The M.C. Lawton Civic and Cultural Club Records showcase the operations of the first black organization in Albany that was actively involved in community service and educational advancement, which was founded in 1919.
The Melvin Urofsky Papers discuss his research and editing of his multi-volume series on the letters of Louis Brandeis. The papers consist of copies of Brandeis' letters, drafts of the volumes co-edited by Urofsky, and several of Urofsky's notebooks.
The majority of the Menands Book Club Records consists of meeting and treasurer notes and program schedules. There also is correspondence, club histories and an information packet of the village of Menands, NY Anniversary.
Michael A. Mello (1957-2008) was an internationally recognized authority on the death penalty and capital punishment issues. He was a lawyer, professor, and author. Michael Mello served as counsel or informal advisor to many significant cases, including Joseph Robert Crazy Joe Spaziano, Theodore Kaczynski, Theodore Bundy, Rolando Cruz, Alvin Ford, Stephen Todd Booker, and Robert Straight.
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 and Liberation. Also present are records from Michelle Crone's management of a number of women's festivals from 1982 to 1996—most notably Rhythm Fest and the Cultural Festival at Gay Games IV—and records from her Capital District production company, Elword Productions. The collection also includes the records from her experience with the Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the National Lesbian Conference. Also included are her personal correspondence, records of her undergraduate studies with the theater and women's studies programs at the University at Albany, SUNY, and political literature from a number of progressive causes at the national and local levels.
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. His papers contain both primary and secondary sources used to catalog thousands of instances of capital punishment in the United States and its territories since the 1600s. The collection includes material from corrections records, newspapers, county histories, legal proceedings, and books. In addition to the records pertaining specifically to the death penalty, there is also a selection of magazines collected by Espy that cover true crime stories as well as life in the American Old West.
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.
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.