October is American Archives Month, when archivists around the country try to explain to the public just what it is that we do and why it matters. Most people probably have the vague sense that archives preserve information about the past so that history, individual rights and responsibilities can be defined and protected. But what does that actually mean to real people?

This past year, the Mount Sinai Archives has answered over 300 requests for information from the Mount Sinai community and interested outsiders. As part of that we have:

  • provided documents proving that a father’s military service was spent abroad so that his proud daughter could join the Veterans of Foreign Wars;
  • helped children/grandchildren/family members learn more about a loved one, now gone, who attended the Mount Sinai Hospital School of Nursing as a young woman;
  • provided documents to various Mount Sinai departments to support them in their everyday activities, from report creation to lawsuits;
  • supplied information and images to scholars and authors from around the world as they wrote articles, books and blog posts;
  • sat with an actress to talk about her role as a nurse in 1900, showing her documents, notebooks and uniforms to give her a sense of what it would have felt like to be a nurse then, her duties and her training.

We have helped real people touch a piece of the past and that has made an impact on their lives. Not a bad way to spend your day.