1635-1861.

Galer, G., & Gordon, R. (1998). Connecticut's Ames Iron Works: Family, community, nature, and innovation in an enterprise of the early American republic. New Haven, Conn.: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Blanche Ames Ames
More information can be found below on the woman who married Oakes Ames and was a prominent woman's rights activist and fighter for birth control rights in the 1800s.

B. Sicherman et al. (Eds.), Notable American women: The modern period. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Commire, A & Klezmer, D. (2007). Dictionary of women worldwide: 25,000 women through the ages (Vol. 1). Detroit, MI: Thomson Gale.

Oakes Ames
Further reading into the life of Oakes Ames, who served on the US Congress in the 1800s and was at the heart of the scandal.

Cutter, W. (1916). American biography: A new cyclopedia (Vol. 2, pp. 330-334). New York, New York: Published under the direction of the American Historical Society.

Oakes Ames A memoir; with an account of the dedication of the Oakes Ames memorial hall at North Easton, Mass., November 17, 1881. (1883). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Riverside Press.

United States Congress, Washington, D.C. "Ames, Oakes, (1804 - 1873)." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved April 25, 2015.

Credit Mobilier
The following sources provide further insight into the events that led to the Credit Mobilier scandal, the Ames family involvement and the end results of the scandal.

Ambrose, S. (2000). Nothing Like It In The World; The Men who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863–1869. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster.

Ames, Oakes. (2008). In Political corruption in America : An encyclopedia of Scandals, Power & greed. Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing.

Carson, T. & Bonk, M. (Eds.), Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History (Vol. 1, pp. 44-45). Detroit: Gale.

Crawford, J. (1969). The Credit Mobilier of America; its origin and history, its work of constructing the Union Pacific Railroad and the relation of members of Congress therewith. Boston, Massachusetts: C.W. Calkins & Company.

S. Phelps & J. Lehman (Eds.), West's Encyclopedia of American Law (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 266-267). Detroit: Gale.

Next Steps
If after reviewing the sources listed above you require additional information or wish to go further with your learning please consider contacting the Easton Historical Society, Stonehill College Archives or the Ames Free Library directly. These locations are great sources of information and are staffed by people who are knowledgeable in the history of the Ames family.