Museums-Archives-Historic Sites

Finger Lakes Museum Narrows Design Teams

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Project director Don Naetzker announced that the number of design teams interested in planning the Finger Lakes Museum has been narrowed from 35 to 4. The four teams are led by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Cambridge 7, HBT Architects, and The Smith Group. Each team has museum design experience.

In September, representatives from 60 architectural, engineering, exhibit design and landscape architecture firms from across the country and Canada met at Keuka Lake State Park to hear Naetzker and board president John Adamski describe the concept, mission, and vision for the project. Attendees were invited to submit qualifications to compete for the design commission. Thirty-five qualification packages were received by museum officials.

Naetzker said that the museum’s facilities committee, which he chairs, worked long and hard to evaluate the submissions, some as thick as phone books. He saluted the efforts and stated, “The choices were not easy to make. Each of the firms is nationally-known and very-well qualified.”

The four design teams on the short list will be asked to submit proposals outlining design concepts and fee structures by the end of December. A final selection is scheduled for January 2011.

The Finger Lakes Museum is an initiative to create a world-class educational institution that will showcase the cultural heritage and ecological evolution of the 9,000 square-mile Finger Lakes Region. Last April, Keuka Lake State Park was selected as the preferred location to build the project.

For more information or to make contact, see www.fingerlakesmuseum.org.

New Netherland Research Center Opened

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A ribbon-cutting ceremony today officially opened the New Netherland Research Center (NNRC) on the 7th floor of the New York State Library in Albany. The NNRC will focus attention on New York State’s rich collection of historic Dutch Colonial documents and facilitate access to them for future scholars, teachers and students both here and abroad.

The New Netherland Research Center, which will provide access to the colonial Dutch documents held by the New York State Archives and New York State Library Manuscripts and Special Collections, is the first step in an international effort to launch a collaborative digitization project to share collections and archives from former Dutch colonies.

During the 2009 Quadricentennial celebration of Henry Hudson’s voyage opening up the New World to Dutch settlement, Dutch dignitaries, including the Prince of Orange and Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, visited the Cultural Education Center’s 1609 Exhibition.

At that visit the government of the Netherlands committed to a grant of €200,000 (approximately $275,000) to the New Netherland Institute to continue and expand the New Netherland Project by establishing a New Netherland Research Center. This gift, with matching support from the Institute, are expected to transform what started out as a translation project into a collaborative research initiative with international scope and context.

Modern technologies are hoped to make New York’s collections, along with those in other similar or complementary repositories, available digitally and to promote a more complete story of the Dutch global reach during the colonial period and its lasting impact on today’s world.

The NNRC is the culmination of a decades-long translation effort, the New Netherland Project, at the New York State Library. Dr. Charles Gehring is the project’s Director and principal translator. Dr. Janny Venema is Assistant Director. Both have worked to unlock the wealth of information in these collections by making them available in English. They have also written extensively and spoken widely on the scope and legacy of our early Dutch heritage.

Seventeenth century collections of government records in the New York State Archives and non-government documents in the Library’s Manuscripts and Special Collections constitute the world’s largest collection of early Dutch language documentation of the New World colonies. Encompassing what is now a large part of the northeastern United States, the early Dutch colony, its language, culture and laws, lie at the roots of much of our nation’s modern history. Scholars regularly explore the collections for insights into 17th century life in New Netherland. Russell Shorto relied heavily on Gehring and Vanema and the New York State collections in writing his book The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America.

The New York State Library is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education.

Adk Museum Library Honored by State Archives

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The Adirondack Museum Library, Blue Mountain Lake (Hamilton County) has been selected as the recipient of the &#82202010 Annual Archives Award for Program Excellence in a Historical Records Repository,&#8221 by the New York State Archives and the Archives Partnership Trust. The award was presented to Director Caroline M. Welsh and Librarian Jerry Pepper at a luncheon ceremony at the Cultural Education Center in Albany on October 12, 2010.

