The first of its kind within the City University of New York, the Minor in Archival Studies and Community Documentation complements course work with diverse, supervised internship opportunities and field experiences in a variety of New York City cultural organizations, including museums, archives, and educational institutions. Intellectually, the minor offers students the opportunity to cultivate a deeper understanding of New York's local communities--their history, geography, culture, folklore, religions, politics, and social structures. Practically, the minor enables students to explore potential careers in various fields that draw on the study of community and archives.
· The Minor Accepts Its First InternsIn the fall of 1999, the Minor in Archival Studies and Community Documentation (approved by Faculty Council at the end of the spring 1999 semester) was officially inaugurated. Three students, all history majors, successfully completed the course requirements, interned, and became our first graduates. Professor Adina Back, serving on a line shared by the History Department and the Library, placed and supervised the student interns at the Brooklyn College Archives, the Brooklyn Public Library and Prospect Park Alliance, and the Gilder Lehrman Collection (on deposit at the Pierpont Morgan Library).
Francine Noyen was an intern for one semester at the Brooklyn Public Library's Local History Collection and a second semester at the Prospect Park Archives.
The students met once every three weeks for a seminar in public history and archival studies. They also met individually every three weeks with Professor Back to review and discuss their internship-related readings and research papers. All three students graduated in the spring of 2000. So successful was Byron Major's internship that he was offered and accepted a paid archivist position at the Morgan Library.
At the end of spring 2000, the program doubled its enrollment: six students declared a minor in Archival Studies and Community Documentation and registered for Oral History Theory and Practice, one of the required courses, for the fall of 2000.
· Public Relations CampaignIn fall 1999, we developed a multi-pronged strategy for promoting the new minor and recruiting students. This campaign included creating a brochure for the minor (done with the assistance of the College Information and Publications office); posting flyers around campus; publicizing the minor through the College's student newspapers and website; discussing the minor with professors who teach courses included in the minor; and reviewing the minor with the College's counselors. Given the utility of the minor to education majors, Professor Back directed special outreach efforts to the School of Education.
In an effort to publicize the minor beyond the campus, we developed a press release (in conjunction with Public Relations) that was sent out to the College's press list of more than seventy local media outlets. Special mailings were also sent to the Chronicle of Higher Education and Archival Outlook. An article about the minor will be published in the winter of 2001 in the Metropolitan Archivist, the newsletter of New York City's archivists. (The Metropolitan Archivist has a mailing list of 400 members.)
· Outreach to Internship SitesProfessor Back maintained good communication with the minor's fifteen established internship sites:
She also continued to expand the list of potential sites. New sites interested in hosting interns include:
