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The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives Presents: Following the Yellow Brick Road: Imitation and Influence in Children’s Literature Classic children’s books endure for their originality and timeless value to generations of young (and older) readers. A handful of these books distinguish themselves as exemplars and definers of entire genres. Six such examples are presented in this exhibit. They are: The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678); Robinson Crusoe (1719); Gulliver’s Travels (1726); Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865); The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900); and The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902). Presented here are small selections of books, some classics in their own right, which take influence from their groundbreaking predecessors in a broad variety of ways. Some are explicit sequels or pastiches, while others borrow structural, stylistic, or symbolic elements, but are otherwise independent entities. Some are written by associates of the influencing novel’s author, and some even share visual...

The Capital Region Archives Dinner Committee, in co-operation with the Archives Partnership Trust and the Capital Area Archivists, is proud to present the Fifteenth Annual Capital Region Archives Dinner at the Edison Club in Rexford, NY on Wednesday, October 6, 2010. The evening begins with a cash bar & hors d’oeuvres at 6:00 pm and the dinner and program at 7:00 pm. The keynote speaker is Dr. Gerald Zahavi, professor of History and Director of the Documentary Studies Program at the University at Albany, State University of New York, and noted expert on the history of General Electric. Focusing on an important aspect of GE’s social life, Association Island, a corporate summer recreation retreat and conference center owned by GE for half a century, Dr. Zahavi will explore the usefulness of utilizing non-textual sources to interpret the often hidden social and cultural dimensions of economic history and demonstrate the value...

The University at Albany Libraries’ M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives has acquired a unique diary written by a graduate of the New York State Normal College in Albany’s Class of 1912. Ethel Gail Everingham (pictured) wrote in the diary about about her time as a student at the New York State Normal College from 1910 until she graduated in 1912. The bulk of the volume, pp. 38-146, contains the diary entries, poetry and short stories. While attending the Normal College, Everingham boarded at 159 Clinton Avenue in Albany with her mother and she was a member of the Delta Omega Sorority, the school’s first sorority formed in 1890. </img> The diary begins with a one act comedy, “The Hooligans,� that freshman Delta Omega pledges were require to perform. It contains literary pieces apparently written by Everingham, accounts of travels around Albany and the Capital District, descriptions of...

This is video footage of distinguished author Isaac Bashevis Singer’s speech at the University at Albany’s 137th Annual Commencement held on May 24, 1981 at University Field. The master video is part of the University Archives and it was digitally reformatted for your viewing pleasure. Singer was a Polish-born Jewish American author and one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement who received the 1978 Nobel Prize in literature. The footage is of Singer’s Commencement speech as his acceptance of an honorary degree from the University. President, Vincent O'Leary introduces the Nobel Laureate. University at Albany's 137th Annual Commencement program:

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Science Library, the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives has selected items from the archives that document the planning, construction, and use of the building. The exhibit is open and on display in the Science Library atrium of the Uptown Campus.

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives will be closed Monday, January 18th, 2010 in observance of Martin Luther King Day

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives will be closed December 23, 2009 – January 3, 2010. The Department will be re-open at 9:00 AM Monday January 4, 2010 and resume regular reference hours from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The Department will be also closed on January 18, 2010. The Department's complete reference hours can be found here.

The Department of Special Collections announces the completion of the online finding aid for the Frank Moore Papers. New York State Governor Thomas E. Dewey signs the 1950 Thruway Authority Act creating the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA), an independent public corporation, which would build and manage the turnpike. (Moore is second from the right). Frank Moore, a New York State politician and civil servant, held a wide range of elected and appointed positions during his fifty-year career. The collection consists primarily of the records of Moore's service in various elected and appointed positions. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, draft and final reports, research material, periodicals, photographs, meeting minutes and news clippings. Many series contain extensive files of internal research and reports that document the statistical information which guided the decision-making of Moore and his colleagues during Moore’s long career as a public servant. After his admission to the bar...

The Department of Special Collections announces the completion of the John H. E. Fried Papers online finding aid, part of the German and Jewish Intellectual Émigré Collections. Fried, a lawyer, professor and human rights activist, came to the United States in 1938 from Vienna, Austria shortly after its annexation by Hitler. Upon his arrival in New York in the summer of 1938, Fried joined the Institute for Social Research of Columbia University and wrote three highly acclaimed books (The Guilt of the German Army, 1942; The Significance of Democracy: Constitutional Developments and Labor Relations in Austria, 1944; and The Exploitation of Foreign Labor by Germany, 1945). In January of 1947, the U.S. War Department requested Fried's services for a three-month survey of certain aspects of the law of war, and to serve as Consultant to the U.S. Secretary of War, assigned to the U.S. War Crimes Tribunals in Nuremberg, Germany....

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives is pleased to announce the online availability of the University at Albany’s student newspaper from 1916-1985. You can browse each issue from the State College News, 1916-1963, State University News, 1963-1964, and the Albany Student Press (ASP), 1964-1985. The ASP , 1986 - 2009, and The Echo, 1892-1916, are available in hard copy at the Special Collections' Marcia Brown Reading Room. Issues are available at: http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/studentnewspapers.htm Support for this digital project came from the Friends of the Libraries and would not have been possible without their assistance. In collaboration with the Library Systems Department, we are developing a full text database of the newspaper that will allow searching across multiple issues, years, or decades. In addition, the Department of Special Collections will develop a plan to digitize the ASP,1986 -2009, and The Echo, 1892-1916, a student news and literary magazine.