Collections

The records of the League of Women Voters of Albany County (LWVAC), include material produced by the LWVAC as well as material that was produced by the League of Women Voters of New York State and the League of Women Voters of the United States. The most comprehensive series in the collection is the Administrative Files. There are meeting minutes, annual reports, and Board of Directors lists from 1940-2001. A large portion of the LWVAC collection relates to the two main purposes of the organization: voter service and "study and action." Records relating to voter service include pamphlets with information about candidates and citizen voting rights published by the LWVAC and material used to increase voter participation. Records related to "study and action" include material used by the LWVAC to inform citizens about public policy issues locally, statewide, and nationally. A strength of the LWVAC collection is the amount of material related to various public policy issues and how they affected the local community.

The League of Women Voters of Rensselaer County Records documents the political and social activities of the chapter since its founding in 1939.

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 Lou Ismay document the history of the Environmental Forum at the University at Albany, SUNY, (State University of New York at Albany as it was then known) from 1969-1977, as well as the Environmental Studies Program. The collection contains information on the Environmental Forum, the Protect Your Environment Club, administrative files, student writings, subject files, correspondence, and publications. The student writings are from Ismay's Environmental Forum classes from 1969-1977. This series is restricted from use, along with parts of the Environmental Forum and correspondence series. This course was held under different numbers during its existence, including A&S 201 and Env.250a and b. The strength of the collection lies not in the educational departments that are represented by the collection, but by the overall impression one can gather about the rise of environmental awareness among students at the university. Access to certain student material is restricted. Consult a staff member for details.

This collection details the social activism of Malcolm Willison in New York State's Capital Region. As an active board member of several local groups, his papers contain minutes, financial statements and budgets, programming ideas, brochures, planning notes, articles and reports, and clippings that detail the evolution of the various organizations contained in the collection. Organizational newsletters and event flyers, course and conference information planned by Willison in his capacity on executive boards, and vast amounts of correspondence about any number of events and issues are also part of the scope of the collection.

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.

This collection is made up of issues of New York Environmental News, a newsletter focused on environmental issues in New York state.

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.

The North Country James Bay Group records document efforts of this upstate New York environmental organization to stop Hydro-Québec's Great Whale (Grande Baleine) River/James Bay II development efforts in the early 1990s.