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Learn about how student assistants in Special Collections are adapting to working from home.
Student Updates
Celebrate 175!
Discover UAlbany's 175 years of history by exploring the University Archives online collections.
Learn MoreMissing Executions from 1860-1875 Mississippi
The Espy Project is digitizing records of executions and making them available for research use. Learn about some of the challenges we are facing.
Espy Project UpdateExplore New York State Politics
Research with over 350 collections that document New York State elected officials, interest groups, public policy, and activism.
Political CollectionsIntellectuals in Exile
Collections of German-speaking intellectuals who fled the Nazi regime in the 1930s.
German Intellectual ÉmigréDiscover UAlbany's Radical Era
Expansion of the University in the 1960s fueled student activism. Learn about protests on campus that suspended classes in 1970.
University on the MakeExplore Children's Literature
The Mathes collection includes over 12,000 children's books and periodicals published in the 19th century and up to 1960.
Mathes CollectionTo collect, preserve, provide access to, and encourage use
Featured Collections
Vincent Schaefer Papers
University Archives
The Vincent J. Schaefer Papers represent the professional accomplishments and personal interests of the scientist who discovered cloud seeding. Schaefer spent more than 20 years with General Electric in Schenectady, New York, working his way up from apprentice, to research assistant, to research associate...
See CollectionM. Watt Espy Papers
National Death Penalty Archive
The M. Watt Espy Papers chronicle the extensive research efforts that led to the creation of the Capital Punishment Research Project and the database known as the Espy File. Espy spent three decades gathering and indexing documentation of legal executions in the United States.
See CollectionMichelle Crone Papers
New York State Modern Political Archive
The Michelle Crone Papers document her experience as a feminist and lesbian activist from the early 1980s until the mid-1990s. The collection includes material from here position as National Civil Disobedience Coordinator for the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, and as a member of the Executive Committee for the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights
See CollectionACT UP Albany Chapter Records
New York State Modern Political Archive
This collection details records kept by the ACT UP organization committed to ending the AIDS crisis.
See CollectionAlvin Ford Papers
National Death Penalty Archive
This collection documents the seventeen-year period (1974-1991) concerning the Florida capital punishment case of Alvin Ford. The collection primarily contains the court records and research material of Ford's attorney, Laurin A. Wollan, Jr., as well as other members of the Ford defense team who began work on the case in 1981. The legal records include official court proceedings from the initial trial in 1974, appeals, attempts at clemency, and several cases by Ford against the Florida Department of Corrections. Other legal records include psychological reports, background reports, biographies of Ford, as well as his prison and medical records.
See CollectionHans Staudinger Papers
German Intellectual Émigré Collections
Staudinger was a Social Democratic Party member of the Reichstag until his removal by the Nazis in 1933; he was professor of economics at the University in Exile from 1934 and dean of the graduate faculty of the New School for Social Research at various times between 1941 and 1960.
See CollectionAmerican Council for Émigrés in the Professions Records
German Intellectual Émigré Collections
Original files on more than a thousand "academically trained refugees" from Nazi Germany, as well as from Spain, France, and Italy. The files were kept by Else Maier Staudinger as director of the Scholars Project of the New School for Social Research.
See CollectionHugo A. Bedau Papers
National Death Penalty Archive
Hugo A. Bedau (Ph.D., Harvard, 1961) is a commentator, scholar, and activist for the abolition of capital punishment. He is a prominent spokesperson in the abolitionist movement and well-known for his scholarship and writing concerning the death penalty and the challenge to separate logical arguments from moral arguments.
See CollectionLeigh B. Bienen Papers
National Death Penalty Archive
The Leigh Bienen Papers include the records of the New Jersey Proportionality Review Project, the Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Commission, and the academic research papers of legal scholar Leigh Bienen. The New Jersey records contain material from New Jersey Public Defender Homicide Study directed by Bienen in the mid-1980s. The collection also includes the records from Bienen’s involvement with the New Jersey Proportionality Review Project headed by Special Master David C. Baldus. Also present is material from Leigh Bienen's tenure on the Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Commission which resulted in the abolition of the death penalty in that state in 2011. Finally the collection contains Leigh Bienen's scholarly research material during her career teaching at both Princeton University and Northwestern University. Her research focused on proportionality review, the death penalty's monetary costs, and the role of prosecutor discretion.
See CollectionCorrectional Association of New York Records
New York State Modern Political Archive
The Correctional Association of New York Records includes records from the Board of Directors, annual reports, prison visit files, Narcotics Committee files, program and bureau files, project files, subject files, and publications. The only records of the organization available from the nineteenth century are the annual reports, which have been microfilmed and are available in the University Library.
See CollectionVirginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Records
National Death Penalty Archive
This collection contains materials used by Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) in its efforts to end capital punishment in Virginia.
See CollectionBernard Vonnegut Papers
University Archives
The Bernard Vonnegut Papers document Vonnegut's career as a researcher in the field of atmospheric science with a focus on his time at GE, Arthur Little, and the State University of New York at Albany. The collection includes technical memoranda, research, data, inventions and patent forms, equipment specifications, drawings, figures, handwritten notes, manuscripts, reports, correspondence, publicity materials, course materials, news clippings, photographs, memorabilia, and audio/video materials
See CollectionAnna E. Pierce Papers
University Archives
Namesake of Pierce Hall, she served as Dean of Women from 1913-1933, supported the construction of dorms for women and aided the institutionalization of in loco parentis.
