Robeson Library hosted two events for Rutgers–Camden’s International Education Week (November 14–18). On Tuesday, November 15, the Global Studies Department held an International Quizzo game. On Wednesday, November 16, Robeson’s Bart Everts and Edward Robinson facilitated a Game and Puzzle Night which brought together Rutgers and Camden County College students for a night of classic board games, puzzles, food, and friendship. Click this link to view more photos.
As part of a long-standing agreement, Robeson Library serves as the research library for the Camden campuses of Camden County College and Rowan University.
IDEA students discuss a project in the Hatchery’s Learning Bar (Area 10). Photo by John Emerson.
Rutgers University Libraries are proud to announce the opening of the Hatchery Innovation Studio, an innovation and creation center located in Alexander Library on the College Avenue campus. This new library space is the first of its kind at Rutgers and offers students a wide range of flexible, collaborative spaces to work on projects, practice pitches, and explore design and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
The Hatchery provides a stimulating environment where students can ideate; learn from each other, faculty, and industry innovators; and discover passions, challenges, and solutions. The 4,000-square-foot studio can accommodate up to 85 people and features 11 flexible meeting and creative areas; multimedia equipment, including a television, entertainment system, and computers; contemporary, modular furniture; dry-erase boards and art supplies; and a ping pong table.
IDEA students collaborate in the Hatchery’s Hub (Area 1). Photo by John Emerson.
The Hatchery is a strategic partnership between Rutgers–New Brunswick Libraries and Rutgers’ Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Academy (IDEA). The mission of IDEA is to integrate design and entrepreneurial thinking into the student experience. During the program, students participate in research, design challenges, and entrepreneurial thinking, as well as contribute to interdisciplinary projects focused on solving complex societal challenges.
To learn more about the Hatchery and to take a virtual tour, please visit libraries.rutgers.edu/hatchery.
Grand Opening Celebration
On October 25, 2022, the Libraries celebrated the Hatchery’s grand opening with more than 60 guests. IDEA staff provided tours of the space, and IDEA students offered live project demonstrations.
Rutgers officers, staff, and faculty cut the ceremonial ribbon at the Hatchery’s grand opening celebration. Pictured from left: Abby Kucks, IDEA Program Coordinator; Veronica Armour, IDEA Director; Prabhas Moghe; Dee Magnoni; Francine Conway; Sunita Kramer, former Associate Vice President for Research and Experiential Education; Saundra Tomlinson-Clarke, Senior Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs; and Consuella Askew.
Consuella Askew, Vice President for University Libraries and University Librarian, delivered welcome remarks, together with Prabhas Moghe, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs; Francine Conway, Chancellor-Provost of Rutgers–New Brunswick; and Dee Magnoni, Associate University Librarian at Rutgers–New Brunswick Libraries. Three IDEA students—Fauzan Amjad ’24, Kritika Singh ’24, and Scott Rubin ’24—shared their experiences about the Hatchery and the IDEA program.
Consuella Askew.
“The Hatchery is a unique space that developed from a partnership between the Rutgers University Libraries, Rutgers University Leadership, and IDEA,” Askew said. “It provides a dynamic environment serving as a third space for our students to connect with our library and disciplinary faculty members, and our community members, to engage in the innovation process.”
Askew noted, “The Hatchery would not have been possible without the generosity and support from University Academic Affairs and Rutgers–New Brunswick. I thank Prabhas and Francine for their ongoing contributions and advocacy of this unprecedented space and the Libraries.”
Prabhas Moghe.
Moghe recounted the history of the Hatchery’s development and expressed his excitement for the new space and its potential for innovation.
Francine Conway.
Conway discussed the Hatchery’s role within the university: “The Hatchery is directly aligned with Rutgers–New Brunswick’s Academic Master Plan in its vision of bringing students together from diverse schools and disciplines for valuable, hands-on problem-solving.” She added, “I am excited for this partnership that will help students unlock new skills, explore the subjects that most deeply interest them, and build valuable experience that will propel them into the future.”
Dee Magnoni.
