Collections

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is the preeminent statewide organization dedicated to the protection and enhancement of individual civil liberties and civil rights in New York State. Founded in 1951, the NYCLU's mission is to defend and uphold the basic rights and liberties articulated in the Bill of Rights and to advocate, litigate and educate for the protection of civil liberties. Through litigation, legal counsel, advocacy and legislative lobbying, the NYCLU has, among many issues, protected political freedom during the McCarthy era, argued against the constitutionality of the Vietnam War, created the first project focused on the rights of mentally disabled, and was the first civil liberties organization to advocate for reforming the foster care placement system. Over the last thirty years, the NYCLU has advocated for issues surrounding voting rights and censorship, fought to end gender discrimination and school segregation in New York State schools, and defended the separation of church and state. The collection consists of legal case files, administrative records and other archival materials. The collection is being processed and is currently closed, unless permission to access is granted in writing from the NYCLU Executive Director.

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 name as the New York Tenants Coalition. The first statewide membership meeting was held in February 1975. In 1995, the organization changed its name to New York State Tenants and Neighbors. The collection includes: minutes, annual reports, newsletter and other publications, legislative and organizational memoranda, press releases, clippings, video and press coverage.

Primarily files related to his tenure as a professor of Political Science, internal political science department files but also 1 box of a proposed but never realized Asian Studies Major in the early 1970s.

This collection contains records documenting the day-to-day activities of the Pride Center of the Capital Region.

This collection contains some administrative materials related to the running of the school, as well as information on class reunions, and copies of the yearbook Bricks and Ivy.

This collection contains the papers of Thomas Keefe.

Theodore Roosevelt Kupferman was a Representative from New York. Kupferman was born in New York City on May 12, 1920. Kupferman was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-ninth Congress by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of U.S. Representative John V. Lindsay. Kupferman was reelected to the Ninetieth Congress (February 8, 1966-January 3, 1969), but was not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-first Congress in 1968. Kupferman was also a justice of the New York State Supreme Court, 1969-1996. Kupferman died on September 23, 2003, in New York, NY. This collection contains materials related to Kupferman's political career.

The Thomas Nattell papers document the life of a mental health worker and political activist active during the 1980s and 1990s in Albany, New York. He created and participated in organizations like the Albany Peace and Energy Council (APEC) and the Three Guys From Albany poetry troupe. He also acted as promoter and event coordinator for movie showings, poetry open mics and an annual 24-hour poetry reading alongside a coinciding international postcard art event. Nattell used poetry and other arts to advance world peace, anti-nuclear power and proliferation, and environmental issues. This collection contains videos of events, photographs, scrapbooks full of art and poetry mailed from around the world to Nattell, subject files with research on topics related to his professional work as well as his activism, poetry, correspondence, and clippings.

Sir Thomas Smith served in official positions during the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. This collection contains the manuscript entitled, "A Discourse for the Common Welthe of England," which was one of five known early manuscripts of a political treatise completed in 1549 in response to socio-economic problems in Tudor England at the time and first published in 1581.

The Tom Blandy Papers document the group Concerned Citizens for the Environment's legal and political opposition to the proposed Green Island Solid Waste Incinerator