"INVESTING IN ARCHIVES ON LONG ISLAND: REAPING THE DIVIDENDS"
The Documentary Heritage Program's Second Annual Archives Week
Leadership Conference
Friday, Oct. 17, 1997, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.


        The importance of the valuable resources found in archival collections
on Long Island will be the focus of an Archives Week Leadership
Conference to be held on Friday, Oct. 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
at Dowling College, Fortunoff Hall, Oakdale, NY.

        Howard Schneider, Managing Editor and Vice President for Content
Development at "Newsday", will set the tone for the conference with a
keynote address.  A lively panel discussion featuring acclaimed authors
Rita Cleary and Lila Perl will follow.  All of the speakers have
extensive experience utilizing the resources found in archival
collections for their work.  Topics will concentrate attention on the
various ways in which archives benefit the people of Long Island.

        Schneider has been at "Newsday" for the past 27 years where he has held
a variety of reporting and editing positions.  He supervised the news
and editing team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for its coverage of
the Baby Jane Doe controversy.  Currently, as the managing editor for
news, he helps oversee and plan coverage of national, international,
science, and local news.  He is also involved in helping plan the
paper's move into electronic distribution of news and advertising.
During the next year, Schneider will also oversee the paper's most
ambitious editorial project to date, "Long Island: Our Story."  The
project will increase awareness of the forces, people and events that
shaped Long Island's history and will also raise the profile of local
archives, museums, libraries, and other resources.

        Cleary, a lifelong resident of Long Island, can trace her family
history back to the early American pioneers and involvement with the
Lewis and Clark expedition.  This pioneering spirit and Cleary's own
love for travel have provided the memories that have inspired her
books.  She is best known for her novels "Sorrel" and "Goldtown".  Her
next book is to be a story of intrigue and romance that is set during
the British occupation of Long Island during the Revolutionary War.  She
will use the primary source materials found in some of the archival
collections in the area.

        Perl is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction intended
for young adult readers.  Many of Perl's stories focus on social
history, historical
memoirs, and biography, causing her to rely heavily upon primary source
material.  She is best known for her award-winning books "Four Perfect
Pebbles", the story of child Holocaust survivor Marion Blumenthal Lazan,
and "The Great Ancestor Hunt: The Fun of Finding Out Who You Are", a
workbook that illustrates how one can trace their family history using
facts found in public records.

        For more information on the Leadership Conference or to register, call
the Long Island Library Resources Council at (516) 632-6652.  The
conference is one in a series of events being held during Archives Week,
an annual celebration intended to increase public awareness of the
importance of archival collections.

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