What is Past is Prologue: The Future of Memory
New York Archives Week Symposium & Awards Ceremony 2025
The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (A.R.T.) is pleased to announce that the annual A.R.T. Symposium and Awards Ceremony will take place in-person at the Center for Brooklyn History on Friday, October 17th, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with registration starting at 9:30 AM.
The theme, "What is Past is Prologue," is a quote from Shakespeare’s The Tempest and is also inscribed at the National Archives Building. The quote was chosen to reflect recent challenges to memory institutions, such as the dismissal of the National Archivist and the proposed elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. These issues create a difficult environment for institutions, which must not only preserve and provide access to unique histories but also adapt to an evolving landscape with limited resources.
As memory institutions prepare for the nation's 2026 semiquincentennial, this symposium offers a chance for archives professionals to reflect on their field's history and future. The event will focus on contemporary archival work, including rethinking theory, preserving endangered histories, community-centered collaboration, and creative access methods.
The symposium will be followed by an Awards Ceremony to celebrate the distinguished work and lasting achievements of individuals and institutions in the profession.
This is an in-person event limited to 100 people. Advance registration is required and is non-transferable. You must reserve a ticket online to attend both the symposium and the awards ceremony.
Coffee and a light lunch will be provided.
Please reach out to the Director of Education, Herbert Durán, at education@nycarchivists.org with any questions.
Date: Friday, October 17th, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location
Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Admission
A.R.T. Members: $30.00 per person
A.R.T. Student Member: $15.00 per person
Non-A.R.T. Members: $45.00 per person
Please note: This event will not be recorded, but presentations will be organized in a proceedings document available sometime after the event.
Program
Keynote Address:
"Material Resistance" by Obden Mondésir, Archivist at the Haitian Studies Institute, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Archives in Praxis
Archives in Praxis brings together panels that invite us to reimagine archival theory and practice. As professionals in the library, archives, and records management fields, it's important to constantly challenge our everyday practices and thoughts. This panel will provide us with an expanded foundation on archival theory and two case studies to illustrate the inclusion of communities often excluded from the historical record.
Towards a Postmodern Theory of the Wall Archive | Pat Santalices Torres, PhD Student, Columbia University
Endangered Archives: Student Newspapers, Censorship, and the Fight to Preserve Campus History | Wanett Clyde, Collections Management Librarian, Ursula C. Schwerin Library, New York City College of Technology and Carlos Semchechen, Graduate Student
Dear Sister Bryophyte: Providing Access to the Archival Records of Women in Natural History | Ashley Aberg, Reference Archivist, New York Botanical Garden and Nicole Font, Shelby White & Leon Levy Processing Archivist, New York Botanical Garden
Archives Off-Center
Archives Off-Center, will delve into novel forms of organization and collaboration for archival projects. In a time of institutional challenges and the return of regressive historical narratives, it is critical that we seek to strengthen and expand existing partnerships with our communities, even as that work is increasingly imperiled and under-funded. This panel will discuss their efforts to center communities in their work as well as outline their approaches to preservation and stewardship as they expand past the traditional boundaries and structures of the archival institution.
XFR Collective: Community Archiving Through Collaboration | Claudia Acosta, Vincent Kelley, and Scout Zabel, XFR Collective
Decentralizing Archival Practice to Imagine Otherwise | Miranda Mims and Steven G. Fullwood, Nomadic Archivists Project (NAP)
Archives as Place
Archives as Place will explore the archive as a site of interpretation. In times of unprecedented challenges, it is imperative that we evolve to meet the needs of new publics. When we activate the archives through storytelling, we can encourage fresh, new engagement with the collections we steward, while also demonstrating the vitality of our work. This panel will expound on three innovative and impactful methods to welcome audiences into archival spaces.
Witnessing the Archives: The Challenges and Benefits of Tours as Reference | Linda L. Smith, Graduate Student/Student Worker, New York University
Funk in Flux: The Apollo Theater in Transition | Brad San Martin, Digital Archivist, The Apollo
Investigation and Interpretation: Immersive Art at Planting Fields | Marie Penny, Michael D. Coe Archivist, Planting Fields Foundation
Documenting the Ephemeral
Documenting the Ephemeral will examine the future of endangered materials, critical to local storytelling, in the face of tightening budgets and shifting institutional priorities. Often overlooked or disregarded, records from localized sources such as regional news stations and community cemeteries face erasure and dispersal despite their vital importance as sites of public memory. In this panel, archivists and historians will discuss the ways in which they located farflung assets as well as extended access through outreach and coalition-building.
Memories of Memorialization: The Presbrey-Leland Memorials Collection at the Woodlawn Cemetery & Conservancy | Maddy Heller, Archivist, The Woodlawn Cemetery & Conservancy and Jesse Ludington, Development Associate, The Woodlawn Cemetery & Conservancy
Where Have All the Archives Gone? The State of Local TV News in NYC | Stephanie Jenkins, Documentary Producer / Archival Researcher and Co-Director of Archival Producers Alliance
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Please note that by registering and attending this event, you automatically grant your consent to be photographed and/ or video-recorded and to the release, publication, or reproduction of any and all recorded media of your appearance, voice, and name for any purpose whatsoever in perpetuity in connection with the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. and its initiatives, including, by way of example only, use on websites, in social media, news, newsletters, Metropolitan Archivist, and advertising.
