New York State Governor David A. Paterson Archived Websites

This series consists of archival copies of the publicly accessible websites maintained by the Office of the Governor during the administration of Governor David A. Paterson (2008-2010). Although the Office of the Governor maintained several small websites, most of the information it placed online was housed on the state's main website, which actually consisted of two seamlessly integrated sites. One site contained information created largely by the Office of the Governor, and the other consisted of a New York State Citizen Guide that contained information about State agencies, contracting, lobbying, grant programs, and other topics of broad interest to citizens and businesses. Owing to the technical limitations of Web archiving technology, the two sites were captured separately.

W0112-08: This accretion consists of a copy of the Office of the Governor section of the State's main website as it existed on June 11, 2008, shortly after Governor Paterson took office. It includes press releases issued by the Office of the Governor (2008) and the Office of Lieutenant Governor (2007-2008), texts of important speeches (2008), executive orders (2008), proclamations (2008), photographs of Governor Paterson (2007-2008), and biographical information about Governor Paterson and First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson.

This accretion also contains an August 18, 2008 copy of the New York State Citizen Guide site, which consists chiefly of links to other State government websites. Owing to the limitations of Web archiving technology, some of these links do not work properly.

W0012-10: This accretion consists of a copy of the Office of the Governor component of the main New York State website that was produced on March 5, 2010. It includes additional press releases (2008-2010), texts of State of the State Addresses, Budget Messages, and other important speeches (2008-2010), executive orders (2008-2010), proclamations (2008-2010), and photographs (2007-2010). Also present is information about screening of judicial candidates.

This accretion does not include a copy of the New York State Citizen Guide site.

W0112-10A: This accretion contains a copy of the Office of the Governor section of the main New York State site produced on December 28, 2010, several days before Governor David A. Paterson (2008-2010) left office. It includes additional press releases (2008-2010), texts of speeches (2008-2010), executive orders (2008-2010), proclamations (2008-2010), and photographs (2007-2010). Biographical information about Governor Paterson, First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson, and Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch (2009-2010) and photographs of and press releases issued by the First Lady are also included.

This accretion also includes copies of materials that were part of the Office of the Governor section of the State's website but were captured separately. The "Straight Talk, Straight Answers" blog (copied December 29, 2010) features select press releases, photographs of Governor Paterson, and answers to questions submitted by citizens and was copied separately for technical reasons. A December 30, 2010 press release concerning a "Secure Communities" immigration enforcement agreement (copied December 30, 2010), a December 30, 2010 press release concerning the Governor's issuance of three pardons (copied December 31, 2010), and a December 30, 2010 press release concerning a Law Revision Commission appointment (copied December 31, 2010) were captured separately because they were placed online after the state's main website was copied.

This accretion also includes a December 29, 2010 copy of the New York State Citizen Guide site. Researchers should note that that only the pages to which this site directly linked were captured successfully.

In addition, this accretion includes copies of one other site and three social media accounts maintained by the Office of the Governor. The Healthy Steps to Albany site (copied December 22, 2010) and Michelle Paige Paterson's official Twitter feed (copied December 31, 2010), document a children's health initiative led by the First Lady. The Paterson administration was the first to use social media, and the main pages of the Governor's official Flickr photostream (copied December 24, 2010), and official YouTube channel (copied December 30, 2010) document how the Office of the Governor used these services to communicate with citizens. Researchers should note that, owing to the structure of the live sites and the limitations of Web archiving technology, most Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube content could not be captured successfully.

B2279Series B2279, Governor's Office of Taxpayer Accountability Archived Websites, contains information created by an office that Governor Paterson created and which ceased operations at the end of his administration.

The New York State Archives used Web archiving software to copy these websites in order to preserve the information they contain.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.