Magnoni expressed her gratitude to the university and the IDEA community: “The Hatchery is an innovation space that began with a conversation, took shape through a design process with IDEA students and staff, teaching faculty, and Division of Continuing Studies personnel. Consuella Askew provided the runway to proceed, Prabhas Moghe championed the effort, and Fran Conway supplied the scaffolding for our future success with the Rutgers–New Brunswick Academic Master Plan. Cheers to our tremendous collaborators, supporters, and partners!”
Veronica Armour, Director of IDEA, said, “We are excited for this partnership—IDEA is a first-year program that provides space for students to explore the innovation process by thinking about what problems they would like to solve. There is no better place for us to be situated than in the library to be able to build this community of student scholars, faculty, and industry mentors towards the discovery and exploration of interesting ideas.”
IDEA students gave presentations at the Hatchery’s grand opening.
Prabhas Moghe, Dee Magnoni, and Mukesh Patel, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers and Director of the Collaborative for Tech Entrepreneurship & Commercialization (CTEC), RSVP and Innovation Lab, with IDEA students in the Hatchery.Abby Kucks, Dee Magnoni, Sunita Kramer, and Veronica Armour at the Hatchery entrance.
A native of Red Bank, New Jersey, William James “Count” Basie (1904–1984) was one of the giants of jazz, a global icon, and still one of the most influential, popular, and recognized figures in American music. The Institute acquired Basie’s papers and artifacts in 2018 and is responsible for ensuring its long-term preservation. The roughly 200-cubic-foot collection, consisting of more than 1,000 items, is unparalleled in its size and thorough documentation of Basie’s life and career, as well as those of his wife, Catherine, and daughter, Diane.
Basie family photo album (photo courtesy of the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts).Basie news clippings album (photo courtesy of the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts).Basie photo album with musical performance pictures (photo courtesy of the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts).
The papers portion of his collection is now available to the public for research and enjoyment. The artifacts and the remainder of the collection will be accessible in mid-2023. Please visit libraries.rutgers.edu/basie to access the finding aid.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s telegram to Catherine Basie, 1962.Baseball great Jackie Robinson’s telegram to Catherine Basie, 1963.Count Basie’s telegram to Catherine Basie on their anniversary (signed “Bill”; 1963).
About the Collection
The Basie Family Papers and Artifacts document the vast impact of Count Basie’s enduring and storied career in jazz and American history and provide an unparalleled view of his family and private life. The collection is an essential resource for researchers in jazz, music, post-war American history, and American culture, especially black American culture. It is also critical for scholars, educators, writers, filmmakers, students, and the general public because of its breadth and depth.
Count Basie with his daughter, Diane.
The collection contains extensive primary sources and objects ranging from Basie’s earliest years in Kansas City until his death. One-of-a-kind artifacts comprise approximately half of the items, including Basie’s piano and organ, select home furnishings, artwork, apparel, and accessories. Although the materials cover the entirety of Basie’s lifetime, the artifacts represent the latter years of his life and career particularly well, including many accolades, awards, honorary degrees, and proclamations he received during that period. Unique archival materials never before available to researchers comprise about one-third of the collection, including personal papers, business records, photographs, clippings, scrapbooks, ephemera, correspondence, and audio and moving image recordings.
Catherine Basie (left) with legendary jazz singer Sarah Vaughan.
Catherine Basie’s life and accomplishments are also well documented in the collection, including her extensive civic and charity work (for which she was recognized by the major leaders of the day), her background as a dancer and singer, her social network, and the centrality of family in her home life.
The Institute of Jazz Studies is the world’s foremost archives and research library exclusively dedicated to jazz, an American art form that has transformed the world. Founded in 1952 by pioneer jazz scholar Marshall Stearns (1908–1966), IJS has been a leading institution in the preservation and access of jazz heritage. The Institute relocated from Stearns’ apartment to Rutgers University–Newark in 1966 and is part of the Rutgers University Libraries. In 1994, IJS moved to spacious new quarters on the fourth floor of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers–Newark.
Although the Thanksgiving holiday is behind us, expressing thanks does not have a time limit. I want to express my gratitude for your extraordinary dedication, perseverance, and hard work. In a year filled with change, your commitment to delivering exceptional service to our users remained constant. On behalf of the Libraries Leadership Team, I thank each of you for your service.
