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Sydney C. Van Nort, as a native of Manhattan growing up on the upper west side, has always been aware of the spires of Shepard Hall as a feature on the local horizon. She has childhood memories of attending classical music concerts at Lewisohn Stadium with her parents, so it became a pleasure to learn more about the history of The City College of New York when she became the institution’s archivist in 2000.
Her training in historical inquiry began during her collegiate studies at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Van Nort later pursued graduate studies at the Columbia University School of Library Service where she earned a Master’s of Science in Library Service specializing in archival management, library preservation, and security. Her final seminar paper regarding library theft was published three times, most recently in 2017 as an article on that topic in the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. She has served as the Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at the City College of New York since 2000. After Van Nort joined the faculty of the City College Libraries, she has curated and collaborated on over twenty-six exhibitions presented by the City College Library, most recently “University of Harlem: Legacies of CCNY Student Life”. She applied concepts from museum studies coursework to the execution of those exhibitions. This curriculum of the City College Art Department garnered her a Master’s of Art degree and a promotion to Assistant Professor in 2005. She was certified by the Academy of Certified Archivists through 2023. She has also received training at the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.
She was delighted to learn that the photographic history compiling many of the remarkable images from the City College Archives was published by Arcadia Publishing in 2007 as The City College of New York. It was featured “Images from A Pictorial History of The City College” in the Spring 2007 issue of Alumnus on pages 12-13.
Married to a City College alumnus, when not researching City College history she executes embroidered designs. |
