Archives

Collections

Overview

The Archives collects a variety of material to document how Mount Sinai carries out its mission of patient care, education and research. The Archives has a large photograph collection and an on-going oral history program that contains taped interviews with staff members that date from the 1960s. There are also recordings of events such as investitures, memorial services, history of medicine lectures and early faculty meetings.

The following is a partial list of the types of records that the Archives collects:

• Records of the Boards of the Mount Sinai corporations, including agenda, minutes, correspondence and reports

• Records of the Offices of President, Dean and Director, including subject files, reports, correspondence and minutes
• Accreditation reports and supporting documentation
• Materials documenting patient care, including nursing policy and procedure manuals
• Information regarding labor relations, including handbooks, orientation manuals, employee recognition programs, union contracts and policy manuals
• Departmental records, including subject files, committee minutes, memoranda, lecture notes, syllabi, policy and procedure manuals and the office files of the department head

• Minutes, memoranda, publications and reports of all major academic, hospital and administrative committees, including the Medical Board, Faculty Council, Executive Council, their subcommittees, ad hoc committees and search committees
• Annual budgets and audit reports
• Planning documents
• Records of the Marketing, Public Affairs and Development offices, including fund-raising publications, internal publications, press releases, biographical files and donor files
• Records of student organizations and activities
• All extant records of now defunct organizations, including the Mount Sinai Hospital School of Nursing, the Neustadter Convalescent Center and the Mount Sinai Foundation
• Audiovisual materials documenting the development of Mount Sinai, such as photographs, negatives, oral history tapes, slides, films, video and audio tapes
• Laboratory records relating to the existence and function of the labs, including annual reports, lab manuals, staff lists, patent files, grant and contract proposals, newsletters and protocols

Once records are received at the Archives, work begins to gather descriptive data and to ensure the records' preservation.Collections are organized and placed in acid-free folders and boxes. All metal and other destructive materials are removed. Access points are established by creating descriptions of records in registers, databases and the Library's Online public access catalog.