New York State Office for the Aging Director's Office Governor's/White House Conference on Aging Files

Chronological by year.

The Governor's Conference arose from a 1960 executive order that established the New York State Committee of One Hundred, which was designed to develop priorities and recommendations for the 1961 White House Conference that were of importance to New Yorkers. As part of the Governor's Conference, recommendations were developed through a series of workshops, "town meetings," and other sessions, and then priorities were determined by vote. These priorities, as well as the general platform, were then presented to the New York State delegates of the national conference, who then tried to get these incorporated into the final recommendations made to the President and Congress. Some delegates to the White House convention were chosen by the Governor, while others were selected by the state's congressional delegation. These delegates included the Lieutenant Governor, seniors, agencies on aging, local community offices, representatives of nursing homes, and others who were involved in aging-related issues and activities.

Congressional legislation in 1968 directed that another conference be held in 1971, and as a result of the recommendations from that conference both the Senate Special Committee on Aging and the Federal Council on Aging were founded. Legislation in 1977 led to a 1981 conference, which was the first to use a quota-like system to ensure that various segments of the population - such as women, minorities and the disabled - were sufficiently represented. Ethnic, racial, demographic and other subgroups were also encouraged to hold their own caucuses, seminars and workshops in conjunction with the conference.

This series documents both the Governor's Conference on Aging and the White House Conference on the Aging, particularly New York's delegation to that latter conference. Records include presentations given at and planning and priority documents developed by regional meetings and committees used for guiding delegates of the Governor's and the White House Conferences, records documenting processes and discussions held at these conferences, committee lists, correspondence among delegates, delegate testimonies (e.g., of Director of the Office for the Aging before the House of Representatives), reports, information for and about delegates, conference publications outlining White House priorities and summarizing the results of the conference, travel arrangements, fiscal materials, agency press releases and bulletins, and related materials. Some of the records document aging in specific groups, such as women, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans, as well as the implications of aging on the national economy.

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