We think archives are important all year round, but every October we take time to advocate for archives, archivists, our work, and the many, many collections that exist in our repositories during Archives Awareness Month in the United States. Archivists in all kinds of archives across the country talk directly to people who use (or will use!) archives about what exactly it is we do as archivists, what exists in our collections, and how you can access them.
The Society of American Archivists traditionally designates one day each Archives Awareness Month to #AskAnArchivistDay, a public initiative where archivists solicit questions from the curious, usually through social media, and answer through the same channels. Questions run the gamut, from advice on preserving your family’s old materials, clarifying when you can visit the archives, highlighting specific collecting areas, explaining how we decide what to keep, or just giving the archivists an excuse to be silly.
This year, Queens College Special Collections and Archives participated once again across our Instagram and TikTok channels. Catch up on what you missed below, and be sure to subscribe throughout the year to see what we’re up to!
@qc.archives Asked from instagram: What events were going on at QC and CUNY during 1969? A pivotal year, 1969 was a hotbed of student activism in two major directives: anti-Vietnam War protest and SEEK uprising and rebellion. Our Campus Unrest Collection, Student Publications, and photographs show evidence of student power and how they prevailed. Remember: these were QC students, just like you. #askanarchivist♬ For What It's Worth – Buffalo Springfield
In this virtual show and tell held on Sept 19, 2024, archivists shared unique items from the Helen Marshall Papers documenting her celebrated career in politics. Marshall (1929–2017) was the second woman and first African American Borough President of Queens, elected to three four-year terms starting in 2001. Earlier, she served on the New York City Council, in the New York State Assembly, and as a co-founder of the Langston Hughes Library in Corona, Queens. Prior to her political career, Marshall earned a Bachelor of Arts in education from Queens College and served as a teacher, later making education reform one of her main goals as an elected official. The Helen Marshall Papers were donated to the college by Donald E. Marshall Jr. in 2017.
The collection was recently processed due to a generous grant from the New York State Archives Documentary Heritage Program.
Presenters:
Gianna N. Fraccalvieri, Project Archivist for the Helen Marshall Papers
Annie Tummino, Head of Special Collections and Archives
This event was part of the “At Home with Queens College” series sponsored by the Office of Institutional Advancement.
This past spring, Special Collections and Archives mounted an exhibit in the Rosenthal Library celebrating the history of the QC SEEK Program, from its origins in the Civil Rights Movement to its emergence as a national model for higher education opportunity programs across the country. The exhibit featured items from the SEEK Collection, such as brochures, handbooks, newsletters, photographs, clippings, and fliers, demonstrating the incredible innovation, resilience, and impact of the program over its 58-year history.
Now, Special Collections and Archives is proud to announce that the majority of items featured in the exhibit, plus a number of others, have been scanned and are available through the college’s collaboration with JSTOR! This online access will benefit researchers around the world as well as our local community here at Queens College. The collection currently has 71 entries, but we hope to add hundreds more as resources allow.
Please enjoy browsing the collection, as well as using JSTOR’s tools for downloading, citing, saving, and sharing items of interest. If you have any questions about the SEEK collection or how to use JSTOR, please email qc.archives@qc.cuny.edu.Â
As a current student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, working in the Queens College Library to process the Helen Marshall Papers over the past 5 months has been an invaluable learning experience for which I am incredibly grateful. Helen Marie Marshall (1929–2017) was an American politician and community organizer who served in the various elected positions of New York State Assemblymember, New York City Councilmember, and Queens Borough President between the 1980s and mid-2010s.
This collection has proven to be robust in scope and diverse in content, covering a wide range of historical events, social issues, and political eras throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. While the magnitude of this project posed practical challenges of adequately preserving, arranging, and describing the records, its vastness also provided amazing opportunities to view these archival traces of Marshall’s life and legacy from a variety of angles.
