Each year the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (ART) presents five awards during New York Archives Week. The awards celebrate distinguished work and lasting achievements in our profession. We invite members to submit nominations for worthy colleagues, archival organizations, and innovative projects in the following categories:

OUTSTANDING SUPPORT OF ARCHIVES

Recognizes an individual or organization for notable contributions to archival records or archives programs through political, financial or moral support.

INNOVATIVE USE OF ARCHIVES

Recognizes an individual or organization for use of archival material in a meaningful and creative way, making a significant contribution to a community or body of people, and demonstrating the relevance of archival materials to its subject.

ARCHIVAL ACHIEVEMENT

Recognizes an individual or archival program that has made an outstanding contribution to the archival profession, or a notable achievement of value to the archives community, its patrons or constituents. 

AWARD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE OF ARCHIVES

Recognizes and celebrates an individual or organization who utilizes primary source materials to create engaging and informative learning experiences for diverse audiences.

ART VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

Recognizes an individual who has made a remarkable contribution to the Archivists Round Table.

Submission Guidelines:

• Nominees must be an A.R.T. member or operate within the New York metropolitan area.

• Explain why this individual or organization deserves to be recognized with this award.

• Provide links that illustrate or highlight the work and contributions of your nominee (if applicable).

DEADLINE: Please send nominations through this Google Form by Friday, September 26th, at 11:59 PM (EST)

Awards will be presented at this year's New York Archives Week Symposium, taking place on Friday, October 17th, 2025 at the Center for Brooklyn History.

Please send any questions regarding the Awards Ceremony to president@nycarchivists.org 

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York (ART) welcomes contributions for the winter 2026 issue of the Metropolitan Archivist, ART’s online digital publication featuring short- and long-form articles, reviews and interviews, and collection spotlights.

The forthcoming issue of the Metropolitan Archivist is organized around the theme of Human/Nature - examining how the human body, plant and animal life, and our relationship to the natural world are documented in New York City's archives and beyond.

We want to hear about your work on collections ranging from medical archives to archives of dance, sports, and other physical performance; initiatives relating to disability and accessibility in the archives; the challenges of documenting other forms of life at botanic gardens, zoos, parks, or archaeological collections; and how archivists are responding to the threat of climate change and other environmental issues impacting the preservation of memory.

We also seek reviewers for New York-area museum and gallery exhibitions. Additional suggestions welcome, particularly those which relate to this issue’s theme.

Please submit pitches via this form by Friday, September 5th for consideration. Selected authors will be notified by Monday, September 8th, and final drafts with cleared images permissions are due by Monday, October 27th. Authors will receive feedback from our team of editors over the following weeks, and can expect to see their articles published in mid-January 2026.

Please contact Elizabeth Kobert, Director of Publications, with any questions: metropolitanarchivist@nycarchivists.org.

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York is excited to announce New York Archives Week 2025, taking place from Wednesday, October 15 through Wednesday, October 22. Archivists and institutions throughout the city are invited to share virtual and in-person events, collection tours, and community conversations on the A.R.T. Archives Week calendar via this submission form. The deadline for event submissions is Tuesday, September 30, 2025. We look forward to an exciting and engaging week! If you have any questions about New York Archives Week, please contact A.R.T. President Stephanie Neel at president@nycarchivists.org. Stay tuned for further details about upcoming A.R.T. programs!

Image from David Walker's article "Professional Meets Personal: Archivists and Their Family Archives." Screenshot from a digitized VHS tape in the author’s family archive

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York (ART) is excited to share the Summer 2025 issue of the Metropolitan Archivist, All in the Family, which highlights a variety of archival collections, projects, and current exhibitions on the theme of family.

Link to issue: https://medium.com/metropolitan-archivist/

Please stay tuned for the next call for submissions for our winter issue. Anyone who has suggestions for a theme, article, or review, or who would like to get involved in getting involved with the Publications Committee should contact metropolitanarchivist@nycarchivists.org. 

Date: Friday, October 17th, 2025

What is Past is Prologue: The Future of Memory

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (A.R.T.) invites proposals for our 2025 New York Archives Week Symposium. 

As memory institutions begin preparations to commemorate the nation's semiquincentennial 2026, this creates a moment for archives professionals to pause and survey the history of our field, its evolution, and how we will choose to proceed into the future.

This is especially critical as we convene against the backdrop of recent events – including federal decisions to dismiss the National Archivist and the proposed elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. These actions threaten funding, limit programming, and impede access to information. Memory institutions face unprecedented challenges, and the archival field must adapt and innovate to ensure its vitality. It is our collective responsibility, as stewards of memory, to unite and champion our vital work.

Inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest and inscribed on the “Future” statue at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., this year's theme, "What is Past is Prologue: The Future of Memory," seeks to highlight the crucial role archivists play in ensuring the preservation and endurance of memory.

We encourage submissions that showcase:

• New Discoveries: Unearthing or interpreting previously unknown or under-utilized archival materials.
• Programming and Outreach: Innovative and impactful initiatives that connect with diverse audiences, nontraditional outreach methods that encourage new publics to engage with archives, or programs that advocate for the value of archival institutions and the communities whose memories we steward.
• Coalitions and Collaborations: Meaningful partnerships within or beyond institutional boundaries.
• Processing and Reference: Innovative methods that help to ensure the discoverability and durable accessibility of archival materials, particularly during a time of information uncertainty.
• Emerging Technologies: Methods that harness digital tools to ensure the archives field is relevant to our users and is capable of meeting the needs of archives professionals.

As the environment around memory institutions continues to evolve, almost daily, this symposium offers a critical opportunity to collectively reflect on and reimagine the future of our field. We invite New York archives professionals to come together to explore how the lessons of the past can inform and empower our path forward as we steward the memories contained in archival institutions.

We eagerly await your proposals and look forward to a dynamic and thought-provoking symposium.

Proposal Submission Deadline

Deadline for proposals is the end of the day on August 15, 2025. The symposium is scheduled to be held on Friday, October 17th, 2025. Please submit your proposals through this Google Form.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact education@nycarchivists.org.

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York (A.R.T) is delighted to announce the slate of candidates for our open positions on the Board of Directors. Take a moment to read the candidates' bios and statements, and cast your vote here.

Members may vote via this online form until 11:59 PM (EST) on Friday, June 20, 2025. Please note that you must enter the email address registered with your A.R.T. membership account.

The results of this election will be announced at the A.R.T. Annual Business Meeting, which will be held online on Monday, June 23, 2025, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM (EST). We invite you to join us to learn about the past year’s activities, as well as forthcoming initiatives and volunteer opportunities with the A.R.T. Board. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact president@nycarchivists.org.

Thank you for your participation and commitment to the A.R.T. community. Happy voting!

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (A.R.T.) is currently accepting nominations for its 2025 Board election. Terms shall commence at the conclusion of the A.R.T. Annual Meeting, to be held on Monday, June 23, 2025, with the announcement of the election results. The election will be conducted by electronic ballot, and the Annual Meeting will take place virtually (more details forthcoming).

The deadline for nomination submissions is Friday, June 6, 2025.

All current A.R.T. members are eligible for nomination. Nominations from colleagues and self-nominations are both welcome.

The following positions are up for election:

• President (2-Year Term)
• Vice President (2-Year Term)
• Treasurer (2-Year Term)
• Director of Advocacy (2-Year Term)
• Director of Education (2-Year Term)
• Director of Programming (2-Year Term)
• Director of Development (1-Year Interim Term)

Committee descriptions can be found here.

Note: A person running for president must have already served on the A.R.T. Board.

The Board of Directors will be hosting a virtual info session on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, for those interested in any of these positions. Register via Zoom.

Serving on the A.R.T. Board is a unique volunteer opportunity that goes beyond the boundaries of your current professional commitments. As an A.R.T. Board member, you'll have the chance to develop valuable skills in local leadership, project management, and networking. Most importantly, you'll act as a representative for your colleagues and all A.R.T. members. Board members also receive a waiver of membership fees for the duration of their term.

Link to form: https://forms.gle/RBmVamRHnivj3m5P8 

Please direct any questions to Deidre Dinnigan, at president@nycarchivists.org.

Thank you for your generous participation and good luck to all the nominees!

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York (ART) welcomes contributions for the summer 2025 issue of the Metropolitan Archivist, ART’s online digital publication featuring short- and long-form articles, reviews and interviews, and collection spotlights.

The forthcoming issue of the Metropolitan Archivist is organized around the theme of All in the Family - exploring the role of family in the archives, whether in the traditional sense of biological relatives or the broader sense of communities, chosen families, and cultures writ large. 

We want to hear about your work on collections ranging from family papers to family business records to community archives; challenges and opportunities presented by genealogical research; the tension between deeply personal materials and the impartiality of arrangement and description; and the varying definitions of “family” that present themselves in archival collections.

Other questions to ponder include:

• How can archives be used to redefine, reconstruct, or reclaim family histories?

• Where do we draw the line between our professional archival training and the role of family historian/family archivist?

• How do we weigh matters of private “family business” against the research value of information contained within such collections?

• Other than genealogists, what kind of researchers should archivists keep in mind when processing and describing collections about families?

We also seek reviewers for New York-area museum and gallery exhibitions, as listed on the submission form. Additional suggestions welcome, particularly those which relate to this issue’s theme.

