Special Collections Awarded DHP Grant

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives has been awarded a $12,000 grant to arrange, describe, and produce an EAD finding aid and MARC record for 210 cubic feet of archival records from the Atlantic States Legal Foundation (ASLF). Located in Syracuse, New York, ASLF was established in 1982 to provide affordable legal, technical and organizational assistance to individuals, community groups, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as a way to effectively remediate threats to the natural environment. Since 1982, the ASLF activities had a significant impact on several facets of environmental affairs including water quality and pollution, the protection of lakes, rivers, coastal zones, and wetlands, and environmental litigation. Many of its activities have been precedent-setting in the areas of environmental law regarding environmental cleanup. </img>

The ASLF collection dates between 1974 and 2009, and consists of correspondence, subject and case files, compliance monitoring reports and data, environmental notice bulletins, newsletters, studies and research reports, including significant information about the effect of environmental hazards on human populations and other life forms and the development and implementation of public policy and planning related to the environment. The collection also contains a significant number of records that document the ASLF's role in litigation campaigns to ensure compliance with the federal Clean Water Act or the federal Water Pollution Control Act and to bring accountability to businesses in terms of environmental risk prevention on behalf of ordinary citizens.

This grant project was made possible in part by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives, a program of the New York State Education Department.