LibraryBuzz

City Tech’s Ursula Schwerin Library houses our university’s physical institutional archives. We maintain a collection of historical materials from City Tech and its previous permutations as an educational institution: the New York Trade School, Voorhees Technical Institute, and the New York City Community College. Materials in the archive include student records, administrative memos, correspondence, yearbooks, photographs, videocassettes, ephemera, and regalia. The Vogel Ophthalmology Collection is also housed in the archives.

This list of material doesn’t accurately capture how unique a place the archives truly is. In addition to technical equipment from courses in heating installation and technical drafting, we also have materials that capture social and political events on campus like our collection of student newspapers which highlight the power of student organizing and collaboration. In the 1960s, student groups like the Modern Jazz Club hosted concerts and events that modern music lovers would pay dearly to see – legends like Nina Simone performed in the former Klitgord Auditorium (students paid as little as $1.50!). Shirley Chisholm, a CUNY Brooklyn College alumna and the first Black female Presidential candidate,  gave what was surely a rousing speech on our campus.

Each time I receive a request from a researcher, family member hoping to find evidence of their relative’s time here on campus, or former student seeking information on a class on their transcript I am carried back through time. Flipping through our collection of materials – photographs of old Brooklyn and campus life in the 70s, course materials from the 90s, newspapers spanning decades, committee agendas and meeting minutes – is transformative. I am  always so pleased when I am able to find a yearbook photo or course description to help the person in need. And I am never happier then when I come across evidence that a notable historical figure once stalked these familiar halls.

Fun tidbits of City Tech history will be featured in the monthly City Tech Communications Newsletter. To find out more about what’s in our – your – archival collection, schedule a visit. Perhaps you’ll uncover the perfect piece to be featured next?

To arrange a visit, consult our visitation policy and complete the Archives Use Form. And check out our library research guide for additional information.

The African American Studies department is hosting a screening of the documentary Free CeCe. The filmmaker, Jac Gares, will join for a discussion of this important film about a African American, bisexual, trans woman, and LGBTQ activist who is currently incarcerated after defending herself from an assault.

Where: Academic Complex Theater, followed by refreshments in A105

When: February 23rd at 12:45pm

Black History Month is observed in the United States annually in February. President Ford declared the first national observation of Black History Month in 1976, saying “In the Bicentennial year of our Independence, we can review with admiration the impressive contributions of black Americans to our national life and culture… I urge my fellow citizens to join me in tribute to Black History Month and the message of courage and perseverance it brings to all of us.”

This year’s theme is Black Resistance: A Journey to Equality. February 2023 is a time to honor the many battles fought and won by Black Americans, despite the unjust and often brutal racism they faced and continue to face. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, “Black people have sought ways to nurture and protect Black lives, and for autonomy of their physical and intellectual bodies through armed resistance, voluntary emigration, nonviolence, education, literature, sports, media, and legislation/politics. Black led institutions and affiliations have lobbied, litigated, legislated, protested, and achieved success.”

There are many stories of Black Resistance from the United States, and from around the world. Here are just a few selections from Swank, one of the City Tech Library’s streaming video collections.

Swank is only available to current City Tech students and faculty. To view films from off-campus:

Click on Swank.
Enter your CUNYfirst credentials.
Click on the Student or Instructor buttons depending on your classification.
Click on the film you would like to watch.

City Tech students are encouraged to apply for the Belle Zeller Scholarship Fund. The fund honors Professional Staff Congress (PSC) founding president, Prof. Emeritus Belle Zeller of Political Science at Brooklyn College.

Undergraduate students are eligible for a $5,000 award. More information and the online application can be found here: https://bellezeller.org.

Today, January 27, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was on this date in 1945 that the Soviet Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Americans and the Holocaust Exhibition

This coming November a very special exhibit entitled “Americans and the Holocaust” is coming to New York City College of Technology. The 1100 square foot installation, part of an initiative sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and United States Holocaust Memorial (USHMM), explores what Americans knew about rising authoritarianism in the 1920s and 1930s and asks what public officials and citizens did and failed to do in the lead-up to the annihilation of six million Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and others during the Second World War. City Tech is one of fifty institutions across the United States to be hosting the exhibit over the course of its run, and the only host institution in either New York State or New Jersey. “Americans and the Holocaust” will be free and open to the public. Accompanying the exhibit will be programming discussing its themes with noted scholars.

