Archival Appraisal, Arrangement, and Access

Fall 2024 welcome post and discussion

First, sign up for a Commons account. Then, add your contribution in the comments of this post!

Please take a browse through the Queens College instance of JSTOR Community Collections. This JSTOR instance has both archives and museum collections, but for the purposes of this assignment please make sure you are reviewing archives collections.

Select one digital item that grabbed your interest, showed you something new, surprised you, etc., and write a couple sentences about what intrigued you (please include the link to your item). What questions do you have about the item? Why is it in Queens College Special Collections and Archives?

Then, try and think of all the places an archivist interacted with this one item so that you could see it in this form. List those interaction points!

Commenting on other posts is not required but is encouraged!

33 responses to “Fall 2024 welcome post and discussion”

  1. G. Chance Sevigny Avatar
    G. Chance Sevigny

    For this assignment, I chose the college’s archive of the publication Greek News: https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/greeknews/?so=item_title_str_asc

    This stood out to me immediately – I didn’t particularly associate QC or Queens in general with the American Hellenic diaspora. This demonstrated my ignorance on the subject, as it led me to read about the Greek community in Astoria and the profound influence that neighborhood had on greek immigrant cultural life. I can imagine back issues of Greek News would be of immense value to anyone researching the history of that community (or individual members therein), especially in Queens, whether they be students/faculty of Queens college or local historians.

    Points of interaction:
    – Initial Acquisition
    – Initial appraisal / selection for the archives (aquiring the materials and deciding which issues were usable, relevant, or redundant – could have occurred during acquisition or later)
    – Further detailed appraisal (summarizing and annotating the contents, conducting research to help clarify the context of the materials)
    – Arrangement / organization of materials (including putting them in order for ease of future access, aligning them with the archive’s retrieval system, making sure they are protected against damage, and physically putting them in storage)
    – Digitization for access via JSTOR (retrieving relevant issues, scanning them, formatting the PDF, adding metadata in accordance with JSTOR’s standards, clarifying copyright procedure)

    Reply
  2. Lee Jutton Avatar
    Lee Jutton

    I decided to look through the Campus and Queens Activism of the 1960s
    collection as I know QC has a history of student activism – the Rosenthal Library clock tower is named for three activists who were murdered during Freedom Summer, one of whom was a QC student – and wanted to learn more about it.

    I was particularly interested in these anti-war and political protest buttons: https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32438139

    I’m a big fan of buttons as an eye-catching and relatively cheap way to spread a message and make one’s beliefs known, and it’s interesting to look at these buttons and see what political issues were top of mind for QC student activists at that time, such as ending the draft and freeing prisoners. These buttons are part of the Arthur Gatti papers; he was a QC student involved in the Queens College Mississippi Freedom Project, the Queens College Mexico Volunteers, and the Queens College branches of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and now I want to learn more about him and what he did after leaving QC: https://qcarchives.libraryhost.com/resources/arthur_gatti_papers

    As far as archivist interaction points go, these were the first that came to mind:
    – initial acceptance of the Arthur Gatti papers into the archive
    – appraisal of the collection and selection of items (if applicable) for the QC archive
    – preservation and organization of items in the collection, including relevant processes to preserve and store any fragile materials
    – photography of items in the collection that is uploaded to JSTOR with relevant item descriptions

    Reply
  3. Nande Walters Avatar
    Nande Walters

    These images from the Civil Rights collection stood out to me and made me wonder about the context and ask many questions. They’re both called “Ku Klux Klan rally”
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28617513
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28617514
    What is this? The description and context sections of the item state that the photos were taken at a KKK rally in South Carolina in 1965. The Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) Project by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) took place that summer. 500, mostly white, students from northern and western United States universities traveled to the South to work on voter registration. Several white civil rights workers and volunteers attended this rally “to observe what it was like.” Photographs were collected by Dean Savage from the Columbia Univerity Delegation
    Why is this here? I would assume that there were students from Queens College who participated in this summer program because there are dozens of photographs from the 1960s in southern states. The JSTOR record links to the Dean Savage Papers in the QC archives. The page says that Dean Savage was a volunteer with the program in the summer of 1965 and highlights some of the objects in the collection. The historical note gives more context to the SCOPE project, but the biographical note offers more insight into why the collection is at QC. While Savage earned his Master’s and PhD from Columbia University, he’s been a sociology professor since 1971 and served as the Sociology department chair. I think this collection is in the QC archive because of the historical significance of the civil rights movement. It was acquired in 2011, which is interesting because I would have guessed they were acquired in the 1970s. I suppose it would take decades for the material to be historical and “worth” archiving.
    I also looked up what cross burning signifies because it seems contradictory for white supremacists to destroy a religious symbol. From what I’ve read, its purpose is only for spectacle and is historically very horrifying. These images and why they are in the QC archive would be very different without context. Thankfully, their owner is living, is the primary or secondary source, and has decades of education and experience to provide the context for the archive and interested researchers.

    Reply
  4. Ailbhe McDonnell Avatar
    Ailbhe McDonnell

    The item I have chosen is one of five available composition notebooks kept by a group which saw a few different names (eventually GLASA: Gender, Sexuality and Love Alliance), though for the iterations available on jstor the student group was still known as the Gay and Lesbian Union (GLU). This journal, which was kept in their Student Union office, covers 1989-1991.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34291531

    I was initially drawn to this collection because I love perusing queer archival material, and I thought it may give some insight to life on campus for queer students entering into the nineties. Upon reading through a fair amount of entries from GLU members it became clear that while camaraderie and resources were shared in the pages, tension and conflict were as well. Shifts in feeling as a result of in person resolution (or further issues) at meetings of the group were reflected as well, albeit with assumption — one member who was frustrated in their previous entry may seem to be right as rain in the next. Perhaps meeting minutes would fill in the gaps here, as one entry mentioned this as part of the secretary’s duties. Some of the issues that arose are ones I recognize from other archival material around this time, and in some ways still today, such as: who is or should be included in the group, how to refer to the group and its members, how to handle homophobia on campus proactively and when it arose. Aspects of life outside the group, like current events and personal life events, were woven throughout the journal.