I also want to thank you for the thoughtful discussions and incisive feedback received regarding our organizational restructure. We are moving forward with option 2 as it resonated with many of you and best positions us to address the evolving expectations and priorities of our university community. Although we have much work in front of us, this decision marks an exciting milestone in this three-phase process.
In Phase I of the organizational restructure, the immediate next steps will be filling new leadership roles, particularly the AVP for Campus and Special Libraries. (These are currently working titles and may slightly change as we think through the details of these roles.) It is important to highlight that the AVP for Campus and Special Libraries will provide focused day-to-day support for the AULs. Additionally, this position will work directly with the AULs to identify synergies across our local libraries to leverage resources that can lead to increased efficiencies. The intent is to have this position filled and solidified by the end of spring 2023, so they can serve as part of the transition team during Phase II.
Phase II will focus on the functional areas and services reporting up through each AVP. We must ensure the services the Libraries offer directly align with the university’s needs and priorities. Phase III will focus on the organization of our workforce across the system.
The restructure will be a long and deliberate process that will take us the better part of 18 months. During this critical juncture for the Libraries, your continued contributions and support throughout this process are deeply appreciated.
I am very pleased to announce the revised RUL Mission Statement and RUL Aspirations Statement were overwhelmingly approved and will be formally adopted (view them on the Libraries’ website at this link). They will serve as our North Star as we move forward with our organizational structure and strategic planning process. As we get further into both those efforts, we may need to revisit and tweak the statements to ensure they fully reflect the work we are doing and aspire to do. I want to thank the RUL Affirmation Group (Isaiah Beard, Laura Costello, Joseph Deodato, Bart Everts, Francesca Giannetti, John Gibson, Tom Glynn, Naomi Gold, Krista Haviland, Amy Joyner, Nancy Kranich, Triveni Kuchi, Barry Lipinski, Mei Ling Lo, Yan Lu, Christie Lutz, Orla Mejia, Tracey Meyer, Ermira Mitre, Sue Oldenburg, Cathy Pecoraro, Michele Petosa, Ayesha Salim, Elizabeth Surles, Roberta Tipton [retired], Bob Vietrogoski, Victoria Wagner, Mary Beth Weber, Zara Wilkinson, Drue Williamson, and Phil Wilson) for their diligence and thoughtfulness as they worked through the process for the last eight months or so, which resulted in these statements. I also appreciate your taking the time to vote and share your thoughts about these statements.
Lastly, we have added a new section to The Agenda to reinforce our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. The DEI Spotlight highlights the vital work of the DEI Committee, upcoming training and events, DEI resources, and more. I encourage you to explore the Spotlight and the resources highlighted (see the link in the top navigation bar).
Rutgers Health Sciences Libraries (HSL) is pleased to announce the November issue of its Impact e-newsletter. Please click this link to read the latest HSL news, events, and features, including:
New journals: Behavioral Medicine and Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health
New video tutorial on finding journals
Welcome to our new work/study students
Subscribe today to get Impact delivered to your inbox!
Experienced editors and authors discussed the fundamentals of research, writing, and publishing. They addressed topics such as turning an idea into a publication, dealing with deadlines and writer’s block, and collaborating with co-authors.
Laura Costello is the director for strategic planning and assessment for Rutgers University Libraries. Laura has authored and co-authored three books, seven book chapters, and over 20 peer-reviewed articles and other publications. Her research focuses on assessment in diverse areas of the library, including reference and user services, collections, and library spaces. She serves as a regular peer reviewer for the open-access journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP). Her most recent publication is a co-authored article on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on virtual reference services published in The Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST).
Melissa De Fino is the special collections and formats metadata librarian for Rutgers University Libraries. Melissa is the co-author of the recently published book Virtual Technical Services: A Handbook, which stemmed from her experiences during the COVID-19 quarantine period and has led to conference presentations and an interview invitation for the Lucidea “Think Clearly” blog. She served as the editor of the Technical Services Quarterly column “Tech Services on the Web” for five years. Melissa has published peer-reviewed articles about the changing nature of technical services librarianship and has served as a peer reviewer for several articles. Melissa was an ALA Emerging Leader in 2008 and was RUL’s first Emerging Leader.
