NYU CINE-GT 1800 - Fundraising Issue of Ethnic Archival Institutions in NYC

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June (JungYun) OhIntroductionThe background and the methodOHJune (JungYun) OhHoward BesserIntroduction H72.1800December 14, 2009Fundraising Issue of Ethnic Archival Institutions in NYCA Case Study on Jewish InstitutionsIntroductionThe background and the methodEvery archival process costs money: not only for the purchase of the collection, but also for the assessment, cataloging, preservation, and access—there is no exception. During this semester MIAP students had several chances to hear about the economic situations of archival institutions in New York City from guest speakers: the New York Historical Society has removed its preservation part after a long struggle with financial crisis; the American Museum of Natural History is facing critical difficulty from abruptly reduced grants; the Museum of Modern Arts doesnot complete a specific collection before having a specific fund granted. There is hardly an archival institution which is profitable or fully self-funded. Moreover, the major task that archival institutions are in charge of is considered rather non-commercial. They are always vulnerable to financial problems. This paper will address how different types of archival institutions in U.S. manage fundraising issues through case studies of the Jewish institutions1 in New York City. Facts and information about the Madoff Scandal, the major public funds, and the interesting case of the 1. To address the common cases, the popular landmark-like museums and libraries in NYC were excluded for this casestudy. For the category which might cover the fairly small sized institutions with relatively robust identity and stable aim the concept of ‘ethnic institution’ was used. The main reason that I chose to research ‘Jewish Institutions’ is that they do not have an integrated system or a hierarchy with an existing nation. By observing their cases, one can see how different structures at each archival institution affect its funding.1OHRubin Museum of Arts, which sprouted from my research into this issue, will be explained and discussed in the appendix. All the information from these case studies was obtained by face-to-face interviews with a staff member of each institution, and research from its official websites. The List of the IntervieweesNaomi Steinberger : Director of Library Services, The Library of the Jewish Theological SeminarySusan L. Malbin: Director of Library & Archives, American Jewish Historical Society: Former advisor, Institute of Museum and Library Services Benjamin H. Sacks: Assistant Development Manager for Foundation Relations, Center for Jewish HistoryTim McHenry: Producer, Rubin Museum of ArtThe Case of the Embedded Library in the Educational InstitutionThe Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS)Overall information http://www.jtsa.edu/ 3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027JTS is the undergraduate and graduate school for Jewish culture and professional Rabbi training. Founded in 1893 to support not only the student but also the overall researcher, the Library of JTS is the second most important library for Jewish culture in the western hemisphere. Since the Library’s collections are focused on paper materials, most of the audio-visual collections they preserve are limited to CD, DVD, and VHS; however, the 1300 pieces in their moving image collection also include film prints. In addition, the Library holds a fairly sizable music collection with more than 4,000 sound recordings.Budget and FinancingThe budget for the Library this year is 1.7 million dollars; more than 85% of the annual budget is spent on human resources and 15% for purchasing books and materials. The regular 2OHbudget for library activities is allotted from the JTS institution while individual projects regardingarchival collection is largely funded by grants.2FundraisingThe grants the Library relies on are classified into two types: the public grants from government funds and the funds from private foundations. Three major public grants that the Library regularly applies for are the National Endowments for the Humanities (NEH), the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). In 2008 the Library was granted a 4700 dollar fund from NEH for the assessment of the sound collection, in which the MIAP program participated. One of the applications they are preparing now is for a NEH grant for another digitizing project.One of the major funds the Library applies for is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, whichis private but is usually considered to be like a public fund because of its large scope covering many fields. Some of the Mellon funds are endowed through open competition like government funds, while others are granted through private connections like private foundation funds. Because of the close relationship the JTS institution has maintained with the Mellon Foundation, the Library has had several chances to be awarded. The 0.5 million dollar grant for the conservation lab, which was bestowed on 2001 and lasted for 3 years, was one of those cases. Theprocess for that fund was similar to that of the fund from private foundation, which took 3 or 4 months: the recipient gave the donor several options regarding which project the donor would support; both parties negotiated the range of the budget; the communication followed with a draft proposal before the actual proposal was submitted.The major difference between the private fund and the public fund is that both parties are2 For example, all digitizing projects were completed by different grants: manuscripts and diaries by METRO, sound archive and rare books by private foundation, sheets of music by American Society of Jewish Music.3OHaware beforehand that the fund will be executed during the application process. However, competitive situations could arise from this process. As for the regular grant from the private foundation which has maintained an intimate relation with JTS, the affiliated organizations under JTS—e.g., five different schools, the Library—need to apply for their particular project every threeyears. The Library is in the funding application process for private foundation for their film converting project. People might consider private funds to be irregularly endowed, but as you cansee some funds are awarded regularly.The Case of Individual Archival InstitutionAmerican Jewish Historical Society (AJHS)Overall information http://ajhs.org 15 West 16th Street, New


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