On October 9, 2024, Lauren Cooper, HowardZinn.org Digital Curator, and Cole Stallone, independent researcher, completed item-level cataloging (that is, inventorying each and every piece of paper) the Howard Zinn Papers at New York University’s Tamiment Library.
Over the course of 14 weeks (2 weeks in 2022, 1 week in 2023, and 11 weeks in 2024), Cooper and Stallone went through 73 boxes that contained 1,814 folders (some sections were re-done which brings the folder count to 1,832 in our metrics). They recorded information for 29,871 items, logged metadata (such as dates, names, locations, type of material, titles, typed or handwritten), and counted 183,229 pages of material — equivalent to 366 reams of paper. In addition, they took more than 6,300 photos of letters, flyers, notes, syllabi, and newsclippings.
We share a preliminary summary of the work.
Next steps include publishing a listing of materials for the public, sharing selected items online that feature the heart and soul of the Zinn Papers, and promoting at upcoming conferences and events.
