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New York State Library News & Events
February 2025
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Connect with Knowledge You Trust!
- The New York Culture and History Lecture Series is provided by the Research Library. Share this with your community!
- DHPSNY provides Preservation Practices for Every Library, a service available to cultural institutions around the state to support the preservation of community history.
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Join Us in Honoring Black History Month at the Cultural Education Center | |
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In honor of Black History Month, the NYS Library invites visitors to visit two new exhibits at the Cultural Education Center in Albany, NY.
The 7th floor exhibit highlights the role of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists during the 1960s and beyond. In the exhibit, NYS Library staff use books, magazines, and newspaper articles from the Library’s collections to explore both familiar events and less well-known activists such as Ella Baker.
Be sure to take the elevator up to the 11th floor to view an exhibit about the achievements of Black military regiments and their fight for equality on and off the battlefield. Embattled: The Triumphs and Trials of Black New York Soldiers features a variety of images, letters, government documents and other records from the Civil War, World War I and World War II eras and will be showcased in the 11th floor lobby of the Cultural Education Center during the month of February. This exhibit is a collaboration between the New York State Archives and New York State Library Manuscripts and Special Collections unit.
Plan your visit today!
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HBCU: The Power of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Date: Thursday, February 13, 2025
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
| Join Marybeth Gasman and Levon Esters for an engaging presentation and discussion of their book HBCU: The Power of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024). Explore the vital role of HBCUs in fostering educational equity, empowering Black excellence, and driving social change. Through powerful stories and research, the authors illuminate these institutions' enduring legacy and transformative impact on individuals and communities. | | |
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The Handbook of Black Librarianship – Past, Present, and Future
Date: Friday, February 14, 2025
Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
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The Handbook of Black Librarianship was first published in 1977, intended to “provide reference information on the relationship of Afro-Americans to various aspects of librarianship and libraries.” Compiled and edited by E.J. Josey during his time as Chief of the Bureau of Specialist Library Services for the New York State Library, this volume provided resources for developing African/Afro-American collections, program guidance for serving Black youth, directories of library school programs primarily attended by Black students, and essays from Black educators, writers, librarians, and more. A second edition was published in 2000, adding to and updating the first volume.
A third edition has just been published, edited by Andrew "Sekou” Jackson, Marva L. Deloach, and Michele Fenton. Beyond updating previous volumes, the new edition adds over 70 new essays on Vital Issues, Service to Our Communities, Library Technology, Wisdom from Retirees, Global Issues, and Banned Books and Censorship. In this webinar, you will hear from the editors about their relationship to the Handbook, how this edition came to be, and how you can use it to engage with your library and its community.
This session will be recorded for later viewing by those unable to attend live; to receive the recording link, please register and it will be automatically sent to you.
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Explore Historical Black Newspaper Databases (Onsite)
Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
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In honor of Black History Month, Librarians from the New York State Library will provide an overview and discuss search techniques for the following newspaper databases:
African American Newspapers: The 19th Century - The individual databases covered will include: The Freedom's Journal, The Colored American, The North Star, Frederick Douglass' Paper, The National Era, Provincial Freeman, and The Christian Recorder, as well as the Civil War Collection. Dates covered are 1827-1902.
NY Amsterdam News: The New York Amsterdam News is one of the United States leading Black newspapers. This database captures 70 continuous years (1922-1993) of cover-to-cover news. Researchers can study the progression of issues over time by browsing or searching the newspaper. The paper includes news articles, photos and advertisements, classified ads, obituaries, cartoons and more.
Black Abolitionist Papers: A primary source collection that comprehensively details the extensive work of African Americans to abolish slavery. It covers the period of 1830-1865. This database contains approximately 15,000 articles, documents, correspondence, proceedings, manuscripts, and literary works of almost 300 Black abolitionists.
This program will be held onsite at the New York State Library in the Cultural Education Center, Albany.
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The Journey to Freedom Project – Preserving Local Stories from the Civil Rights Movement
Date: Friday, February 21, 2025
Time: 10:00am - 11:00am
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The Journey to Freedom project documents the stories of women and men from the Capital Region of New York who participated in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Many traveled to the segregated Deep South. Others were active in their home communities. All worked to advance social justice. Their stories highlight the powerful impact that regular folks can have in effecting change, and the importance of documenting the histories of everyday heroes.
Siena College professor Dr. Paul Murray and co-producer educator Donald Hyman worked with videographers Kirk Daniels and Zebulon Schmidt to record and make publicly available the histories of 15 activists. Attendees of this webinar will learn the history of this project, its development process, and ways they can undertake similar projects in their home communities.
This session will be recorded for later viewing by those unable to attend live; to receive the recording link, please register and it will be automatically sent to you.
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New York Culture and History Lecture Series | | |
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Regent Joseph E. Bowman, Jr. Research Library Tour
Date: Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Time: 3:30pm - 4:30pm
| The New York State Library invites NYLA Pre-Advocacy Day attendees to join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of our Regent Joseph E. Bowman, Jr. Research Library. Get a back of the house look at our 20 million items, meet State Library staff, and learn more about how the State Library supports libraries and researchers across the state. The tour will conclude with a special exhibit of fascinating items from our Manuscripts and Special Collections relating to New York’s history. | | |
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The Grand Canal: Celebrating the Erie Canal's Bicentennial
Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
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The Erie Canal is one of the most important transportation routes in American history. When the canal opened in 1825 its effects on New York and the United States were immediate. In 2025 communities across the state will celebrate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal with special events, programs, festivals, and more. In this webinar you will learn about:
- Erie Canal history and its impacts on the growth of New York State and the nation
- An overview of events happening to celebrate the Erie Canal's bicentennial in 2025
- Resources available to engage youth and families in learning about the Erie Canal
- Suggestions for canal themed programs or performances you could host in your community or at your library
Patrick Stenshorn is the Education Program Manager for the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. He works with teachers and cultural organizations to develop K-12 resources about New York State's canals. He also manages a small grants program called Ticket to Ride which supports school field trips to canal related sites and museums. Patrick has a B.A. in history from SUNY Geneseo and a M.A. in American History from SUNY Brockport. He has previously held positions as an educator at Women's Rights National Historical Park and the Albany Institute of History & Art.
