Mr. Thomas James Connors has begun his role as the Teamsters Labor Archivist. Prior to joining the Special Collections Research Center Tom Connors served as the Senior Curator of the Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland at College Park. Before moving to Maryland in 1993, Tom worked as a consulting archivist for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. While in Los Angeles, he also conducted oral history interviews with West Coast labor union officials for the UCLA Oral History Program. For five years, 1982-1987, Tom was Assistant Archivist at the George Meany Memorial Archives, AFL-CIO, in Washington DC. Prior to that he was a project archivist at the University of Vermont and Yale University.

Tom served on the Society of American Archivists’ governing Council from 2000 to 2003. He is the founder and co-chair of SAA’s International Archival Affairs Roundtable and he was made a Fellow of the Society in 2006. Tom has also been active in the International Council on Archives.

Tom’s recent publications and presentations have dealt with access to government information during the George W. Bush presidency. From 2000 to 2007 he was an adjunct professor in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies where he taught a summer course on audiovisual archives.

On March 19, 2008, the Special Collections and University Archives Department of the Gelman Library System at The George Washington University has been renamed the Special Collections Research Center.  Simultaneously, Dr. Meredith Evans Raiford’s title changed from “Head of Special Collections” to “Director of the Special Collections Research Center”. In light of the expanded mission of the Special Collections program and the increased number of discrete programs within the department, it has become clear that the current department title no longer reflects the nature of its mission. The name change also aligns the Special Collections Research Center with the increasing emphasis on research at all levels within the university and signals a strong emphasis within Special Collections on supporting the academic research needs of a broader spectrum of academic programs in the university than in the past. Simultaneously, the name change brings the program in line with other similar special collections programs around the country, including at University of Chicago, Syracuse University, North Carolina State University, and the College of William and Mary, to name a few.

The primary units within the Special Collections Research Center include:

- American Labor History
- I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection and Reading Room
- Exhibits Program
- Media and Journalism
- Rare Books and Maps
- University Archives
- Washingtoniana

In turn, the Washingtoniana Division has three primary active collecting areas:

- the African-American Research Center, documenting the African-American in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding metropolitan areas
- Literary Studies Collections, documenting the literary communities and publishing houses in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area
- the social, cultural, and political history of Washington, D.C.

The Special Collections Research Center web-pages are in the process of being updated and should reflect the name change by the end of the day.

If you have any questions, please contact Meredith Evans Raiford by email at raiford@gelman.gwu.edu or by phone at 202-994-1363 or Steven Mandeville-Gamble by email at stevenmg@gelman.gwu.edu or by phone at 202-994-1709.

Dr. Meredith Evans Raiford has begun her role as Director, Special Collections Research Center. She comes to the Gelman Library System with more than 5 years experience arranging, describing, developing, and digitizing important archival collections such as the Clarke Africana Collection, the Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection, and the Maynard Jackson Papers. Dr. Raiford has more than 12 years experience as a manager in both academic and commercial settings and brings extensive expertise in financial accountability such as purchasing, budgeting as well as hiring and training with her to this position.

Dr. Raiford received her Ph.D. from the School of Information and Library Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation title was: Record Keeping Practices in Selected Atlanta Area Black Churches. In addition to her Ph.D., she also has a Masters of Public History from North Carolina State University and an M.L.S. from Clarke Atlanta University.

She remains active in archival and library education and teaches in the San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science. Her research interests include strengthening community-based record-keeping practices; developing effective methods of collection development and access in an increasingly digital society; the relationship between custody of records, appraisal, description, and social memory; and the impact of collaboration as it pertains to the collection of historical documents.

Dr. Raiford has evaluated record keeping programs within six different churches to foster collaboration with professional archival institutions. In her immediately prior position to becoming Head of Special Collections at Gelman, she assisted with the development of library policies and procedures and was an active member of a variety of committees, including the Digital and Technology Services Committee. She is an active member of the Society of American Archivists, the American Library Association, and the National Council of Public History.

Brad Sabin Hill assumes the role of Curator of the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection as of January 14, 2007.   In the two week period prior to that date, Mr. Hill will be working on a variety of projects related to the collection.

