Collections

This collection documents Leona Train Rienow's professional career as a writer. The papers contain a significant number of drafts of Leona Train Rienow's manuscripts, papers concerning her research for her books and articles, and correspondence files.

The papers of Nancy Papish document her involvement with Clearwater, North River Friends of Clearwater (NRFC), and the campaign to stop Hydro-Quebec's development plan for James Bay. These papers document the environmental activism of Nancy Papish from the 1970s through the 1990s. Included are meeting minutes, notes, mailings, press releases, news clippings, magazine articles, programs, and publications. The Clearwater files contain near-complete runs of newsletters produced by both NRFC and the parent Clearwater organization. Evidence of NRFC's outreach activities is found in a slide show titled "This Is Clearwater" and numerous poster displays. Documentation of Clearwater's organization and administration, such as meeting minutes, internal reports, and committee files, are almost entirely absent. There is little information about the membership of Clearwater. The James Bay files contain materials from several organizations.

Records of non-profit citizens' organization committed to reducing hazardous chemical pesticides use through education and advocacy.

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.

Correspondence with publishers and environmental groups including the Constitutional Council for Forest Preserves, 1970–71; Defenders of Wildlife, 1970–76; Albany Environmental Council, 1965–76; draft manuscripts and typescripts, 1956–79, of texts, scholarly and popular articles and books relating to local, state, national, and international government and to environmental issues such as the anti-nuclear movement, forest preservation, wildlife preservation, the Adirondack Mountains, lecture notes taken as a student and given to his classes, 1930–70, scripts for his television series "Man Against His Environment", 1970–71, drafts of speeches on environmental concerns, tape cassettes on environmental issues created as staff lecturer for the Center for Cassette Studies, clippings files on government and environmental issues, photographs of Rienow and his wife. Robert Rienow was educated at Carthage College (B.A., 1930), and Columbia University (M.A., 1934; Ph.D., 1937), served as Instructor, 1936–41, Assistant Professor, 1941–47, and Professor, 1947–80, of Social Science at the State University of New York at Albany, now the University at Albany. Through out his career Rienow maintained an active interest in environmental issues and a belief in the need to popularize issues of public concern. (See also papers of his wife Leona Train Rienow).

Documents major projects the society undertook to protect water resources, including the Wilmorite project, the Bonded Concrete project, and the water supply applications of the city of Schenectady and the town of Rotterdam.

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. In those years he was mentored by Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. The work Schaefer did at General Electric laid the foundation for further success as he became director of research for the Munitalp Foundation, began a highly successful summer science program for high school students, acted as an independent consultant, and founded the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Albany. This collection contains research data, notes, correspondence, publications, and photographs that showcase Schaefer's long, industrious scientific career as well as highlighting his many hobbies in local history and environmentalism.