SPEC Kit 347: Community-based Collections · 29
historical research and posterity. A former instructor at Penn State for ten years, Mr. Hill decided on the University
Libraries as the designated repository for establishing an archive devoted to the history of the 8th Air Force. On
October 28, 1991, an agreement was reached to formally establish the Eighth Air Force Archive, along with a gift for
preservation and maintenance of the collection. The agreement provided for 8th Air Force members to forward their
materials to Mr. Hill, who then delivered them to the archives, until his death in 1998.
A member of the conference association approached the archives about preserving the collection.
Gift of the Rochester Division of the National Council of Jewish Women, August 1977.
The Duke Ellington Society has been an IJS partner for a long time. We have hosted several conferences and symposia
over the years, and at some point in the late 90s they were looking for a place to deposit their collection of recordings of
guest lectures, and with Dan Morgenstern being a close friend of TDES, the IJS was the best fit for the materials.
Donation we have spoken before Asian American community groups informing them about our desire to document
diverse community organizations and this and other collections have resulted, with more expected in the future. The
Head of Special Collections and University Archives sits on the NJ State Historical Records Advisory Board, which has
identified ethnic community groups as a critical collecting area.
The collection was begun in 1979 by the USC School of Social Work and was housed in the school’s library. It was
formally given to USC Libraries Special Collection in 1999 when the School of Social Work merged its library and the
founding librarian retired.
The first round is now unclear as it happened before anyone now working in our facility’s tenure. The most recent
donation occurred when we realized that the collection had not continued to grow and we contacted the Center and
bugged them to give us the rest.
The Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Buffalo began collecting records in about 2007. In 2008, University Archives
offered to be the holding repository for collections once they were processed by BJE’s archivist.
The decision to establish a centralized Pan Am Flight 103 Archives at Syracuse University was made 18 months after
the bombing. During this time, departments and individuals had of course been generating and collecting materials
related to the tragedy, and its immediate aftermath. A letter signed by then archivist, Amy Doherty, and the Vice
President for Undergraduate Studies, Ronald Cavanagh, stating the mission of the new Archives was sent to university
deans and directors in 1990. Materials began to arrive soon thereafter. A similar letter was sent to the families of the 35
students lost in the bombing. This letter offered the newly created Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives
as a place for families to donate “correspondence, journals or diaries, photographs, newspaper clippings,” examples of
creative work, video and audio tapes by or about their child or about the events following the disaster.” The first family
collection received by the Archives was for Kenneth J. Bissett, a junior at Cornell who has been studying abroad through
Syracuse University. Since that first donation, the Pan Am 103 Archives has amassed over 100 distinct collections, some,
such as the Clippings Collection, created through the work of Archives staff.
In 1983, Dr. Milka Bliznakov (a professor in architecture for Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban
Studies) initiated a campaign to learn more about the historical contributions of women to architecture and design.
She corresponded with hundreds of women architects across the United States and Europe. In 1985, the College of
Architecture and Urban Studies entered into a joint partnership with the University Libraries to establish a dedicated
repository for such materials. Within the first year, the IAWA had received materials from 28 women and the
International Union of Women Architects. In 2015, the IAWA collections represent over 400 women architects and
women’s organizations.
Previous Page Next Page