Featured image: "Freeport Celebrates the American Bicentennial, 1976" Courtesy of Freeport Historical Society & Museum's Bicentennial - Freeport and Town of Hempstead digital collection, accessed 06-30-2026 https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15281coll12/id/54200/rec/22
Long island Archives
Transcending Barriers: Opening Archives, Opening Minds
Did you know August is National Dog Month? Click on the images to link to their locations on New York Heritage Digital Collections. These examples came from Jericho Public Library, Cradle of Aviation Museum, Merrick Library, Wantagh Preservation Society, and Freeport Memorial Library. Let's celebrate man's best friend as we have always done!
July/August 2026 Volume 33 Issue 4
Long Island Grant Info Workshop (in-person through the Greater Hudson Heritage Network) Tuesday, July 28 (9:30 AM - 3:30 PM) at the Heckscher Museum of Art https://www.greaterhudson.org/workshops--webinars.html The Preservation League of New York State will present its newly consolidated Preserve NY Arts & Culture grants, the Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York will discuss its Planning and Assessment Services and will be joined by the New York State Library and New York State Archives to share funding opportunities supporting library and archival collections statewide. Also presenting are representatives from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation and the Long Island Library Resources Council. This workshop is FREE, but registration is required. Light breakfast, lunch, and resources are included. Space is limited. Funding: New York State Conservation & Preservation (C/P) Grants (online through DHPSNY) Wednesday, August 12 (12:00pm – 1:00pm) https://dhpsny.org/events/funding-new-york-state-conservation-preservation-cp-grants This informational webinar provides an overview of the NYS Discretionary Grant Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials. This program serves as a key funding source for collecting institutions across the state to reach preservation goals. Participants will learn about eligibility requirements, the types of projects that can be supported, and what to expect during the application process. The session is designed to help institutions prepare for the upcoming grant cycle and provide guidance to support early planning and stronger applications. Whether you are considering applying for the first time or looking to refine a previous application, this webinar will help you better understand how to approach the C/P Grants program with confidence. Preserving the Now: Archiving in Times of Crisis (online through The Foundation for Advancement in Conservation) Wednesday, August 12 (12:00pm – 1:00pm) https://connectingtocollections.org/event/preserving-the-now/ Invisible Histories is a community based archiving focusing on LGBTQ history in the US South. During this workshop co-founders Josh Burford and Maigen Sullivan will share how they have been saving highly at-risk archival data through community outsourcing, volunteer engagement, and word-of-mouth connections. The session will feature detailed examples of programs and projects Invisible Histories has used to communally preserve data which would otherwise have been destroyed, censored, or lost to time. Highlight Your Local History with Fully Funded Historical Markers (online through our ESLN sister council CLRC) Wednesday, August 4 (2:00 pm - 3:00 pm) https://clrc.org/event/webinar-highlight-your-history/ Every community has a story to tell. In this webinar, hosted by CLRC in collaboration with the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, you’ll discover how libraries, archives, and museums can preserve and share their unique stories while strengthening a lasting sense of place through fully funded historical markers. Historians from the Pomeroy Foundation will introduce participants to the Foundation’s historical marker grant programs, including Historic Transportation, Hometown Heritage®, Hungry for History®, and more. Attendees will learn how Pomeroy Marker grants help communities nationwide recognize their shared past, foster civic pride, educate the public and engage residents and visitors alike. More on next page Introduction to Candid Foundation Directory (online through our ESLN sister council WNYLRC) Wednesday, August 12 (10:00 am - 11:30 am) https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BHBc8Zi5QHG7ECh9JOr0RA#/registration Learn the basics of the Candid database in this introductory training session designed for library staff. Led by a librarian, this class will provide an overview of Candid’s powerful nonprofit and grant research tools, including Foundation Directory and GuideStar. Participants will learn how to search for grantmakers, research nonprofit organizations, identify funding opportunities, and assist patrons with beginning their fundraising research. The session will also cover best practices for navigating the database, understanding funder profiles, and using search strategies to support community organizations, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit patrons. No prior experience with Candid is required and everyone is welcome to attend. 9/11 Memorial & Museum Resources for Libraries, Educators, and Communities (online through LILRC) Wednesday, August 19 (1:00pm - 2:00pm) https://lilrc.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=2067447&group= Join staff from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum for an engaging presentation highlighting resources available to libraries, educators, and community organizations. Attendees will learn about Inside the Collection, the Museum’s online collection catalog, and hear from members of the Exhibitions, Education, and Institutional Advancement departments about the poster exhibition September 11, 2001: The Day That Changed the World, the annual Digital Learning Experience (DLE), and the Museum’s library pass program. Discover how these resources can support programming, education, and community engagement efforts to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11 this September.
