mums335 Planning Services Group Records, 1956-1986 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Linda Seidman. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA
2003

University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.

 Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Eric Cartier. 2003-07-28 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mu210 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Planning Services Group Records, 1956-1986 Finding Aid Manuscript Number 335 Compiled by Linda Seidman 1990 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

2003 University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.

 Collection Overview Planning Services Group The Planning Services Group Records 1956-1986 MS 335 10 boxes (4.5 linear ft.) Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst The Planning Services Group was an urban planning firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that assisted New England cities and towns with initiating and managing urban development projects. The firm was involved in two primary areas, urban renewal and comprehensive community planning, and many of their projects were supported from funds designated by the Federal Housing Act of 1949. The collection includes organizational histories, memoranda, correspondence, proposal guidelines, materials for citizen participation, job inventories and reports, brochures that document urban growth management and the problems of suburbanization in New England, background studies, planning reports, growth management policies, zoning bylaws and amendments, and the files of Katharine Kulmala. English. Historical Note

The Planning Services Group (TPSG), an urban planning firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1955 to 1975, assisted New England cities and towns with initiating and managing urban development projects. Morton Braun, who was educated in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and had worked at the Boston division of Slum Clearance and Urban Redevelopment in the Federal Housing and Home Finance Agency from 1951 to 1954, founded the Planning and Renewal Association in 1955 with two partners, Robert Rowland and Donald Graham. The Planning and Renewal Association was renamed The Planning Services Group in 1961, and changed from a partnership to a corporation. The firm was most active in the 1960s, employing over fifty-nine staff-members. Braun was a lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture and the Regional Planning program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst from 1968 to 1976. In 1975, Braun sold the firm to Katherine Kulmala, who operated a reduced consulting service out of her home in Carlisle, Massachusetts until 1982 when she closed the firm.

TPSG had two main types of contracts--urban renewal and comprehensive community planning. Projects in the 1950s and 1960s were initiated and supported primarily with federal funds designated by the Federal Housing Act of 1949, which sought to institute a national housing policy of "a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family."

TPSG held planning contracts at the local and state level in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine and New York, and established long-term relationships with Durham, NH (1969-1980), Portsmouth, NH (1963-1973), Lancaster, MA (1966-1977), and Sanford, ME (1959-1973). Projects carried out at the town level included the production of: self-help planning manuals for citizens; comprehensive town plans; open space, recreation and zoning studies and revisions; plans for central business districts; plans to recycle historic buildings; and environmental and community impact studies. At the regional level, projects included planning and design criteria for new housing developments and the production of technical manuals for other planning agencies.

 Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organizational histories, memoranda, correspondence, proposal guidelines, materials for citizen participation, job inventories and reports, and brochures that document urban growth management and the problems of suburbanization in New England, primarily in communities in eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut, and New York (Long Island) from the mid-1950s through the mid-1980s. Reports, which comprise the bulk of the collection, include: background studies; planning reports (some in draft or with notations); comprehensive plans (for population, economic base, land use, circulation, private development, and community facilities); growth management policies; zoning bylaws and amendments; capital improvement programs; concept plans for tracts of land; revitalization plans for small town central business districts; open space and recreation plans; environmental impact statements; community impact studies; self-help planning guides; and technical guides. The collection also contains the files of Katherine Kulmala documenting work done independent of The Planning Services Group, including 1953 zoning policies for Boston; open space and recreation studies for Carlisle, Massachusetts, undertaken when Kulmala was a member of the Carlisle Planning Board; articles on lakeside development and recycling of buildings; and a manuscript (typescript) comparing contemporary urban development in the United States to 16th century development of new towns in Mexico (then New Spain).

 Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into three series:

Series 1. Administration, 1956-1982 Series 2. TPSG Reports and Publications, 1957-1985 Series 3. Katherine Kulmala Files, 1953-1986

The collection is open for research.

 Preferred Citation

Cite as: Planning Services Group Records (MS 335). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Acquired from Katharine A. Kulmala via Stanley Moss, 1990.

Processed by Linda Seidman, 1990.

