Stephen B. Luce Library Records

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: CA-RG5-0001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Stephen B. Luce Library Records consist of materials regarding the construction and dedication of the Stephen B. Luce Library in 1966, materials from the Training Ship Librarian, general library operations including correspondence and manuals, and records of the library hosting a SUNY Librarians Assocaition confernece.

Dates

Majority of material found within 1952 - 2002

Conditions Governing Access

Appointments to examine materials must be made in advance. Please e-mail library@sunymaritime.edu for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Conditions Governing Use

Reproductions may be provided to users to support research and scholarship. However, collection use is subject to all copyright laws. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Biographical / Historical

The Stephen B. Luce Library was originally located in the northern corner of Fort Schuyler in 1938. By 1966, the Mess Deck was relocated from Fort Schuyler to Vander Clute Hall and the Library replaced the North curtain up to the first bastion. On December 10, 1974 the library was dedicated and renamed to Stephen B. Luce. In 1976, the Stephen B. Luce Library recieved the American Institute of Architects Award of Merit.

Extent

3.5 Linear Feet (4 standard archival document boxes, 1 half-size standard archival document box, and 3 flat files) : (paper records, 8 blueprints, 1 flag, and 5 sketches)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Stephen B. Luce Library Records describe the construction and dedication of the Stephen B. Luce Library in 1966, materials from the Training Ship Librarian, general library operations including correspondence and manuals, and records of the library hosting a SUNY Librarians Assocaition confernece.

Arrangement

The Stephen B. Luce Library Records are arranged into four series; Library Construction and Dedicaiton, Training Ship library Operations, General Library Operations, and SUNY Librarians Association Conference. All records within the series are arranged chronocially.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

These materials were collected from various sources over the years, primarily Librarians and Library staff. Unfortunately, deeds of gift or transfer documentation has not been located for most of the items. Reproductions were also obtained by the librarian from other institutions and interspersed with original documents. See Processing Information for additional context.

Processing Information

In 1974, in conjunction with the college’s centennial, Carol Finerman, a graduate student in the Palmer School of Library Science, was hired to organize the Maritime College archives held at the Luce Library. According to a report by Finerman, “all the items that accumulated came in separately; none were deposited as a series of records from the offices of origin.”

From the late 1940s through the 1970s, librarians actively solicited alumni, faculty, and staff for materials documenting the school’s early history. However, these materials remained largely unorganized until 1974, when Finerman was hired.

Because the provenance of much of the material was unclear, and the records had not been transferred from administrative units, Finerman elected to create an alphanumeric classification scheme for the collection.

In 2017 the library embarked on a project to bring the college archives into the 21st century, creating a new organizational scheme and finding aids for the records in ArchivesSpace. As part of this project, the archivist re-processed the entire archives, rehousing the materials for preservation and bringing intellectual clarity to the arrangement. Given that the provenance and original order of the materials had already been disrupted, the archivist imposed their own arrangement based on the content of the items. Proper archival description, in adherence with Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS), was also created for the first time.

Some items were obtained from other institutions as part of efforts by the early librarians to document the school's history, and mixed in with the original documents. During re-processing, the archivist elected to leave reproductions in folders, as separating them would have been a tricky and time-consuming process.