Research: Topics: Environment: Guide to Documenting Environmental Affairs in New York
A Guide to Documenting Environmental Affairs in New York State
Appendix B: Regional and Local Documentation Planning
This guide is statewide in scope, and the criteria it establishes for high priority documentation are based on statewide significance (see setting statewide priorities and Criteria for Statewide Priorities). Furthermore, this is not a statewide "plan" that would attempt to say exactly what topics to document in what order; rather, it is a tool to enable people to make informed decisions about what is important to document and how to go about it, based on the statewide significance of the topic.
The limitations imposed by the criteria of a statewide approach draw attention to the critical importance of environmental documentation planning at the regional level. There are numerous topics that may not merit inclusion in a statewide approach to planning but are of great importance regionally or locally and belong in the historical record of environmental affairs of New York State. For example, a county in the Finger Lakes region is home to an internationally known co-housing community that does pioneering work in developing ecologically sustainable community and environmental education. It would probably not meet the criteria for statewide priority at this stage of its development, but it is very significant in the region and locally, and it could well figure prominently in a local or regional plan.
The regional meetings that provided much of the data for the statewide guide revealed distinctive interests and concerns for documentation shaped by regional geography, history, issues, and organizations. For example, at the North Country meeting, there was strong emphasis on land use and biodiversity issues, while the Western New York meeting concentrated more on toxics, soil and water pollution, and solid waste management.
It is the intent and hope of the State Archives that the statewide guide and its methodology will be used in each region of the state to generate more explicit and detailed regional documentation plans with priorities and topics selected for documentation that reflect the specific needs and interests of the region. Therefore, this guide does not establish regional priorities. Summaries of the issues raised in each of the regional meetings are available from the State Archives.
Adapting this statewide guide for regional or local documentation planning
The approach we have used in developing this statewide guide is designed to work also for regional or local planning. A major research library or cultural institution that serves a large region could use it as a guide both to method and to content in developing a regional. Similarly, a county historical society or science museum, for example, could adapt this guide’s approach to documenting environmental affairs in its county.
- Method (Described and summarized in a table in Appendix
A: How this guide was developed.) The heart of the method is participation
in the planning process by a wide range of people active in environmental
affairs. It should not be necessary to go through steps 1 and 2 of the
method completely (defining environmental affairs and its boundaries
and determining the documentary universe), because those have been done
in this guide (see Content below); however, it may be necessary to review
and perhaps add to the this guide’s list of themes based on the
history of a particular region. It will be important to prioritize topics
for documentation (step 3), assess existing documentation in relation
to the priorities (step 4), identify and prioritize actions to be taken
(step 5), and prepare and distribute the plan (step 6). The can
be used in two ways to guide prioritization at the regional or local
level:
- Local or regional topics or events/issues that meet the criteria for statewide documentation should become local or regional priorities as well, for they will be contributing to filling statewide documentation gaps;
- Potential topics for documentation can also be evaluated using the criteria as applied to the region or locality. For example, has the topic "had major impact or influence" regionwide or locally?
- Content This statewide guide provides a framework for thinking about the range of topics in environmental affairs in New York. The list of Themes and Events/Issues below should be used for regional/local documentation planning in conjunction with the criteria. (See What To Document in Environmental Affairs)
The Archival Services staff at the New York State Archives can help people who are contemplating a regional or local environmental affairs documentation project to think through the project and its relationship to the statewide guide. They can also provide guidance in seeking grant funding for documentation through the Documentary Heritage Program. (See Sources of Funding and Assistance below and the contact information.)