The award commends the library for an outstanding archival program that contributes significantly to the understanding of Adirondack history. The award further recognizes the facility for well-organized and managed archives and for efforts to provide access to documentary heritage through extensive collections and excellent education programs for teachers and school children.

The Adirondack Museum Library is the largest and most comprehensive repository of books, periodicals, manuscripts, maps, and government documents related to the Adirondack region.

Supported by private funds, the library is administered by the museum and fulfills an independent mission as a library of record for the Adirondack Park.

Finger Lakes Museum Adds Staff, Previews Designers

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Thirty­-five architectural, engineering, and exhibit design teams from across the U.S. and Canada presented qualification submissions in the first stage of a competition to design the Finger Lakes Museum. The submission deadline was October 1st.

On September 14th executive director John Adamski and project director Don Naetzker hosted 70 design professionals from 60 firms at the museum’s future site in Keuka Lake State Park.

The meeting was followed by a request for qualifications, which is the first step in selecting a design team. “Because of the complexity of the project, a team approach makes sense”, said Adamski, who is also president of the museum’s board of trustees and a retired architect. “It’s unlikely that any single firm would possess all of the design disciplines in­-house that are needed for a project like this”, he added.

The museum’s facilities committee will evaluate each of the submissions in order to narrow the field to a maximum of 5 frontrunners. Those firms would then be asked to submit proposals, which would include design concepts. It is hoped that a design team can be onboard before the end of the year.

In other Finger Lakes Museum news, the board of trustees recently hired Natalie Payne as the startup organization’s third employee. She was formerly acting curator at Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua and will serve as associate project director working with executive director, John Adamski, and project director, Don Naetzker.

Adamski and Naetzker were hired by the board last May to develop plans for building the Finger Lakes Museum in Keuka Lake State Park. Payne has been involved with the project since its inception. She has been a museum board member since August 2008 and still serves as its secretary.

Adamski said, “Hiring Natalie is possible because of the early success of our Founders Campaign, which is a grass roots effort to raise the funds we need to hire personnel and equip our offices at the school in Branchport.”

Anyone can become a museum founder for $100 or more by logging on to their website and making a contribution. &#8220We have momentum but we need all of the help we can get to keep it going” Adamski said. He has donated his own 2010 salary back to the project.

Panel: Academy of Certified Archivists Accreditation

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The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York invites members and the general public to attend a panel discussion on the role of Academy of Certified Archivists accreditation in today’s professional climate. Please join ART at the Fashion Institute of Technology on Monday October 18, 2010. Panelists will represent a variety of viewpoints ranging from history and development of the ACA examination, and archivists’ experience preparing for the examination to different perspectives regarding the merits of becoming a Certified Archivist (CA).

Pam Hackbart-Dean (President of the Academy of Certified Archivists) will discuss the history and evolution of the ACA- Lois Kauffman (The Winthrop Group) and Michael Nash (NYU Tamiment) will discuss the merits of the examination for both archivists and organizations- Susan Woodland (Hadassah Archives) a recent ACA certified archivist will discuss her experiences preparing for the examination- and Susan Hamson (Columbia University) will discuss different modes of assessment of our profession.

Panelists include:

Pam Hackbart-Dean is Director of the Special Collections Research Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She is currently president of the Academy of Certified Archivists. She has been a member of the Academy since 1992.

Susan Woodland has been Archivist at Hadassah since 1996, where she is now Director of the Archives. She recently passed her examination and is now a Certified Archivist.

Lois Kauffman has been an archivist with The Winthrop Group since 2004. She holds an M.A. in Art History from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and is certified by the Academy of Certified Archivists

Susan Hamson, Curator of Manuscripts and University Archives at Columbia University Libraries

Michael Nash, Head of the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.

