Long Island City, NY—October 20, 2009—LaGuardia Community College’s LaGuardia and Wagner Archives  recently completed the digitization of documents from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia, Robert F. Wagner and Edward I. Koch Collections. This online access to the documents in the collections, previously accessible only as hard copies, is enhanced by new ways to search them as well, a boon to historians, researchers, teachers, and students everywhere.

“The digitization allows us to open the Archives resources to a global audience,” said Archives Director Richard K. Lieberman. “Instead of having to come to Long Island City and visit LaGuardia to access these documents, a historian or researcher anywhere in the world is just a few mouse clicks away from viewing the originals at any time of the day or night.”

The Mayor LaGuardia collection features personal correspondence and the text of radio broadcasts dealing with the Holocaust, WWII and world hunger from the viewpoint of New York’s most iconic mayor. The documents in the Wagner and Koch Collections provide insight into how issues like race relations, civil rights, HIV/AIDS, public housing, juvenile delinquency, and drug abuse played out over the terms of these historic figures. The digitization of the over 175,000 documents cost nearly $20,000; the project received funding from Mayor Bloomberg’s annual budget.

“The completion of this project is so exciting,” said LaGuardia President Dr. Gail O. Mellow. “The documents deal with such a diverse range of topics from some of the most fascinating eras in history, it’s just spectacular that more people can now access these rare and wonderful resources online.”

Personal correspondence now available online in the Mayor LaGuardia Collection includes letters to and from his sister Gemma, who sought her brother’s help in returning to the United States after surviving a Nazi labor camp.

View one of the handwritten letters from Gemma to Mayor LaGuardia: PDF 

After his last term, LaGuardia traveled across war torn Europe and China to deliver aid to starving children as Director General of the U.N.’s Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). The thank you letters he received from children in Italy feature brightly colored, delicately drawn scenes of youngsters enjoying hot meals as a result of LaGuardia’s aid efforts.

“Each one deserves to be framed and hung in a museum,” said Professor Lieberman.

View the children’s thank you letters.

Also available electronically are the text of LaGuardia’s Sunday radio broadcasts over WNYC from 1942 through 1945 on topics ranging from the proclamation of Eisenhower Day to the programs in which he read cartoons from the Sunday papers to children during a newspaper strike.

Visit the Mayor LaGuardia Collection: http://www.fiorellolaguardia.lagcc.cuny.edu/laguardiacol/ 

“We’re working on a subject index of the broadcasts,” said Douglas DiCarlo, the senior archivist who directed the project. “But right now, the documents are searchable by date, so if you know of an event, like VE day, you can find Mayor LaGuardia’s broadcast for that week.”

Over 50 years worth of Mayor Wagner’s speeches, spanning his 12 years in office, as well as his pre- and post-mayoralty career, are now available as a result of the project. One of Wagner’s speeches after the 1964 race riots in Harlem reflects the burgeoning civil rights protests that would culminate in Newark and Detroit four years later. Speeches are indexed chronologically, and may be searched by keyword.

Also available are the papers of Wagner’s executive assistant and closest advisor Julius C.C. Edelstein. Edelstein was a major player in the redevelopment of the Upper West Side –once described as ”the most comprehensive urban renewal project in the U.S.”- and a driving force in urban housing throughout the city. Judah Gribetz, Commissioner of Housing under Wagner, donated to the Archives his comprehensive file of newspaper clippings, journal articles, and reports by city agencies and market survey of city business organized by neighborhood, providing an invaluable guide to the boroughs in New York, neighborhood by neighborhood in the 20th century.

“The Wagner documents are wonderful resources for teachers, “ said Tara J. Hickman, and archivist and instructor in the LaGuardia’s Social Science department. “This collection offers numerous ways to incorporate urban themes like gentrification into classroom learning.”

Visit the Mayor Wagner Collection: http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/wagnercol/  

A portion of Mayor Koch’s mayoral speeches, which are contained with in the Koch Collection, is now available online. They deal with some of the defining issues of the 1980’s: HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and the growing prevalence of semi-automatic assault weapons. Mayor Koch’s warm, witty, and down to earth tone is impossible to miss, even in the text versions, pointing up the charisma of one of the city’s most popular mayors. Speeches are indexed by topic and may be searched by topic keyword.

Visit the Mayor Koch Collection:  http://www.edwardkoch.lagcc.cuny.edu/kochcol/ 

To view all of the recent digital additions to the collections, and learn more about the Archives, visit:
http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/defaultb.htm 

The LaGuardia and Wagner Archives were established in 1982 to collect, preserve, and make available primary materials documenting the social and political history of New York City. The Archives serves a broad array of researchers: journalists, students, scholars, exhibit planners and policy makers examining the history of Greater New York. The Archives also produces public programs exploring that history. Located at Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College/CUNY in Long Island City, Queens, the Archives holds a selection of personal papers and official documents on microfilm of Mayors Fiorello H. LaGuardia, William O’Dwyer, Vincent R. Impellitteri, Robert F. Wagner, John V. Lindsay, Abraham D. Beame and Edward I. Koch, the records of the New York City Housing Authority, the piano maker Steinway & Sons, The Council of the City of New York and a Queens Local History Collection. To learn more, visit: http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/defaultc.htm 
 
Located in Long Island City, Queens in New York City, LaGuardia Community College, part of The City University of New York, is a nationally recognized leader among community colleges. Founded in 1971, the College is recognized as an innovator in educating students who are under prepared for college work and/or are not primary English speakers. A catalyst for development in western Queens and beyond, LaGuardia serves New Yorkers and immigrants from 160 countries through 50 majors and certificate programs, enabling career advancement and transfer to four-year colleges at twice the national average. Visit www.laguardia.edu  to learn more.