    Places of interaction:
    – Acquisition, I assume from more recent GLASA members, though I wonder when the QC archive began collecting materials from the group. The description of the collection that these journals live within notes journals were kept from 1987-2017, so there was still momentum around the keeping of the journals in recent years.
    – Appraisal, including providing context, description, metadata assignment and redaction for this particular journal. At what point in the process were last names, phone numbers and other personal information redacted? Was this per the donor’s request at the time of acquisition or the archivist’s discretion? If done by the archivist, was context from the greater collection used (i.e, was there a list of group members per year to refer to? perhaps even to attempt to contact?)
    – Arrangement in the collection, as I imagine there is more physically available than the 5 digitally available journals.
    – Scanning for digitization – this notebook has 126 pages! That is a lot of careful scanning, as some of these pages look worse for wear.
    – Rights considerations before making the items available publicly.

    Reply
  5. Lori Vroegindewey Avatar
    Lori Vroegindewey

    I chose to look at one of the scrapbooks of Dr. Andrew M. Geller who was a professor in the Biology department at Queens College and was considered a longtime expert on the flora of the New York metropolitan region and an environmental advocate in Queens, fighting for local park preservation.

    In particular, I was drawn to the “Clippings on Andrew Greller and Environmentalism” which brings together various news clippings from different sources, featuring Geller’s work.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.37868778?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Ffaculty%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ac1589700fc830b3908378c7112298e24&seq=16

    Geller was deeply tied to multiple public parks in Queens, including Alley Pond Park. One of these clippings shares how he testified against the expansion of the LIE as it threatened natural resources.

    I think this local natural history and professorial activism is so important to preserve–especially in the face of present environmental crises and activism.

    Archivist interaction points:
    -Acquiring the Dr. Geller collection for the QC archive
    -Appraisal of the collection and selection of items to keep
    –Initial organization of items and any preservation needs
    -Description of items
    -Digitization of items
    –Uploading of items onto JSTOR and adding descriptions

    Reply
  6. Stefan D-W Avatar
    Stefan D-W

    An item in the Andrew Geller Scrapbooks (link below) caught my attention. It’s a 1983 article, likely from a school newspaper, about a production of Babes in Arms that features a photo of a boy mugging with an acoustic guitar. The caption identifies the boy as Dan Geller.

    I was interested in these scrapbooks because of Queens College botany professor Andrew Geller’s work on preserving Potamogeton Pond. I like botany and waterways, and I love the very personal, organic, and scattershot qualities I’ve found in many scrapbooks. While this article has nothing to do with plants or ponds, it exemplifies what I love about scrapbooks.

    My guess is that the article is about Professor Andrew Geller’s son and that it was originally collected by the professor. The item looks like it’s in excellent condition, so I suspect he never tacked or taped it up on display but quickly added it to a stack of articles mostly about his academic and activist work. I expect these were put in a folder and turned over to Queens College Special Collections at his retirement. That folder was probably then noted in an initial survey before anyone noticed this aberrant item. Perhaps the clipping clung to the one before it; perhaps the folder was never opened during the survey. The article is not mentioned in the description for the item Clippings on Andrew Geller and Environmentalism.

    Perhaps the person doing the digitization paused to wonder if it should be included. I’m glad they went ahead and digitized it so we could have this very personal context on Andrew Geller. So, now I wonder whether, during the Potamogeton Pond plant-in event referred to in another article, there was a kid singing My Funny Valentine under his breath as he tried to dig a hole for a native sapling.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.37868778?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Ffaculty%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Aec702d0e140009a6c6bcfa69be19ec22&seq=15

    Reply
  7. Milsa Fernandez Avatar
    Milsa Fernandez

    I chose the GLASA (Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance) Journals.
    (https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/glasa-journals/?so=item_title_str_asc).

    I was drawn to this specific entry because it brought back memories of my days spent chatting with friends on AIM in the early 2000s. Reading some of the notes in these journals from someone sharing how encouraged they were by their coach to someone passing a message along to a friend about meeting up, is absorbing. I find it curious that there are just 4 entries in this notebook, which spans the years 1987 through 1994. Did the students stop writing down their daily activities, or did technology influence their communication options?

    I believe these diaries are part of Queens College’s unique collections, which highlight the various viewpoints and thoughts that students had and provide current students with printed information to contextualize the channels of communication of the past.

    There are several ways in which archivists interacted with these items:
    Appraising the items.
    Preserving the journals.
    Catalog items for public access.
    Maintaining electronic records.

    Reply
  8. Brook GRanda Avatar
    Brook GRanda

    I was particularly interested in the photographs of the Black Student Union members at Lloyd Delany Hall. The photo collection is extensive and diverse, but I have a soft spot for demonstrations of unity. Although it is a more recent photograph, it effectively demonstrates how individuals have engaged with their community. I’m really interested in getting to know the people in the photograph, but it appears that there isn’t much information available about them at the moment. Since it’s relatively recent, there is a good possibility that additional details will be added.

    Why is it in Queens College Special Collections and Archives? This photo includes a sign that is on the Queens College campus, as well as possible students who might have attended during the Spring 22 Semester.

