Organizing Our Communities’ Records: Connecting a Community to Its History By Yesenia Lopez

Sala Hispano- americana Hispanic Reference Center Puerto Rican Community Archives NJHRIC

The Puerto Rican Community Archives’ Mission To identify, collect, process, preserve, and make available for research, materials that will document the history and legacy of the Puerto Rican communities in New Jersey

 Over 2,000 cu. ft. of material statewide  Resulted in a Map  Indicating Location Subject matter Size Condition Type of material

St. Columba Neighborhood Club – History of Inactive Records Numerous executive directors Flood damage Move High school students –  Youth Employment Summer (YES) program No inventory of current holdings

NJHRIC & St. Columba Neighborhood Club Collaborative Project (2006) Project Archivist trained NJHRIC’s summer intern to serve as project leader Project leader trained and guided HS students in record keeping and identifying historical records Students attended a Career Day at the Newark Public Library

Collaborative Project Issues Lack of work space  Boxes were removed from the room to make space Lack of storage supplies  YES Program coordinator managed to find other boxes, supplies, and extra filing cabinet Lack of computers to input inventory data  Only the Project Leader input all the inventory data

Collaborative Project Outcomes HS Students and project leader learned valuable work, life, and technology skills A complete inventory was created Historical records were identified Project leader and students were introduced to college, career and employment information resources at the Library

OOCR: a Workforce Development Project 2007 ASPIRA, Inc. of NJ  At-Risk Youth Mentoring Program Funded by  Verizon Foundation  CHPRD  NPL Curriculum  H.S. Jrs & Srs 2008 FOCUS, Inc.  Project Shadow Funded by  HSBC  CHPRD  NPL Curriculum  13 – 16 yr olds

Curriculum Weeks 1 – 2: Project Leader Training Weeks 3 - 4: Record Assessment and Youth Training (Workforce Development Workshops Begin) Weeks 5 – 8: Organization of Records Weeks 9-10: Wrap-up/ Evaluations

Workforce Development Workshops (High School Juniors & Seniors) Career Goals and Interests: What do I Want to be When I Grow up? How to Write a Killer Resume Getting to College: Information on Colleges and Scholarships Using Microsoft Excel Power Point: How to Create Multimedia Presentations

Homework Helpers  Tutor.com, QandANJ  reference  Webguides for homework help for preteens and teens  Remotely available databases for biography, history, magazines, and general information College & Careers  Resources for finding higher education according to degrees offered, location, and cost  How to find career information

BEFORE AFTER

PRCA RESULTS ASPIRA, Inc. of NJ – 38cu ft of historical records were identified and donated FOCUS, Inc. – 10 cu ft of historical records were identified and are pending donation Raised awareness of need to preserve history

OOCR: a Workforce Development Project (2009) HISPA, Inc. – Records  Donated 20 cu ft. of historical records Processing project Academic year Field trips to local history sites (museum, library, historical society)

The Connection Students & community organizations learned:  About archives and the value of history How to identify historical records The proper care and storage of historical records The practice and importance of recordkeeping

Yesenia Lopez Project Archivist Puerto Rican Community Archives The NJ Hispanic Research & Info Center at The Newark Public Library