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On April 23, 1960, the School formally dedicated Waterbury Hall formally for President Edward R. Waterbury, the first graduate of the New York State Normal School to serve as its president, 1882-89. ("Administration to Dedicate Waterbury Hall Tomorrow," State College News, April 22, 1960, p. 1) Waterbury Hall, the last of the Alumni Quadrangle dormitories constructed, opened as a men's dormitory housing 200 students in September 1959. An underground dining hall shared by both Alden and Waterbury Halls was opened later in the year. Designed by Architect Harold O. Fullerton, the building's cost of $1,050,000. (including the dining hall) was funded by the State Dormitory Authority. From September 1959 until it was formally dedicated as Waterbury Hall in April 1960, the dormitory was known as the Men's Dormitory. Edward P. Waterbury (1831-1889) Diploma, NYSNS 1849, A.M., Ph.D., served as president of the New York State Normal School from June 1882...

Fifty years ago on March 21, havoc was created during construction of the University at Albany's new uptown campus when the retaining wall for the pond burst, sending millions of gallons of water, large, thick chunks of ice, and trees cascading across Western Avenue, into homes and businesses and stranding one homeowner's car in a tree well south of Western Avenue. ("Flood Hits Western Avenue," Knickerbocker News, Late Edition, March 21, 1963). The University at Albany's uptown campus was built as part of Governor Nelson Rockefeller's program to improve the State University system in the early 1960s. Rockefeller commissioned Edward Durell Stone to create a master plan and oversee the construction of the new campus resulting in one of the largest modern academic campuses in the United States. Unlike traditional campuses that grow and develop over time, the Uptown Campus was conceived and constructed all at once, over a short...

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...

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives was prominently featured on C-SPAN2's BOOKTV on the weekend of December 8-9. The program featured a discussion of the Grenander Department, the National Death Penalty Archive and the M. Watt Espy Papers. Our feature was part of C-SPAN's LCV (Local Content Vehicle) 2012 Cities Tour of all of America's state capitals. Albany, N.Y. is featured in December 2012. SUNY Albany Library Special Collections Local Content page for Albany

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives welcomes a new exhibit, "From the Great Experiment to the University: Historic Images of the University at Albany, 1844 - 2004." The exhibit will run from October 10, 2012 through April 15, 2013 in the Science Library Atrium. Founded in 1844 as the New York State Normal School, the University at Albany was the first state funded school for higher education in New York and fourth in the nation. Using documents, photographs, and artifacts, this exhibit traces the University's administrative history and student culture in the 19th and 20th Centuries, as it transitioned from the New York State Normal School to the New York State College for Teachers to the University at Albany. In 1962, as part of SUNY's expansion plan, the College for Teachers was designated a university adopting the model of a broad-based public research institution, charged with providing...

A National Death Penalty Archive Event Friday, October 12, 2012 Standish Room, Science Library, University at Albany Lecture and Reception at 4:00 pm The University at Albany's School of Criminal Justice and the University Libraries are proud to host former Dean and Professor Emeritus Victor Streib, of the Ohio Northern University College of Law, who will offer remarks in connection with the announcement of the addition of his papers to the National Death Penalty Archive (NDPA). Dean Streib is recognized as the country's foremost authority on the capital punishment of juveniles and women. His work has been cited extensively by the United States Supreme Court in its cases addressing the constitutionality of the death penalty for juvenile offenders. His remarks will address "Death to the Women and Children," and will analyze national and international trends regarding the capital punishment of these different populations. Discussion, an opportunity for questions, and a...

From its colorful stained glass to its lush murals, University Archivist, Geoff Williams talks about why the University at Albany's Thomas E. Dewey Graduate Library is an historic treasure. </img>

Capital Region Archives Dinner, Thursday October 4, 2012,at the Gideon Putnam, in Saratoga Springs, NY Go to archivedinner.org for more information about the event. </img>

Donna E. Shalala spoke at the 143rd Commencement on May 17, 1987. Shalala served under President William Jefferson Clinton and is currently president of the University of Miami since 2001. A video of her address is now available online:

The School of Criminal Justice and the University Libraries are pleased to invite the public and the University community to an event to be held on Friday, April 20 at 3:30 in the Standish Room, on the third floor of the Science Library, to announce the addition of the personal papers of the late David C. Baldus, Joseph B. Tye Professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, to the National Death Penalty Archive. David Baldus's research and scholarship on the influence of race in the administration of the death penalty are unparalleled. His study of racial disparities in the application of Georgia's death penalty served as the foundation of the landmark Supreme Court case, McCleskey v. Kemp (1987). In that decision, by vote of 5-4, the justices upheld Georgia's death penalty law against constitutional challenge despite dramatic race-of-victim differences in capital charging and sentencing decisions that were revealed...