A VERY SPECIAL EVENT:

TOWN HALL WITH HEALTH DEPARTMENT

JOIN US FOR A DIALOGUE ABOUT VITAL RECORDS

ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER ELIZABETH BEGIER, MD, MPH,

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE, BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS,

WILL ANSWER QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS ABOUT NYC VITAL RECORDS

HOSTED BY:

Edna Wells Handy, Commissioner, Department of Citywide Administrative Services

Eileen Flannelly, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Records & Information Services

WHEN:

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

WHERE:

DEPARTMENT OF RECORDS VISITOR CENTER, 31 Chambers Street, Room 112- LOBBY

RSVP TO: visitorcenter@records.nyc.gov

RSVP IS REQUIRED

(WE REGRET WE CANNOT ACCOMMODATE WALK-INS FOR THIS EVENT)

Walking into the new Visitors Center at New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS), one would never guess that the entire exhibition on display there was completed through volunteer work and with a budget of $60,000. It is not only evident that the displays of memorabilia, photographs, and documents were a labor of love, but also truly impressive that this work was achieved despite prohibitive time and monetary constraints.

I recently spoke with Eileen Flannelly, DORIS Deputy Commissioner, about the hard work that went into creating the Visitors Center.

Just a year and a half ago, the cluster of rooms adjoining the City Hall Library were little more than a "dumping ground" for the files and paperwork of former staff. Flannelly's idea to turn the unused space into a public space for the viewing of collections materials was met with little enthusiasm and even less monetary support. In response, she rallied her employees who worked together, without financial compensation, to clear out the space, box up important materials, and dispose of unneeded items. When City Hall officials were brought in to inspect the space, their surprise over the progress was clear. With the subsequent help of a $60,000 grant and the support of her superiors, Flannelly tackled the chore of installing lighting, painting walls, locating storage and display furniture, and general sprucing up. Aided by staff members, and led by Personnel Director Naomi Pacheco and Budget Director Barbara Filiberto, the department was able to createundefinedin the span of a single fiscal year and solely through volunteer laborundefineda sparkling space to showcase the story of New York City as told through its official governmental activities.

Set amidst stunning black and white photographs taken by Eugene de Salignac, gifts given to former Mayors, and an outpost of the NYC City Store, is a sizable media room. In this room, the public can investigate digitized film, video, and audio materials, including thousands of 16-inch lacquer transcription discs and open reel tapes from the vast WNYC sound collection. MJ Robinson, former Curator of Film and Moving Image for the department's WNYC-TV collection, coordinated the creation of this portion of the space.

Flannelly says the Visitors Center receives traffic not only from tour groups from historical societies, universities, and law schools, but also from high schools, a demographic group with which she is very interested in engaging. In fact, a group of interns recently completed an innovative project using Facebook: each student was assigned a Mayor (Koch, Lindsay, and La Guardia) and assembled a profile consisting of his photos, important events, and reflections. The project was the focus of a recent meeting of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Social Media.

In addition to the Visitors Center, DORIS has recently launched, with much fanfare and acclaim, an online gallery of nearly 900,000 photographs documenting every aspect of life in New York City. This project, the product of seven years' worth of work and counting, was led by Curator of Photography Michael Lorenzini. With the help of a long stream of interns and temporary employees, photographs in a variety of formats were selected, cleaned, digitized, described, and preserved, thereby creating a digital gallery of images that has generated so much international interest that it crashed the department’s servers within minutes of press release.

On September 13, 2012, the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (ART) co-sponsored ART’s monthly program with DORIS, which included a presentation and exclusive tours of the Visitors Center, City Hall Library, and Conservation Lab for over 100 attendees. Many who had visited before were impressed by the transformation that has taken place.

The general public is welcome to stop by the NYC Department of Records Visitors Center at 31 Chambers Street on Mondays through Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. An informational video is available here.

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (ART) opposes the $732,626 in budget cuts that will effectively close the Georgia State Archives on November 1, 2012, and have written a Letter in Support of Restoring Funding to the Georgia State Archives to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.

The letter has also been sent to Georgia Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp. In addition, a copy has been sent to the Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives, who hope to present letters opposing the budget cuts to Governor Deal on Wednesday, September 19 at the annual Georgia Archives Month proclamation signing.

More information about how to support the Georgia State Archives is available via the Current Actions section of the Advocacy Committee website.

As you may have heard, the Georgia State Archives is in danger of being closed due to budget issues in Georgia.  Currently, the Archives is open only two days per week; however, the new budget will close the building to the public entirely and result in major staff layoffs. The closure is slated to take effect on November 1, 2012. Read the Press Release issued by Georgia Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp for further details.

 

The ART Board is currently drafting a letter in opposition of the budget cuts to the Georgia State Archives. We are asking you to do the same.

 

The deadline to submit letters is this Tuesday, September 18. The Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives will present copies of these letters to the Georgia Governor at the annual Georgia Archives Month proclamation signing, scheduled for Wednesday, September 19 at 11 am at the Governor’s Office in the Georgia Capitol Building.

For key messages and contact info for the governor, see the “Action Alert.“ Please e-mail a copy of your letters to Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives Co-Chair Kaye Minchew: kaye@trouparchives.org. Ask your family, friends, co-workers, affiliated organizations, etc., to also send a letter.

 

You can also:

 

·       Sign the petition in support of the Georgia Archives

·      ‘Like’ the Georgians Against Closing State Archives page on Facebook.

 

Thank you in advance for your efforts to save the Georgia State Archives,

 

Rachel Chatalbash, President

Email: president@nycarchivists.org

 

Tiffany Colannino, Advocacy Committee Chair

Email: advocacy@nycarchivists.org

 

Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc.

New York Archives Week is almost here!

Please visit our Archives Week web page for a complete listing of all ART-coordinated Archives Week events or download our 2012 Archives Week calendar here. We are thrilled to announce that approximately twenty-five Archives Week events will be held in New York City this year. On behalf of all participating institutions, we hope you can attend.

*The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York recognizes the generous sponsorship of Archives Week by MetLife and the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation.

The Advocacy Committee of the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. endorses the International Council on Archives’ Universal Declaration on Archives and agrees that the Declaration is an important step in improving understanding and awareness of archives among the general public and key decision-makers. 

The ART Advocacy Committee encourages all ART members to review the Universal Declaration on Archives and to show their support for the Declaration by signing the Universal Declaration on Archives Register.

More information about the Universal Declaration on Archives is available via the Current Actions section of the Advocacy Committee website.

The Advocacy Committee of the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. supports the efforts of the Archivists Without Borders – U.S. Chapter (AwB-US) working group to bring a chapter of the international Archivists Without Borders organization to the United States.

The Advocacy Committee has written a letter of support to AwB-US, offering to act as a local resource and contact point for the New York City archives community.

Full text of the letter is available via the Current Actions section of the Advocacy Committee website.

Godaddy.com, which hosts the email accounts for the Archivists Round Table (ART), has been adversely affected today due to a hacker attack. As a result, ART is experiencing technical difficulties sending and receiving emails. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause for ART members and anyone else attempting to contact us. We will let you know as soon as this matter is resolved. Thank you.

On August 31, 2012 the Board of Directors of Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (ART) appointed Karen Murphy as Director of the Education Committee to fill a recently vacated position.  An election to officially fill the position will take place in November at the ART Monthly Meeting and Programming Event.

by Nick Pavlik, Director, ART Programming Committee