I am honored to share the completed finding aid for the Helen Marshall Papers with the Queens College community and beyond. The collection can be accessed by emailing Special Collections and Archives at QC.archives@qc.cuny.edu to schedule an appointment. You can also learn more about the collection by registering for the “Virtual Show and Tell” taking place online on September 19 from 4-5pm.
Young Helen MarshallYoung Helen Marshall
Composed of 35.75 linear feet of records produced between the 1920s and 2014, the Helen Marshall Papers document Marshall’s role as a community activist and elected official in New York City and State politics. The collection includes correspondence, project files, subject files, certificates, campaign ephemera, photographs, and audiovisual reels. Additionally, the Helen Marshall Papers include personal materials that chronicle the immigration story of Marshall’s Guyanese family. Overall, this collection reflects Marshall’s principal concerns of racial justice, women’s rights, public libraries and parks, health care, and senior citizens.
Helen Marshall’s mother’s British Guiana passport
Amid the ongoing social injustice of municipal budget cuts to libraries and universities, Marshall’s legacy of activism in defense of institutions that provide public access to information and education inspires hope and resilience for the present-day struggle. As a co-founder and first director of the Langston Hughes Library in 1969 prior to her political career, Marshall was a strong advocate for public libraries throughout her life. This collection contains project files, correspondence, and photographs related to Marshall’s role in securing more funding for public libraries to enhance access to community resources in Queens and New York City at large. Similarly, this collection reflects Marshall’s career-long crusade to increase funding, equity, and inclusion among CUNY institutions. Marshall’s background as a public school teacher and Queens College alumna with a B.A. in education made supporting higher education through CUNY one of her top priorities.
Helen Marshall’s Queens College notebook
It has been a privilege to gain hands-on archival processing experience under the supervision of Annie Tummino, Head of Special Collection and Archives at Queens College Library (QCL). I would like to thank Annie for the time and expert guidance she shared with me to help complete this project, as well as archives staff members Caitlin Colban-Waldron and Reign McConnell for their advice and encouragement. I also extend my appreciation to the Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York (DHPSNY) for providing the generous grant that allowed me to complete this project, as well as the entire staff and administration of QCL for their support of my professional development.
GIANNA N. FRACCALVIERI is a current graduate student pursuing a dual degree in Library Science and History with an Advanced Certificate in Archives at the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (GSLIS). From January to June 2024, Gianna processed the Helen Marshall Papers as a Project Archivist at Queens College Special Collections and Archives. Gianna has been working in public and academic libraries across Queens and Long Island since 2021, and she aspires to work in archives full-time after graduating in the spring.Â
This project (Arranging and Describing the Helen Marshall Papers) was made possible in part by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives, a program of the State Education Department.
In late 2021, James J. Periconi donated his collection of Italian-language American imprints to Queens College Special Collections and Archives. Lovingly curated over multiple decades, the collection consists of over 500 items that provide unique insight into what Italian immigrants to the United States were reading, writing, and thinking about at the end of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
After a successful first year, the Queens College Library, in collaboration with the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute and generously supported by James J. Periconi, is again offering a research fellowship program that will defray costs for a scholar to conduct research with the collection over a period of two to four weeks. Read about last year’s fellows and their fascinating research in this collection.
Il Martello [The Hammer], Vol. VIII, No. 14. New York: Casa Ed. “Il Martello,” 27 Aprile [April] 1922
The collection can be browsed through the CUNY OneSearch catalog or on a curated website that includes images and essays. Research fellowship applications are due by June 15, 2024. This program is generously funded by James J. Periconi. Details are posted below.
Research Fellowship details and logistics
Details and Requirements:
Scholars receive a stipend of between $2500-$4500 to defray travel costs, depending on budget and length of stay. The stipend is provided once the scholar is in-residence.
Scholars are expected to be in residence for two to four weeks, between September 1, 2024, and September 1, 2025. Dates must be arranged with Special Collections and Archives well in advance. Â
All research will take place at the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library Building, Queens College, City University of New York, during normal business hours.
