New York State Education Department Associate Commissioner for Cultural Education Subject Files

B0457-78: Arranged by general subject or program, then by specific subject (no discernible order), then in reverse chronological order.

The office of Associate Commissioner of Cultural Education and Special Services was created in 1958 to assume administration of the following programs: State Library and Library Extension, State Museum and Science Service, Archives and History, Motion Picture Division, Educational Television, and Intercultural Relations. Although the name of the Associate Commissioner's program area changed several times (to Cultural Education in 1966, Other Educational Programs in 1969, and Community Educational Resources in 1970), the programs have remained similar. The Motion Picture Division was discontinued in 1965.

Unbound correspondence, memoranda, reports, meeting minutes, clippings, and one audio tape document the administration of cultural programs.

Most of the material in this series relates to the following subjects or programs: New York State Library; New York State Museum and Science Service; Board of Regents; Motion Picture Division; Educational Communications; Intercultural Relations; historic sites; legislation; organization of cultural programs; Budgets for cultural programs; South Mall in Albany; Adirondack Forest Preserve; and New York State Commission to Commemorate the War of 1812 and the Composition of the Star Spangled Banner.

At the end of the series are a number of miscellaneous materials including: SED Program Plan reports; Cabinet meeting minutes; memoranda from the Commissioner of Education's Monthly Reports to the Regents; SED Budget Justifications; and Commissioner's speeches.

B0457-14: This accretion primarily covers the years 1977-1979. It largely consists of correspondence, reports, inter-office memoranda, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and speeches relating to specific legislation relating to the operations of the Office of Cultural Education and statewide cultural education issues. Operational records pertain to budget, personnel, advocacy, meetings, policy revisions, and informational material about the State Museum, State Library, Mass Communication, and the newly-created State Archives. They also include information about program publications, relations with the legislature, and services. Statewide issues include education councils, historic preservation, regional conferences for cultural institutions, television programs, museum resources, fiscal difficulties facing libraries, and state aid formulas.

While most of these records focus on cultural education, some relate to post-secondary education in New York. These include minutes of regents committee, school boards association notes, and data about the rates of college attendance in New York. Other materials detail issues with secondary education across the state, particularly the need for more state aid in rapidly growing education districts.

B0457-14, Box 17: Partially restricted to protect personal privacy. Some job applications contain social security numbers.