Date: Monday, October 18, 2010

Place: Fashion Institute of Technology|SUNY, 7th Avenue at 27th Street, Manhattan. Katie Murphy Auditorium, D Building, Ground Floor, Northwest corner

Time: 6:30-8:30 Panel Discussion followed by a Q&A

Directions: http://www.fitnyc.edu/1888.asp

Fee: $5.00 to members of the Archivists Round Table and faculty, staff, and students of FIT. $10.00 admission for all others

RSVP: To Jennifer Anna at [email protected] by October 16. Please provide first and last name of all people attending under your RSVP message within the body of message.

Documentary Heritage Program Grants Offered

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The Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) is a statewide program established in 1988 under Education Law, §§ 140, 207- L. 1988, ch. 679. The DHP is administered by the New York State Archives to ensure the identification, sound administration and accessibility of New York’s historical records.

One component of the DHP is the grants program. DHP Grants are designed to encourage more comprehensive documentation of New York State’s history and culture by supporting projects that identify, survey, collect, and make available important records relating to groups and topics traditionally under-represented in the historical record. DHP is administered by the New York State Archives, a unit of the New York State Education Department (NYSED).

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants include not-for-profit community organizations, archives, libraries, historical societies, and similar institutions within New York State and consortia or partnerships of such agencies. Also eligible are service providers such as historical service agencies, colleges and universities, professional associations, or other not-for-profit institutions or systems that provide services to historical records programs.

Funding

A total of $92,000 is expected to be available for grants projects. Grants will be available in amounts up to $25,000. Applicants may seek support for personnel- purchased services, including qualified consultants- supplies- materials and equipment costing less than $5,000- and travel as required to directly support project activities and outcomes.

Important Dates

Grants in this cycle are for up to 12-month projects, from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012. Applications must be postmarked by Tuesday, February 1, 2011. Tentative date for the announcement of grant awards is June 30, 2011.

Grant Project Types

Documentation projects identify and ensure the systematic preservation of papers and records that shed light on the people, groups, events or changing political, economic or social conditions of New York State. The ultimate goal of a documentation project is to contribute to the building of a comprehensive and equitable historical record in repositories which make unique original source materials available to researchers and citizens. Typically consisting of three phases &#8211 planning, surveying, and collecting, documentation projects usually take at least two years to complete. Cost sharing of at least 20% is required.

Arrangement & Description projects &#8211 Arrangement and description are the processes used to obtain physical and intellectual control over materials held in historic records repositories. Arrangement is the process of organizing materials with respect to their provenance and original order, to protect their context and to achieve physical and/or intellectual control over the materials. Description is the creation of an accurate representation of a unit of archival material by the process of capturing, collating, analyzing, and organizing information that serves to identify archival material and explain the context and records system(s) that produced it. The objective of archival description is the creation of access tools that assist users in discovering desired records. Cost sharing of at least 50% is required.

Ineligible Projects

Several types of historical records projects are not eligible for funding under the DHP. These include:

· Projects that do not demonstrate a primary focus on New York State

· Digitization (projects to create digital records)

· Item-level description and/or indexing

· Oral history and/or video taping

· Newspaper collections (these are not considered to be historical records under the DHP law)

· Preservation (i.e., the physical work to conserve, restore, or repair records, or reproduction for preservation purposes such as microfilming)

Topical Priorities

In order to insure that the DHP addresses the New York State Historical Records Advisory Board’s mandate to identify, survey, collect, and make available historical records that relate to under-documented groups or subjects, the State Archives has identified and given priority to specific topical areas for DHP funding. These topics are listed in Priority Levels One and Two below. Although applications for projects that focus on any under-documented group or subject are eligible for funding, they will receive fewer points during grants review than those in Levels One and Two.

Priority Level One

· Population groups in the 20th and 21st centuries
· Economic change in the 20th and 21st centuries
· World Trade Center disaster, September 11, 2001
· Education policy

Priority Level Two

· Environmental affairs
· Mental health

Priority Level Three

· Other under-documented topics in New York State history

Application Process

Grant application forms may be obtained by emailing the State Archives [email protected] or by visiting the State Archives Web site www.archives.nysed.gov and clicking on Grants and Awards.

