Richard Strassberg is retiring from his positions as Associate Director of the Martin P. Catherwood Library and as Director of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives on October 10th, 2007. The Center is the special collection unit of the Catherwood Library, the foremost library of its kind in the United States. He has held the position of the Director of the Archives since 1978 and was appointed Associate Catherwood Director in 1980.
During his thirty-nine year career at Cornell, Rich has had experience in every aspect of archival administration. Following internships at the Colorado State Archives in 1966 and the Colorado State Historical Society in 1967, he was hired as Assistant Archivist for Technical Processes in Cornell’s Department of Regional History and University Archives in 1968. In 1970, he was appointed the Technical Processes Coordinator for the department. In 1971, Richard joined the staff of the Labor-Management Documentation Center as its Associate Archivist and moved to his present position as Director of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives in 1977. (The Center was renamed in 1995.) The Kheel Center is among the leading repositories of its kind in North America.
Richard holds an MA, with honors, in Librarianship with a concentration in archival administration and a graduate degree in American history. He is the recipient of the New York State Chancellors Award for Excellence in Librarianship and has been a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists since it was founded. Richard is an active general archival consultant, with a specialization in library and archival security and writes and lectures widely on security as well as other aspects of archival administration. He is the founder of the Society of American Archivists’ Security Roundtable and originated and co-taught the Society’s Security Workshop since 1990.
Richard and his wife Marilyn have just celebrated 41 years of marriage. They have two children, Michael and Pamela, and six grandchildren. Marilyn will continue her employment as Director of Residential Services at Longview, a senior residence on South Hill, after Richard’s retirement to the status of house husband, home contractor, and occasional archival consultant
