Archives Week - Previous Award Winners

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

Paul O'Dwyer, founder and first president of the New York Archival Society (1989)

Edward C. Sullivan, New York State Assemblyman, sponsor of the Documentary Heritage Law and Historical Documents Inventory (1990)

Barbara Goldsmith, author and historian, who effectively advocated the use of acid-free paper (1991)

The J.M. Kaplan Fund, Joan K. Davidson, President, for support of archival projects, exhibitions and programs (1992)

Ruth Messinger, Manhattan Borough President, for leadership to keep the New-York Historical Society in operation (1993)

The Springate Corporation, Nina Bernstein, President, for the Leonard Bernstein Multimedia Project (1994)

The Stonewall Community Foundation, Inc., for its role in the exhibition Becoming Visible: The Legacy of Stonewall (1995)

The Susan and Elihu Rose Foundation for support of various New York institutions to preserve and provide access to archival materials (1996)

Emigrant Savings Bank, Philip Milstein, President, for preserving its 19th-century ledgers and donating these materials to the New York Public Library (1997)

Martin Gomez, Director of the Brooklyn Public Library, for support of the Library's Brooklyn Collection (1998)

New York Folklore Society, for its Folk Archives project, which has succeeded in documenting living traditions and expressive cultures from groups poorly known outside their individual communities and cultures. (1999)

Metropolitan Life Foundation, for continuous support to archival and cultural institutions in and out of New York, including 12 years of financial assistance for Archives Week events. (2000)

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, for its continued support to libraries and archives around the world and in New York City in particular, as exampled by their $5 million grant to the New York University libraries for cataloging, processing, and preserving archival collections. (2001)

The Gotham Center for New York City History for its activities to celebrate the City's historical resources. (2002)

The Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives and Records Administration for its broad range of financial and practical assistance to archives throughout New York State. (2003)

Robert W. Wilson for his philanthropic support of archival processing projects at the New York Public Library. (2004)

The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation for its ongoing financial support of archival programs large and small. (2005)

Award for 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.

Joan Maynard, Executive Director of The Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History (1989)

Henry Hampton, Executive Producer of the documentary film Eyes on the Prize (1990)

Ric Burns, Producer of the documentary film Coney Island (1991)

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Ruth J. Abram, President, for the nation's first effort to preserve a tenement (1992)

The Jackie Robinson Foundation, Rachel Robinson, President, for a traveling multi-media exhibition (1993)

The Visiting Nurse Service of New York, Carl H. Pforzheimer III, Chairman, for the exhibition Healing at Home(1994)

The Abigail Adams Smith Museum for its Neighborhood History Camp for Children (1995)

The Museum of the City of New York, sponsor of the New York City History Fair (1996)

Prospect Park Alliance, Tupper Thomas, President, for delving into archival sources to recreate the landscape envisioned by Prospect Park's designers (1997)

The Skyscraper Museum, Carol Willis, Director, for creative use of archival materials in its first major exhibit, Downtown New York: The Architecture of Business/The Business of Buildings (1998)

Billy Bragg and Nora Guthrie, for their work to revive the work of Nora's father, singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie. Using the archives of Woody's materials, Bragg recorded 15 songs written by Guthrie but never released to the public before. (1999)

The Center for Media and Learning/American Social History Project at the Graduate Center, CUNY for their collaboration with the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University on The Lost Museum Web site. The site recreates P.T. Barnum's American Museum using archival materials and 3-D web technology. (2000)

Hamish Bowles for the exhibition "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years" and his use of documents, articfacts, and other archival records to supplement the exhibit on Mrs. Kennedy that ran at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and the JFK Library in Boston. (2001)

The Sonic Memorial Project: The Life and History of the World Trade Center and Its Neighborhood for innovative use of audio recordings to preserve the sounds of World Trade Center. (2002)

Crossing the BLVD: strangers, neighbors, aliens in a new America for their creative use of oral history, documentary, audio, and video materials to document the lives of immigrants in Queens, NY, the most ethnically diverse county in the United States. (2003)

New York University Fales Library’s Downtown Collection for the creation of the unique Downtown Collection that documents the music, art, and writing of New York's Downtown scene. (2004)

Panorama Ephemera, a film compilation by Rick Prelinger, for its unique use of orphaned archival footage to present a picture of the United States int he 20th Century. (2005)

Award for 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.

Robert E. Sink, archivist, author, professor and records manager, is one of the founding members of the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York. In 1981 he began work at the New York Public Library and four years later created the NYPL Archives. He has taught courses at St. John's University, Queens College and Columbia University Library School. (1996)

Michael Lutzker, Professor of History and director of the NYU Program in Archival Management & Historical Editing, 1977-1994. Professor Lutzker contributed to the development of metro-area archivists through teaching, writing, and the creation of the Archivists Round Table. (1999)

Adele A. Lerner, Founder & Archivist of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, 1972-2001. Ms. Lerner founded one of the first true archives within an academic medical institution. With funding from the National Library of Medicine, she established a program that served as a model for the establishment of other health science archives nationwide. (2000)

Debra Bernhardt (posthumous), head of the Tamiment Library and the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University and a vital member of the NYarchival community. Dr. Berhardt was on the steering committee for the first Archives Week in 1989, and produced several important works on labor history and labor records. She served as a strong advocate for labor history, and served as a true mentor to many archival students and youg archivists. (2001)

Municipal Archives of the City of New York The Municipal Archives holds the richest and largest collection of historical resources of any American city - more than 150,000 cubic feet of records spanning the city's four centuries. The Municipal Archives staff answered 75,000 research requests last year. The Municipal Archives and its staff have overcome myriad challenges and obstacles to become one of the most respected local government archives in the nation. (2002)

Janet Linde, Archivist and Records Manager, American Civil Liberties Union for her outstanding work in articulating and defending open access to government records during the controversy over the records of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. (2003)

Steven W. Siegel, Archivist of the 92nd Street YM-YWHA for his tireless efforts in coordinating the Family History Fair of the Archivists Round Table since 1990. Steve's work on FHF has grown this premiere genealogical event into a daylong event that attracts more than 700 attendees. (2004)

National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), for its 70-year history of support to the archival world. Through its financial support and tireless advocacy of the history and records of the United States, NHPRC has played an essential leadership role in the world of archives. (2005)

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