For further information contact:

Pamela Cooley/Documentary Heritage Program
New York State Archives
Room 9C71 Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230
Telephone: 518-474-6276
Email: [email protected]

Archives Month: NYC Archivists Round Table

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has joined the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc., along with hundreds of organizations in the archives community across New York State, to celebrate New York Archives Week, October 10-16, 2010. With special commemorative activities across all five boroughs, New York Archives Week is an annual celebration aimed at informing the general public of the diverse array of archival materials available in the Metropolitan New York City region.

Among the many activities free and open to the public will be open houses, exhibitions, lectures, workshops and behind-the-scenes tours of archives throughout the city. These special events are designed to celebrate the importance of historical records and to familiarize interested organizations and the public with a wealth of fascinating archival materials illuminating three centuries of New York City history and culture.

Among those participating in the event are local government agencies, historical societies, universities, libraries, and cultural organizations. Highlights include tours of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum Archives, the New York Transit Museum Archives, and the Trinity Church Archives- instruction in conducting genealogical research at the National Archives at New York City- and a presentation on the literary treasures of famous authors such as Herman Melville and Edgar Allen Poe at the New York Public Library. Over twenty New York City archives are opening their doors to the public for this city-wide event.

A complete list of Archives Week events and schedules can be found on the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc.’s website. Note that pre-registration for some events
is required. For further information, contact: [email protected]

Archives Month: Palisades Interstate Park Commission

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October is New York State Archives and National Archives Month, a time to celebrate and promote the rich and diverse documentary heritage of our great state by increasing public awareness of archival materials and repositories and by acknowledging the importance of our records keepers.

Archives are essential to the historical record and include a wide range of document types, including letters, legal records, transcripts, diaries, newspapers, photographs, reports, architectural drawings, manuscripts, artifacts, audio and video records, and materials in electronic formats.

The Palisades Interstate Park Commission has 110 years worth of archives in all of these categories. The PIPC’s archives are currently housed in a former naval barrack on the Iona Island Estuarine and Bird Sanctuary. The vast collection, which documents the creation and development of the nation’s first interstate park, is an important resource for historians, environmental advocates, and archaeologists. From the documentation of the movement to stop the destruction of the Palisades cliffs, the collection of statistics of multiple natural studies, to the reports and hearings that form the genesis of today’s environmental movement at Storm King Mountain, to the creation of its 28 parks and historic sites, PIPC’s archival holdings are a largely untapped Hudson Valley treasure.

Palisade’s archives are divided into four disciplines: Archaeology and Native Americans, Historical Photographs, Research Library, and Park History. Researchers, educators, and authors have used items in the collection for unlimited projects including books, films, newspaper articles, and lectures.

But like many repositories of history, the PIPC Archive is in serious need of improvement. Only generally organized, volunteers and funding are greatly needed for database entry, cataloging, digitizing documents, and general upkeep.

The Commission is grateful for its first archive grant given by the Nyack based Austin Stokes Ancient Americas Foundation in support of the PIPC Native American collection. This funding allowed the protection of this invaluable collection.

But, much more is needed. For example, of the approximately 100,000 photographs located in the collection, less than five percent have been digitized and catalogued. And the facility in which the archives are stored, originally a barracks from when Iona Island was a naval munitions factory for World Wars I & II, lacks climate control, a critical component in the preservation of any archive.

If you are interested in assisting the Palisades Interstate Park Commission to preserve and make available this unique collection, please contact Susan E. Smith, PIPC Research and Development Director, at [email protected].

Photo: The Carpenter Quarry, Fort Lee, NJ.

Free Admission to Adirondack Museum For Locals

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The Adirondack Museum is once again extending an invitation to year-round residents of the Adirondack Park to visit free of charge from October 1 &#8211 18, 2010. Through this annual gift to close friends and neighbors, the museum welcomes visitors from all corners of the Adirondack Park. Proof of residency &#8211 such as a driver’s license, passport, or voter registration card &#8211 is required.

