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.
In January 2001 Professor Adina Back, coordinator for the minor and serving on a line shared by the History Department and the Library, resigned. After a nation-wide search, Professor Philip Napoli http://userhome.brooklyn.edu/pnapoli/ was selected to replace her. Professor Napoli began in September 2001, coming to us from Columbia University's Herbert H. Lehman Suite and Papers. Professor Napoli received his BA in history from McGill University, and two masters degrees (American and European history) plus his Ph.D. (American history) from Columbia University.
Since his September arrival, Professor Napoli has already recruited six new students to the minor. The newcomers are from his oral history class and they will also enroll in Professor Anthony Cucchiara's archival management class, spring 2002, readying them for their internships in September. Several of these students participated in the interview of out-going Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden at Borough Hall on Wednesday, November 14, 2001. This interview will be the first of several used to build a virtual exhibit about the Golden administration in Brooklyn. Portions of the interview will be made available on the Library Web site, and the interview will be viewable in its entirety at the Library when it is complete.
Presently the Minor includes these internship sites:
American Social History Project
2001 interns included:
| Herbert Fair | The Brooklyn Historical Society, American Express, and Brooklyn College's Special Collections |
| Donna Grant | The Brooklyn Museum of Art |
| Kendall Howard | Brooklyn College's Special Collections |
| Katie Kennedy | The Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn College's Special Collections |
| Valda Morris | City Lore |
Each semester the coordinator for the minor meets regularly with the interns to discuss common readings in the theory and practice of public history. In the spring term 2001, students also met and spoke with:
| Professor Edward O'Donnell | The politics of ethnic | |
| History Exhibitions | ||
| Hunter College | ||
| Dan Like, Acting Director | Princeton's Mudd Manuscript | |
| Library | ||
| Princeton University | ||
| Mudd Monuscript Library | http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/ | |
|
Quynh Tai, television producer His ABC network documentary about the Vietnam War battle of the Ia Drang Valley "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young. http://www.lzxray.com |
