A Graduate Class Discovers Archival Collections by Bob Kosovsky, Librarian, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman CenterNovember 20, 2019

Professor Deborah Heckert, from the graduate music program at Brooklyn College/City University of New York, wanted students in her Research and Bibliography class to get a deeper understanding of researching and working with archival collections. 

A class examines archival collections

I had the privilege of having her class meet at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (LPA). In general, I know undergraduate and graduate students receive no formal introduction or training in using archival collections. Many professors expect students to use such resources only when needed, rarely providing guides and explanations to a class on how to deal with archival artifacts. 

If students are given the opportunity to learn how to find, handle, use, and evaluate archival collections for their research, we could see more well-rounded graduates, whose command of research could be greatly enhanced. Knowing this—and having rewarding experiences of her own archival explorations—Professor Heckert arranged to have her class meet at the Library.

I have provided many classes with an overview of the many resources available at LPA, but it is not often I am able to devote the entire time to working exclusively with archival collections.  

During my introduction, I explained that, while many libraries and archives accept collections with stipulations for access, the New York Public Library strives to avoid such restrictions. The class was enthusiastic and amused to view one of our few exceptions, a box that came with the Soulima Stravinsky papers (which is otherwise open to the public), containing legal documents regarding his father, Igor Stravinsky. Upon the box is a note dictating it can be opened on November 29, 2024. (We plan to have this box processed when it becomes accessible to the public.)

Box of Igor Stravinsky legal documents not to be opened until November 29, 2024
Sealed box of documents from the Soulima Stravinsky papers

To engage the students in active learning, I gave them a hands-on experience. After an introduction on how to find and handle archival materials, I selected a variety of formats from a variety of collections (personal documents, business documents, photographs, scrapbooks, annotated scores).  Each student selected an item or a box to explore and examine.  

I also provided the students with a list of questions I hoped would guide their thinking for their first experience in working with archival materials. My list was based on the National Archives’ Document Analysis Worksheets and that of a recent webinar given by Stacey Krim, Curator of Manuscripts at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro:

Part 1:  Observable facts

  • Is this primarily published or manuscript material?

  • Can you determine the creator(s) of the material?  If so, who?

  • What is the approximate date of the material? (How did you make this determination?)

  • Has the item been physically modified?

  • Is the material annotated or marked in any way?  For what purpose?

Part 2:  Deriving information and identifying context

  • A student talks excitedly about the Miles Davis documents found in the Teo Macero collection
    A student discusses the Miles Davis papers found in the NYPL Teo Macero collection

    What is the document "talking" about?

  • Why was the document created?  How did it function?

  • Was this document created and used only by a single person, or was it created for use by others?

  • What could you find out from this document that you might not learn elsewhere?

  • What other kinds of documents or historical evidence might you use to help you understand the content and context of the document?

  • What questions/issues arise based on this document?

  • What areas of research could this material support?

As all the students were musicians, I suggested they regard this list as if it were daily technical exercises for their instrument. Essentially, they were working on their technique for practicing intellectual research.

I gave them time to explore what they had selected before sharing what they had found with the rest of the class. The limited number of students allowed each to talk about what they discovered and explore the larger implications of the material. Never having done such work, the students began tentatively. I suggested there were no wrong answers and they were all discovering how to work with the materials. As they heard each other speak, they gained confidence.  

In at least two cases, the students could not hide their passion for the materials they found. One student was a fan of Miles Davis, so he was enthusiastic about exploring a box from our Teo Macero collection. (Davis’s handwritten liner notes have been digitized and are available via the NYPL Digital Collections.)

A student talks about what she found in a Richard Rodgers's scrapbook
A student talks about her findings in a Richard Rodgers scrapbook

One student was fascinated by one of the many volumes of Richard Rodgers’s scrapbooks. I was taken with her intuitive understanding that, as Rodgers (or his staff) assembled the scrapbook, it was a fair (and correct) assumption there would be no negative news articles included.

Other materials examined by students included a symphony score by Brahms marked by Arturo Toscanini, photographs of drummer Kaiser Marshall, medical records of Toscanini, and correspondence received by Lou Reed.  

The students in this class were so awed by the material they handled that I didn’t push the more technical aspect of study, relying on my list of questions to guide them in their future explorations. My feeling is that learning how to handle and use archival collections, understanding and deriving knowledge from them, and understanding the archival discipline should be a semester-long required course as part of graduate studies. There is so much to learn from working with archival collections. I’m glad I was able to meet with this class and I look forward to future opportunities of promulgating the study of archival collections.
 

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Comments

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Compliment and a comment

Submitted by Pete Kennedy (not verified) on March 23, 2020 - 11:29am

Really useful article. I was a member of the Errol Garner archival team developing his collection that eventually went to the University of Pittsburgh, with master recordings going to Columbia Records for reissue. One comment. I believe that the digitized liner notes for Miles Davis's Kind of Blue album are the item you refer to. They were actually handwritten not by Davis but by pianist Bill Evans, himself a monumental figure in Jazz. That one detail might need clarification in this terrific and useful article.

Thanks!

Submitted by Bob Kosovsky (not verified) on March 23, 2020 - 7:11pm

Thanks Pete Kennedy for your complimentary and useful post. Unfortunately, with the Library closed, I can't compare documents, but I will once our current emergency has abated. Thanks again!