The museum is open daily, 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., through October 18, 2010. There is still plenty of time to enjoy the museum’s three special exhibits: &#8220Common Threads: 150 Years of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters,&#8221 &#8220Let’s Eat! Adirondack Food Traditions,&#8221 and &#8220A &#8216-Wild, Unsettled Country’: Early Reflections of the Adirondacks.&#8221

In addition to &#8220Common Threads&#8221 visitors can see contemporary quilts on display in the &#8220Great Adirondack Quilt Show&#8221 through October 18. The special show features nearly fifty quilts inspired by or used in the Adirondack Mountains.

Study: Audio Preservation, Access in Dire State

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Digital technology alone will not ensure the preservation and survival of the nation’s sound history. That is one of the findings in a major study released by the Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB) detailing the state of sound-recording preservation and access. The study was mandated by the U.S. Congress under the &#8220National Recording Preservation Act of 2000&#8243- (P.L. 106-174) and is the first comprehensive study on a national level that examines the state of America’s sound-recording preservation ever conducted in the United States.

Titled &#8220The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age,&#8221 the study outlines the interlocking issues that now threaten the long-term survival of America’s sound-recording history. It also identifies the public and private policy issues that strongly bear on whether the nation’s most culturally and historically important sound recordings will be preserved for future generations.

Although public institutions, libraries and archives hold an estimated 46 million recordings, the study finds that major areas of America’s recorded sound heritage have already deteriorated or remain inaccessible to the public. Only an estimated 14 percent of pre-1965 commercially released recordings are currently available from rights-holders. Of music released in the United States in the 1930s, only about 10 percent of it can now be readily accessed by the public.

In his introduction to the study, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington noted: &#8220Sound recordings have existed as one of the most salient features of America’s cultural landscape for more than 130 years. As a nation, we have good reason to be proud of our historical record of creativity in the sound-recording arts and sciences. However, our collective energy in creating and consuming sound recordings in all genres has not been matched by an equal level of interest, over the same period of time, in preserving them for posterity.&#8221

Authored by Rob Bamberger and Sam Brylawski under the auspices of NRPB, the study points out the lack of conformity between federal and state laws, which has adversely affected the survival of pre-1972 sound recording. One of the major conclusions in the report is that the advent of digital technologies and distribution platforms has made inseparable the issues surrounding both the preservation of sound recordings and access to them.

The authors also conclude that analog recordings made more than 100 years ago are likelier to survive than digital recordings made today. In addition, the report warns that there must be a coordinated effort by the various stakeholders to address the scope of the problem, the complexity of the technical landscape, the need for preservation education and the copyright conundrum.

Finally, the report notes that newer materials such as born-digital audio are at greater risk of loss than older recordings, such as 78-rpm discs- that there is a lack of a comprehensive program to preserve born-digital audio- and that open-reel preservation tapes made in the 1970s and 1980s are deteriorating faster than older tape recordings. For more findings from the report, review the appendix at www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/PR10-194SRstudyAppendixwithkeyfindings.pdf and the introduction/executive summary at www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/CLIRpub148Intro.pdf.

&#8220The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age&#8221 is available for purchase and as a free download at www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub148abst.html. Information for this study was gathered through interviews, public hearings and written submissions. NRPB previously commissioned five ancillary studies in support of this final report, which will lay the groundwork for the National Recording Preservation Plan, to be developed and published later this year.

The Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation has already begun initiatives to solve some of the problems identified during preparation of the study. For example, the Recorded Sound Section of the Packard Campus has obtained a license to stream acoustical recordings controlled by the Sony Music Entertainment for the Library of Congress National Jukebox, which will debut later in 2010.

The Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation is a state-of-the-art facility funded as a gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is the site where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings (www.loc.gov/avconservation/). The Packard Campus is home to more than six million collection items, including nearly three million sound recordings. It provides staff support for the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board, the National Recording Preservation Board, and the National Registries for film and recorded sound.

Photo: Vice-President Elect Harry Truman’s family listening to election returns, 1944.