During the summer months only, on-campus housing may be possible just steps from the library. Detailed information upon request.
Scholars at all stages of their careers from the U.S. or abroad may apply. Accepted applicants from outside the U.S. are required to obtain a J-1 visa.
Fellows will have opportunities to interact with the Calandra Institute and associated scholars at The City University of New York, as well as James J. Periconi.
Fellows are expected to share their research in-progress through a discussion hosted by the Calandra Institute.
Three World War I Patriotic (Anti-German Militarism) Italian-American Chromolithographs. New York: Italian Book Co., 1918
Application details
Applications for the 2024-2025 fellowship are due by June 15, 2024.
Applications must include:
A brief biographical statement of not more than 350 words
An overview of the proposed project, and how access to the Periconi Collection will aid the research process (3 pages maximum)
A current resume or CV.
One letter of reference.
One-page budget and proposed length of research visit (between 2-4 weeks)
Submit applications with Subject Line “Research Fellowship Application to” qc.archives@qc.cuny.edu by the end-of-day on June 15, 2024. Applications will be judged by a committee of reviewers. Â
Did you know that Queens College Special Collections and Archives is home to the Helen Marshall Papers? Donated to the Library by Donald E. Marshall in 2017, the collection is comprised of 40 boxes of papers, photographs, and memorabilia documenting Marshall’s celebrated career in politics.
Marshall (1929 – 2017) was the second woman and first African American Borough President of Queens, elected to three four-year terms starting in 2001. Earlier, she served on the New York City Council for ten years in the 1990s and in the New York State Assembly for eight years in the 1980s. She was the first director of the Langston Hughes Library in Corona, Queens, when it was founded in 1969. Marshall was the daughter of Guyanese immigrants, growing up in Harlem and the Bronx and obtaining her BA in education from Queens College.
Photo and letter from the Helen Marshall PapersGianna holds a photo of Helen Marshall meeting Barack Obama
Thanks to a $12,000 grant from the New York State Archives Documentary Heritage Program, Gianna Fraccalvieri, a graduate student in the Library and Information Studies Program, was recently hired as the Project Archivist to process the collection. In celebration of Black History Month, we sat down with Gianna to discuss the Helen Marshall project as it gets underway.
Q: Gianna, you are near to completing your graduate degree in Library and Information Studies with a Certificate in Archives. What got you interested in this field?
Gianna: I’ve always enjoyed the process of conducting historical research as a student, and working in libraries taught me that I enjoy helping others do the same. I learned about archiving as a career field through the MLS/MA dual degree program and became intrigued by the many different roles that archivists can play in facilitating exciting research experiences.
A conference program from the Helen Marshall Papers.
Q: Now that you have had a chance to survey the collection, what have you learned about Helen Marshall so far?
Gianna: Throughout her political career, Helen Marshall advocated for the rights and needs of Queens communities concerning a variety of social justice causes, including racial equity, women’s issues, public health and housing, improving higher education at CUNY, and much more. She was a leader on multiple fronts, often championing local initiatives in government by closely participating with community groups and organizations.
Q: Any gems in the collection that stood out to you?
Gianna: There are quite a few lovely portraits of Marshall in this collection, documenting the arc of her journey from early childhood to late adulthood. Photographs of Marshall with family and friends, community members, and other well-known politicians help to visually convey her dynamic influence through the years.
Q: What do you anticipate being a particular challenge to processing this collection?
Gianna arranging materials from the Helen Marshall Papers.
Gianna: Arranging this collection in a way that makes it as accessible as possible to researchers is one of my top priorities, but I must also consider practical limitations such as the large quantity of materials and the timeframe of the project. Processing this collection will require me to maintain a healthy balance between detail-oriented and big-picture thinking.
Q: How do you anticipate this collection being used by teachers or researchers in the future?
