About The Archives

The Archives & Special Collections collects, preserves, and makes available primary and secondary materials that document the history of the campus since 1973 when NYU moved back to Greenwich Village and the campus officially became Bronx Community College (BCC). Through its collections, the Archives will not only chronicle the history and academic achievements of the campus, but it will also promote awareness of the diverse ethnic and cultural history of its student body and the local Bronx community that it serves. Our mission to acquire and preserve materials is coupled with a commitment to outreach and access.

The Archives’ focus is the history of the College. This includes the records and activities of BCC’s administration, academic departments, faculty, staff, students, and related organizations, as well as of its predecessor institutions. The Special Collections concentrates on the history of Bronx political culture and public policy discourse.

Currently, the repository for the College include records from 1957 to the present; Board of Trustees minutes, yearbooks, college catalogs, blueprints, photographs, correspondence and office files relevant to the history of the College. The collection also contains the Records of the Hall of Fame of Great Americans, as well as BCC faculty papers.

Policies

The Archives are open by appointment only. Archival materials do not circulate.
Photocopies may be made by the archivist, so long as the photocopying process does not damage the documents.
Researchers who wish to visit the archives in person are asked to set up an appointment in advance with the archivist.
Researchers who wish to work with archival materials remotely may contact the archivist with the nature and scope of their research. In many cases photocopies of specific materials can be provided, and research requests via email generally have a 48 hour turnaround time.
Digitization requests are made on a case-by-case basis. Archivist will process digital image requests of archival holdings for faculty for their classes.
Information about researchers’ work in the Archives and Special Collections, including their topics and the materials used, will be kept strictly confidential.
All requests need to be made via email. Contact archives@bcc.cuny.edu For more on policies at the Archives, go to the Library’s Archives Page.

Pending the development of a comprehensive Records Retention Schedule, the following types of materials should be regularly deposited in the Archives:

Minutes, reports, and papers of the BCC Senate and campus governance.
Papers of the President, Vice Presidents, and Deans’ offices–including statements of policy, reports, correspondence, memoranda, speeches, committee minutes, publicity materials, accreditation self-studies and final reports, and planning documents. (Restricted access for some items)
Records from other administrative and academic offices: correspondence, annual reports, minutes of school and departmental faculty meetings, selected (and significant) minutes and reports from committees, policy and procedure statements, planning documents, symposium and colloquium files, newsletters, and publications. (Restricted access for some items)
Campus-wide financial records, including budgets and audited financial reports from the Finance Office.
Faculty agendas, minutes, and committee reports.
All campus publications and printed materials—bulletins, newspapers (The Communicator and others), yearbooks, literary magazines, newsletters, brochures, recruitment materials, advertising copy, invitations, brochures, posters, advertisements, and programs for athletic, artistic, musical events, lectures, alumni, and other events. (Copies of these materials should be sent to Archives as soon as they are printed)
Course evaluations and syllabi (the latter, preferably in electronic format).
Biography files for faculty, administrators, staff, alumni, and members of the Board of Trustees (including obituaries.)
Faculty biographical files. (Restricted Access.) Please note that official personnel files (for current and former University employees) are maintained by the Office of Human Resources.
Faculty and alumni publications.
Student organization records, including minutes, brochures, flyers, publications, photographs.
Memorabilia (including scrapbooks) and artifacts (two and three-dimensional objects, especially those with the name of the Broncos—e.g., shirts or souvenirs from special events).

Note: Items sent to Archives that should have “restricted access” should be clearly noted on each item. Items marked “restricted access” cannot be consulted without the permission of the Head of Archives—or, in some cases, by the person or office that deposited the items.

Copyright and Fair Use

Use of manuscripts, published materials or oral history interviews is subject to provisions of the copyright law. Permission to examine materials, or to obtain copies, does not imply the right to publish or reproduce them, in whole or in part. Permission must be obtained from the author or anyone else who holds copyright or other publication rights. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, copyright, and literary property rights when quoting or publishing archival materials.

Citation

The location and description of collection materials referred to or quoted in papers (published or unpublished) should be cited accurately and completely. Readers are encouraged to provide a free copy of any publication in which Archives material is referred to or quoted. Researchers should use the following citation format when citing records or papers from the Archives:

Name of Collection, Title of Document or Name of Correspondents, Dates. Bronx Community College Archives. (i.e., Hall of Fame of Great Americans Collection, George Washington Carver Ceremony, 1977. Bronx Community College Archives).

Donation of Materials

First Step: Donor Inquiry

After receiving an email or phone call, the archivist will reach out via phone or email to setup a preliminary meeting. The archivist will go over the archival accession process and which archival items (photographs, correspondence, personal papers) will be earmarked for donation to BCC’s Archives.

What to Donate

If you are interested in donating organizational records or personal papers to BCC, please contact the Archivist, Cynthia Tobar. We will work with donors of appropriate material to identify specifically what should be preserved. Lists of types of material that are often important are listed below. Please note that these lists are suggestive rather than mandatory.

Records of Organizations:

Administrative Records

Constitution/bylaws, reports (annual and planning), correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, agendas, and attachments (for annual and committee meetings), publications (newsletters, brochures, etc.), annual budgets, financial statements and audit reports, job descriptions, newspaper clippings about the organization, organizational charts and historical summaries, policy and procedure manuals, press releases and public relations material, and fund-raising materials.

Program Records

Audio visual materials (photographs, video, and audio tapes), planning documents, program evaluations, project reports, and training manuals.

Records of Individuals:

Letters, diaries, speeches, scrapbooks, autobiographical sketches, photographs, films, audio and video tapes, and professional files.

The Donation Process

Because the research value of historical materials may be diminished if items are removed or rearranged, donors are encouraged to contact the Archives before discarding or rearranging materials. The Archivist will work with the donor to identify historically significant materials and prepare them for transfer to the Archives. Before the physical transfer of materials can occur, legal title to the materials needs to be transferred from the donor to BCC. This begins with a letter of intent. For further information on the donation process, see: A Guide to Donating Your Personal or Family Papers to a Repository.

Collection Care

Collections are housed in an area with strict environmental controls to enhance preservation of historical materials. Strict security measures are also in place to safeguard the collections.

Collections donated to the Archives are organized and described by professional archivists and pre-professional graduate students to provide researchers with easy access to the materials. The resulting finding aid or guide to the collection will be posted on the Archives website, making it available to anyone with Internet access. Researchers (e.g. students, teachers, professors, historians, journalists) use these guides to identify material that will be useful to them in their work.

Archival Donations

The BCC Archives and Special Collections is devoted to collecting, preserving, and providing access to resources documenting the history and culture of Bronx Community College. These primary source materials are used by community members, students, faculty, scholars, journalists, and others from across the world to tell stories that might otherwise go untold.

Office or administrative records of the College that are deemed to have historical value are transferred to the Archives. The determination of archival value is based on the Archives Collection Development Policy.

Please email the Archivist, Cynthia Tobar if you have any questions about donations to the archives.

Additional Resources

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