See CollectionMyskania Records
University Archives
The original student government of the State College for Teachers, founded in 1917. Myskania acted as a secret society which selected its own members, but its duties were gradually assumed by the Student Association and it was disbaned in 1979.
See CollectionHelen Quirini Papers
New York State Modern Political Archive
This collection documents the life, work and activism of Helen Quirini of Schenectady, New York. The collection represents Quirini's numerous activities and interests including her early work owning a local market with her brother, her 39 year employment for General Electric, her activism in unions during her employment and retirement, as well as her charitable activities where she pursued civil, housing, pension, women's and senior citizen's rights.
See CollectionArthur H. Estabrook Papers
New York State Modern Political Archive
Papers of eugenics researcher Arthur Estabrook focus on racial integrity, sterilization of the mentally defective, venereal disease, intelligence, and criminality. Limited material is availible on the Jukes of New York state, the "Tribe of Ishmael" of Indiana, and the Carrie Buck trial.
See CollectionThe New York State Tenants & Neighbors Coalition Records
New York State Modern Political Archive
Tenants and Neighbors is a statewide coalition of New York's tenants and tenant associations that fight for tenants' rights and affordable housing for all people. The origins of Tenants and Neighbors dates to a meeting of tenant and housing activists from across the state in August 1972 at St. Rose College in Albany, N.Y. By December 1974, a formal organization was developed by housing and tenant activists across the state that drew up by-laws and created the original h2 as the New York Tenants Coalition. The first statewide membership meeting was held in February 1975. In 1995, the organization changed its h2 to New York State Tenants and Neighbors. T he collection includes: minutes, annual reports, newsletter and other publications, legislative and organizational memoranda, press releases, clippings, video and press coverage.
See CollectionWoman's Club of Albany Records
Rare Books and Manuscripts
The Woman's Club of Albany Records document the day-to-day operations of the first 100 years of this community organization founded in 1910.
See CollectionWalter A. Friedländer Papers
German Intellectual Émigré Collections
The Walter A. Friedländer (Friedlander) Papers consist of 45 archival boxes of materials, dating primarily from 1932 to 1984, with the bulk of material comprising Friedländer's voluminous correspondence (30 boxes). The collection also contains biographical materials, manuscripts and publications by Friedländer, as well as course materials and materials pertaining to national and international social welfare conferences, publications by other scholars, and materials collected by Friedländer on topics of interest, particularly social welfare topics.
See CollectionNorman Studer Papers
New York State Modern Political Archive
The Norman Studer Papers document his career as both an educator and ardent Catskill folklorist. The collection includes significant material relating to his work as director of the Downtown Community School in New York City and Camp Woodland in the Catskills.
See CollectionEnvironmental Advocates of New York Records
New York State Modern Political Archive
The Environmental Advocates of New York Records document the legislative activities of the organization from the 1980s through the late 1990s. The collection consists of correspondence, notes, meeting minutes, reports, memorandums, publications, news clippings, promotional material, as well as administrative files.
See CollectionAtlantic States Legal Foundation Records
New York State Modern Political Archive
The Atlantic States Legal Foundation Records document the environmental not-for-profit organization’s pollution reduction and environmental remediation projects and cases throughout the United States and territories.
See CollectionJohn H. Herz Papers
German Intellectual Émigré Collections
The John H. Herz Papers consist of documents and autobiographical materials, professional and personal correspondence, copies of Herz's published and unpublished writings, texts of numerous speeches and lectures, teaching materials, as well as Herz's research collections on topics relating to his writings and lectures.
See CollectionJohn H. E. Fried Papers
German Intellectual Émigré Collections
The John H. E. Fried Papers consist of his professional correspondence, copies of his published and unpublished writings (manuscripts, typescripts, reprints and books), texts of numerous speeches and lectures (published and unpublished), personal documents, teaching materials, as well as Fried's research collections on topics relating to global human rights problems and remedies.
See Collection
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Life as a Remote Student Worker
When you think of your freshman year of college, what first comes to mind? Would it be the partying? Maybe even the clubs you joined, or special events your school held? In my case, the first thing that comes to mind is COVID-19. I think about how it shifted my...
A Semester in Special Collections
My experience working for the Department of Special Collections & Archives was great. I really enjoyed working for the department on campus. But working from home was an adjustment, along with working on my time management. Unfortunately, it has been very hard for me to keep focused and get work...
2020 Patricia Stocking Brown Research Award Recipients Named
Carissa Halston Shelby Hafener ALBANY, N.Y. (May 1, 2020) – The University Libraries at the University at Albany, SUNY today announced the 2020 Patricia Stocking Brown Research Award recipients are University at Albany graduate student Carissa Halston and undergraduate student Shelby Hafener. A second year doctoral student in the Department...
Societal Table-Flipper
Upon the arrival of the societal table-flipper that is the COVID-19 virus, UAlbany closed down, pushed their students out, and required employees to work remotely. This left me in a place where I had to adapt to a new form of schedule which relied entirely upon my own discipline and...