    Likely Archivist interaction points:
    Acquisition: Potentially received from an individual featured in the photograph
    Appraisal: descriptions, and metadata
    Arrangement within the collection: Life at Queen College
    Scanning/uploading for digitization: It is unclear whether this will involve a direct upload or scanning (upload is likely)
    Uploading to the site and verifying information- including related subjects

    Reply
  9. Katherine Parente Avatar
    Katherine Parente

    While browsing through the collections, I decided to look through the archives that contain the Queens College yearbooks. The earliest in the collection is from 1941, and the item that caught my eye was the Silhouette yearbook from June 1944. I was curious to see how the yearbook acknowledged the war and the students and staff affected. What stood out most was how the yearbook highlights how Queens College responded to the news of the war, such as gaining over 1,000 student volunteers, the student council setting up a war committee, holding book drives, donating blood, and having routine drills in case of an emergency on campus. The book also highlights the names of students who left the college to join the military.
    Another aspect that stood out to me was how the yearbook provides a brief description of each graduating student, allowing the reader to learn about students such as Josephine Levin who loved creative writing, or Kathleen Murphy who was the historian and secretary for her sorority.
    It was easy to determine why Queens College has these yearbooks in the archives, as they are a vital part of the college’s history and important to remember past events and students, especially those like the 1944 edition, where we are able to see a glimpse of how students and staff handled the tumultuous times while trying to maintain some normalcy on campus, such as on-campus clubs, Greek life, and sports teams.
    The archivist interactions for this item to end up in the archives could be:
    Acquisition of the yearbook: obtaining an original print copy of the book.
    Appraisal of the yearbook: determining the value of the book and keeping it in the collection.
    Arrangement of the yearbook: cataloging and organizing it into the collection.
    Digitization: scanning and making it available in the digital collection for users on JSTOR.
    Link to item:
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28618655?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fyearbooks%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A946cb479196d162979880b70bdc58914&seq=14

    Reply
  10. Joey Ventura Avatar
    Joey Ventura

    The item that caught my interest the most was the GLASA (Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance) journals. These journals were kept in the office between 1987 and 2017 and were used by members of the club to interact with one another and write down updates from club officers. I always get excited reading about queer history, and it was fun being able to looking through the journals. There are only five journals uploaded from 1988 to 1994, and I’m curious to know if the journals from 1995 to 2017 are in the collection as well. It was interesting to see how in the earlier journals, some members would discuss their personal issues, or talk about crushes they had, but in the last journal, everyone was saying how boring the journal was and they were asking everyone to write more.

    Points of interaction that an archivist could have are:
    – Acquisition and accessioning; seeing whether the items fit the collection policy.
    – Appraisal and processing; organizing and cataloging.
    – Preservation and storage; inspecting items for damage and making possible repairs, and ensuring that the items are stored in appropriate conditions.
    – Scanning and uploading the journals.
    – Access and use and exhibitions; if patrons need to access the item or if they could be used in a possible exhibition.

    https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/glasa-journals/?so=item_title_str_asc

    Reply
  11. Christian Otero Avatar
    Christian Otero

    While browsing, I found myself particularly interested in the “Life at Queens College” collection. The collection contains digitized photographs from as far back as the 1930’s until today, of faculty, students, and campus life at Queens College. I find collections like these interesting as it sometimes feels like we may get caught up in what we know things to be, that sometimes seeing students from generations ago seems foreign. On the other hand, we sometimes over romanticize the past that we may not have lived, and collections such as this one shows us just how similar campus life was then to now. Except for the change in fashion for students and faculty, I would have believed these were taken within the past couple of years. The faces of the students in class or the library, the classrooms with nearly identical décor, it all feels familiar yet so different. To some extent it can be comforting to know there were many others who walked the same halls as us, some of which becoming notable alumni.

    It seems that these would be of importance to Queens College to keep in their archive for the exact experience I describe. To keep a record of not just the papers and exams of previous years, but the climate and environment of campus life. The interactions that are shared showing the beginnings of the campus and how it has grown and continues to grow. Campus life is just as important to a thriving college as the high scores and GPA’s of attending students.

    The description of the collection states that there are many more photographs to be digitized, which helps understand part of the process currently going on for archivist working on it.
    Possible points of interaction could be:
    – Acquisition of the photographs (student photos, ads, events, yearbooks, etc.)
    – Appraisal of the photos (conditional weeding, value to the collection)
    – Preservation (keeping the photos in a good condition for future use, humidity control, storage, etc.)
    – The ongoing process of digitization through scanning and uploading the photographs
    – Access and use of the photos for the collection via only collection and physical collection
    – Maintenance of collection (digital storage, collection information and updates)

    LINK TO COLLECTION:
    https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/photographs/?so=old

    -https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29113205
    -https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29113193
    -https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28460574
    -https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.33096229
    -https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.33095764
    -https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28460673
    -https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.33096051
    -https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.35646570

    Reply
  12. Josh Bernstein Avatar
    Josh Bernstein

    I chose the Photographs in Andrew Greller’s Scrapbook #1 for this assignment. What grabbed my attention was the cool retro look of some of the photographs, as well as the fact that he was an environmentalist/biologist. Furthermore, one of the photographs included here was taken out on Long Island in Riverhead. This specific county park where the photos were taken is a place that I have visited a few times and it was fascinating to see what it looked like 30 years ago when the photograph was taken. Adding to my interest of these photographs is the obvious look of serenity and happiness in Andrew’s eyes and face while he is out in nature. He genuinely seems excited to be there with his team and/or other sightseers that he encountered.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28485514

    Questions that arose for me were as follows: What kind of environmental studies were he and his team conducting on that visit to Indian Island Park in Riverhead? What are the locations of the other photographs? Some appear to have been taken from a higher vantage point. Were they atop a mountain somewhere? Nestled near a valley, perhaps? What were the purposes of these explorations into nature? Who are the people that made up his team? Andrew Greller taught at Queens College and his environmental work/activism was certainly impactful, leading to his photographs and scrapbooks ending up in the collections at Queens College.

