The Archives’ purpose for A Place Among the Greats is to collect the vivid and provocative memories of BCC from students, faculty, staff and alumni. This collective effort includes several voices: from the student who struggled against all odds to get their degree, to the instructor who recognized the potential of teaching nontraditional students, and alumni on their college experience and how it helped shape them into the people they are.

The focus of our oral history work will be to document the era of the 1970s when BCC moved into the University Heights campus to the present day. We will capture the history of political and cultural ferment, progressive and retrogressive changes, the antiwar movement, the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, the feminist and gay liberation movements, immigration and the Dream Act, and diverse challenges and success to these moments as experienced by members of the BCC community.

We are also interested in collecting stories from student groups and clubs, department chairs, retired faculty, and past and current administrators.

PROJECT TEAM

Cynthia Tobar, Head of Archives/Assistant Professor, provided leadership, development, and curation of the exhibit. Cynthia is an oral historian, media artist and archivist interested in documenting and preserving community-based stories of social justice and activism. She has an MA in Political Science from New School University and an MLS, with a certificate in Archival Management, from Pratt Institute.

Allen Thomas, Assistant Archivist, assisted with metadata creation and maintained quality control of items featured in the exhibit. Allen received his MS in Library and Information Science from Drexel University and a BA in History from Cabrini College.

Jhensen Ortiz, Graduate Archives Intern (Fall 2016), is currently a graduate student in a dual master degree program in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archival Studies and History at Queens College. Since 2014, he has also worked as an Assistant Librarian at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute.

Scott Voth, Web developer, worked on web design and metadata processing.  Scott has a MLS from Queens College, an MFA in writing from University of Buffalo and works on the CUNY Academic Commons.