Megan Lotts is the art librarian at the Art Library of Rutgers University Libraries. Megan teaches research workshops, builds collections, facilitates programming and events, and closely engages with students and faculty researching in the arts. She has presented her research nationally and internationally and published articles in portal: the Libraries and the Academy, Art Documentation, Journal of Library Administration, College and Research Libraries News, and more. In 2021, the American Libraries Association published her book Advancing a Culture of Creativity in Libraries: Programming and Engagement. Her research interests include creativity, outreach and engagement, makerspaces, play, and the work of library liaisons. She is known for her work in implementing LEGO® play, creating a culture of creativity, and curating the exhibition spaces at the Rutgers University Art Library. She also teaches a semester-long seminar, “Playing to Learn in Higher Education.”
Caryn Radick is the digital archivist for Special Collections and University Archives of Rutgers University Libraries. Caryn was a Special Collections and University Archives processing archivist from 2004 until 2011, when she assumed her current role. She oversees the New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project, which provides digitized historic newspapers. Her research interests include the intersection of archives and fiction and surfacing mysteries and puzzles found in archives. She has published articles in The American Archivist, Archivaria, and Nursing-Clio. Caryn served as an associate editor for the Journal of Archival Organization and the Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries. She is the 2021 recipient of the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance’s Teaching Award for her Byrne Seminar class “Only in New Jersey! New Jersey’s History in Newspapers.”
Yingting Zhang is the research services librarian at the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Library of the Health Sciences of Rutgers University Libraries and an adjunct assistant professor in the RWJ Medical School Department of Medicine, Rutgers University. Yingting also serves as the liaison librarian to the School of Public Health and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. She is a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals. She serves on the Rutgers Health Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Executive IRB. Yingting has authored and co-authored 14 peer-reviewed journal articles and six non-peer-reviewed papers. She is currently working on a book chapter related to research on digital identity and writing an article on her experience providing systematic reviews for the past seven years.
Editors Panel Panelists
Marianne Ryan is the dean of University Libraries at Loyola University Chicago. Since 2015, Marianne has served as the editor of portal: Libraries and the Academy, published by Johns Hopkins University Press and part of its Project Muse collection. Marianne also served as the Management column editor of Reference and User Services Quarterly and on the editorial board of Library Leadership & Management. She has published numerous articles, including “How to Get Your Article Published: Twenty Tips from Two Editors.”
Ken Varnum is the senior program manager and discovery strategist at the University of Michigan Library. Ken’s research and professional interests include discovery systems, library analytics, and technology in the library setting. He has been the editor of Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL) since 2017 and has edited five books, the most recent being New Top Technologies Every Librarian Needs to Know, published in 2019. ITAL is one of ALA Core’s three official journals and is open access.
Adriana Cuervo is the head of Archival Collections and Services at the Institute of Jazz Studies in the John Cotton Dana Library, Rutgers University–Newark. Adriana oversees the day-to-day operations of the Institute of Jazz Studies—the world’s largest and most comprehensive jazz research facility. She has had a long career in music and performing arts special collections and previously worked at the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She enjoys working in the preservation, access, and promotion of cultural heritage and has published several articles. Adriana served on the editorial board of American Archivist for four years.
Nancy Kranich teaches at the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information and conducts special projects for Rutgers University Libraries. She served as President of the American Library Association in 2000–2001, focusing on the role of libraries in democracies. Nancy is currently editing a special issue on reimagining the civic role of libraries for Library Quarterly. She serves on the editorial boards of Library Quarterly: Information, Community and Policy and the Journal of Information Policy. She is also a frequent pre-publication peer reviewer for several scholarly journals. She has published countless articles and has served as editor and contributor to Libraries and Democracy for ALA Editions.
Blood & Ink explores the slayings of star-crossed New Jersey lovers and how the century-old cold case fed America’s obsession with true crime stories. While conducting his research for the book, Pompeo relied heavily on Special Collections and University Archives (SC/UA), which he says houses the definitive academic archive on the murders. Pompeo used SC/UA’s Hall-Mills Collection, Wallace Conover Papers, and Stevens family letters. This presentation forms part of SC/UA’s Research Salon series, which features researchers who have used SC/UA’s resources in their work. The series is co-sponsored by the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance.
