“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.



Faith Ringgold, Doris Friedensohn, Richard Greenberg and Joan Marter addressed the audience as questions opened to the audience.


The "Etched in Memory" symposium held on March 20, 2009 was divided into two panels, each with a moderator. We have provided video files of each speaker's presentation, in the order in which they were given.


Introduction: “Etching in Memories”
Dr. Ferris Olin
Director, Institute for Women & Art at Rutgers

Panel 1: "Organizing Your Professional Life and Achievements: Hard Copy and Digital Recordkeeping"

Marilyn F. Symmes
Director, the Morse Research Center for Graphic Arts, the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, Moderator

Ronald Becker
Head, Special Collections and UniversityArchives, Rutgers University Libraries

Helen M. Stummer
New Jersey artist, photographer, and visual sociologist

Paul Sepuya,
Artist Support Director, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, New York

Camille Billops
Artist, founding director of the Hatch-Billops Collection of Black Cultural Arts, New York, New York

Nicole Plett
Project Manager, Women Artists Archives National Directory, Institute for Women and Art

Panel 2: "Leaving Legacies: Body of Work, Artists’ Trusts, and Foundations"

Dr. Doris Friedensohn
Professor Emeritus, New Jersey City University, widow of New Jersey artist Eli Friedensohn, Moderator

Richard Greenberg, Esq.
New Jersey Trusts and Estates Attorney, Greenberg & Schulman, Woodbridge, NJ

Magda Salvesen
Art historian, curator of the estate of John Schueler, author of Artists’ Estates: Reputations in Trust

Dr. Joan M. Marter
Executor, Dorothy Dehner Foundation; Board Member, the Ora Lerman Charitable Trust and Soaring Gardens Artists’ Retreat; Co-editor, Woman’s Art Journal; Professor of Art History, Rutgers

Faith Ringgold
Artist, author and illustrator; Professor of Art, University of California, San Diego; founder of the Anyone Can Fly Foundation

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.