of Special Interest
Long Island Archives - July/August - p. 3
Upcoming Programs
Do you (or know someone who does) work for a Historical Society, Museum, or other Cultural Institution with a Special Collection? Then join LILRC as a Special Library Member!
Long Island Archives - July/August - p. 4
The Long Island Library Resources Council Turns 60! Celebrates with "60 Acts of Service” Campaign From February through October 2026, LILRC will be honoring its sixty years of service by highlighting sixty acts of community service and engagement by the council and its members. We invite you to submit your own institution's act of service or engagement to be included in this social media campaign. Kindly complete this form to submit your institution's contribution to our celebration! For questions, please email Sally Stieglitz, Communications & Outreach Coordinator, at sstieglitz@lilrc.org
Receive Member rates on all LILRC programs, workshops, and conferences! Access to the Regional Archival Services including site visits and letters of support for grant applications! Technical support with your participation of the regional digitization projects (New York Heritage and NYS Historic Newspapers)! Don't wait to take advantage of this super deal!
LATEST FROM THE ACCESSING ARCHIVES PROGRAM By Robert Anen
Hello everyone, I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the summer. Since I last wrote this column I finished not one, but two projects for the Accessing Archives Program. Rarely does this newsletter line up with the completion of two projects but here we are. This time I worked with the archival collections of the Phillips House Museum in Rockville Centre and the Lynbrook Public Library. These projects couldn't be different from each other but both have yielded terrific results for both organizations. The project with the Phillips House Museum was a transformative experience for both the organization and myself. I am constantly pushing myself on what I can physically do on the projects where Nicole and I are overhauling a collections room of an organization. If I have to move filing cabinets out of a room myself so that I can build new shelves for collections, then I will wait for no one and do it myself. I was not able to digitize much from the incredible collections at the museum, but making the collection physically accessible and gaining intellectual control was a greater priority than digitization at this time. The goal of this project was to re-house and catalog the filing cabinets located in the Phillips House Museum's research room with each folder accurately labeled and listed into a spreadsheet. Over the course of six weeks, much more than that was accomplished. The room contained nine filing cabinets with what seemed to be vertical files. Four of them were vertical files but the remaining five cabinets were stuffed with collections that could easily be boxed up and made much more accessible. The impact of this work can be seen through the photos I provide here. This took hundreds of folders and dozens of boxes from Gaylord Archival and Talas along with plenty of help from Nicole Menchise. On the left you see the cabinets from one wall of the research room from the first day of the project to the end. The progression is pretty impressive. The final spreadsheet resulted in a folder-level inventory with almost 800 folder titles. This provides a new level of intellectual control to the museum for the very first time. The project with the Lynbrook Public Library was more straightforward. I focused on two different collections; Lynbrook Public Library History and Lynbrook High School yearbooks. The first week of the project I focused on the historic library material and digitized approximately 1000 unique documents of library history. These documents included original correspondence, borrower registers, photographs, a scrapbook, meeting minutes, booklets, and newspaper clippings that documented the history of the Lynbrook Public Library from 1913 to the present. Any document that could be made word-searchable was converted to a word-searchable PDF using Adobe Acrobat. The remaining five weeks of the project were used to digitize the high school yearbooks and upload all of the material I digitized to New York Heritage. This also happened to be the first significant yearbook collection that I digitized and uploaded from start to finish and I learned what to do and what not to do. The goal when digitizing yearbooks as it is with anything, is to get the clearest and flattest scan of each page so the words can be read by the Adobe Acrobat OCR software. This is tricky since I can’t dismantle the books before scanning them so I worried about shadows, but that turned out to be a very small issue. I managed to digitize forty-one yearbooks and used the Epson V600 scanner to do it all. Most yearbooks fit comfortably on the scanner. The collection began with the 1926 yearbook and I digitized every issue up to 1966. The yearbooks from 1958 to 1966 presented minor problems since the yearbooks grew in both size and number of pages. Yearbooks from the 1920s to the mid-1950s are relatively small in size and fit more comfortably on the scanner bed. The more recent yearbooks just fit the scanner's glass surface. Both collections can be found here on the New York Heritage Digital Collections website: Lynbrook Public Library Both of these projects were very successful and both organizations were very happy. I am returning to Old Westbury Gardens this week and look forward to telling you how that went in the next newsletter.
