NYC Archives Roundtable

October Events Planned for Archives Month

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Hundreds of organizations in the archives community across New York State, will celebrate Archives Month with special commemorative activities.

Archives Month is an annual celebration aimed at informing the general public of the diverse array of materials available in local archives. Among the many activities free and open to the public will be open houses, exhibitions, lectures, workshops and behind-the-scenes tours of archives.

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 centuries of New York history and culture.

Albany

The Albany County Hall of Records, at 95 Tivoli Street, Albany, will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary with an Open House on Wednesday, October 17, 2012, 10AM to 2PM. County Clerk Thomas G. Clingan invites all interested chroniclers of history to attend.The celebration will include speakers recounting a brief history of the Hall of Records, an exhibit of archival records entitled “Albany’s History: Treasure by Treasure,” tours of the facility, and light refreshments. The exhibit will display some of the Hall of Records’ treasures, like the handmade map of the 1810 Post Road between Albany and New York City, an early deed showing Indian signs, Albany’s original 1686 City Charter, court records written in Dutch, and Civil War Allotment Rolls. RSVP at 487-5146 or [email protected].

New York City

In New York City, The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York (ART) is leading promotion of archives events. Among those participating in New York City are historical societies, universities, libraries, and cultural organizations. Highlights include: tours of the archives at the Museum of the City of New York, the Davis Library Archives and Special Collections at St. John’s University, and the Girl Scouts of USA National Historic Preservation Center- open house presentations at the Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. and the Interference Archive- and a presentation by Manhattan Borough Historian, Michael Miscione.  A complete list of Archives Week events and schedules in NEw York City can be found on the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York’s website. Pre-registration for some events is required.

Photo courtesy Michigan Tech Archives Blog.

Fall Archives and Activism Symposium in NYC

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On October 12, the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York and the New School Archives and Special Collections will be co-sponsoring Archives and Activism, a symposium exploring the burgeoning relationship between archives/archivists and social and political activist movements. Proposals for individual papers and group panels to be presented at the symposium are currently being accepted. See the official CFP below:

Archives and Activism: Call for Papers

“The rebellion of the archivist against his normal role is not, as so many scholars fear, the politicizing of a neutral craft, but the humanizing of an inevitably political craft.&#8221
&#8211 Howard Zinn &#8220Secrecy, Archives, and the Public Interest,&#8221 Vol. II, No. 2 (1977) of Midwestern Archivist.

The boundaries between &#8220archivist&#8221 and &#8220activist&#8221 have become increasingly porous, rendering ready distinctions between archivists (traditionally restricted to the preservation of records, maintaining accountability, and making critical information available to the communities they serve) and activists (who, with greater frequency, look to archives or adopt elements of archival practice as a means of documenting their struggles) virtually unsustainable. In the past year, archivists and citizen activists collaborated to document the Occupy Wall Street movement, and archivists committed to open government worked with the New York City Council to advocate for keeping the Municipal Archives as an independent city agency. While the apparent convergence of archival and activist worlds may appear a timely and relevant topic, these distinct communities often deliberate their roles separately with little dialogue.

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York and the New School Archives and Special Collections are sponsoring a symposium to bring together a diverse group of archivists, activists, students, and theorists with the aim of facilitating discussion of their respective concerns. Among its proposed topics, the symposium will address potential roles that archivists may engage in as activists, as well as how archivists can assume a greater role in documenting and contributing toward social and political change.

Possible areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

-Archivists documenting the work of activists and activist movements
-Activists confronting traditional archival practice
-Possible models for an emergent “activist archives”
-Methodologies for more comprehensively documenting activism
-Archivist and activist collaborations
-Community-led archives and repositories operating outside of the archival
establishment
-Archives as sites of knowledge (re)production and in(ter)vention
-Relational paradigms for mapping the interplay of power, justice, and archives
-Critical pedagogy in the reference encounter
-Interrogating preconceptions and misunderstandings that obscure common goals

Date: Friday, October 12, 2012

Location: Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, The New School

All individual presentations will be 20 minutes long (10 page paper).
Submissions must include a title, name of author and institutional affiliation (if applicable), abstract (250 words max), and indication of technological requirements.
Individual papers or entire panel proposals accepted.