Blood & Ink was published by William Morrow in September 2022, marking the 100th anniversary of the double murder of Reverend Edward Hall, rector of St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in New Brunswick, and Eleanor Mills, a singer in the church choir. The couple was reputedly having a scandalous affair, and their bodies were discovered artfully posed on a notorious lover’s lane on the border of New Brunswick and Somerset. Edward Hall’s wife, Frances, who was related to the wealthy Johnson family, and Eleanor Mills’ husband, Jim, were early suspects in the case. The bungled investigation by the police took years and failed to bring the criminals to justice. The trial featured eccentric characters such as Jane Gibson, a pig farmer who came forward with a purported eyewitness account of the murder and, at one point, testified from a stretcher brought into the courtroom. As well as investigating the fascinating details of the case, Pompeo shows how the rise of New York tabloid journalism and the resulting wars between papers of the 1920s kept the story alive. In an epilogue, Pompeo suggests his own theories on the still-unsolved case.
Over the years, many authors have tried to solve the case, including famed attorney William Kunstler, whose The Minister and the Choir Singer: The Hall-Mills Murder Case (1964) attributed the murders to the Ku Klux Klan. Another theory was offered by former dean Mary S. Hartman, who lived in Frances Hall’s house, now the residence of the Douglass Dean, in “The Hall-Mills Murder Case: The Most Fascinating Un-solved Homicide in America,” The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 1984. The case has also inspired novels and plays, most recently Thou Shall Not, performed at St. John the Evangelist Church by Thinkery & Verse. Blood & Ink is unique in placing the case in the context of the rise of tabloid journalism and the popularity of true crime in the 1920s.
As of November 9, the app has 1,348 registered users. Contests for registrations and Quick Polls continue to be held. We also continue to hope that more local contests or initiatives to increase registrants can be held to increase awareness and registrations.
Electronic Resources
A public data dashboard is being built to provide easy, on-demand access to e-resource inventory and usage data to help inform collection development and management decisions.
Rapido
Work is underway to create a presentation regarding Rapido for LLT. The team will demonstrate the product and review the current status of the project and known issues. We hope that the presentation can occur in December.
Esploro
SOAR’s integration with ORCID has been improved. This integration allows researchers to automatically push their research outputs in SOAR to their ORCID profile. Improvements include resending records that failed and updating ORCID with changes made to the SOAR record.
The Libraries are partnering with the Office for Research to offer training to Rutgers faculty on how to search for funding opportunities using Pivot-RP. It is hoped this collaboration will open the door to additional partnership opportunities in the delivery of university-wide research services.
Post-Implementation Review
As previously reported, the entire team is participating in and leading a post-implementation review process of Alma. The review will focus on identifying areas where improvements could lead to increased efficiency or enhanced internal backend services. Identified areas for improvement will be prioritized and addressed as time and resources permit. Examples of solutions may include redesigned workflows, additional training, technical customizations, changes to configurations, etc. Please be sure to speak to the appropriate team member regarding any suggestions you have regarding pain points or potential improvements to Alma workflows.
Symposium attendees enjoy Sandra Fernández’s artist presentation.
Special Collections and University Archives (SC/UA) hosted the 28th Annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium (NJBAS) on November 4. The free event drew a capacity crowd in Alexander Library’s Pane Room and featured a workshop, artist presentations, and a panel discussion conducted by notable artists, curators, historians, and technologists. The program included:
To learn more about the NJBAS, please visit exhibits.libraries.rutgers.edu/nj-book-arts. Grant funding for the New Jersey Book Arts Symposium was provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. The NJBAS Advisory Board members are Karen Guancione, artistic director; Michael Joseph, founding director; Sonia Yaco, executive director; Martin Antonetti; Judith K. Brodsky; Fernanda Perrone; Amanda Thackray; Suzie Tuchman, and Kate Van Riper.