    Archivist points of interaction include:

    >Acquisition of materials (photographs, documents, etc.)
    >Appraisal of select materials for inclusion in collection
    >Primary organization and preservation of materials
    >Brief descriptions of selected items
    >Digitization of said items
    >Uploading of materials to Queens College digital archives

    Reply
  13. Megan Delsey Avatar
    Megan Delsey

    I decided to look at the Civil Rights Movement Photographs and was struck by the Queens College representation at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom:

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28595617?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fcivilrightsphotos%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc%26searchkey%3D1725472748399%26doi%3D10.2307%252Fcommunity.28595617%26pagemark%3DeyJwYWdlIjoyLCJzdGFydCI6MjUsInRvdGFsIjozMzV9&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A26a1cfc4cb5ea0205d8673a6a5ddb4b5&searchkey=1725472748399

    Seeing the history of CUNY activism memorialized and celebrated feels especially poignant in light of the recent violence and oppression faced by student activists. I wonder what the college’s history of archiving student activism was like. And, I wonder if current activism will be found in Queens College archives of the future. I think this photo is in the archive because it shows QC students participating in a major historical event; maybe it functions as inspiration for future activists or just a reminder of an important historical event.

    Points of interaction:
    -The photo was probably either donated to or sought out by the college from Mark Levey.
    -It was then considered important enough to keep by someone in charge of appraisal
    -It probably had to digitized
    -Then organized and catalogued
    -Maybe they inscribed metadata into the image for digital longevity?
    -Then published for online consumption

    Reply
    1. Milsa Fernandez Avatar
      Milsa Fernandez

      This is a very poignant picture and it highlights the fervor in which college students are always on the right side of history.

      Reply
  14. Kayla Roden Avatar
    Kayla Roden

    I chose to take a look at the Queens College Seal Designs and Logos that are a part of the archival collection for this prompt. Since I am particularly captivated by art archiving, the seal designs were very interesting to look through. Seals are important to our college’s history because it gives an idea of what our school could have been or was associated with at one point. One that stood out to me the most was the design by A. Landrock which was ultimately not selected (. The seal design showcases an owl with a particular facial expression I found quite amusing. The owl sits perched on a branch and beside it are opened books with torches, which I would assume symbolizes knowledge. There is an alternative design for this seal which depicts the same owl, but instead of books with torches on either side of it, there is a crown behind it. Each of the designs include the roman numeral MCMXXXVII which I was not sure of. Upon a quick search I realized that it was the roman numeral for the year that Queens College was established, 1937.
    What drew me to this seal initially was the aspect of the owl. I could not pinpoint particularly why an owl would have been chosen to represent the school, aside from maybe the “wise” symbolism of the owl. I took this as an opportunity to try and find out the significance of the owl to our college campus and I managed to find out that there is an owl carving above Jefferson Hall as well! So while it could link to the idea of knowledge, the owl symbolism could directly relate back to a building on the campus which I thought was interesting. As a commuter to Queens College I never got the time to properly explore it, especially since I live on the east end of Long Island so engaging with this seal gave me a fun fact about a building on campus I never paid any mind to!

    Possible archivist interaction points may include:

    Acquisition: Though these seals in the collection were done for Queens College to determine which seal design would win, at some point the archivist would have needed to gain access to the physical designs in order to preserve them once the judgment period was over

    Appraisal: As we have already learned this can be a difficult process for archivists to make. This step involves deciding what to keep and what to discard in order to help maintain a specific institution’s mission or goals. In this case, it wasn’t specified how many entries there were for the seal designs. Was this all of them? Or were there other designs the archivists chose to omit? Metadata would also be collected at this stage such as the artist, year it was made and other aspects.

    Preservation: These seals can be considered works of art in some instances. The overlap between determining what is a work of art and what is a document/record can be difficult to determine. Some of these seals appear to be done in ink, while others appear more fragile. They would have to be stored in proper consideration to their paper material and the type of artistic material used to create the images.

    Digitization: The seals would have had to be either scanned or photographed in order to get them ready to be uploaded onto a digital archive, in this case JSTOR.
    Making it available to the public: The seals were published to a digital archive (JSTOR) so someone would have to ensure all information and metadata is properly uploaded and recorded to the digital space

    Seal design: https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31916370

    Reply
  15. emily Avatar
    emily

    I chose the QC Gay and Lesbian Union Journals of the 1987-1988 school year. For starters, I was not sure what content would be in these journals– I was thinking of them more like club diaries– but they were used like a message board (better yet a group chat) for the club which was so fun to read. I volunteer at the Lesbian Herstory Archives and I love coming across personal writing entries that have been donate to the archives because connecting with lesbians through history is important to me. It was interesting to get an inside look into how this club was doing at QC in the late 80s. According to the entries, no one seemed to be on top of club responsibilities and communication was poor. It’s nice to see that college clubs have had the same problems for over forty years.

    Questions I Have:
    where was the GLU office located on campus? Are the journals following the last digitized journal (1992-1994) going to be added to the online collection? Were members contacted before the journals were digitized and made accessible to the public– if so, how were members found?

    I can see archivists work in a few areas.
    1. The journals have been properly preserved as the ink and pages are not damaged and the pages are still legible.
    2. Acquisition of these journals– they had to have come from the GLU club’s personal collection or potentially past members.
    3. Digitization! These have been carefully and beautifully digitized to preserve the content of the journals!
    4. Accessibility! These journals have been made accessible to read online.

    Reply
  16. Gabriella Perez-Hernandez Avatar
    Gabriella Perez-Hernandez

    I looked through the collection of materials related to on-campus activism, after looking through some other collections and was left a bit uninspired. Here, I saw many interesting memos, fliers, and newsletters, but one item stood out the most – Art Gatti’s scrapbook of his experience with the Queens College Mexico Volunteers in 1963-64.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32210654

    This primarily intrigued me due to the varied materials within the scrapbook, including newspaper articles, photographs, postcards, and assorted ephemera. Along with these items were typed perspectives from Gatti written in 2008 when the scrapbook was assembled. Compared to usual scrapbooks, these inclusions provide a linear account on what the volunteers achieved, and the personal experiences of Gatti and others.

