METRO’s Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) provides:
- Professional development opportunities to keep the library and archival communities informed of ongoing advancements in media and archival technologies, standards, and best practices.
- Consultative serivces providing collection assessments and on-site visits to assist archives in their day-to-day work in areas such as appraisal and acquisition, arrangement and description, reference, outreach, collections management, environmental control, electronic records, and disaster preparedness.
- Subcontracts to libraries and archives in order to “document the under-documented” by protecting and expanding access to important archival holdings reflective of the New York metropolitan area’s rich culture and history.
METRO maintains current information as well as a wealth of resources on its Keeping Collections website. Please visit there for more information on current activities.
With funding from the New York State Archives through DHP, METRO provides a number of services to meet the objectives of the DHP program. These include:
- Training and Workshop Opportunities
- Site visits and expert one-on-one consultations
- Informal roundtables and working groups
- Online resources including guides, bibliographies, and online tutorials
- Public Programming and special events
Each year, METRO subcontracts with an archive, library in New York City or Westchester County to conduct archival surveys that provide documentation of communities, socio-cultural events, or time periods that are currently under-documented. METRO's current DHP subcontractor is AudioVisual Preservation Solutions.
A full description of past projects is detailed on the past contractors webpage.
Past subcontractors and program participants include:
- New York University's Tamiment Library & Asian Pacific American Institute
- The Bronx County Historical Society: The Bronx African American Archival Survey
- The Museum of Modern Art: Survey of Archives of Latino and Latin American Art
- Brooklyn College Library: The Caribbean Collection
Find out about additional funding opportunities available through the Statewide Documentary Heritage Program managed by The New York State Archives.