Long Island Archives - July/August - p. 6
Welcome to the LILRC's GOVERNMENT RESOURCES AND RECORDS MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE page. Sharing online portals and forums for government agency and publication information; whether the resource is local, state-wide or national. These government resources are worth checking out!
Want to join? Go to LILRC.org/government-information-committee
Long Island Archives - July/August - p. 7
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation https://dec.ny.gov/ From the website: "The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) was created on July 1, 1970 to combine all state programs designed to protect and enhance the environment into a single agency. The mission of the DEC is, "to conserve, improve and protect New York's natural resources and environment and to prevent, abate and control water, land and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being." "DEC's goal is to achieve this mission through the simultaneous pursuit of environmental quality, public health, economic prosperity and social well-being, including environmental justice and the empowerment of individuals to participate in environmental decisions that affect their lives." Looking for maps to decide what trail is right for you? Looking to know what a daily fishing license costs? Need some fresh ideas for affordable, healthy, outdoor, family fun? the DEC website is where to start. Speaking of being on the go...a new initiative called the GOGO or “Get Offline, Get Outside” campaign encourages New York State’s kids and families to put down their phones and computers and enjoy discovering the natural beauty all around this great state. Find out more at https://dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/get-offline-get-outside. DEC Does What?! The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has launched a new podcast, “DEC Does What?!” to spotlight the important work of DEC experts working to protect New Yorkers and the state’s environment. Hosted by DEC Region 4 Regional Director Sean Mahar and Chief of Staff Adriana Espinoza, this bi-weekly podcast also includes an update on environmental news and recent DEC initiatives. “DEC Does What?!” is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and everywhere podcasts are available.