    Some questions I have about the item are primarily related to its creation, as in why did Gatti assemble this scrapbook decades after the events, and for what purpose? Compared to some other items you might typically find in archives, this scrapbook seems to be explicitly made for documentation purposes. It makes sense that it ended up at Queens College Special Collections and Archives, given that it concerns QC students and volunteer work done during their tenure.

    Some points of interaction:
    – Acquisition of the Arthur Gatti Papers where this item is from
    – Appraisal of the item and others
    – Description of the item
    – Adding finding aids and placing item within collection
    – Digitization, scanning of the scrapbook
    – Uploading onto the database, filling out entry details

    Reply
  17. Lauren Grabow Avatar
    Lauren Grabow

    I chose the Life at Queens College photographs. I was first overwhelmed by the large quantity of photos, but I played around by searching various keywords and changing dates to see what I could find. Several of my high school music teachers attended QC for graduate school, so I settled on the keyword ‘music’. While I didn’t see any of my prior teachers, nor was I expecting to, I found an image I enjoyed looking at! The image is titled “Music Class at Queens College” and it is from 1955!

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29113206

    What I love about the image is that it catpures student life in the classroom. The body language, the clothing, the faical expressions. The image offers a glimpse into the past. this wouldn’t be possible without the interaction of an archivist.

    Some points of interaction:
    -Acquisition- someone made the decision to give this image to QC
    -Appraisal- the image was saved as a part of the QC collection
    -Digitization- the image was scanned and uploaded to JSTOR
    -Tagging- the image was titled and was given a description so that it can be found both browsing the collection and when searching using key words.

    Reply
  18. Myra Avatar
    Myra

    I was interested in the Civil Rights Movement photographs from the collection of Mark Levy. The photographs document the involvement of Queens College students in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. In particular the photograph of the Pete Seeger performance in Meridian during Mississippi Freedom Summer stood out to me. He is at the Freedom School Convention in Meridien during Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964. This photograph spoke to me as a symbol of hope and unity bringing people together through music during a turbulent time. The image of people in song and the interlocking of hands is powerful and stands as an important historical record of this time. I wonder what song did Pete Seeger play?
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28596399
    Points of interaction:
    -Acquisition of the photo
    -Appraisal for inclusion in the collection
    -Preservation of photo
    -Description
    -Digitization of the photo for online collection

    Reply
  19. Sophia Gallagher Avatar
    Sophia Gallagher

    I chose the Campus and Queens Activism of the 70s collection and was very interested by the photo titled Anti-war and political protest pins. I really like to see the history of social and political movements, and especially the cultural products and material they leave through pins, fliers, posters, and other ephemera. This photograph has an arrangement of 26 pins with anti-war and anti-US intervention slogans, created between 1960-1975.Many of the pins are for specific rallies or marches, and I find it interesting how objects in archives can essentially be records of an event. The arrangement of these all together also ties together these different aspects of the protest and anti-war movement. These are part of the Arthur Gatti papers, a student at Queens College involved in activism. I guess I have questions regarding how archives determine whether they want this type of material or who they want to collect it from, especially as someone who often collects ephemera of protest movements myself. This relevance of this topic and the amount of material related activism in Queens College and beyond seems to make it suited to be a whole collection.

    Points of interaction-
    Acquisition of the pins
    Appraisal
    Description
    Creating finding aids and organization for collection
    Arranging and photographing the pins
    Uploading it into the database so online users can view it

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32438139?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Factivism1960s%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Aa2be900b12cabe1fd4a7bfee9a4ac3e1

    Reply
  20. Cristina Genao Avatar
    Cristina Genao

    I decided to go through the archive of Queens College Yearbooks (also known as The Silhouette)! Originally I looked through some earlier copies from 2003-2006 trying to find my Mom (she did a masters program here in education), but then I decided to look through the earliest yearbook archived, Silhouette 1941:

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28618649?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fyearbooks%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Aa56ad1ad10c92a5b5beae0dc98e2a4bd&seq=114

    I think one of the things that surprised me the most was that each and every yearbook photo of a graduating student had the clubs and societies they were in listed with them, as well as a hand-drawn cartoon! Every single one! They weren’t generic either, each one different and each one related to the student in some way. This was obviously possible in part due to the smaller graduating class size, but it was extremely impressive that someone was able to come up with an original drawing for each student, and I’m sure it made each member of the graduating class feel seen and special. I also wondered how much it cost to mass-produce the 160-page book for each member of the graduating class AND for the extras on file, but the advertisements I found in the back of the book helped to explain where some of that money could have come from. In terms of why Queens College would have it, it is directly associated with Queens College, and was the first in the continuous publishing of The Silhouette. It is a history of not only the legacy of Queens College, but the students and their traditions and practices as a student body.

    What would the points of interaction be for the archivists who preserved this book in 1941 to us being able to view it now as a digital PDF on the Queens College JSTOR Community Collections website?

    – The book would have first had to be appraised by the working archivists and/or librarians at the time to recognize this edition as relevant enough to be archived.
    – Then it would have had to be archived and stored by an archivist or librarian with Queens College somewhere with other valuable documents, preferably in a cool room.
    – It would have had to have been preserved until at LEAST the late 1970s in order for there to be a scanner in use to at least have printed scans of each individual page (as well as the covers)
    – If it wasn’t scanned then and still only stored, it would have only been until the mid-late 1990s when the pages would be able to be scanned digitally and uploaded.
    – Then it would have had to be uploaded onto their JSTOR for accessibility to the public, arranged as first in the order of yearbooks otherwise archived.

