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The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives has added the following online finding aids to its Web site. Additional information about each collection is available through the appropriate links. Congressman James J. Delaney Papers Elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-ninth United States Congress in November 1944, Delaney was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1946. Delaney’s hiatus from politics was short-lived as he was elected again in November 1948 and remained in Congress until his retirement in December 1978. The James Joseph Delaney Papers cover the years 1950-1978, and document Delaney’s extensive tenure in Congress. Delaney served as Congressman from Queens, New York and his three decades in Washington are distinguished by consecutive elections to chairman of the House Rules Committee and the addition of the Delaney Clause to the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The Papers contain 12 cubic feet of legislative files, correspondence,...

Researching NY 2007 Conference - Closing Plenary "New Directions in Historical Scholarship on the United States Congress" When: Friday November 16, 2007, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM Location: Recital Hall in the Performing Arts Center, University at Albany, SUNY Web site>http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/Researching_plenary_flyer.pdf Contact Brian Keough, (518) 437-3931 or bkeough@albany.edu

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives' has added the following online finding aids to its Web site. Additional information about each collection is available through the appropriate links. Lou Ismay Papers The papers of Lou Ismay, environmentalist, labor activist, and educator include material related to the struggle over environmental issues facing the Capital Region and upstate New York. The collection material document University at Albany programs and groups including Environmental Studies Program, the Environmental Forum, and Protect Your Environment Club (PYE). Karl Pribram Papers The collection includes include diaries, documents, correspondence, manuscripts, notes and publications of Karl Pribram, an Austrian-born economist who escaped the Nazi regime in 1934 and later worked at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Social Security Board and the U.S. Tariff Commission. The bulk of the collection consists of Pribram’s writings, both in manuscript and published form, on labor, housing, unemployment...

The University Libraries' M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives is hosting an exhibit talk "The Secret Lives of Toys and Their Friends: Selections from the Miriam Snow Mathes Historical Children's Literature Collection" on Wednesday March 28, 2007 at 3:00 PM. Kali M.D. Roy, graduate student assistant and exhibit curator, will discuss her ideas and inspiration for this exhibit that is drawn from the Mathes Historical Children's Literature Collection (http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/children.htm) and features a small sampling of historical children's literature about adventures based on the lives of living toys or objects, and stories from a toy's point of view. The over fifty items in the physical exhibit are from approximately the 1850-1950 period and highlights the potential scholarly uses of the Mathes Collection. Located in the University's Department of Special Collections & Archives, the Miriam Snow Mathes Historical Children's Literature Collection includes over 10,000 children's books and periodicals published in...

Below are abstracts for collections recently added to the German and Jewish Intellectual Émigré Collection. The complete list of Émigré collections is available here. AUFBAU (NY) (1939-2005), German-Jewish newspaper Collection, 1957-1998, 6 cubic ft. Bound copies of "Wiedergutmachung" section of the newspaper, 1957-1977; unbound issues, 1980s-1990s; articles, theses, and other publications written about the Aufbau. BLUMENTHAL, FRITZ (1913-2002), physician, painter, printmaker Papers, 1922-2002, 7 cubic ft. Family and personal documents; correspondence, 1930-1996; clippings; manuscripts and typescripts of poetry, as well as published poems; sketchbooks; correspondence and clippings concerning exhibitions of Blumenthal's art (water colors and monotypes); materials and correspondence on radioactive fallout from the 1950s and 1960s. Fritz Blumenthal came to the U.S. in 1938 after having received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1937 from the University of Bern, Switzerland. Although Blumenthal remained a practicing physician, he continued to write poetry, paint and produce monoprints and his work was...

Below are a few collections recently acquired by the Grenander Department. Complete lists of the Department's collections are available here. Bridge Line Historical Society (MSS-129) - The Bridge Line Historical Society (BLHS) was founded in 1990 to document the history of the Delaware & Hudson Railway. The collection includes the BLHS's newsletter, The Bulletin, as well as maps, drawings, publications, and related material. The Grenander Department has only just begun to receive records from the BLHS and expects to steadily receive additional material from the organization in the months and years to come. Business and Professional Women's Club of Schenectady (APAP-218) - The records of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Schenectady joins the records of the Albany and New York State organizations already held by the Grenander Department. The collection includes meeting minutes, news clippings, publications, programs, scrapbooks detailing the club's activities and accomplishments, and photographs from its...

M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives Adds to Significant Collection ALBANY, NY (December 19, 2006)--The University at Albany’s Libraries have acquired the papers of U.S. Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-24th District). Mr. Boehlert recently retired, after serving in the U.S. Congress since first elected in 1982. Congressman Boehlert’s papers will add significantly to UAlbany’s New York State Modern Political Archive. His papers include approximately 500 boxes, and stand as record of a long and productive career serving the people of New York. Among Mr. Boehlert’s many achievements was his chairmanship of the House Science Committee; he also served on committees on Transportation and Infrastructure. By appointment of the Speaker of the House, Congressman Boehlert served for eight years as a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, where he was on the front line of important intelligence decisions faced by Congress. Early in 2003, the Speaker appointed Boehlert to...

Every year hundreds of students from the University at Albany and other institutions from around the world use the Department of Special Collections and Archives' collections. Most of these uses are thought of as fairly traditional-theses, dissertations, papers, oral history interviews, an occasional exhibit, etc. A couple graduate students happened to send me links to their projects over the weekend that used the Department or its collections in some way this semester and I thought I would share them here. "The Journey of a Curious Doll" was created by Jenn Russell as part of her IST 659: Digital Imaging & Web course. (It isn't displaying properly for me using Mozilla Firefox, so take a look using IE or another browser.) Jenn's project used the Department exhibit "The Secret Lives of Toys and Their Friends," as well as the entire Main Campus, as its setting and you will note that a...

Subject guides for manuscript collections and record groups related to Athletics and Sports and for the New York State Modern Political Archive are now available. The Grenander Department's Subject Guides bring together collections from each of the distinctive manuscript and archival collections - the Archives of Public Affairs and Policy, Business, Literary, and Miscellany Collection, German and Jewish Intellectual Émigré Collection, and University Archives. Over thirty Subject Guides are available on the Department's Website with more added on an ongoing basis. If you are interested in collections related to a topic not listed on the Subject Guide page, contact a member of the Department's staff for assistance.

From the press release available in PDF format here. The University at Albany's Libraries have added another, varied collection of political papers to its important archive, New York State Modern Political Archive. The collection, received from Syracuse University Libraries, includes the papers from 22 former new York Congressional members and 41 legislators who served in the New York State Legislature. This acquisition was completed to strengthen scholarly research and to support the long-term preservation and access to New York's political history by placing the materials at the University at Albany Libraries' premier political archive, which includes more than 300 collections from advocacy groups, poliitcal activists, and legislators integral to New York State's public policy. According to Brian Keough, head of the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, "The continued development of the New York State Modern Political Archive will better serve scholars and students of modern political history...