 Search Terms Kulmala, Katherine. Planning Services Group. City planning--Maine. City planning--Massachusetts. City planning--New Hampshire. Land Use, Urban--Maine. Land Use, Urban--Massachusetts. Land Use, Urban--New Hampshire. Arlington (Mass.)--City planning. Boston (Mass.)--City planning. Carlisle (Mass.)--City planning. Series 1. Administration1956-1982 1 1 History of TPSG 1 2 Correspondence 1956-1982 1 3 Brochures 1 4 Revised brochure 1981 1 5 Planning Board Clerk's kit advertisement 1980-1981 Series 2. TPSG Reports and Publications1957-1985 1 6 Lists of reports 1 7 Guide for Evaluating Development Proposals 1975 1 8 Protection of Wetlands and Floodplains 1977 1 9 Wetlands/Floodplains/Zoning manual materials 1976-1977 2 10-16 Cluster Zoning in Massachusetts 1970 Massachusetts Cities and Towns 3 17 Amesbury zoning bylaw 3 18 Amesbury Roy Farm, Land Vest 3 19 Andover general plan 1957 3 20 Andover zoning bylaw 3 21 Arlington comprehensive plan 1962 3 22 Arlington center commercial development plan 1964 3 23 Arlington capital improvement program 1963 3 24 Auburn plan for development 1960 3 25 Auburn zoning 1960 3 26 Bedford general plan 1959 3 27 Boston Pier 2 proposal for residential development 1966 3 28 Cambridge rezoning C-1 to C-3 1966 3 29 Carlisle target plan 1979 3 30 Carlisle zoning, etc. 1984-1985 3 31 Chelsea comprehensive plan fiscal analysis 1970 3 32-32A Danvers industrial park proposal Dartmouth master plan, 1957, 1977-1978 4 33 Hopkinton zoning bylaw changes 1977-1978 4 34 Interstate 495 Area wide Approach to Growth 1978 4 35 Lancaster zoning regulations 1977-1980 4 36 various reports 1966-1967 4 37 background studies 1967 4 38 protection of N. Lancaster pond area 1973 4 39 Lexington memos, proposals, etc. 1975 5 40 Marlborough downtown development plan and program review and update 1981 5 41 Marlborough downtown development plan and program review and update 1981 5 42 Marshfield memo 1970 5 43 Melrose summary report 1962 5 44 Methuen various reports 1971 5 45 Millbury re: restoring vitality to small town central business districts 1975 5 46 Millbury re: restoring vitality to small town central business districts 5 47 North Reading general plan 5 48 Peabody's Essex Village community impact 1974 5 49 Pepperell interview and meeting notes 1980 5 49AA SOS 5 49A growth management, zoning bylaws 1973-1982 5 49B comprehensive plan 1971 6 50 Seekonk 6 51 Sharon correspondence 1971-1976 6 52 Sharon Center 1967 6 53 Stoughton environmental impact statement, Copperwood town homes 1973 6 54 Stow memos, reports 1974-1976 6 55 Weymouth open space and recreation 1974 6 56 Wilmington general plan 1957 New Hampshire Cities and Towns 6 57 Derry comprehensive plan 1965 7 58 Durham: The Center 1968 7 59 Durham comprehensive plan 1968 7 60 Durham comprehensive plan 1969 7 61 growth and its impact 1968 7 62 open space 1967 7 63 physical determinants of planning policy 1967 7 64 proposed zoning ordinance 1968 7 65 comprehensive plan 1978 7 66 coastal resources 1979 7 67 neighborhood advisory group 1979 7 68 drafts of reports 8 69 planning notebook 1979-1981 8 70 planning notebook 8 71 trail guide 1976 8 72 subdivision regulations 8 73 Growth Management Options drafts 8 74 Growth Management Options drafts 8 75 memos 1979 8 76 zoning ordinance 8 77 summary update of comprehensive plan 1980 8 78 administrative records 1979 8 79 Hanover various reports and correspondence 1974-1975 8 80 administrative records 1974 8 81 Laconia criteria for exterior treatment of Busiel Belknap mills 8 82 New Hampshire 1975 8 83 North Country Council 1976 8 84 Portsmouth Farragut School 1971 8 85 Portsmouth Seacrest Village 1971 Other Cities and Towns 8 86 Bristol , Connecticut comprehensive plan 1964 8 87 Sanford, Maine correspondence 1971-1974 8 88-89 Sanford, Maine comprehensive plans 1957, 1973 8 89A Long Island, New York community impact study of bridges 1971 Series 3. Katherine Kulmala Files1953-1986 10 90 Proposals, applications, resumes 10 91 Boston Herald American column 1977 10 92 Tutolo Siete: New Town in New Spain, sources and criticisms 10 93 Tutolo Siete: New Town in New Spain, typescript 1972 10 94 Boston, Mass. zoning policies 1953 10 95 Carlisle, Mass. open space and recreation report 1986