Deadline for Proposals: Proposals should be emailed to [email protected] by August 1, 2012.

Nick Pavlik: A New Face for the Associated Press

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Recently, the Associated Press (AP), one of the world’s most respected news agencies, unveiled its brand new logo (proudly displayed on its official website), retiring its previous logo of 31 years. To help usher in the AP’s new look and its accompanying visual identity system, the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York held its latest monthly programming event at the AP Corporate Archives. The event was attended by an impressive turnout and explored the development, design, and promotion of the AP’s new logo.

Featured speakers included Francesca Pitaro, AP Processing Archivist- Matt Cluney, AP Director of Marketing, Americas- and David Jalbert-Gagnier, principal of the design firm Objective Subject.

Ms. Pitaro spoke on the organization of the AP Publications Collection in the Corporate Archives, as well as how the historical graphic art contained in the collection provided invaluable context for the development and design of the new logo. Mr. Cluney spoke on the collaborative ventures between the AP Marketing and Creative Services teams for publicly marketing the new logo, while Mr. Jalbert-Gagnier expounded upon the creative and historical process of producing the AP’s new logo design and associated visual identity assets.

Presentations were followed by a viewing of the exhibit (AP) Means Associated Press: 166 Years of Logotype Design, curated by Valerie Komor, Director of the Corporate Archives, and former Assistant Archivist Sam Markham. The exhibit presented historical AP publications and promotional materials that illustrated the evolution of the AP’s visual identity, as well as a timeline of AP World magazine covers from 1944 to 2011.

For New York City archivists, this was a great opportunity to hear about and learn from a wonderfully successful interdepartmental initiative involving archives within a corporate setting.

More information on the AP’s new logo and visual identity system can be found on the AP’s FAQ page on this subject.

Photos: Above, AP seal, 1900- middle, event attendees perusing the exhibit (AP) Means Associated Press: 166 Years of Logotype Design (courtesy of AP Photo/Santos Chaparro)- and below, an AP Service Bulletin from January 1926.

Help NYCs Dept of Records, Information Services

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At the behest of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the New York City Council has proposed legislation that would eliminate the autonomy of New York City’s Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS), the agency that is responsible for the records and archival documents produced by past and present City governments. The proposed legislation (Int. 486-2011) would place the currently independent agency within the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS).

If passed, this legislation would significantly downgrade the authority of DORIS within City government and potentially put at risk its ability to preserve, protect and make accessible the intellectual legacy of one of the world’s greatest cities. A full position statement on the proposed legislation is available on the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York’s website at http://nycarchivists.org/.

Please add your name to the sign-on letter to oppose the proposed legislation, and advocate for the preservation of DORIS as an autonomous records agency, with the financial support and professional respect it deserves. The sign-on letter is located at http://nycarchivists.org/doris_petition. Every signature matters. Help New York City, as an international cultural and financial leader, and the place with the greatest variety and highest density of archives in the world, set the standard for how a democratic government preserves and makes accessible its documentary heritage.

Welcome Nick Pavlik of NY Archivists Round Table

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Please join us in welcoming our latest contributor from the New York Archivists Round Table, Nick Pavlik. Nick is the archivist for the 92nd Street Y, one of New York City’s preeminent community and cultural institutions. He is responsible for the management of all records documenting the Y’s rich history, which extends back to 1874 and testifies to the Y’s vital role in serving New York’s Jewish community, as well as its important contribution to New York’s intellectual and cultural life through the presentation of talks, lectures, and performances by celebrated national and international political leaders, literary figures, musicians, and performing artists.

Nick was also a member of the project team for &#8220Uncovering the Secrets of Brooklyn’s Nineteenth-Century Past: Creation to Consolidation,&#8221 an archival survey project at the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) that resulted in the creation of hundreds of online descriptive records for BHS’s unique archival collections documenting several aspects of Brooklyn’s nineteenth-century history. Nick has also interned as an archivist at the American Museum of Natural History and the New York Transit Museum.

On New York History, Nick will be posting content related to the myriad activities of the Archivists Round Table as it works to cultivate collaborations among New York City’s archival repositories and foster greater public understanding of the role archivists play in preserving and providing access to the historical record.

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.

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]