Hyde Collection Archive Assessment Project

FAIN: PG-50588-09

Hyde Collection (Glens Falls, NY 12801-4520)
Erin B. Coe (Project Director: May 2008 to September 2010)

Consultation with an archivist who will conduct an assessment and provide a plan for preserving and processing the museum's archival collections. Letters, receipts, diaries, photographs, scrapbooks, and blueprints document the history of the museum and its 3,000-item collection of American and European paintings, sculpture, furniture, works on paper, and decorative arts.

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, New York currently holds more than 6,900 archival items. This collection is only partially accessioned and catalogued, making it difficult to navigate and retrieve information, and many of its items are stored in non-archival materials. The Museum requests support to contract a professional archive consultant to: conduct an on-site survey of the archival materials; compile a written assessment of the collection; provide guidelines and suggestions for improvements (storage and organization); and instruct on-site staff in methods for properly arranging and describing the collection. The project will provide a plan that will guide the creation of an accessible archive that will enhance the public's cultural understanding of The Hyde Collection, its object collection and founding story, the city of Glens Falls, and the history that they share.