At the Archives
September 2021 eUpdate



Columbia University, Medical Scene circa 1910. From Digital Collections, NYSA_A3042-77.
New Diversity and Collaborative Project Launched
The Archives Partnership Trust is excited to share that we have received a Laura Bush 21st Century Leadership Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services to expand ConsidertheSourceNY.org. This grant funds a statewide project that will expand the New York Council for History Education (NYCHE) network, establish Diversity & Collaborative Knowledge Centers and Institutes, and increase the number of primary sources for educators available to include more historical records related to the history of traditionally underrepresented groups. For more information, call (518) 473-7091 or click here.
Thursday, September 23
7:00 p.m. 
Cultural Education Center
Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12230

In-person and livestream 
Join the Archives Partnership Trust for an engaging evening of conversation between current New York State Attorney General Letitia James and former Attorney General Robert Abrams, author of The Luckiest Guy in the World: My Journey in Politics.
In 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, New York’s highest court - The Court of Appeals - upheld a petition granted by the Superior Court in New York City for the release of eight enslaved people (including six children) brought to New York by Virginians Jonathan and Juliet Lemmon on their way to Texas. Join the discussion of this celebrated case that brought up hard questions about slavery within the United States and challenged the slavery laws between the northern and southern states.
7 Documentary Heritage Program Grants Awarded
Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) grants are designed to build a more comprehensive and equitable documentation of New York State’s history and culture by supporting projects that identify, survey, collect, arrange, describe, and make available records that relate to groups and topics traditionally under-represented in the State’s historical record. For more information about the DHP grants program, click here.
Above: Puerto Rican Day Parade. Photo courtesy of Teatro Experimental Yerbabruja.
2021-2022 Awardees

  • Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe - Project will focus on gathering and assembling documents, artifacts, photographs and published articles to develop a historical, visual and detailed view of Akwesasne - its land and its people.

  • Friends of Alice Austen - Project will open the collection to researchers; move the scholarship of Austen forward by connecting the documentation content to the subjects of her photographic works; and create a public, written record of her life.

  • Pratt Institute - Project will process records of the Pratt Center for Community Development, a community-driven organization that works for a more just and sustainable New York City in partnership with community-based groups, small businesses, and the public sector. Its records document topics of affordable housing, open space, and jobs. 

  • College of Staten Island/CUNY - Project will bring together multiple local stakeholders interested in understanding, preserving, and making accessible the overlapping histories of disability-specific movements and advocacy organizations that emerged after World War II and into the 1980s.

  • Teatro Experimental Yerbabruja Inc. - Begin work on the documentation planning stage in order to identify and survey the annual Puerto Rican/Hispanic Day Parade and other related historical records.

  • Brooklyn Public Library - Project will process the records of three neighborhood civic groups whose work focuses on issues such as gentrification, redlining, environmental pollution, historic preservation, and civic engagement: Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, Prospect Lefferts Garden Neighborhood Association, and the Park Slope Civic Council.

  • Onondaga Historical Association - Project will support review of the collection of 16 mm video footage of local newscasts from 1965-1978, to identify and organize an inventory of content, and support research and public access to material.
The Attica Uprising and its Aftermath: 50 Years Later
The September 1971 uprising at Attica Correctional Facility in Western New York was one of the most significant events in the history of the American corrections system. Scholars and professionals in the criminal justice field, as well as current policy makers, look to the lessons of Attica for guidance in addressing conditions in American prisons. The State Archives began receiving records directly related to the uprising from state agencies in 1990, a process that continues to this day. 

New Research Page - A guide to records held in the State Archives is now available here.
New York State Archives
The State Archives Public Research Room is open, by appointment, Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Our online services, including our e-mail reference services and telephone reference continue to be available Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. To make an appointment, call (518) 474-8955 or archref@nysed.gov.

New York Archives Partnership Trust, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, supports education, preservation and outreach programs not funded by the state in order to make accessible archives from over 350 years of New York's colonial and state governments. Visit us at nysarchivestrust.org.