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A Protest History of the United States
Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
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Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall delves into the history of protest movements and rebellion in the United States. Beginning with Indigenous peoples’ resistance to European colonization and continuing through to today’s climate change demonstrations, Browne-Marshall expands how to think about protest through sharing select historical moments and revealing the role of key players involved in those efforts.
Drawing upon legal documents, archival material, government documents and secondary sources, A Protest History of the United States (Beacon Press 2025) gives voice to those who pushed back against the mistreatment of others, themselves, and in some instances planet Earth. Browne-Marshall highlights stories of individuals from all walks of life, backgrounds, and time periods who helped bring strong attention to their causes. Those stories include those of Wahunsenacock, more commonly known to history as Chief Powhatan, who took on English invaders in pre-colonial America in 1607; legendary boxer Muhammad Ali who refused to be inducted into the US military during the Vietnam era and appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court; and David Buckel, LGBTQ+ rights lawyer and environmental activist who protested against fossil fuels by committing self-immolation in 2018. Regardless of whether these protests accomplished their end goals, Browne-Marshall reminds us that not only is dissent meaningful and impactful but is an essential tool for eliciting long lasting change.
Gloria J. Browne-Marshall is a writer, an educator, a legal advocate, and a playwright. She is a professor of Constitutional Law and African Studies at John Jay College (CUNY), was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, as well as a Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School. She won the 2024 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award. Her books include She Took Justice: The Black Woman, Law, and Power, The Voting Rights War, and Race, Law, and American Society.
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Songs and Sounds of the Anti-Rent Movement in Upstate New York
Date: Friday, February 21, 2025
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
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During the 1840s, tenant farmers on the Hudson-Mohawk region’s manors and patroonships engaged in organized protest to contest monopoly ownership of the land they worked. Once deemed “the thrilling unsung story of the American revolt against serfdom,” this presentation will demonstrate that the Anti-Rent Movement was indeed sung. As the farmers’ argued their cause in newspapers and broadsides, their aspirations also took shape in new poetry set to contemporary tunes. Some of their sources, such as “Old Dan Tucker” and “Bruce's Address,” are still well known, while others are obscure. Musicologist Nancy Newman will share new renditions of several works while discussing her forthcoming book on the movement’s expressive culture. Building on the ballads reprinted in Henry Christman’s Tin Horns and Calico and Old Songs’ “Down with the Rent!,” Songs and Sounds of the Anti-Rent Movement examines the role vernacular music played in one of the nineteenth century’s major social reform initiatives. The presentation concludes with a look at Anti-Rent’s later dramatization in novels, film, and public commemorations as the movement’s ramifications continue to resonate throughout the region.
Dr. Nancy Newman is Associate Professor in the Department of Music and Theatre and Joint Faculty in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at University at Albany–SUNY, where she teaches courses on music history, film music, and social justice. Her first book, Good Music for a Free People is a study of the nineteenth-century orchestra, the Germania Musical Society. The ensemble’s repertory and piano sheet music is the subject of her 2014 talk at the Library of Congress, co-sponsored by the American Musicological Society. A recent essay, “#AlmaToo: The Art of Being Believed,” examines the life and legacy of Alma Mahler-Werfel through the lens of MeToo. During Spring 2022, Dr. Newman was the Rudolph Ganz Fellow at the Newberry Library, researching a critical history of the Chicago Musical College. Songs and Sounds of the Anti-Rent Movement is published by SUNY Press.
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Preservation Practices for Every Library | | |
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DHPSNY Workshops and Webinars
Date: Daily, February 1-11, 2025
Time: Varies
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DHPSNY offers a variety of educational programs and services to qualifying New York institutions. Presented free of charge throughout the state, DHPSNY’s programs address the needs of professionals and volunteers responsible for the care and handling of historical records. DHPSNY’s workshops and webinars discuss emerging issues and best practices, with content scaled to apply to small- and medium-sized organizations with limited resources.
The following program(s) will be offered this month:
DHPSNY is a service provided by the NYS Library and NYS Archives to support preservation practices at New York's cultural institutions.
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NYS Library Digital Equity Academy | |
On December 16, the New York State Digital Equity Academy had its first virtual meeting, facilitated by library technology expert Carson Block and Division of Library Development staff.
Thirty-three library and library system staff, representing school, public, and academic libraries from all across the state came together to meet and discuss digital equity in libraries.
Catch up with the Digital Equity Academy on our blog.
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Trustee Handbook Book Club
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Join co-author of the Handbook for Library Trustees of New York State Rebekkah Smith Aldrich and friends for this fun and informative series!
At each session, trustees will take a deeper dive on a topic relevant to their role and responsibilities as a library trustee. This event qualifies as trustee education and may be applied toward the NYS Trustee Education Requirements.
Learn more about the Trustee Handbook Book Club.
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