The NYU Libraries’ special projects allow us to continue our commitment to enriching the experiences of our community. The following projects will help us expand our collections and create opportunities for future research and scholarship.
Collections
Ruth Gruber Collection
Funds support preservation and digitization of films by Ruth Gruber (1911-2016), groundbreaking reporter, photojournalist, and author. The Ruth Gruber Papers documents Gruber’s reporting trips in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, her pioneering coverage of and advocacy for Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors, the Nuremberg trials, the birth of Israel, her feminist column for Hadassah Magazine and her extensive travels in Alaska. The films in the collection capture both Gruber’s personal life and journalistic work.
Preserving At-Risk Video Records
Funds will be used to preserve video tapes from the Special Collections that are at risk of becoming unplayable in the near future. These videos contain footage of NYU history, civil rights movements, and performing arts events in Downtown New York.
Closed Captioning for Special Collections Video
Video captioning ensures that the rich content of our extensive video collections is accessible to a diverse audience. Funding will be used to hire specialists to render accurate captions in a variety of languages and dialects, which is not supported by A.I. tools.
Preservation Equipment
This equipment will help our conservation experts treat and preserve Special Collections materials.
Archival Imaging System
Funds will be used to augment our current archival imaging system and expand imaging services. The new system will facilitate photography of large materials, 3-dimensional objects, and photographic negatives. These images will be accessible online and improve access to NYU Libraries collections.
Material Analysis Equipment
These tools will expand our ability to study the material composition of items within our collections. Analysis of material composition sheds light on both the manufacture and the use history of our materials, and provides information crucial to preservation of those materials.