“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.


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

She photographs the struggles and dignity of poor people in Newark, New Jersey, the Lower East Side of Manhattan, rural Maine, and Comalapa, Guatemala. These geographically-diverse groups speak the same language: that of poverty. Ms. Stummer, who photographs in the tradition of Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, and Dorothea Lange, is the author of No Easy Walk: Newark, 1980-1993, which depicts a suburbanite’s journey into the impoverished inner city. Her work has allowed her to capture the lives of urban children, from babies to young adults. Her photograph, “Sharell Showing Easter Dress to Grandmother,” has been included in The Oxford History of Art and the book, American Photography. She has also received numerous grants and awards from such organizations as the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The New Jersey Historical Commission, the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. In addition to teaching and lecturing, she has created photo-essays for the New York Times, City Limits, NYC, and other publications. Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Museum, the Newark Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, and the Child Welfare League of America in Washington, DC, as well as numerous private collections.

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.