Gianna: Broadly, this collection has a high research value for scholars interested in investigating the social and political histories of New York State, New York City, and the borough of Queens between the 1980s and 2010s. Additionally, the mix of professional and personal materials in this collection provides excellent opportunities to study Marshall as a historical figure in her own right, especially regarding her position as a first-generation African American woman in politics.
Gianna will be preserving, arranging, and cataloging the collection this spring. The project will culminate this June with the publication of an archival finding aid that will make the collection open for research. Stay tuned!Â
This project (Arranging and Describing the Helen Marshall Papers) was made possible in part by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives, a program of the State Education Department.
This month, in collaboration with the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, the Library’s Special Collections and Archives welcomes two visiting fellows who will be conducting research with the James J. Periconi Collection of Italian-Language American Imprints.
Lindsey N. Kingston is an Associate Professor of International Human Rights at Webster University in Saint Louis, Missouri. She directs the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, which includes overseeing the undergraduate program in International Human Rights. Kingston edited Human Rights in Higher Education: Institutional, Classroom, and Community Approaches to Teaching Social Justice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) and Statelessness, Governance, and the Problem of Citizenship (Manchester University Press, 2021). She also authored the monograph Fully Human: Personhood, Citizenship, and Rights (Oxford University Press, 2019), which won the International Studies Association’s 2020 Human Rights Best Book Award. She is an Italian-American dual national with advanced Italian language proficiency.
Carmen Petruzzi
Carmen Petruzzi is a postgraduate research fellow at the Department of Humanistic Studies at the University of Foggia. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Modern Literature, a Master’s degree in Modern Philology, and another in Science of Education. In 2022, she passed the national competitive examination as a teacher of Italian and History at High School. She obtained her PhD in April 2019 at the University of Florence and immediately afterward she perfected her knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methods in a one-year internship in New York between the summer of 2019 and the summer of 2020. She currently collaborates with Antonella Cagnolati, Full Professor of History of Education and Comparative Education at the University of Foggia. She has always been interested in migration with a specific focus on the effects on children’s life histories and projects. Since 2020 she has been working on the reconstruction of educational processes within the broader topic of the history of Italian emigration. Her research investigation intends to illuminate the lesser-known path of autonomy and independence achieved between the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly by the second generations who filled the educational gap between the parent’s generation and long-standing American residents.
To learn more about the collection, you can browse titles in the CUNY OneSearch catalog or explore a curated website that includes images and essays.
BlackMass Publishing is an independent press promoting and publishing material by Black Artists founded by Yusuf Hassan in 2019. Combining archival photographs and found print material with poetry and jazz music, BlackMass grapples with the blurred lines and idiosyncrasies which make up the collective improvisation of African diasporic culture.
Photo Credit, Portrait of BlackMass: Ari Marcopoulos
Queens College Special Collections and Archives recently acquired a curated box of over 60 zines from BlackMass Publishing that explore politics, jazz, religion, architecture and other themes.
Sponsored by: Queens College Library Special Collections and Archives, the Queens College MFA Program, and Queens College Africana Studies, with the generous support of the Pine Tree Foundation of New York. Photo of collection by Annie Tummino.
Special Collections and Archives (SCA) is pleased to announce that Queens College is now represented in the Reveal Digital Student Activism Collection. The completed collection will contain approximately 75,000 pages drawn from repositories around the country. The collection captures the voices of students across the great range of protest, political actions, and equal-rights advocacy from the 20th and early 21st century United States. 
Queens College Library was selected to participate in this project based on the richness of its student activism materials. SCA carefully collated and packed approximately 600 items and sent them off to Reveal Digital to be scanned and cataloged. The Queens College collection includes student publications created by Black and Latinx students, as well as papers from the collections of alumni Mark Levy, Harvey Silver, Elliot Linzer, Michael Wenger, Andrew Berman, and Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum, and faculty members Michael Wreszin and Oscar Shaftel. Issues such as academic and student freedom, civil rights, high school organizing, and the anti-war movement are well represented.
