“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


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

She is Executive Officer of the Rutgers Institute for Women & Art. She has also served, since 2005, as the Project Manager for WAAND, the Women Artists Archives National Directory. She came to Rutgers from a 20-year career as a newspaper arts editor, arts writer, and dance critic. From 1995 to 2004, Ms. Plett served as Arts Editor of U.S. 1 Newspaper, a Princeton, New Jersey, independent business and entertainment weekly. Ms. Plett earned her MA and BA in Art History at the University of New Mexico with a concentration in the history of photography. She is the editor of Eleanor King: Fifty Years in American Modern Dance, (Moving Press/University of New Mexico Press).

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.