Introducing the Pan Am Centennial Traveling Library Artwork Exhibition Program THE PAN AM CENTURY: 100 YEARS OF AIRLINE HISTORY As part of the Pan American World Airways Centennial Celebration in 2027, the Pan Am Museum Foundation is offering libraries the opportunity to host a traveling exhibition featuring museum-quality reproductions of historic Pan Am travel artwork From November 2026 through December 2027. The exhibition is designed to engage visitors of all ages by celebrating the art, culture, and history of one of the world's most iconic airlines while encouraging library visitation and community programming. The exhibit can be fully customized to match the available space and the vision of each host institution—whether through the number of works displayed, the size and format of the pieces, or by focusing on a particular theme such as international destinations, the Jet Age, aviation history, or the glamour of mid-century travel. Exhibits may also be paired with a keynote presentation exploring the history, cultural impact, and global legacy of Pan Am. Designed to be nostalgic, educational, and family-friendly, the exhibition appeals to a broad and diverse audience, including seniors, aviation enthusiasts, students, educators, and school groups. What is included? Each participating library will receive: A curated collection of framed Pan Am traveling artwork. Exhibit labels with historical information. A 45-minute in-person keynote presentation An exhibit guide for library staff. Promotional graphics for newsletters, websites, and social media. A suggested list of books, movies, and educational resources to complement the exhibit. Optional program ideas for lectures, travel programs, book discussions, and family activities. How long may a library host the exhibition? Libraries may host the exhibition for four to eight weeks. Scheduling will be coordinated with participating libraries throughout the Centennial celebration. How do we apply? Contact gfleckenstein@thePanAmMuseum.org for a Library Exhibition Request Form or to get more information. Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to exhibit availability and scheduling. How are pickup and return handled? The Pan Am Museum will deliver the exhibition artwork to Libraries at the date and time requested. At the conclusion of the exhibit period, Museum personnel will pick-up the artwork on their scheduled return date. Specific pickup and return appointments will be coordinated with libraries. What are the display requirements? Participating libraries should provide: A secure indoor exhibition space. Wall space suitable for hanging framed artwork. Reasonable supervision during public hours. Protection from direct sunlight, excessive heat, and moisture. Libraries are responsible for exercising reasonable care while the exhibition is on loan. Any damage should be reported to the Pan Am Museum Foundation immediately FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact: George Fleckenstein, Museum Director, at gfleckenstein@thePanAmMuseum.org or 631-335-4998 About the Pan Am Centennial: The Library Art Exhibition Program is one of the Pan Am Museum Foundation's Signature Initiatives celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Pan American World Airways. Throughout the 14-month Centennial celebration, libraries across the region will help share the story of Pan Am's pioneering role in connecting people, cultures, and destinations around the world.
Office of Cultural Education Unveils Statewide Learning Tools for Revolutionary War Commemoration Free Resources Support Classrooms, Libraries, and Cultural Institutions Across New York State The New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education is launching a dynamic suite of new educational resources to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. Contributions from the New York State Museum, Library, and Archives draw from themes developed by the New York State 250th Commemoration Commission to provide teachers, schools, and cultural institutions with resources to support meaningful engagement with the anniversary through 2033 and beyond. The six interpretive themes identified by the NYS 250th Commemoration Commission are Indigenous History is New York’s History, Choose Your Side, Power of Place, We the People, Unfinished Revolutions, and Changing Interpretations of the Revolution. New York State Library Resource Guide: New York at 250 Celebrate history in your own backyard with the help of this comprehensive guide from the New York State Library. New York at 250: A Resource Guide for Public Libraries and Partners provides a practical framework, offering information and support materials for libraries and cultural institutions interested in developing public programs for the 250th commemoration. Organized into three sections, the guide provides best practices, showcases examples of programs aligned to each of the six interpretive themes, and offers ways to stay connected. Turnkey event ideas are categorized by time commitment, making it easy for organizations of all sizes to find options that fit their capacity. The guide is available as a downloadable PDF on the New York State Library’s website. New York State Archives: Freedom Train Documents In 1949 and 1950, the New York State Freedom Train, inspired by the national Freedom Train, carried 83 documents from New York’s history to cities and towns statewide. These records are now available in digital format thanks to the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, giving educators, researchers, and the public direct access to materials that have shaped our lives. Documents include the Flushing Remonstrance, a draft of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation handwritten by President Abraham Lincoln, and an engrossed copy of the United States Constitution ratified by the New York State Convention in 1788. The documents, alongside accompanying learning activities, are available as part of the New York at 250 Resources for Educators on ConsidertheSourceNY.org. There, you can also find additional educational resources, including Revolutionary War themed articles from New York Archives Magazine and New York Archives Jr!, the New York State 250th Commemoration Field Guide, and sample learning activities for each interpretive theme.
Long Island Archives - July/August - p. 10
Long Island Archives - May/June - p. 11
Long Island Archives - July/August 2026 Editor: Nicole Menchise, Digitization and Archives Coordinator LILRC - 627 N. Sunrise Service Rd., Bellport, NY 11713, www.lilrc.org.