Oscar Shaftel Papers (SCA-0052), Box 1, Folder 9, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.35516329Queens College Student Publications Collection (SCA-0003), Box 14, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.35516608 Andrew Berman Papers (SCA-0023), Box 1, Folder 12, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.35516140 Harvey Silver political literature and ephemera (SCA-0086), Box 1, Folder 2, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.35516176
The mission of Reveal Digital is to develop Open Access primary source collections from under-represented 20th-century voices of dissent, crowdfunded by libraries. Collections are made available through JSTOR, a database that provides access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources. 
To learn more about Queens College Special Collections and Archives, book a research appointment, or inquire about instruction sessions, please email QC.archives@qc.cuny.edu.
The Alexander Kouguell Collection follows the life and career of Professor Emeritus Alexander Kouguell (1920-2022), whose nearly 70-year tenure and career are documented in a newly processed collection at the Queens College Special Collections and Archives.
Headshot of Alexander Kouguell with his cello (Box 9)
Alexander Kouguell was born in Crimea on March 27th, 1920 to parents Arkadie and Marie Kouguell (nee Malinskya). Both his parents had been child piano prodigies, and met at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory whilst studying music. His father’s career as a composer, as well as worsening political conditions, had prompted a brief move to Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey, and later Beirut, Lebanon where the family remained for nearly 25 years.
Alexander Kouguell received a diploma from the Ecole Normale De Musique de Paris in cello in 1938, his bachelors and master’s degrees from the American University in Beirut in 1941 and 1943 respectively, and enrolled at Columbia University for a PhD in Comparative Literature in 1944. In this time, he continued his career in music, which led his first position as a professor of cello at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.
Picture of Kouguell @ 26 years (Box 7)Paul Bauzelaire post-cardsHoneymoon photos (top) and parents photos from 1980 (bottom two rows)
Uncertainty regarding his continued funding would bring him back to New York, where he met musician Leo Kraft. Kraft recommended he apply for a position at the newly minted Music Department at Queens College. He became a professor at the Queens College Department of Music, later renamed the Aaron Copland School of Music, when the area surrounding Queens was still farmland—a far cry from the metropolitan borough it is today. His family followed him soon after in 1956, with the collection even including his parents’ naturalization papers.
Kouguell’s career afforded him the opportunities to play nationwide and internationally with groups such as the New York Chamber Soloists, the Musica Aeterna Orchestra, and the Silvermine Quartet. Hotel brochures, concert programs, and even audio recordings of concerts are available upon request in his collection. True to the deep respect he commanded in the community, the collection holds many music manuscripts of pieces that were dedicated to Alexander.
Leo Kraft piece dedicated to him (top); Kouguell in an orchestra playing (Box 6) (bottom)
Although his career and Queens College papers are a testament to his cultural impact, what makes Kouguell’s collection exceptionally special are his personal papers which outline not only his life but also the connections that made him a valued member of the Queens College community. Exchanges with his impressive mentors in France can be found in the same subseries as their obituaries, denoting the passage of time and the impact his mentors had on him.
His eclectic collection includes photographs of his honeymoon, an audio recording of him gently guiding his oldest son’s piano lesson, a brief biography of his parents, and photographs that show the steady progression of his family from the 1940’s through the present. All of the notes that color a person’s life is existent in his collection. The heart of the Kouguell collection lies in the remembrance that the measure of a person’s life is traced through their legacy, but their impact can be felt in the treasures they leave behind.
The Alexander Kouguell Papers are now open for research. To make an appointment to view the collection, please contact the archives at qc.archives@qc.cuny.edu.
Pamela Padilla served as the Shirley Klein Rare Books and Manuscripts Graduate Fellow over the 2022/2023 academic year. Her Fellowship was funded through the generosity of Shirley Klein.