    Reply
  21. Michelle Kim Avatar
    Michelle Kim

    I was browsing the material on Campus and Queens Activism of the 1960s, and chose the student newspaper article, Mississippi Church Rebuilding Press, from the Arthur Gatti Papers. It initially caught my attention, because I wanted to know what churches in Mississippi would have to do with Queens College and why this article would be preserved at the QC archives. It turns out, the article is about a group of students and a professor from Queens College who drove down to Mississippi to help rebuild churches in the black community that were burned down by white supremacists. This item is kept in Queens College as part of the Arthur Gatti Papers – Arthur Gatti was a student activist in Queens College during the 1960s, and memorabilia relating to those activities were preserved in the college’s archives. As a student who took part in activism across the college, this item, along with the collection is significant in preserving the history of student activism in Queens College.
    Some questions I had were: How long did the Mississippi Freedom Project last in Queens college and were they able to ultimately achieve the goal of getting more involvement from local Mississippi college students? And if they did, are records of this project also kept in Tougaloo College and their archives?

    Points of Interaction:
    1. Acquisition: the item is part of the Arthur Gatti papers – obtaining the physical items from donations
    2. Appraisal of the items in the collection to see the archival value of the item
    3. Cataloging the item and storing it in the collection
    4. Digitizing the item and adding metadata to the online catalogue

    Link:
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32508770

    Reply
  22. Maria Byrne Avatar
    Maria Byrne

    Looking through the Campus and Queens Activism of the 1960s” collection, I was intrigued by a scan of a document called “Bus Rides against Tuition.” “https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32452301

    This item is not as “showy” perhaps as some of the posters and photos of marches pictured in this collection, but it exemplifies the work and planning required by Queens College activists in their organizing, which I think adds value and depth to the collection as a whole. While the text is blurred, the document lists a schedule for a protest being planned, which involved a 3 hour bus ride from Queens College to Albany to demonstrate in front of the State Capitol building. The item is not dated with a year, but the time of the protests is approximately between 1963-1964 per the additional context listed in the sidebar. This was interesting to me as I have heard how CUNY was tuition-free in the 1960s and early 1970s, and this fee the QC student activists were protesting was believed to be a step towards charging tuition (which the system ultimately did start doing). In a New York City course I took over the summer, I studied how the CUNY system beginning to charge tuition was in the midst of a period of great austerity in the city’s history. Immediately prior to the tuition being instituted, CUNY stopped processing applications of New Yorkers applying to get a free education. While CUNY is arguably very low cost today compared to private institutions, I wonder how the city would look today if the government prioritized keeping free university education (thus enabling more people to access).

    I think the likely archivist interaction points were:
    1) the initial acquisition: This was from the Arthur Gatti papers, who was involved with political and social activism at Queens College in the 1960s (but this may have been received from someone involved in the protest organizing or someone else who attended)
    2) Appraisal: the addition of the context, dating the flyer (since there is no year date on it), determining the value of this document to Queens College’s history
    3) Arrangement within the collection: Campus and Queens Activism of the 1960s and also in the Arthur Gatti papers
    4) Digitization via scanning and uploading
    5) Further research: archivists and historians researching Queens College activism and history may interact with this document

    Reply
  23. Daniel Giovanniello Avatar
    Daniel Giovanniello

    I decided to browse the “Life at Queens College” archive, and was grabbed by an image of an anti-tuition rally from 1965.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29709019

    I was interested in the range of the collection itself—much of it including somewhat more mundane-seeming yearbook photos and campus photos—and as a result was struck by the immediacy of this image, and the questions it brought up for me. I wanted to know more about the context of the rally itself, and the description (“Students lead a march against the implementation of tuition at Queens College in 1965”) made me wonder about the history of these protests at QC, having never heard of them previously. As for why the image is in the collection, it made sense that the “Life at QC” collection would include this historical snapshot of an on-campus protest about the college’s policies.

    Possible interaction points:

    Acquistion of the photo itself
    Appraisal of the photo to determine the value
    Selection of the photo to be a part of this collection
    Cataloging of the photo within this collection in Box 4
    Representation/description of the photo for viewers of the collection
    Uploading of the photo to the online collection/adding metadata and tags.

    Reply
  24. Elizabeth Noe Avatar
    Elizabeth Noe

    I chose to write about the Shibori pillowcase from the CUNY Fashion Studies Collection.
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.23048574
    I have a natural dying practice of my own and a deep love for textiles in a cultural and scientific way. The shibori pillowcase caught my attention as I would like to see how the archive contextualized the piece and if the collection went on further to speak on any related topics of interest. Particularly what historical contexts would apply? How is the technique traditionally carried out and what materials would be used? I would think it is in the Queens college collection because it demonstrates a traditional pattern making technique for fabric.
    The sample was entered into the collection in 2018. Coming from a personal collection, it could have first been archived in the artist’s collection to reference in their practice or to use in a teaching setting. The sample would eventually need to fall into the hands of the cuny fashion department where it would be included in the digitized collection. This would require an archivist to scan the fabric and to make a listing of the item within the jstor collection.

    Reply
  25. McKenna Morgan Avatar
    McKenna Morgan

    I chose “Silhouette 1998” as my item, which is part of the Queens College Yearbook Collection. It is the published Queens College yearbook from 1998. I chose this item because I’ve been thinking recently about getting my high-school yearbooks from my parent’s house, and 1998 was the year I was born. This item is in the Queens College Collection as it documents the student, faculty, events and other history that has taken place at Queens College in 1998 and over the years

    https://jstor.org/stable/community.28618716

    I wonder why some photos are in black and white and why some are in color? Who complied the yearbook? Does it include graduate students? I also wonder if these photos were taken specifically for the yearbook or were they submitted?

    Point of Interaction:
    -Compilation of the Yearbook/Arrangement: In a way a yearbook is an archive itself! They placed records and photos in the yearbook.
    -Preservation of the physical yearbooks
    -Organization of the physical and digital yearbooks by year
    -Digitization: The yearbook was scanned so it can be viewed online
    -Online Description: They organized the information by adding subject tags and making key information accessible.

