“Etched in Memory: Legacy Planning for Artists” is a web resource designed to assist artists in preparing for and protecting their professional legacy through sound planning and archival practices. All artists face the issue of building and maintaining their artistic reputations and creative output. Artists can assist their surviving partners, family and friends with decisions on financial issues and estates, as well as the disposition of their personal papers, business records and artwork.

Some of the resources found here are the result of a one-day symposium held in the Scholarly Communication Center (SCC) at Alexander Library on the College Avenue Campus of Rutgers in New Brunswick, on Friday, March 20, 2009.

Ferris Olin | Marilyn Symmes | Ronald Becker | Helen Stummer | Paul Sepuya | Camille Billops | Nicole Plett | Doris Friedensohn | Richard Greenberg | Joan Marter | Magda Salvesen | Faith Ringgold


Dr. Ferris Olin
Introduction: “Etching in Memories”

Co-Director of the Institute for Women and Art, co-curator of the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series, Founder and Co-Director of The Feminist Art Project, and Project Co-Director for WAAND: Women Artists Archives National Directory—all based at Rutgers University

She was Founding Head of the Margery Somers Foster Center: A Resource Center and Digital Archive on Women, Scholarship and Leadership in the Rutgers University Libraries. A noted art historian, curator, women’s studies scholar, and librarian, Dr. Olin has curated exhibitions on women’s material culture. She has given presentations and written numerous articles on topics as diverse as curriculum transformation, New Jersey women’s history, women art collectors, and art librarianship. She received the 2007 Annual Recognition Award from the College Art Association Committee on Women and Art, and in 2008 she was awarded the Art to Life Award from A.I.R. Gallery and Art and Living magazine; the Alice Paul Equality Award from the Alice Paul Institute; and the Douglass Medal from Douglass College. Dr. Olin has served on the Board of the College Art Association and in the capacity of Vice-President of Committees for the organization; on the Board and Treasurer of the Women’s Project of New Jersey, Inc., and now is on the board of the Neighborhood Narratives Project.

Etched in Memory logo features Miriam Schapiro's "In the Land of Oo-bla-dee: Homage to Mary Lou Williams," 1993. Courtesy of the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions.

The original symposium was sponsored by the Institute for Women and Art (IWA) at Rutgers in partnership with the Rutgers University Libraries. The IWA operates under the auspices of the Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic & Public Partnerships in the Arts & Humanities. These events are made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Etched in Memory Project Team included: Dr. Ferris Olin, Principal Investigator; Nicole Plett, Project Manager; Joe Namashe, Videographer; Ricki Sablove, Symposium Organizer; Katherine Scott, Symposium Organizer and Web Site Developer.