Mr. Hill comes to GWU with extensive knowledge and experience in Hebraic and Judaic bibliography and librarianship.  Before serving as Dean of the Library and Senior Research Librarian at the YIVO Institute in New York (2002-2007), he held positions in Britain and Canada, as Librarian and Fellow in Hebrew Bibliography at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies (1996-2001), as Head of the Hebrew Section of the British Library (1989-1996), and as Curator of Rare Hebraica in the National Library of Canada in Ottawa (1979-1989).  The author of a number of books and articles in the field of Hebrew bibliography and booklore, including Incunabula, Hebraica & Judaica (1981) and Hebraica from the Valmadonna Trust (1989), Hill has published studies on Hebrew typography and Hebrew libraries, as well as on Yiddish manuscripts and Yiddish bibliography.  He has curated exhibitions of rare Hebraica in Ottawa, London and New York, among them a display of early Hebrew printing at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, and most recently on Spinozist writings in Yiddish at the YIVO Institute.  Formerly a member of the Oriental Faculty of the University of Oxford, Hill is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a Senior Associate of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. 

Once Mr. Hill takes over as curator of the collection, the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Reading Room will resume its normal schedule of being open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Jack Anderson Collection Exhibit is now available as a web page. The site mirrors the installed exhibit, highlighting Collection materials and providing an overview of the acclaimed journalist’s career and legacy.

The exhibit is still viewable in Gelman Library’s Conference Room, Room 207, through February 15, 2008.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has contributed $2 million to The George Washington University to create an endowed archivist position at GW and establish an exhibition of its archives for public display to enhance research on 20th century U.S. labor relations. The Teamsters archives, which date back to the early 1900s, also will reside at GW on permanent loan. It is among the nation’s preeminent collections of primary labor movement documents. The funding is the first part of a comprehensive Teamsters education and archives project in cooperation with the University.

The archives include presidential papers from James R. Hoffa and James P. Hoffa, autographed political cartoons from the early 20th century, and several hundred photographs and memos from the labor and civil rights movements, such as a photo of Jimmy Hoffa with Martin Luther King, Jr., and telegrams from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The archives also contain a wire recorder, circa 1930s, believed to be one of the few remaining in the world. 

The archivist position will be responsible for cataloging the archives and acquiring additional important historical labor documents through GW’s Gelman Library System. These initiatives will arrange the Teamsters archives, making public never-before-seen documents, letters, and photographs and provide access by researchers and labor history professionals to these records.

The University also will begin a collection of valuable materials from all aspects of U.S. labor history that will benefit labor studies in history, law, political science, business, and other academic disciplines. GW plans to collect primary documents, photographs, and recordings from other labor groups. In growing its U.S. labor special collection, the University will remain intellectually neutral, providing researchers with a wealth of information previously unavailable to the public.

The Teamsters Union was established in 1903 and represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Gelman Library’s Special Collections Department collects, preserves, and makes accessible primary resources and rare materials to researchers within and outside of the GW community. The collection includes more than 25,000 linear feet of archives, books, images, manuscripts, maps, microforms, directories, theses, dissertations, faculty publications, periodicals, and ephemera. The University houses the archives from PNC (Riggs) Bank and of journalist Jack Anderson, among others.

For the full press release, please go to: http://www.gwu.edu/~Emedia/pressrelease.cfm?ann_id=26008

The George Washington University’s Gelman Library System is pleased to announce that Brad Sabin Hill has been offered and accepted the position of Curator of the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection. 

Mr. Hill comes to GWU with extensive knowledge and experience in Hebraic and Judaic bibliography and librarianship.  Before serving as Dean of the Library and Senior Research Librarian at the YIVO Institute in New York (2002-2007), he held positions in Britain and Canada, as Librarian and Fellow in Hebrew Bibliography at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies (1996-2001), as Head of the Hebrew Section of the British Library (1989-1996), and as Curator of Rare Hebraica in the National Library of Canada in Ottawa (1979-1989).  The author of a number of books and articles in the field of Hebrew bibliography and booklore, including Incunabula, Hebraica & Judaica (1981) and Hebraica from the Valmadonna Trust (1989), Hill has published studies on Hebrew typography and Hebrew libraries, as well as on Yiddish manuscripts and Yiddish bibliography.  He has curated exhibitions of rare Hebraica in Ottawa, London and New York, among them a display of early Hebrew printing at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, and most recently on Spinozist writings in Yiddish at the YIVO Institute.  Formerly a member of the Oriental Faculty of the University of Oxford, Hill is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a Senior Associate of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.  Brad Sabin Hill will take on his new duties as Curator of the Kiev Collection at the end of 2007.

