February Meeting
The Coney Island History Project:
The Coney Island History Project, founded in 2004, is a not-for-profit organization that aims to increase awareness of Coney Island's legendary and colorful past and to encourage appreciation of the Coney Island neighborhood of today. Its mission is to create an oral history of the area, sponsor educational exhibits, tours, performances and events, and provide both physical and online access to historical artifacts and documentary material. Working with school groups in the neighborhood as well as local college students, the Coney Island History Project teaches young people the techniques of oral history, including interviewing, recording, editing, and archiving.
In this presentation, Seth Kaufman, manager of archive and web development at the CIHP, will explore the intricacies of running a small museum directly under an operating roller coaster, dealing with requests from a world-wide Diaspora of Brooklynites and their descendents, and running public programs in an often chaotic amusement zone. In addition, Seth will discuss ongoing digitization and access programs and the Project’s support for the development of open source software tools for collections cataloguing, online access, exhibitions and gathering of oral history.
Seth Kaufman manages exhibit, archive and web site development for the Coney Island History Project. His work at the Project is primarily focused on utilizing low-cost, open-source technologies and the internet to increase the reach of public programs and efficiently broaden access to the CIHP archive of historic materials.
Mr. Kaufman also works with museums in the United States and Europe to implement free, open-source software solutions for collections management, collections access and exhibits. He is the primary developer of OpenCollection, a freely available collections management package and the Video Interview Booth, an automated interview device for oral history projects that will be released under an open-source license later this year.
Sponsored by: The Coney Island History Project, The Brooklyn Historical Society and The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc.
If you are person with a disability and need reasonable accommodations to attend this meeting, please contact Vanessa Cameron at veep@nycarchivists.org at least 7 days in advance so that we can make the appropriate arrangements.
Please remember hosting a meeting represents a financial and meeting space commitment on the part of our hosts. Please be reasonably sure you can attend before responding.
Date: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Time: 5:30 - 6:30 pm - Social; 6:30 - 8:00 pm Program
Place: The Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Directions: By Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5 to Borough Hall, A, C, F to Jay St/Borough Hall, or M,R to Court St.
Directions: By bus: B38, B52, B25, B26, B41 to Montague/Court Street; B67, B65 to Jay Street; From Manhattan: B51 City Hall to Court St./Cadman Plaza
Member fee: $5
Non-member fee: $7
RSVP: Leilani Dawson by Monday, February 18, 2008 ldawson@brooklynhistory.org (recommended) or telephone: (718) 222-4111 x295.
Upcoming events
How to Join
Job postings
Publications