    Reply
  26. Shauna Fitzgerald Avatar
    Shauna Fitzgerald

    I was drawn to look through the Campus and Queens Activism of the 1960s collection because of the recent student protests. I’m also currently taking a class on the US and the Vietnam War so I decided to look through documents relevant to this period in history. I was expecting to choose an image that reflected the anti-war effort but the image that ended up striking me was actually a photograph of counter-protesters. I feel like often counter-protests are omitted or at least neglected in historical records. That’s how I feel, I don’t necessarily know if it’s an accurate description…This photograph taken by Arthur Gatti in 1971 of a counter-protester at Washington DC stuck out to me for this reason. The photo is included in the Campus and Queens Activism of the 1960s collection due to Gatti being a student at Queens College with a great deal of involvement in activist movements and groups on campus. In the item’s description it notes that Gatti referred to the group of counter-protesters as “’small’ in size relative to the larger demonstration.” Under the subjects the photo is considered in relation to it lists “Anti-war demonstrations, Vietnam War, and 1961-1975.” I wonder if it wouldn’t be beneficial to list it under counter-protests as well, if that is a decision based on the amount of relevant items Queens College has or if it just wasn’t considered a category. I also wonder if Gatti’s intention in taking the photo and saving it was to emphasize the difference in size between the anti-war movement and its counter movement. I think it would be an interesting project to seek to collect other documents reflecting this counter-protest.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32164575

    Points of interaction I thought about for the archivist:

    -Acquisition of Gatti Papers, which would include the receiving of the papers, and the initial review of their relation to Queens College collections
    – Appraisal, which would deal with sorting the papers, deciding what to keep and what to destroy or remove, assessing any vulnerable or damaged materials
    -Organization entailing any decisions to keep the documents in their original order or sort them based on apparent subjects, create a system for sorting on box, folder and item level depending on the contents. Description, which would entail creating metadata that includes dates, material object description, context, donor info, collection location etc
    -Another phase of sorting would occur when the Gatti papers were selected for the Campus and Queens Activism 1960s collection, I’m not sure if the papers were donated before the collection was created or if the papers were donated in response to a call for documents pertaining to this period in history
    -Digitization- including both the determining which documents should and would be digitized as well as the actual act of scanning the items and uploading them onto Jstor

    Reply
  27. Leah Persram Avatar
    Leah Persram

    I chose the Queens College COVID-19 Collection to look through, https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/QC-Covid19/?so=item_title_str_asc
    The collection is comprised of submissions to the Queens Memory COVID-19 Project from the Queens College community’s experience of the pandemic. Within this collection you can find various types of documentation–interviews, records of the college, unions, and CUNY, photographs, etc. This collection initially caught my interest because the pandemic was an event that everyone experienced, but the experiences are all so vastly different; it was a time where many people were able to examine their lives introspectively, but also there were people who are healthcare workers and had an entirely different form of self-reflection.

    This specific piece caught my interest because it is a play written about living during a pandemic:
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28895248?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2FQC-Covid19%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A7ed98da56e0418981998e4221ee3ba37&seq=1
    I have seen, through social media, what other people created during this time, but I did not think a play about the pandemic would have been written. It makes sense that this play was an assignment from the class “Intro to Documentary Theatre.”

    Points of interaction that an archivist could have are:
    -Acquisition and accessioning; providing information about the origin and ownership, including date of acquisition and provenance
    -Description; creating a detailed catalog entry
    -(Physical)** Preservation; conservation through assessing the physical condition of the materials, and ensuring that it is stored in the proper conditions.
    -Access and use; determining how and who can access the play, copyright considerations or privacy concerns

    Reply
  28. Zachary Volpendesta Avatar
    Zachary Volpendesta

    I read through the Campus and Queens Activism of the 1960s in the Special Collections and was interested in the narrative that emerged from the various statements made by student organizers and faculty members juxtaposed with responses from the administration. I chose to focus specifically on the Campus Unrest Collection from the yearlong period of campus student activism during 1969. Statements made by student groups included the “W.E.B DuBois Club ‘The Last Straw’ Flier” from which expressed outrage over budget cuts to the School of General Studies (SGS). There are also statements and fliers collected from the Students for a Democratic Society activist group and Ad Hoc Committee to End Political Suppression demanding the criminal charges of student protestors be dropped in addition to the disciplinary actions made by the school. Another document included is the “Faculty Responses to Campus Unrest,” a statement from a group of 150 faculty members arguing that the criminal charges levied against 38 students participating in a sit-in be dropped and that a professor who was also participating in the sit-in be able to keep his position. Additionally, the statement called for no police presence on campus. In contrast, a statement made by the president of Queens College during the 1969 uprising, wherein the excessive use of police force against peaceful demonstrators is framed as “difficult decision” but justified, is also included. I was fascinated how the communication back and forth between student representatives, faculty, and members of the Queens College administration unfolded.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29234756?searchUri=/site/queenscollegearchives/activism1960s/?so=item_title_str_asc&sd=1969&ed=1969&ab_segments=0/basic_search_gsv2/control&refreqid=fastly-default:9072fc9f840770a348962ff48789bf1c

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29234739?searchUri=/site/queenscollegearchives/activism1960s/?so=item_title_str_asc&pagemark=eyJwYWdlIjo1LCJzdGFydCI6MTAwLCJ0b3RhbCI6MTIxfQ%3D%3D&groupefq=WyJjb250cmlidXRlZF9wYW5vcmFtYXMiLCJjb250cmlidXRlZF9pbWFnZXMiLCJjb250cmlidXRlZF90ZXh0IiwiY29udHJpYnV0ZWRfYXVkaW8iLCJjb250cmlidXRlZF92aWRlbyIsImNvbnRyaWJ1dGVkX2NvbnRhaW5lciJd&ab_segments=0/basic_search_gsv2/control&refreqid=fastly-default:2d3f449345715a21887fb15b9757f252

    Why is this project in Queens College Special Collections? It offers an insight into the student uprisings occurring during the 1960’s at Queens College— shedding light upon anti-racist movements and students protesting of the Vietnam war. It also offers historical background into the SEEK program by documenting the students applying pressure to the administration to reverse budget cuts to programs such as SGS, advocating for changes in the curriculum to reflect the Black and Puerto Rican students in addition to providing greater autonomy for working-class students of color.