Rising Fascism and Americans Response

Americans in the 1930s were consumed with rising unemployment and homelessness after the onset of the Great Depression. People were also increasingly isolationist in this time just fifteen-twenty years after the Great War. Millions had been killed in the global conflict of 1914-1918. The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 consumed the lives of tens of millions more as the virus spread around the world.

Americans were slow to respond when figures such as Mussolini and Hitler rose in the 1920s and 1930s. After Hitler became German Chancellor in 1933 and began his persecution of Europeans, most Americans advocated to keep America’s borders closed to immigrants and refugees. Aviator Charles Lindbergh and others began the noninterventionist America First movement as tension rose in Europe. The Germans used such events as the 1936 Winter and Summer Olympics in acts of so-called “sportswashing”—a technique in which political figures use major sporting events to soften their image and deflect criticism of their administration—to propagandize. Nearly one million Americans joined the 400 America First chapters across the country. The German American Bund, an organization supporting Hitler and his National Socialist Party, packed New York’s Madison Square Garden with 20,000 American supporters on February 20, 1939.

Using the Exhibition in Fall 2023 Courses and Beyond

“Americans and the Holocaust” is aimed at a general audience and poses big questions. Among other things, it asks viewers to consider what Americans knew about the war and the Holocaust while they were going, and what the nation might have done differently. The exhibit is ideal for college students. The Ursula C. Schwerin Library will also be curating a number of books and other materials which will be available for loan. We strongly recommend viewers watch “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” a 6 1/2 hour documentary based on the exhibit and created by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein that debuted on PBS in September 2022.

While “Americans and the Holocaust” is on display, we encourage faculty to consider incorporating the exhibit in their lesson plans in the Fall 2023 semester. Its themes cut across various disciplines and would be ideal for courses in History, Literature, Law & Paralegal, and Human Services just to name a few. This spring semester the organizing committee in the library will be speaking at events sponsored by the Faculty Commons and other venues to discuss how faculty and their students can engage with “Americans and the Holocaust.”

by Keith Muchowski on behalf of the “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition organizing committee

Sure, the library has online access to lots of great comics in the Underground & Independent Comics Collection, but did you know that you can access New Yorker cartoons through Artstor? Check out the Condé Nast collection in the Artstor Digital Library to take a look.

As Artstor notes:

The New Yorker‘s cartoons are legendary for their incisive wit and for shedding light on the lives and foibles of the city’s dwellers from the Depression through to the era of “fake news.” The magazine’s cartoonists include renowned figures like, Peter Arno, Roz Chast, Otto Soglow, William Steig, James Thurber, and Gahan Wilson.

Interested in exploring other illustrated and graphic design material through Artstor? Here are a few other collections we love:

• Graphic Design Collection (The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
• St. Lawrence University: Street Art Graphics
• RISD Library Picture Collection: Pulp Fiction Covers  

New to City Tech and want to learn more about how the library can support you and your students? Some of our core services are outlined below. Stop by and say hello! You’ll find us on the 4th floor of the Library Building.

Accessing Library Materials

Search for books, articles, films, and more on our website.

Not on campus? Access library resources from anywhere: cityte.ch/offcampus

Course Reserves & Purchases

Contact your subject specialist to recommend titles for our collection: cityte.ch/dir

Required readings can be placed on reserve for student use. To request course reserves online: cityte.ch/request

Library Instruction & Liaisons

A library subject specialist in your discipline can:

• • Lead a customized instruction session.
  • Create research guides.
  • Collaborate with you to integrate information literacy into assignments and coursework.
  • Provide curriculum development support.
  • Support student research throughout the semester.

Contact the liaison for your Department: cityte.ch/dir

Open Educational Resources

Want to create custom course material? Thinking about adopting an open textbook?

Learn more about Open Educational Resources (OER): cityte.ch/oer

For more information, contact Prof. Cailean Cooney: ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu

Need Something We Don’t Have?

Use CLICS to request items from other CUNY Libraries: cityte.ch/clics

Use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) for books and articles not available at City Tech: cityte.ch/ill

Support for your Students

Students can get research help at the reference desk and connect via chat 24X7: cityte.ch/askus

Subject specific resources are curated in our research guides.

Guides are automatically embedded in Blackboard and available as OpenLab Widgets: cityte.ch/guide

Support for Your Scholarship

Need help navigating the scholarly communications landscape? Want to make your scholarship more visible? The Library offers workshops and consultations: cityte.ch/scholpub

For more information, contact Prof. Monica Berger: mberger@citytech.cuny.edu

Stay in Touch

Read the Library Buzz blog to stay in the loop about library programs and resources: cityte.ch/buzz

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @citytechlibrary