The I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection was established in 1996 with the donation of the personal library of Rabbi I. Edward Kiev, late chief librarian of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.  The original donation of about 18,000 books, pamphlets, and periodicals, as well as manuscripts, graphics, artifacts, maps and Jewish music, has grown to over 22,000 volumes.  Comprised of both Hebraica and western-language Judaica, the Kiev Collection covers the range of Jewish studies, from biblical exegesis and rabbinic texts to archeology, Jewish history and modern Hebrew literature.  Together with much German-Jewish scholarship and extensive Judaic bibliographic literature on which I. Edward Kiev was expert, the collection holds Hebraica printed over five centuries, and is especially rich in books from Central and Eastern Europe.  The Kiev Collection is housed in its own reading room in the Gelman Library, suite 710. 

Greg D. Kubiak, Board Chair of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW), announced today that an agreement has been reached between GMCW and The George Washington University to allow the University’s Gelman Library to collect, preserve and make accessible the Chorus’s archives as part of the library’s Gay and Lesbian Collections. “The GMCW board’s approval of this agreement was reached this spring after meeting with Gelman Library officials,” said Mr. Kubiak. “The GMCW Archives will offer a great resource for scholars, researchers or anyone interested in local GLBT history,” he continued, “while providing a secure home for the Chorus’s papers and other materials. The women and men of GMCW are honored to have their history included in the Gelman Library Special Collections.” The Chorus’s archives, including Board of Directors’ minutes and official documentation, financial and tax statements, publications, performance and promotional materials, concert programs, membership rosters, correspondence, newsletters, newspaper articles and clippings, video and audio recordings, and other archival material, will be transferred to Gelman Library this summer.

Steve Mandeville-Gamble, Head of Special Collections at Gelman Library, added: “With the generous donation of their organization’s records to the Gelman Library, GMCW has ensured that a vital voice of the cultural and social fabric of Washington, DC will be preserved and made available to this and future generations. These records document how the gay community of DC not only withstood adversity but also did so with its head held high and with a creative rejection of the intolerance that it encountered. This response ultimately lead to a greater acceptance of — and respect for — the GLBT community as a whole.” The official contract signing between the Chorus and the Library took place on June 28, 2007, at 11 AM in the Kiev Room (#710) of Gelman Library, 2130 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20052. June 28th is significant in that it is the 26th anniversary of the Chorus’s founding as well as the 38th anniversary of New York City’s Stonewall Riots — a pivotal moment in the U.S. GLBT rights movement. Closely aligned is the gay choral movement, as evidenced by GMCW’s mission — to entertain through excellent musical performance, to affirm the place of Gay people in society and to educate about the Gay experience. Signing the contract for GMCW was Kathy McGee, Board of Directors Secretary, who was accompanied by C. Michael Baker, Jack Gerard, Steve Herman, and Phil Rogerson — founding and continuing members of the Chorus since 1981.”

Special Collections has made an online version of the PNC-Riggs Collection Exhibit available as a web page. Mirroring the physical exhibit, this online version traces the profound influence Riggs Bank has had on the growing Washington D.C. area in the 19th and 20th centuries, the close connections between it and George Washington University, and the plans for processing and caring for the collection.

The exhibit is still viewable in Gelman Library’s Conference Room, Room 207, through October 18th.

Special Collections recently purchased more than 280 books from Kim Roberts a local poet and Editor of the online journal Beltway Poetry Quarterly. The majority of these books are hard to find chapbooks and other local press publications by local authors including:

• Ann Knox
• Kenneth Carroll
• Grace Cavalieri
• E. Ethelbert Miller
• D.C. Poet Laureate Dolores Kendrick

In addition to the book collection, Special Collections also acquired biographical files containing correspondence, articles, reviews, and miscellaneous materials gathered and maintained by Kim. These files offer a wonderful introduction to many local writers including Naomi Ayala, Hilary Tham, Joan Retallack, Josephine Jacobsen, and Marita Golden.