Background
– The NYCSHS has made a dedicated effort over the past almost 50 years to
preserve the amount of archival material from the NYC railroad. This preservation effort has consisted of
collecting material, storing that material in climate-controlled environments,
and digitizing all hard copy material. Today we have more material than we can
easily store in the existing space, so a new storage system is needed.
Previous
Funding Sources – Over the years much of the funding for this activity has come
from gifts and grants from members and grant funding sources. Much funding has come from the Society’s
operating budget funded by membership and sales. We have had two previous
fund-raising campaigns for the Headquarters and archive. The first of these was
the Flight of the Century fund that raised $65,000 to fund the equipment and
furnishings for the NYCSHS Headquarters in Middleburg Heights, OH. The second
was the Empire State Express fund that raised funds for the continuing
of the preservation of archive material, expanding the library, obtaining new
NYCS material, and expanding the IT network. It added additional NYCS material
in the Collinwood Shop, added scanners and computers to the network, provided
cloud backup, and added online digital material for view and sale in the
Collinwood & Digital Shops.
Current
Situation – All of the funding from the two fund raising programs, and gifts
and grants have been spent on preserving and digitizing the archive
material. New grants are being talked
about, but many of the granting organizations favor projects that preserve
hardware over paper and photo preservation. Therefore, we are launching this
Southwestern Limited program to raise the additional funds to add an
archive shelving system and other upgrades to continue to expand our NYCSHS
archives.
We need to
utilize the space we have today more efficiently. Therefore, we have opted to bring in an
expandable high-density filing system.
When not in use, the mobile shelves slide together to compact the
storage area. When access is needed, a
three spoke handle is used to roll the units apart. Some of the Board members saw this type of
unit in use at the Albany Museum of History and Art.
Once the shelving
is installed, it will just about double the storage space that we now have at
the archive. That will be achieved by
eliminating empty aisle space and rolling the shelves together on rails. We
expect to have these installed in the spring, so they can be seen when the Cleveland
convention is local to the archive.
We are working
with a local company, Patterson Pope, that has been in business for 50 years.
They have been providing the sales and design assistance and will be providing
installation services. The shelving units we are acquiring are from Spacesaver,
a Wisconsin based company. The
high-density system is just one of the solutions that Spacesaver provides. The high-density systems are used at
universities, museums, law libraries and other locations, such as the local
Cleveland NFL team.
Our specific tasks include:
1.
Continue
scanning photos, drawings, booklets, publications, etc.
2.
Obtaining new material
3.
Maintaining the IT network
4.
Expanding library
5.
Expanding help to members
6.
Offering additional material for sale in store
7.
Adding drawings
and maps to our digital website and
store
8.
Installing new SpaceSaver high-density storage
system
9. Purchase an aperture card reader
9.
Working with members, researchers, and authors
10.
Working with other Societies archives to expand
NYCS knowledge and resources
To
accomplish these goals, we are planning to raise $40,000. Like the past
campaigns we have set levels of giving for your contributions and are hoping
the Society can reach the goal with your generous help.
The
graphic at the top of the page includes a map of the route of the Southwestern
Limited from St. Louis, MO, to Cleveland, OH, where our NYCSHS Headquarters
archive resides. The map will be used to chart the progress of the campaign
over the next few weeks as a visual representation of the Society’s progress
toward the $40,000 goal. Weekly updates will appear on our website and our
MailChimp emails so you can track our progress. This was proven effective in
previous fund-raising campaigns. As in past campaigns, a plaque with the names
of all of the sponsors will be displayed in the NYCSHS Headquarters at the end
of the campaign.
Levels of giving:
$2,500 and up ALCo
PA/PB
$1,000 to $2,499 Baldwin RF-16A/B
$500 to $999 EMD E8A
$250 to $499 ALCo RS3
$100 to $249 EMD GP7
$50 to $99 EMD
F3A/B
$25 to $49 ALCo
FA/FB
$25 EMD SW1
Basic Gift is $25.00 but you can select any of the amounts above in the levels of giving.
On check out you will get two items. One is for the amount you are donating and the other is for zero amount.
You can delete the zero one or just go to checkout and it will work fine.
Thank you from the NYCSHS.