Please send a brief pitch (maximum 500 words) or select an exhibition to review via this form by Monday, March 3rd for consideration. Selected authors will be notified by Monday, March 10th, and final drafts with cleared images permissions are due by Monday, April 14th. Authors will receive feedback from our team of editors over the following weeks and can expect to see their articles published in mid-July 2025.

Image from Em Longan's article "Setting the Stage: Processing the Robin Wagner Designs Collection at NYPL." Watercolor drop of the New York City skyline for Jerome Robbins' Broadway (1989). Robin Wagner designs, *T-Vim 2023–001. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Photograph by Em Longan, 2024.

Image from Em Longan's article "Setting the Stage: Processing the Robin Wagner Designs Collection at NYPL." Watercolor drop of the New York City skyline for Jerome Robbins' Broadway (1989). Robin Wagner designs, *T-Vim 2023–001. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Photograph by Em Longan, 2024.The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York (ART) is excited to share the Winter 2025 issue of the Metropolitan Archivist, Let's Get Creative, which highlights a variety of archival collections, projects, and current exhibitions centering creativity and the arts. 

Link to issue: https://medium.com/metropolitan-archivist  

Please stay tuned for the next call for submissions for our summer issue. Anyone who has suggestions for a theme, article, or review, or who would like to get involved in editing the next issue, should contact metropolitanarchivist@nycarchivists.org. 

The ART Awards Ceremony took place on Thursday October 17th at the New York Archives Week Symposium. It is the only program in the metropolitan New York City region dedicated to honoring the work of archivists and those who support archival programs. Congratulations to this year’s ART Awards Winners! ARCHIVAL ACHIEVEMENT Recognizes an individual or archival program that has made an outstanding contribution to the archival profession, or a notable achievement of value to the archives community, its patrons or constituents.  Winner: Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library "The merging of two nineteenth-century institutions and collections is a daunting feat in and of itself, but merging them towards a new mission of accessible public service is even more vertiginous. The Collections Department at the Center for Brooklyn History has handled this transition and re-alignment with aplomb and professionalism, and with real enthusiasm. Securing this wealth of information for the public good will forever change the range and caliber of the stories we're able to tell about the history of Brooklyn, and by extension, the history of immigration, of industry, of urban life, and arts and culture. They deserve every accolade for their tireless efforts in this endeavor." AWARD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE OF ARCHIVES Recognizes and celebrates an individual or organization who utilizes primary source materials to create engaging and informative learning experiences for diverse audiences. Winner: Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery and NYC Summer Youth Employment Program A group of four students from Epic High School South collaborated with the Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery to honor over 1,200 individuals buried in mass graves there between 1925 and 1937, many of whom were children who died from diseases and malnutrition. As part of the project, titled "Honoring the Forgotten Lives at Maple Grove Cemetery," the students researched historical burial records, identifying 1,250 burials, with a focus on the 800 children. They partnered with local historians and an artist to create a marble lamb monument and a steel time capsule containing the names and stories of those they identified. INNOVATIVE USE OF ARCHIVES Recognizes an individual or organization for use of archival material in a meaningful and creative way, making a significant contribution to a community or body of people, and demonstrating the relevance of archival materials to its subject. Winner: Toxic Docs "Toxic Docs, a joint project of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the CUNY Graduate Center, contains millions of pages of previously secret documents that have been brought to light by the discovery processes of recent toxic tort litigation relating to asbestos, lead, and PCBs. They include secret internal memoranda, emails, slides, board minutes, unpublished scientific studies, expert witness reports, and other kinds of documents. Toxic Docs is using computational methods, cloud computing, and parallel processing to make these documents into machine-readable, searchable text in ways that were not previously possible at this scale. The project is an ongoing repository, taking in new materials as lawsuits unearth them, and it is currently developing AI-based tools to make this vast collection searchable in even more ways. While it looks simple on the surface, it is an exciting model of archival access to materials of enormous civic importance." OUTSTANDING SUPPORT OF ARCHIVES Recognizes an individual or organization for notable contributions to archival records or archives programs through political, financial or moral support. Winner: Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) "METRO continues to reinvent itself with supportive, innovative, creative services, programs and grants that have become a lifeline to many in the profession during these crazy times." ART VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR Recognizes an individual who has made a remarkable contribution to the Archivists Round Table. Winner: Nicole Font, ART Director of Communications "Nicole is Director of Communications, an indispensable role which she has gone above and beyond in performing. ART notifications are disseminated promptly and professionally, which has helped facilitate a notable uptick in programming events. Nicole also serves on the Programming Committee where she continues to be a key organizer for a variety of highly engaging events around NYC and beyond."