[CUADPUpdate] What I Did This Summer - The ARCHIVES

[Abraham J. Bonowitz]

Sent *ONLY* to the recipients of CUADPUpdate
Feel Free to Forward


Greetings All!

Well, summer is finally over, and we have a very busy Fall upon 
us!  Over the next few weeks I'll be using this list to share with 
you some ideas for things you can do to join me in abolitionist 
activism in the coming months.  As I am focused on my family and my 
more-than-full-time work as Field Manager for New Jerseyans for 
Alternatives to the Death Penalty, I'll try to be brief, and 
pointed.  So, to get started....

First, I've been BLOGGED - check it out at 
http://www.thejourneyofhope.blogspot.com/

Second, I was WARPED!  See http://www.cuadp.org/warp_tour.html

But most interestingly, I was ARCHIVED!  And I'll be going back in 
October - see below for the details and join me if you are able!)

Or more to the point, I took a little trip this summer to the 
National Death Penalty Archive in Albany New York.  Backing up, I 
became interested in archiving historical materials when I worked for 
the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation from 1994 to 1998.  Part of my job was 
to work with the archives of the United Farm Workers of America (see 
http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/ufwtitle.html) to ensure that any 
relevant materials were properly deposited, and also to help certify 
and grant permissions to people (mostly film makers) who wanted to 
access the materials in the archives for their projects.  Because of 
my experience with the UFW archives, as a member of the board of 
directors of the US Section of Amnesty International, I was chosen to 
be one of the first members of AIUSA's Archives Advisory Committee, 
and I still serve on that committee.  (See 
http://www.amnestyusa.org/about/archives.html)

For more than a decade I have been depositing materials related to 
any and every aspect of my work in the field of human rights into the 
"Human Rights Initiative" collection, which is currently being moved 
from the University of Colorado at Boulder to Columbia University in 
New York City.  Then, a few years ago I learned about the relatively 
new National Death Penalty Archive at the State University of New 
York at Albany.  Charlie Lanier asked me to participate and ever 
since I've been sending my materials there as well.

I've mentioned the National Death Penalty Archive before on this and 
other lists, and I've been after specific individuals and 
organizations to preserve their contributions to the history of our 
movement.  My good friend Bill Pelke is one such individual.  For 
several years Bill (who for a while was quite the nomad) had been 
paying rent on a small storage unit full of stuff in an 
out-of-the-way corner of western Pennsylvania.  We had talked about 
getting it numerous times, but this summer the opportunity finally 
arose.  After the July 29 meeting of the National Coalition's board 
of directors meeting (Bill is the Chairman and I am a member of that 
board) in Washington, DC, we climbed into the Abolition Mobile 
(http://www.cuadp.org/minivan.htm) and headed west.  We had a lovely 
visit at Freebird Farm, the homestead being created by AZ Death Row 
Survivor Ray Krone (thanks Ray!), and then we retrieved Bill's stuff 
and hightailed it up to Albany where we holed up in a hotel and spent 
the better part of two days going through more than 20 boxes and four 
file cabinets of accumulated HISTORY of the movement to abolish the 
death penalty, which was interspersed with a lot of Bill's personal 
stuff.  Once we sorted it out, we went and deposited Bill's movement 
related stuff, along with a few boxes of my stuff, at the archives.

See the photos here:  http://www.cuadp.org/abolition_archives.html

Then it was time to celebrate.  We hooked up with David Kaczynski, 
director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty 
(http://www.nyadp.org/main/home), who was hosting Robert Hoelscher, 
the new coordinator of Murder Victim Families for Reconciliation 
(http://www.mvfr.org/) and Christina Lawson 
(http://www.journeyofhope.org/pages/christina_lawson.htm) and some 
local folks for a delicious dinner (see photo here - 
http://www.cuadp.org/abolition_archives.html).  Bill and I spoke to 
some kids at Camp Kinderland summer camp in western Massachusetts 
before heading home and back to work at www.NJADP.org  (Of course, 
during the trip I made a stupid mistake (drove through a dip in 
parking lot with the lift gate open, which hit the top of the 
trailer, snapping off the liftgate supports and bending it a bit - 
have an appointment to fix that next week) and did about $1,000 in 
damage to the Abolition Mobile, so if you are inclined to help and 
want to add your name to the list of supporters of that project, go 
to http://www.cuadp.org/minivan.htm - thanks!)

SO, what about archiving?  If you have ANYTHING that documents the 
history of our movement, and I mean ANYTHING, you should consider 
sending it in to the National Death Penalty Archive.  Files that 
document your work on a project or prisoner case?  Prisoner 
correspondence?  News clippings?  T-shirts and buttons?  Old 
newsletters?  E-mails about strategy and tactics, or recounting 
abolitionist activities?  Photos of activism?  Personal 
reflections?  Artwork?  Whatever it is, send it in and let the 
archivists sort it out!  If you have any questions, go 
here:  http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/speapap.htm

And as I noted above, I'll be taking another load of materials to the 
archive when I go to the upcoming Symposium: The Next Generation of 
Death Penalty Research: Priorities, Strategies, and an Agenda, which 
takes place October 6 & 7 in Albany.  I hope to see you there!  More 
info is at http://www.albany.edu/scj/SympCPRI.htm

More soon.

Yours in the Struggle,

--abe

Abraham J. Bonowitz
abe at cuadp.org
www.cuadp.org
800-973-6548