    Points of interaction:
    I would imagine the archivists for this project would have reached out to the former students who were involved with the on campus movements and demonstrations in order to acquire primary sources, such as fliers, letters, and photographs.
    In terms of ethics and legality, the archivist would have needed to contact the former students, faculty, and administrators whose personal writing and communications were included in the collection for permission. I’m thinking especially of the Counter Commencement speech given by Interim Director of the Queens College SEEK program Lloyd Delany, an indictment of the school and certain faculty members.
    All of the primary source material—newspapers, fliers, photographs, and pins— would have to have been digitized.
    There are also descriptions next to each item to provide further context.

    Reply
  29. Taylor Sumner Avatar
    Taylor Sumner

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34298469?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fglasa-journals%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ab0b32b3c2d81cf907b97035b4b00077c

    I chose to look through the Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance (GLASA) Journal from 1992-1994. I love engaging with queer history; it’s special to access archives like these that give windows into people’s social spheres. According to the GLASA ’92 members, this semester was a bit dry—many posts are begging members to share dirt and drama, which I found cute.

    I appreciate that QC Special Collections and Archives has archived these journals and preserved this piece of queer campus history. To archive these journals, an archivist would have likely:
    – accessed the journals in whatever space they were stored
    – organized the journals, perhaps by date or by content
    – selected which journals to scan
    – scanned the contents of the journals
    – reviewed scans and redacted personally-identifying information
    – completed digitization by assignment metadata and making the collection accessible through JSTOR

    Reply
  30. Ciara Brown Avatar
    Ciara Brown

    I was immediately drawn to the GLASA (Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance) Journals on the collections page. I love studying queer history and viewing queer archives so this was this first one I explored. The journals didn’t have many differentiating factors from the previews besides the years, so i just selected a random one to flip through and read. The journal I selected was the “Gay and Lesbian Union Journal, 1989-1991”, linked below:

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34291531?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fglasa-journals%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A098b356d4c0fced486c0d2fcc3fdfbbb&seq=14

    It is 126 pages so I didn’t read the whole thing but I got through quite a bit of it. The journals served as a place for the union to leave messages for each other, which were very cool to read. I think a lot of times when studying queer history, or the histories of marginalized groups in general, it can be really easy to focus on the bad/traumatizing parts. While those aspects are vital to study and remember, it is also necessary to remember the the happy and ordinary moments. It was fun to read what was essentially a message board for gay and lesbian college kids, filled with mundane things like sweet notes and club complaints.

    Something that struck me was that the collection mentions that the journals were kept in the office until 2017, yet only five journals are listed in the collection. Are there more journals that have not been digitized? Did the club switch to a different form of communication after the last digitized journals end date in 1994? Also, does this office still exist on campus?

    Places where an archivist interacted with this item would be:

    -Acquisition: how did this come into the archivists possession? Was it donated by the club, or perhaps a former student?
    -Appraisal: determining the items significance to be preserved
    -Preservation/restoration: this is an old journal that looks well used and probably needed some attention in properly storing it, perhaps even requiring restorative efforts
    -Digitization: the journal’s cover as well as all 126 pages had to be meticulously scanned and organized so that it remains in proper order online.
    -Rights/Consent: there are some redacted last names and personal information within the journal for the privacy of the individuals mentioned in the journal, especially since this document is available publicly online. I also wonder if anybody needed to be contacted for consent before processing and releasing this online.
    -Collection information: There is a brief description of the collection as a whole as well as for each individual journal, which the archivist would need to write. There is also information like the length of the journals, the dates, etc that the archivist is responsible for collecting and recording for public use.

    Reply
  31. Erin Montanez (Monty) Avatar
    Erin Montanez (Monty)

    I chose this collection of anti-war and protest pins, which are a part of the Arthur Gatti Papers. I’m intrigued by records of visual and material culture in the Gatti Papers, the photographic record of church rebuilding efforts in Mississippi in the mid-1960s and the aftermath of the Newark uprising of 1967. The pins, like these records, refer to a period of intense political uprising. I’m intrigued by all of the different ways one can call for the end of war and military intervention, using slogans, typography, and basic graphic design. I’m also intrigued by the slogans that were previously unfamiliar to me, like “Impeach the Mad Bomber,” which refers to Nixon. What sources did the Processing Archivist use to identify the marches and actions referred to by the pins, in order to decide on their arrangement?

    These pins are in the Queens College SCA because Arthur (Art) Gatti was a Queens College student who was actively involved in political and social activism in the 1960s. The pins give context to both his personal activism and the broader anti-war activities of this period.

    Points of interaction:
    —Appraisal: deciding the extent of memorabilia to retain and what can be weeded.
    —Arrangement: deciding the order in which to arrange the pins, the individual parts of one item.
    —Description: researching the origins of the pins, identifying the marches and political campaigns they are associated with, their geographical origins, and approximate dating.
    —Preservation: consolidating pins in an archival box in a temperature-controlled environment, to prevent decay.
    —Access: creation of item-level record with metadata and digital imagery, shared publicly via JSTOR.

    Link:
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32164759

    Reply
  32. Autumn Quick Avatar
    Autumn Quick

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28485514?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Ffaculty%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A4fd7f85535c833b0824eb05867d776fe&seq=1

    I chose the Andrew Greller Scrapbook collection because I love scrapbooks and photography. This collection is most likely at Queens College because Greller was a professor here and was well known in his community.

    Points of interaction:
    – Acquiring the scrapbooks, they could have been donated or willed to the school.
    – Organizing the pages and images and deciding what to keep and what not to.
    – Digitizing the images

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *