Archival Appraisal, Arrangement, and Access

Spring 2025 welcome post

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 (to differentiate–if housed by Special Collections and Archives, yes, if housed by Godwin Ternbach Museum, no).

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! Which part of the archiving process are you most excited about?

Commenting on other posts is not required but is encouraged!

35 responses to “Spring 2025 welcome post”

  1. Amy E. Traver Avatar
    Amy E. Traver

    As I have my own students look at archived college yearbooks on our campus, I decided to do the same – perusing the 1941 “Silhouette” Yearbook of QC, which marks the college’s first graduating class (https://shorturl.at/VlyEw). I was surprised by the length of the yearbook (160 pages) and how text-heavy it was (there are narrative accounts of each year of enrollment for that first class). I was delighted to see that, for each senior photographed, there was an accompanying sketch depicting them engaged in their favorite activities. I also loved the pictures of the student groups and clubs, which reveal a great deal about the culture and historical moment. (It’s also interesting that the yearbook includes a directory, with student addresses!) This item is in the archive as it is both an organizational record and a glimpse into the organization’s (and its’ students) history/ies. Notably, someone from QC (an archivist or administrator) had to have the foresight to contact the yearbook’s first editor to institutionalize a policy of setting aside a copy of the yearbook each year. After that, this yearbook – and subsequent others – had to be processed, organized, protected, and made available, and this likely occurred through generations of handlers. In general, I’m interested in the collecting and organization/narration of archival materials … as well as the educational opportunities they make possible.

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  2. Roger Malespin Avatar
    Roger Malespin

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.23089667

    I selected “Buddhist Stele” from the Daghlian Collection of Asian Art. I did this because I am a fan of craftsmanship (I was a carpenter for a bit when I was younger) and am fascinated by old craftsman and the way they worked their materials with limited tools. This particular piece is a marble relief from China 386-589. What intrigued me about this besides the aesthetics was the fact that it is marble. I’m no sculptor,but I know marble is not easy to work with; it resists shaping and has been described as almost fighting with the sculptor and their vision. I would be very interested to know what was used to create this piece at this time, and what tools were used here and with other like pieces from the period.
    Being nigh on 2000 years old, I can only imagine the journey this piece has been on since its creation. I would love to learn about it; how long was in its original place, how many other times has it been archived and where, and anything else I can about how and why I has found a home at Queens College. I absolutely love the idea and practice of preserving history and historical artifacts, and this is exactly the sort of thing I’d like to understand the process of.

    Although I am a fan of history, I’m not formally educated in it, and am unsure of the circumstances surrounding this time period in China. Perhaps it was passed down through various Chinese authorities or institutions over time, or maybe it was a more recent find from scholars in the field. In any event, I would love to learn more about its history, and by extension more about the processes used to document and store things like this.

    I’m glad to have access to this archive. I didn’t realize we had such a collection here on campus, and I’ll surely browse through some of it in my free time and learn about some of the cool and interesting things we have. Very much looking forward to learning more throughout the class.

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  3. Stephen Tumino Avatar
    Stephen Tumino

    Molly Weinstein History of Philosophy Lectures

    1. Write a couple of sentences about what intrigued you

    Given my interest in philosophy, I was drawn to explore the Molly Weinstein History of Philosophy Lectures out of curiosity about her work. I had not heard of her before and wondered why her contributions were preserved. I also hoped that as a woman in the philosophy profession, which regrettably is still a bit of a rarity, she would have challenged its epistemic, institutional, and political boundaries in intellectually interesting ways.

    Reference: Molly Weinstein History of Philosophy Lectures, SCA-0112, Box: 1, disk: 1-29. Queens College (New York, N.Y.) Special Collections and Archives.

    2. What questions do you have about the item?

    Why is there no description of the content of the individual lectures on JSTOR (when there is in the Physical Storage Information in QC Archives Collections)? Is it because JSTOR describes the lectures but not the actual .wav file contents?

    3. Why is it in Queens College Special Collections and Archives?

    Professor Molly Weinstein is described as “a charismatic teacher with a loyal following at Queens College,” so it is understandable that there would be a faculty contingent interested in preserving her work for future generations of students. She also was not a widely recognized figure in philosophy who made significant contributions to advance the discipline, so it also makes sense that her work would be preserved at QC for its impact on the local community rather than somewhere else.

    4. 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!

    Optical discs of Molly Weinstein’s lectures were donated to Queens College by David C. Weinstein, Prof. Weinstein’s spouse, so an archivist had to catalogue the box and assign it an identifier in the collection (SCA-0112).
    An archivist would have had to handle the box of optical disks and enter metadata descriptors into the QC database of its contents.
    Special Collections and Archives contracted with a vendor to extract the audio files from the optical discs and save them as .wav files.
    An archivist would have had to listen to the .wav files of the lectures and enter metadata descriptors of them into the QC database as individual lecture topics as well as produce the transcripts of them.
    An archivist would have had to liaison with David Weinstein for Molly Weinstein’s biography, which is given in the database record on QC Archive Collections, as well as to document the Custodial Record that can also be found there.
    An archivist would have had to choose to categorize the collection under the Subject Headings of “Philosophy” and “Women College Teachers” (and not under other possible headings, such as “Jewish Philosophers,” despite Prof. Weinstein’s particular interest in this field and her public lectures on the topic both within and outside the classroom for the local community).

    5. Which part of the archiving process are you most excited about?

    Making innovative metadata classifications that go beyond institutional disciplinary boundaries and conventional cultural categories. In doing so, I believe it is possible to surface abstract connections among diverse sets of materials to reveal a normally hidden political economy of significance to diverse communities of library users.

    Run HTML

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  4. Ian Wood Avatar
    Ian Wood

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.39154224

    While browsing the collections housed in the Queens College archives, I was immediately curious about the Comedias Sueltas Collection. I was not familiar with this term/genre, a publishing format in Spain popular from the 17th to 19th centuries. As a writer and lover of literature, it’s always interesting to learn about and explore new bodies of literature. The play I selected (mostly based on the title) was apparently written nearly two centuries before the item was published by Lope de Vega, an author considered second only to Cervantes in their importance to classic Spanish literature. Despite this or maybe because of it (de Vega wrote over 500 plays according to Wikipedia), I have not been able to find any summaries of the play.

    For processing this item, I imagine that much time would have been put into assessing its preservation needs and overall quality when acquiring it. I don’t know much about paper preservation yet, but I’m very interested in what techniques can be used to slow the decay of works on paper. Next, the digitization of this likely quite fragile item would have been a slow and painstaking process. I do know that every time an item like this is handled, it risks being destroyed, so the digital facsimile is a necessity for balancing preservation and access.

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  5. Soula Harisiadis Avatar
    Soula Harisiadis

    I browsed through the Gay and Lesbian Union Journal (1987-1988), where I found the “Hello Everybody!” written in blue that’s on this website, and “slogans of the March” from 10/11/87 on pg. 31, including “2-4-6-8 Reagan thinks his son is straight” and “We are homospiritual beings!” I also looked at the “Greek News”, which was very nostalgic for me since my dad’s side of the family is Greek and I grew up in Queens. I opened the one from Christmas 2003. The design is very late 90s/early 2000s graphics, which was fun to see and felt very shoestring budget publication. Many of the ads were for Greek places in Astoria that I remembered going to, like travel agencies or restaurants. There were also just random Greek families’ pictures and wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. There were recipes for Greek sweets that are similar to the recipes passed down to me from my grandmother. I tried practicing my Greek by reading the articles in Greek and then looking at the English translation. Overall reading the publication gave me that conflicting feeling of connection/nostalgia/not quite fitting in that I often feel around Greek-American culture.

    I would imagine this is in the Queens College Special Collections and Archives because of the large Greek population in New York City, and in Queens in particular; the “Greek News” was based in Astoria. The collection says “stewarded by the Hellenic American Project and Special Collections and Archives” and that it was donated by the founder of the “Greek News”, Mr. Apostolos Zoupaniotis.

    An archivist must have: looked through the donated materials, physically organized and described the materials, created a finding aid for the physical materials, digitized the materials, and created access for digital materials. I am most excited about looking through materials because I love the sense of surprise, recognition, understanding, and/or discovery I feel when I look at archival materials.

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  6. Liam DeLaite Avatar
    Liam DeLaite

    The item I selected was a photograph titled “Queens College Freshman Basketball Team” from the Life At Queens College Photographs Collection (https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.33095905). This item grabbed my attention in part due to my appreciation of basketball, but mostly due to the fact that all of the men photographed are white. The racial makeup of this basketball team caused me to do some further research on CUNY’s history of admitting people of color – for those who are unaware, CUNY had a Black student as early as the mid 19th century, but educational opportunities at CUNY were severely limited to students of color until the 1970’s. While anyone on the current QC basketball teams would surely kick my butt in a game of 1 v 1, I have an inkling that I could probably take one of the guys pictured here – especially #25, who looks like an aging veteran ready for retirement. Interestingly, the date in the description of the photograph describes it as “circa 1930s-1950s” which does not exactly give a specific time frame. As a result, my chief question would be: When was this photograph taken? Further, are any of the people photographed identifiable? If so, could the date of this photograph be deduced? I imagine that this photograph likely sat in a box undiscovered for a very long time given the lack of a date the archivist is able to pin down. Thus, in terms of interaction points, I would guess that first, someone affiliated with QC athletics likely stumbled upon a box of old team photos and decided to pass it on to the archives. From there, the archivist probably sifted through photos and may or may not have decided to keep them all. Further, while some of the photos may not have been kept, some of the photos that were kept may not have been digitized either. For me to be viewing this photo right now means that at these 3 (at least) intersections of fate, someone decided that this photo was worth keeping. Resultantly, the part of the archiving process I am most excited about is the potential to share something cool that I found with someone who will appreciate it.

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  7. Cait Carouge Avatar
    Cait Carouge

    I selected Andrew Greller Scrapbook 2 from the Queens College Special Collections and Archives (https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28485379). The original format of this material is a physical scrapbook. The digitized copy does not show a front or back cover, but it looks like the original material was bound. It contains photographs, letters, newspaper articles, staff badges, and other related ephemera. The Andrew Greller Scrapbooks collection page on JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/faculty/?so=item_title_str_asc) tells us that Andrew Greller was a distinguished professor at Queens College, and made important contributions to the ecology and botany fields both locally and internationally, including fighting for the conservation of Pea Pond in Queens. Because of his association with the school and his focus on environmental activism, it makes sense that his materials are in the Queens College Special Collections and Archives.

    There are two digitized scrapbooks in the collection, but I’m curious if there are more physical materials (scrapbooks) that have not yet been digitized. This object interests me because of its blend of personal and professional materials. It reads like a very in depth analog LinkedIn, and makes me think about how different types of physical media relate to various forms of social media. I’m curious to know more about the people featured in the photographs in the scrapbook. I really wish there were captions or descriptions for the photographs as that would help with context. Most look like travel photographs (from Greller’s business trips), but others look like photographs of family or friends. The Andrew Greller Scrapbook collection does parse out the photographs from each scrapbook as separate items, and I wonder if the intention is to describe them further (with constituents etc.) on an item level.

    In order to bring this scrapbook to the Queens College Special Collections and Archives page on JSTOR, the item had to be appraised and then accessioned. It needed to be described, properly stored, then digitized and uploaded to the JSTOR platform with relevant metadata. Although perhaps not solely the job of the archivist, the digital surrogate of this sketchbook also needs to be properly stored and preserved. Of these interaction points, I’m most excited about metadata and digitization. These two elements help make objects more searchable and accessible.

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  8. Shelley Long Avatar
    Shelley Long

    https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/photographs/?so=item_title_str_asc

    Rather than selecting one digital item from the Life at Queens College Photographs Collection housed by Special Collections and Archives, Queens College Library, I was interested in the photos that centered around computer course. It was interesting to note that these photos were taken throughout various time during our history.

    1978
    1986
    1986
    1988
    1988
    1988
    1997
    1997
    1998

    Some interesting thing that caught my attention is how there’s a focus on female students in computer science. An interesting thing to note is one of the photographers had taken photos for a feminist Newspaper called Womanews. Things I was curious about was whether the portrayal of female students in these photos was there to promote more women into the field or were there actually many women taking the courses. This is in conjunction to my own experience of taking Computer Science in Queens College during the 2010s when most of my classes were mostly male students.

    Another thing that grabbed my interest were the computers themselves. We can note how far computers have come along in innovation and improvement over the years.

    I believe most of these photos are taken for photography course. Digitization is largest interest. I also want to know how libraries keep digitized archives and make sure it can last. One thing I’ve come to be wary of is the removal of links and sites online so how much can we trust libraries digital archives?

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  9. Yujin Lee Avatar
    Yujin Lee

    After browsing through the archives collections, I decided to choose an item from the Academic Senate minutes. I was drawn to the fact that the collection houses minutes, which has a very specific format and language based on the structure of senate meetings. The collection is also up to date, so we can see the changes up until 2024.

    The specific entry I chose is the minutes from 1971, February 18th (https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.38587745). Most of the document shows standard senate proceedings, with the exception of Mr. Warren’s motion calling the Academic Senate of Queens College to condemn the latest escalation of the Vietnam war into Laos and to call for “the immediate withdrawal of all American troops and fighting power from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.” Student activism against Apartheid in South Africa, the United States’ participation in the Vietnam war, and more recently the genocide in Gaza is well recorded, but it was interesting to find records of dissent in a general archival collection that is not curated around student activism.

    Because senate minutes summarize everything being said, I was left wondering what the atmosphere of the senate was after Warren’s motion was raised. Was it met with controversy and heated debate, or was it in line with the general consensus? One can only infer based on the minimal information recorded. Every senate also deals with “unfinished business” from previous agenda, so I had questions on resolutions and reports being discussed without context of the previous senate. In some cases, I could refer back to past minutes, but I noticed that there are missing records, which also raised questions of which senate minutes ended up in the collection and why.

    I would assume that these minutes are housed in the special collections and archives to ensure long term preservation. Each senate produce minutes which are valuable records of Queens College history, but the Academic Senate may not have the capacity or ability to best preserve these documents which date back several decades.

    For this specific document, the archivist probably acquired a copy of the minutes that were kept in a binder and digitized it. It was interesting to see the changes in the format of the entries as they moved away from analog to digital.

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  10. Samantha Pleasants Avatar
    Samantha Pleasants

    https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/civilrightsphotos/?so=item_title_str_asc&searchkey=1738700719143&pagemark=eyJwYWdlIjoyLCJzdGFydCI6MjUsInRvdGFsIjozMzV9

    I decided to look through the Civil Rights Movement Photographs, being that my focus in history is African American History- specifically the Black Power Movement. I originally intended on going outside of my normal realm but this intrigued me. I was going to choose to examine one of the photos from Freedom Summer. Instead I chose a photo that brought rage over me as soon as I saw it- a photo of a Ku Klux Klan rally. Being a historian and an archivist, I know the importance of keeping a photo like this- even though it is disgusting. The only question I have, is where it came from (the source is titled unknown).

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  11. Rohan Subramaniam Avatar
    Rohan Subramaniam

    For my welcome post, I was interested in browsing the Queens College Course Bulletins and selected this particular Bulletin of the College of Liberal Arts and Science, Queens College, 1963-1964.
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.38612466?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2FQCcoursebulletins%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Af195fd847ef61275010064dcf7a85320&seq=55

    I found this Bulletin fascinating because I am interested in how seemingly mundane, administrative documents can reveal about the shift in trajectories of institutions over a period of time. They also reveal how specialized or individualized learning becomes over time. One example within this bulletin I found interesting was how course names were just numerically ascending instead of having hundreths divisions like today. For example – Russian 1, 2, 3 etc. instead of LSBCI 730, 732 etc. My favorite part is that the MLS existed as a Library Education certificate that was simply just an addition to the teaching education degree. This is a testament to how specialized, professionalized and codified library science has become over a relatively short time. Also, a $24 fees for the semester is spectacular. I wonder how the course bulletin was distributed on campus? Who owned this specific bulletin, if anybody?

    This bulletin seems to be scanned from a physical copy. I think the archivist probably had a very active role in deciding the value of such a bulletin, and have argued for its preservation over 40 years. This represents the appraisal judgement that was probably made years ago and potentially is re-appraised over time. The archivist’s then interacted with the object to preserve it physically, by determining archival safe housing and preserve it digitally by conducting high quality scans. The archivist also probably discussed potential access limitations with such an old document and making it available digitally might have been the best bet.

    I am most excited by the digital preservation of archival work. I think it’s a fascinating decision to represent a form of archival object digitally and there are multiple considerations that need to be made in technical quality, access regulation, copyright infringement etc.

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  12. Ming Jiang Avatar
    Ming Jiang

    One digital item that caught my interest is the collection of design proposals for the Queens College seal from 1937, particularly one of the unselected designs. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31916370.)
    The collection, housed by the Special Collections and Archives at the Queens College Library, showcases the evolution of visual identity at the college. I found it intriguing because it highlights the artistic and institutional decision-making process during the founding years of Queens College. The seal’s design reflects the values and aspirations of the college at that time, and it is interesting to see how different artistic interpretations were considered before settling on the final version.

    One question I have about this item is whether the rationale behind selecting the winning design over others was documented. Were there specific criteria that guided the decision, such as symbolism, aesthetics, or historical references? Also, I wonder if the rejected design influenced subsequent iterations of the Queens College seal or other branding elements.

    I think this item is part of the Queens College Special Collections and Archives because it preserves a key moment in the college’s history, showing how its institutional identity was shaped through design choices. It also provides insight into the broader history of graphic design of the College.

    An archivist likely interacted: gone through the acquisited materials, sorted and described them, created a finding aid to help locate the physical materials, digitized them, and set up access for the digital versions.

    The part of the archiving process that excites me the most is description. I find it fascinating how archivists provide meaning to historical items by researching their background.

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  13. Natalie Register Avatar
    Natalie Register

    Link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28485378

    I selected the Andrew Greller Scrapbooks collection and took a closer look at Andrew Greller Scrapbook 1. This collection interested me because of its format – the objects are personal scrapbooks that contain press clippings, images, correspondence, and mementos related to Andrew Greller’s professional life as an environmental activist and faculty at Queens College. The scrapbook’s creator is Greller himself, and many of the clippings have callouts and notes by him. Collections of this kind are generally interesting to me because they speak to the active role some people take in forming their own legacy.

    My first question pertained to the object as a digital item, which was whether the text in the press clippings was searchable (it is). My other questions relate to the physical object and how it is represented digitally – are the front and back covers shown here? Are pages ever viewed as spreads when flipping through the physical scrapbook? I also saw that the photographs from scrapbook 1 are listed as a separate related group of items; I’m interested in the reasoning behind that decision.

    This collection of scrapbooks is a part of the Andrew Greller Papers, which includes materials related to Greller’s “involvement in local nature conservation” as well as his role as a biology professor at Queens College. A few reasons why this collection was acquired by QC Special Collections and Archives include: Greller’s connection to Queens College, his local advocacy and impact, and the research value of the materials.

    In addition to appraisal, acquisition, and re-housing, this item was described on an item level, digitized with metadata, stored digitally, and entered into JSTOR. The digital file may have also been run through OCR software.

    I’m most excited to come out of the class with a strong foundational knowledge regarding metadata and description standards.

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  14. Kevin T. O'Connor Avatar
    Kevin T. O’Connor

    Hey everyone!

    I chose a photograph titled “Rebuilding Churches in Mississippi” taken from the Civil Rights Movement Photographs in the QC Special Collections and Archives. What intrigued me about this photograph is that it simply shows a set of stairs or a stoop in a dirt field. It is unclear if it is a new construction or cement mold, or if it is part of the burned church. The black soot on the steps would suggest that it was the church’s original construction? This photograph is part of Queens College’s vibrant involvement with activism and social justice. It was taken by Sid Simon who was part of the Education Department at QC, who along with 6 other students went to Mississippi in 1965 to help rebuild churches that were burned by white supremacists. At this time, Mississippi was the center of the civil rights movement. This project was called the Queens College Mississippi Freedom Project, which is why it is at the archive at QC. Many other intriguing photographs are there as well, including shots of Pete Seeger performing, rallies, and marches.

    It’s likely that archivists and historians have interacted with this item in a number of ways. Documenting such an important part of US history involving the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s, make this whole collection incredibly important. The image is powerful in what it signifies. American history has had a tendency of only highlighting the easy parts, and hiding away the truth of what really happened. The provenance of these images takes us directly to Queens College, and the brave students who took it upon themselves to attempt to make a difference in a challenging time.

    As a Librarian and possible future archivist I’m always interested in stories, digging into collections can be a place to attempt to sort out a bigger picture, an event, or a person’s story. What’s more interesting than learning about real people’s lives, oftentimes long since departed from this world. So I guess that’s what excites me about archives.

    The link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28629959?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fcivilrightsphotos%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc%26searchkey%3D1738719904327%26pagemark%3DeyJwYWdlIjoxMiwic3RhcnQiOjI3NSwidG90YWwiOjMzNX0%25253D%26doi%3D10.2307%252Fcommunity.28629959&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A93a1c22d6284cfd0554784cf9aa73eda&searchkey=1738719904327

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  15. Margrit Olsen Avatar
    Margrit Olsen

    Link – https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.24218508?searchText=

    I was drawn to this photograph of an artwork by a 2019 MFA student named Tara Homasi. The title of the work is The Album of Lost People. The image is of a generic photo album sitting on a pedestal and opened to a double-page spread of two snapshot-sized photographs. The snapshots are casual portraits of people, but the details are scratched out leaving only silhouettes or shadows of people.

    The “Description” field reads, “Pictures of different people gathered in an album in an attempt to create a collective/new narrative.”
    The “Medium” field reads, “Transformed found photos of unknown people’s pictures from thrift stores.”

    The idea of creating a narrative or connection between unrelated images is something that has intrigued me for some time. I made a similar album for a photo project several years ago. This idea that, by placing two images (or texts) next to each other, we naturally search for similarities or connections and create a storyline that relates them to each other.

    What questions do you have about the item?
    How was the artist inspired to create this book? Is this a general them in their artwork?

    Why is it in Queens College Special Collections and Archives?
    Because the creator of the object is a Queens College alumnus of the MFA program.

    This document (photograph) may have been taken by a fellow student and then saved or donated to the Art Student and Alumni Works Collection. The archivist for the collection would have then entered the scanned photograph, along with the metadata, to this website.

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  16. Afeefah Masna Avatar
    Afeefah Masna

    I chose to look through the Revisions: Writing at Queens College collection because I am interested in student creative works, while going through the collection I was intrigued by the title “Feeling Writing” (https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.38596617) because I wanted to know more about what that meant. A question I have about the item is how long did students write the journals for. Considering the item is an issue of a publication on writing at Queens College, it being part of the Queens College Special Collections and Archives. An archivist would have had to know about the publication to interact with this specific issue. Since it was being published in Queens College, the archivist could have found it there alongside other Queens College publications. I am most excited to learn about the digitizing process of the archival work because it would help items be found more easily, as can be seen by this collection.

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  17. Hoyt Bayles Avatar
    Hoyt Bayles

    I decided to look through the Queens College Seal Designs and Logos collection because it stood out to me as something worth archiving that was likely, if not commissioned by the Queens College faculty, then submitted to them in an official capacity for administrative and advertisement purposes other than being archived. From the collection, “Seal Designs by A. Landrock” (https://jstor.org/stable/community.31916370) stood out to me as the only seal designs for the Queens College logo that had an animal on it. I’m curious of why this is the only Queens College logo that has an animal, in this case an owl, incorporated into the design. Was the artist a student or faculty member of Queens College? Were they commissioned, or did they submit their design as part of a contest? Who approved of this design, and if it was used in an official capacity by Queens College, when and for how long?

    Beyond the historical and artistic value of this seal design being retained within the Queens College Special Collections, I can imagine that having examples of previous seal/logo designs for Queens College would be useful for future artists to design modern seals and logos for Queens College, either to pull from them for inspiration or to see which designs fell out of favor and for what reasons.

    For this item to be digitized into this collection, I imagine that it was pulled from a file or papers owned by the Queens College administration and submitted to the archive for preservation. Given that the item is dated to 1937, it was likely either stored in an administrative environment or the special collections archive for some time, during which time any number of people could’ve come in contact and interacted with the item. Once the technology to archive the item digitally, the picture or photocopy of the item was created and stored, with the original item likely still being stored within the physical stacks of the Queens College Special Collections archive.

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  18. Samantha Rooney Avatar
    Samantha Rooney

    Hi everyone! For my Welcome Post, I decided to explore the “Life at Queens College Photographs” Collection. One image, titled “Anti-tuition rally 1965” (https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29709018), caught my interest.

    1.) Write a couple sentences about what intrigued you.
    There were many aspects of the image (which includes four photographs) that intrigued me. For one, through this image, I learned that CUNY tuition used to be free. Upon further research, I discovered that tuition was imposed in 1976. Secondly, I thought the diversity of the crowd was important, as both men and women, and those of different races, came together to protest. Thirdly, as a historian, the homemade sign “Send Rocky to Vietnam” caught my eye. The sign highlights how the social/political environment was already tense in America, since many students (including those at Queens College) had been protesting the Vietnam War.

    2.) What questions do you have about the item?
    Some questions I have about the item are: Who took these photographs? Where were they stored prior to becoming part of the Queens College Special Collections and Archives? Can anyone in the photographs be identified? What date did the rally take place (since only the year, 1965, is noted in the description of the item)?

    3.) Why is it in Queens College Special Collections and Archives?
    The 1965 anti-tuition rally shown in this image took place at Queens College. As the description highlights, Queens College students directly participated in the rally by making homemade signs that challenged New York governor Nelson Rockefeller. Considering this information, and Queens College’s (and CUNY at large) long history with activism, it makes sense that this image is in the Queens College Special Collections and Archives.

    4.) 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!
    There are various places an archivist interacted with this one item for it to be digitized in the “Life at Queens College Photographs” Collection. The archivist had to go through the processes of appraisal, acquisition, and rehousing (in which archivists determined the value of the item offered to the repository, selected to keep it, and stored it physically in the archive). Additionally, they described the item, digitized it, and made it accessible online by entering it into JSTOR.

    5.) Which part of the archiving process are you most excited about?
    The part of the archiving process I am most excited about is the acquisition of the image.

    Reply
  19. Samantha Pleasants Avatar
    Samantha Pleasants

    https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/civilrightsphotos/?so=item_title_str_asc&searchkey=1738700719143&pagemark=eyJwYWdlIjoyLCJzdGFydCI6MjUsInRvdGFsIjozMzV9

    I decided to look through the Civil Rights Movement Photographs, being that my focus in history is African American History- specifically the Black Power Movement. I originally intended on going outside of my normal realm but this intrigued me. I was going to choose to examine one of the photos from Freedom Summer. Instead I chose a photo that brought rage over me as soon as I saw it- a photo of a Ku Klux Klan rally. Being a historian and an archivist, I know the importance of keeping a photo like this- even though it is disgusting. The only question I have, is where it came from (the source is titled unknown). My question led me to think about the path that this photo took to get here. Since the source is unknown that does leave room for question. Most of the photos from the collection are from the Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Papers. Phyllis was a volunteer for an initiative by Queens College students and faculty to educate Black children in Virginia.All of the photos evoke various emotions, and are extremely powerful. Under one photo of the Local Community at Prince Edward Lake it says that,
    “Public schools in the county were closed for five years due to white people’s “Massive Resistance” to integration”

    I am most excited about the process of coming across archival material organically, discovering things by just stumbling upon them through research. I think of myself as a born collector and archivist, its something that I’ve done since I was a young girl. From my elite CD collection (with birthdays and Christmas I got two new CD’s at least once a year) to my coin collection. But, I am also excited about the digitization and metadata process. I ideally would like to work with music or legal archives- which might seem like two odd things to be passionate about, but if you get to know me it will make sense.

    Reply
  20. JC Rivera Avatar
    JC Rivera

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34291444

    The item I chose was the Gay and Lesbian Union Journal from 1988 to 1989. As a former member of my high school’s GSA, I always interested when LGBTQ+ gather in community. Browsing through the journal, there was a lot of accounts of missed meetings: there were entries by people being the only person in the room and trying to organized a time to meet others using the journal.

    It’s amazing to see a simple composition notebook become a medium for people to find community with others like them. Even today it is hard to gather in community safely and that’s with modern tech like the internet and social media. This simple book made available in some room on campus allowed for the safe discussion between marginalized people. There are entries of confession, support, advice, and general well-wishing. I don’t think any of the contributors to the journal ever imagined it being preserved and later digitized for the world to see. (I wonder if any of them look back at this book via this method.)

    Being that the GLU operated (now GLASA) in Queens College, it would make perfect sense to why the archive would preserve what was going over the years on campus. The action of acquiring the journals from GLASA, the processing of the journals, and the eventual digitization of the journals is all important to bringing this to the greater public. My interest is access so in this case in particular I’m very interested in the digitization. You don’t have to go to the archive to see this journal and others like it. I think that’s amazing!

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  21. Will Avatar
    Will

    I selected Las Carceles de Lemberg from the Comedias Sueltas Collection.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.39154225?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fcomediassueltascollection%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Aace7926d3396acddb417d47ee92c6271&seq=1

    I was drawn to this collection by my own ignorance on the subject and curiosity about what could be gleaned from such a document beyond the story itself. I have an interest in the Spanish language and how it has evolved over time, thus I was naturally drawn towards an early 19th century text. Las Carceles de Lemberg is a courtroom drama set in “Russian Poland.” As much as the actual story, I am curious to think about how a researcher could interpret such a text. I can imagine a large array of possible inquiries. I wonder how an archivist would determine the relevance of such a work when it could be studied from so many angles. Its relevance could be beyond my understanding, leading me to cast it away preemptively, or adopt a keep everything attitude out of ignorance. Why exactly these Comedias are housed in Queens College Special Collections is slightly beyond me. I would guess that QC Special Collections came across these documents and kept them based on a perceived literary value and/or scarcity of such kinds of historical documents. This raises more questions than it answers. How did QC Special Collections come upon these items? Why were they kept when they bear so little resemblance to the rest of the collections? Wouldn’t these documents be best housed elsewhere? Is there a class at QC that teaches to these materials?

    An archivist may have interacted with these documents many times depending on the acquisition process. My best guess is that these items were donated by a private collector or professor. An archivist may have had to work closely with the donor to acquire the material. After doing so they would need to develop a rough understanding of the material which in this may have required translation. Next, the archivist may need to perform some maintenance on paper from this period. Then they would need to carefully scan the documents and enter the metadata into the Special Collections database.

    I am most excited to learn about appraisal and think about assessing relevance.

    Reply
  22. Francesca D'Arista Avatar
    Francesca D’Arista

    I chose a pdf of a Queens College Yearbook from the year 1972 (Silhouette 1972 on JSTOR). The photos on pages 62-67 were particularly striking, as they depict the second time “Queens College was shut down by a student strike.” On page 62 is a description and photograph of QC students in 1970 protesting the day after the Kent State Massacre, where four Ohio students were shot and killed by the National Guard while protesting the war in Vietnam. I was drawn towards the image because of its relevancy to our current political moment. It is bittersweet to know that Queens College students have a long history of campus demonstrations in support of the liberation of the global south, all while knowing that our very right to protest is being threatened today. Seeing so many crowds of protesters in the photos made me only hope to witness such a large mobilization of QC community members today.
    I’m curious to know how these pictures were taken, by whom, and how the yearbook committee pieced them together. I wonder if QC yearbooks today would dare to include photos of campus protests. These yearbooks have rightfully been preserved as part of QC Special Collections and Archives as evidence of our campus’s past and the alumni who created history. I imagine the archivists involved in collecting this yearbook found it within our existing collections as a donation or a preserved copy, and then had to scan each page, correct the scanned images, describe the item’s details, and upload all of this information onto the QC JSTOR Community Collections. I’m most excited about sharing archives with others/the public and participating in conversations surrounding their significance.

    Reply
  23. Francesca D'Arista Avatar
    Francesca D’Arista

    Sorry! The link did not embed: https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28618689?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fyearbooks%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc%26pagemark%3DeyJwYWdlIjoyLCJzdGFydCI6MjUsInRvdGFsIjo4M30%253D%26groupefq%3DWyJjb250cmlidXRlZF90ZXh0IiwiY29udHJpYnV0ZWRfY29udGFpbmVyIiwiY29udHJpYnV0ZWRfdmlkZW8iLCJjb250cmlidXRlZF9wYW5vcmFtYXMiLCJjb250cmlidXRlZF9pbWFnZXMiLCJjb250cmlidXRlZF9hdWRpbyJd&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A3f638af340066365d1fb7f7b18f6b97d&seq=62

    Reply
  24. Brittany Shaw Avatar
    Brittany Shaw

    https://jstor.org/stable/community.29709018

    I selected a contact sheet of photographs capturing an anti-tuition rally on Queens College campus in 1965. It grabbed my attention because while I knew CUNY tuition was free until the NYC financial crisis of 1976, I didn’t know that it was under threat even before then. The photographs themselves are quite beautiful and capture a jubilant crowd who were clearly invigorated by their protest. I would love to learn more about the photographer, who was perhaps as a Queens College student, and more about the student fight to maintain free tuition.

    I have been reflecting on how protest on college campuses is a fundamental part of the American college-going experience, particularly in light of QC’s recently proposed restrictive policy about on-campus demonstrations. Through this lens, it’s especially important to revisit the college’s past protest history.

    An archivist must have interacted with this photo upon acquisition and initial archival housing, adding it to or creating a collection, adding it to a finding aid, later scanning it, researching it for context, and making it available online.

    I’m most excited about supporting the archival collections of ordinary people, working with artists to take care of their archives, and the amazing possibilities of digital access and archives/primary documents in education and everyday life!

    Reply
  25. Natalia Maliga Avatar
    Natalia Maliga

    Looking through the JSTOR site, I wanted to explore the activism in the 1960s on campus collection. The “Faculty Response to Campus Unrest” https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29234756 and “Administrative Responses to Campus Unrest” https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29234759 caught my attention because they reveal how faculty and administrators navigated the student protests and unrest at Queens College in 1969 and I wanted to compare them to what’s currently going on on campus. I was surprised by the faculty’s almost unanimous support for dropping criminal and administrative charges against student protesters, in contrast to how administrators framed the unrest as something requiring deliberation and control. Reading these documents made me think about how our administration today is restricting protest through strict regulations.

    It made me wonder:
    – Were faculty members pressured by the administration to moderate their stance?
    – Did any of these statements lead to policy changes that impacted future activism?
    – How do these responses compare to how the administration handles protests today, especially as our own campus imposes restrictions on demonstrations?

    These documents are in Queens College Special Collections and Archives because they provide insight into how authority figures handled student activism and campus unrest during a critical period of social change. They also serve as an important institutional memory, showing how the college historically responded to political movements on campus.

    An archivist interacted with these items at multiple stages: appraisal (deciding they were worth preserving), acquisition (adding them to the archives), preservation (protecting the original documents), digitization (scanning them for online access), metadata & cataloging (assigning subjects for searchability), and public access (uploading them to JSTOR). Each step ensures that historical records like these remain accessible for future research.

    I’m most interested in how archivists decide what is historically significant. These documents might have been dismissed as internal faculty memos at the time, but today, they help us understand how institutions negotiate power, dissent, and free speech. The ability to uncover administrative reasoning behind policy decisions is invaluable, especially when considering how students and faculty interact with campus leadership today.

    Reply
  26. Mars Pimentel Avatar
    Mars Pimentel

    Browsing the Community Collections, I was struck by how few items were in the GLASA (Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance) category compared to most others on the page. The choice of thumbnail caught my eye as well; I hadn’t seen a composition notebook like that in some time, let alone a collective journal. I really enjoyed flipping through the entries and getting to know everyone writing to each other.

    Why such a small number when these journals had been kept from 1987 to 2017? I went to the most recent item (1992-1994) and saw how many pages are in a notebook like that– it would be a huge endeavor to scan and upload every page of so many journals. Other questions: I definitely see the valuable documentation of queer life over the years– not just meeting minutes but arguments, drama, sincere reflections– but why were these particular journals chosen to be in the collection? Did the archivist reach out to the people who wrote in it for consent to be published, or was it just a given that a group journal might someday be publicly accessible?

    Places an archivist interacted with this item:
    – Choosing this specific journal out of many (capture)
    – Scanning cover and pages
    – Recording metadata: date, language, location, file format, local identifier, DCMI/resource type, filename, SSID
    – Reading the item’s contents to interpret and describe subjects covered
    – Determining which subjects and entries are important enough to be in tags
    – Redacting personally identifiable information
    – Uploading to JSTOR (organized? Pluralized?)

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34298469

    Reply
  27. Joan Castro Avatar
    Joan Castro

    The picture “Activist Graffiti” (https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.38225561) caught my attention because it connects many of my interests through the content, the way it is categorized, and how I found it.
    In terms of archiving, especially in an institution, I am very interested in how the day-to-day and people are captured. I am new to archiving but have been working in a community college library for 12 years. In that time, we have never had a formal archive setup but the library has been “hoarding” some stuff from the early days and as far as I can see it, nothing relates to the students as people. It is all institutional studies and documentation.
    When I first opened the JSTOR landing page I wasn’t sure what I wanted to find but the bright, golden yellow thumbnail picture of the “Activism and Social Change Collection” helped narrow down the scope immediately. I scrolled around and found a black and white photo called “Students and Graffiti” which made me go back to the landing page to search “graffiti” to see what came up.
    I was surprised that there are only 4 images that come up when “graffiti” is searched in the whole of Queens College’s JSTOR instance. I am curious why there aren’t more images of graffiti in QC? Are they yet to be digitized? I was also struck by the fact that the picture’s message seems to align with the “Activism and Social Change Collection” topic but it wasn’t part of that collection. It is part of the Queens College Special Collections and Archives because the picture was taken on-campus.
    As I have no archival experience, my guess would be that an archivist would interact with this item upon receipt, digitization, and description. Right now, I am most excited about digitization and description.

    Reply
  28. Meghan Khameraj Avatar
    Meghan Khameraj

    I chose the Comedias de Seultas collection ( https://www.jstor.org/site/queenscollegearchives/comediassueltascollection/?so=item_title_str_asc ). I have a big interest in rare books so I was drawn to anything printed prior to 1850. I was immediately struck by the state and annotations on some of the leaves. Looking deeper into the collection, it states that it was originally printed as a pamhplet but then bound together. I have so many questions about why it’s housed in the Queens College archives. It is a rare book so it would make sense that it is housed in a special collections, I’m just unsure as to why is it specifically at Queens College. I looked into the authorship and the playwright is quite famous so that could also be a reason for Queens to have it. The provenance of this item to me is what’s most fascinating. I want to know who owned it before! Why is it in this condition? Having taken the Rare Books course last semester, I am eager to take a look at this from a bibliographic standpoint.

    Reply
  29. Kit Moszynski Avatar
    Kit Moszynski

    I picked this photo from the “Life at Queens College Photographs” collection from 1981 advertising Queens College: https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.33096015
    I was immediately drawn to the advertisement program photos in this collection because I see so many CUNY ads on the subway and I was intrigued by what an equivalent photo from 1981 would be like. I really related to the woman’s expression and the dynamic between the two people, even if staged for a photo, compelled me. The advertisement photos in the archive offer a sense of what Queens College was like at a particular moment, but more so how the college thought about and presented itself, as a place where people of different races and genders come together in dialogue (many of the photos show just two people in apparently intense conversation). In terms of interaction points, archivists had to decide whether all the photos in this collection would be kept for the archives, digitize the photos, research and create the metadata, and many more things that I can’t think of because I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THEM YET but am EXCITED TO LEARN!!! I’m excited about physically interacting with materials in the archival process – I love the emotional connection and surprise that come from that interaction – but I’m also eager for my understanding of archives to go beyond that initial emotional excitement and be supplemented by actual knowledge.

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  30. Isabella Robles Avatar
    Isabella Robles

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31916372

    An item I found interesting is former student George Scherr’s contribution to the 1937 Queens College seal design contest. The top of the seal features a crown and the bottom bears the phrase “urge igitur conjuncte,” which seems to mean “therefore, act together”. This is well represented by two arms emerging from a frame of leaves and acting together to hold up a slip of paper reading “Queens College 1937 New York City”. I chose this item because I thought the design was interesting and the art style felt familiar. This seal looks like something my grandpa might sketch. I looked up George Scherr to confirm he was a student at Queens College and found that he was. I’d have guessed he was an art student, but he was actually a Biology major and went on to invent a type of antimicrobal wound dressing.

    I think this item is part of the collection as it is representative of student life, culture, and involvement in the college’s early years. Evidence of a student submission contest also reflects the new college’s desire to foster a collaborative academic environment among an engaged student body. Making inferences based on these seal designs and explanations, archive users might be able to compare and contrast student and collegewide attitudes across nearly 90 years of operation.

    This item may have been kept and later gifted by a donor or have always existed somewhere on campus. Drawing from my little experience working in an archive, I know the archivist would have to fill out some kind of accession form (date received, accession number, donor info, item type, size, condition, etc.). The archivist might do some research to find out how the item came to be. The item might be photographed or scanned and that image along with all relevant information would be uploaded online and made public. The archivist would appropriately store the item so it can be easily found. I think my favorite part of this process is the research. I like finding out more about the items themselves but especially the people behind them.

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  31. Jennifer Gil Avatar
    Jennifer Gil

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34291264

    I looked through The Gay and Lesbian Union journal from 1987 to 1988. The first few pages seem to detail concerns about losing funding for the club. I found quite funny the comment of Peter saying he would “start an outreach program for those poor confused souls” – he was speaking of straight people.
    I would think this club journal is in the archive as a historical object depicting the lives of queer people on the Queens College campus.

    This item had to be processed and digitized to see it in the form we are able to today.

    I’m interested in interacting with archival material and learning about the process of archiving more in depth.

    Reply
  32. Glynnis Eldridge Avatar
    Glynnis Eldridge

    Anti-Apartheid and Lettuce Boycott Pins (1960-1986), New York, NY – Queens College Special Collections and Archives (Queens, New York)

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32438141?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Factivism1960s%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ad2609faf169dda40345dd38bdfa5a57e

    My attention was grabbed by these three pins. All three are circular, two are of the same small size and have the same red background and all-caps black font, and use the same image of a bird in their center. Of the two similar ones, one reads “BOYCOTT LETTUCE” and the other reads “VIVA LA HUELGA SUPPORT FARM WORKERS”, in reference to (as the item details’ description reads) “a boycott of produce to support workers’ rights associated with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement”. The third pin is larger, and has a yellow background with black and red font in all-caps and title case. “MARCH AGAINST APARTHEID” is printed at the top of the circular pin in black all-caps, with “JUNE 14” in red all-caps, with an image of a broken shackle printed in black below “JUNE” and above “14”. “Remember Soweto” is printed in black title case on the bottom of the pin. I found the pins visually striking: Their colors are contrast-heavy and bold, and the yellow pin is large in size. I was curious too about their curation: why are these three pins photographed together? The items’ included subjects (“Anti-apartheid movement, Labor movement, Chavez, Cesar, 1927-1993”) and contextual details are vital to correctly understanding the significance of the pins: “In the 1970s, the United Farm Workers (UFW) organization, composed of farmworkers and laborers led by individuals like Cesar Chavez, engaged in picketing, organizing boycotts, and striking. The actions were undertaken to force lettuce growers to contracts with farm workers for decent wages and working conditions. The pin promoting the June 14th march references the Soweto Uprising that had occurred 10 years previously. Black South African students protested educational reforms that further entrenched Apartheid policy. These protests were met with police violence and many students were shot and killed.”

    These pins are sourced from the Arthur Gatti Papers (SCA-0027), a collection of material “documenting Gatti’s politicial and social activism as a Queens College student in the early-to-mid-1960s. The collection details Mr. Gatti’s involvement with the QC 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). Specific protest rallies and events are documented, including responses to the murders of QC student Andrew Goodman and fellow activists James Chaney and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964.”

    As such I’m eager to explore this collection as basis for comparison and be taught by it. I’m curious about how included materials may present obvious differences to contemporary national, local, and international politics, especially in terms of technology (and resulting communications), administrative responses to student protests, and subsequent responses on the part of organizers, and events and policy changes that occurred in result.

    I’m curious about the work of the archivist here, and who can lay claim to that title. Was Arthur Gatti not the archivist in choosing to hold onto the material of the collection? How well known is Gatti in the college’s legacy? I can envision the following interaction points: the relationship between Gatti and the college (specific individuals at the college) who then suggested that he perhaps consider donating his personal and professional archives to the school’s/institution’s collections. I wonder about the relationship between Gatti and the archivist: if they knew each other (and to what extent) and whether the archivist may (have) also participate(d) in the same or similar movements. I’m curious about their level of dis/comfort in selecting and work to be included in the collection: how much and what was omitted and their reasoning for these omissions. How did Gatti explicitly contextualize specific materials for the archivist? I’m most interested in the review process of the materials, seeing what an individual has held onto; their taste in objects and writings, memorabilia, etc!

    Reply
  33. Eva-Quenby (Eva) Johnson Avatar
    Eva-Quenby (Eva) Johnson

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29234741

    I was really interested in the materials from Counter-Commencement at QC in 1969. For 732 I worked on a paper about materials of campus activism from 1967-1969 housed at NYU and Columbia, so this item caught my eye. I wonder who donated this item? I wonder if it was collected in 1969 or later? I think it’s great that this item is in the archive to serve as a record of student activism and also to inspire and inform contemporary student activism.

    Likely, the archivist interacted with the item at the following moments:
    – acquiring the item
    – Assessing how best to store the item
    – Assessing how best to order the item in relationship to other items
    – describing the item
    – Accessing the item for researchers and students
    The most exciting part of archives to me is engaging and reengaging items for research, artwork, and exhibitions that make connections between our past and our world today.

    Reply
  34. Joseph Morris Avatar
    Joseph Morris

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34298266?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2Fglasa-journals%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A427503162e0e404b1041e346a7dc9a44&seq=30

    I decided to look through the Gay and Lesbian Union Journal to see what they were writing about on the day I was born. Sadly, there was no entry on my birth day, but there was a nice Happy Valentine’s Day message and a few people working on a retreat to Fire Island. Apparently class was cancelled on February 14th, 1992, and Nick got a 5 day weekend. It’s a really cute journal where anyone in the Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance (GLASA) at QC could write a message that others visiting the office could read. The reason it’s in the Queens College archive is self-evident (as a QC student group). I think the archiving process is interesting because it’s a project that in real time brings a community together to document aspects of their lives. It’s passed through many hands as so many people have contributed to this project and then preserved the physical journal and then digitized it. I think the most interesting part of the archiving process is creating the document in the first place. I think creating projects like this both serves as a community resource in the present and then when put in an archival timecapsule later serves as a little gift to LGBTQ+ people of the future, and I like the idea of working on things like this.

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  35. Henry Blake Avatar
    Henry Blake

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.38612957?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Fqueenscollegearchives%2FQCcoursebulletins%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A32491b77529851d190140385d16c5a29

    I chose this course bulletin because I feel it gives an interesting glimpse at college life and how one found out about and applied to courses in the days before internet or computers. Nowadays we do everything via the internet and take computers for granted so often that it’s hard to imagine a time before either could be used. It raises further questions in my mind of how exactly one would apply for courses, if it’s similar to checking off courses on a list like now except mailing them or turning them in to an office instead of simply emailing them. I do seem to remember as an undergraduate getting physical course catalogs from my department but still having to apply online.

    I am assuming that after these brochures were no longer needed, they were stored either by an archivist or in a large closet or warehouse. In that case, an archivist probably went into the warehouse and looked specifically for course brochures. I would imagine they only chose one or two from each academic year and threw away/shredded additional, unnecessary copies. I could see them being put into a different archive, before ultimately being scanned and digitized by an archivist, and uploaded on the internet for public access.

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