Celebrating Archives by Susan Woodland, Senior Archivist, American Jewish Historical Society
October is Archives Month, and the archives community in metropolitan New York celebrated the week of October 7th with an extensive list of repository tours, programs, exhibits, a symposium on Disaster Recovery inspired by last fall’s superstorm Sandy, and an award ceremony. See the website of the Archivists Roundtable…
Before photography became widespread, paper silhouettes were an affordable alternative to painted portraits. The name itself is derived from 18th century French financial minister Etienne de Silhouette, whose penny-pinching policies made him infamous and his name associated with frugality. Silhouettes were the cheapest way to record a loved one’s likeness. They immortalized spouses, children, friends and even pets. These creations could be hung in lockets or put in…
former Assistant Processing Archivist, HIAS Archives Project; current Photo & Reference Archivist, American Jewish Historical Society
Over the course of three years, in a project funded by HIAS in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society, archivists at AJHS will organize, describe and make available to the public more than a thousand boxes of historical…