Conflicting opinions over what documents are important can create hard feelings between the donors of archives and the archivists who process them. The New York Times reports such a contretemps between author and reporter Paul Brodeur and the New York Public Research Library. Brodeur donated his archives in 320 boxes to NYPL-R when he left his position as an investigative reporter for the

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." --Hans Hofmann An archive is a purposefully-assembled collection of records intended to tell a story to future researchers. Emptying file drawers into an archive actually inhibits the effectiveness of the archive by obstructing access to key documents with a surfeit of inconsequential records. Judicious use of a shredder is required to develop a clean, high functioning archival collection. The following types of documents should not be included in an archive: Multiple copies of anyth...

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." --Winston Churchill Each office, faculty member, staff member and student has the opportunity to use PocketKnowledge to create an archive. The goal of an archive is to preserve and make accessible the records that comprise the history of an institution. The archive tells the story of both the organization and the individual. Perhaps the single most important question that each contributor to PocketKnowledge can ask is: How do I want to be remembered? These kinds of records usually add lasting value to an archive: [caption...

"A great deal is said by some people about 'rubbish,' but one investigator's 'rubbish' may be precious to another, and what appears valueless to-day may be found highly important tomorrow." American historian Justin H. Smith (1857-1930) The archives exists to acquire, preserve and make available vital records that document the College. An archive fosters a deeper collective understanding of history through the availability of and research into local archival records. The history of Te...

As a TC intern and future librarian, I spend a fair amount of time looking for things at the library.  It will probably come as no surprise to any of you to find out that TC has an incredible collection of historical children’s literature.  Thinking you too may be curious to see what lives in the closed stacks, I’ve scanned and posted some highlights from our stellar collection. These posts will be (mostly) in chronological order and I'll try to contextualize with fun facts as I find them.  If you are interested in viewing any of these books, you can request them from the closed stacks through...

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="293" caption="Mrs. Meckert's Farm, ca. 1900: The Site of Teachers College"][/caption] Everyone at Teachers College can archive their work with PocketKnowledge (PK), an easy to use institutional archive. This is a great way to make your work part of the ...

Some vintage postcards depicting Teachers College many moons ago were unearthed from some crevice of the 5th Floor and landed on my desk Monday morning. I wanted to share them here, as well as on Pocket Knowledge, TC's digital archive. I love th...

Oh! She came up to College just for fun, But found before her work was done 'T was no loafing place up here. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Dean James Earl Russell"]

"Oh! She came up to College just for fun But found before her work was done T was no loafing place up here. No loafing place up here -- Teachers College"