Suzie Tuchman conducts the triangle bookmaking workshop.Catherine LeCleire Wright shows symposium attendees how to create a triangle book.NJBAS attendees make triangle books during the workshop.Artist Sandra C. Fernández delivered a moving presentation about her life and work. Fernández is an Ecuadorian American artist currently living in New Jersey. Her work is rooted in the transborder experiences of exile, dislocation, relocation, memory, and self-conscious identity construction/reconstruction.Béatrice Coron, a renowned paper-cutting artist, and Rick Anderson, Director of Virtual Worlds at Rutgers, are collaborating on The Identity Project, an experiment both in form and content using technology to create an interactive artist book. This collaboration allows words and images to interact and behave in new and exciting ways. The Identity Project is presented by SC/UA. Learn more about the project at go.rutgers.edu/coron.Amee Pollack is a mixed-media and book artist and Senior Advisor and Student Success Counselor in the Department of Art & Design at the Mason Gross School of the Arts. She spoke about her art, which includes three-dimensional, fold-out book sculptures she had created with her artistic partner and close friend, Laurie Spitz, who passed away in 2017. Works by Spitz & Pollack, as their collaboration was known, are in the permanent collections of over 50 organizations, including the Brooklyn Museum, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York Public Library Print Collection, and Yale University. Read more at masongross.rutgers.edu/why-i-made-this-amee-pollack and ameejpollack.com.Featured artist and historian Javiera Barrientos presented “A Personal Catalogue: Bookwork in Contemporary Latin America” and highlighted works by Carlos Oquendo, Maria Lucia Cattani, Francisca Prieto, Isol, Javiera Pintocanales, and Mariana Tocornal.During her curator presentation, Virginia Fabbri Butera interviewed Michael Cooper about the late Rocco Scary’s bookwork. Rocco Scary (1960–2022) was a multidisciplinary artist whose work on paper, in sculpture, and with artist books explored the concept of the identifiers or “triggers” for memory. To learn more about Scary, please visit roccoscary.com. Butera is the director of the Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery. She is also chairperson of the art, dance, and music program and a tenured professor of art history at @saintelizabethuniversity. Cooper is the creative director at Altech Corporation and principal of Cooper Graphics and Cooper Art Works LLC. He has over 40 years of fine art and commercial art experience.NJBAS executive director Sonia Yaco (left) and noted artist and art educator Judith K. Brodsky. Brodsky led the engaging panel discussion that concluded the New Jersey Book Arts Symposium. The lively discussion offered attendees an opportunity to hear more from the guest artists and ask questions. Brodsky highlighted the commonalities between the topics, including technology, social issues, and a sense of play, and encouraged the artists to share their thoughts and processes and talk about the future of books and bookmaking. Brodsky is a Distinguished Professor Emerita in the Mason Gross School of the Arts Department of Visual Arts and the Founding Director of the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, which was renamed the Brodsky Center in her honor in 2006 (now The Brodsky Center at PAFA).Panel discussion with the NJBAS’ guest speakers.From left: Karen Guancione, Sandra Fernández, and Sonia Yaco. Guancione is the NJBAS’ artistic director. She creates a vision of the symposium each year and moderates the event. Michael Joseph (below) is the founding director of the NJBAS. He and Karen guide the selection of the artists and help to shape the event. As executive director, Yaco coordinates the event, secures funding, and with Karen and Michael, connects with the New Jersey book arts community.Michael Joseph, founding director of the NJBAS.
Akiko’s Dolls: The Story of a Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivor is a special exhibition at the East Asian Library that will be displayed through February 2023. The exhibit features dolls, photos, and writings of Akiko Mizuta Seitelbach, a Japanese woman who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Please stay tuned for more East Asian Library exhibitions.
Dolls for Doll’s Day/Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri), gift of Akiko Mizuta Seitelbach.
Akiko Mizuta Seitelbach was born on October 25, 1922, in a section of Shanghai that, at the time, was a colony of Japan. Adopted by her aunt and uncle when she was just five months old, Akiko grew up in Nagasaki. She graduated high school in 1938, just as World War II started in Japan. During the war, she worked in the supply office of Mitsubishi Electrical Works. On August 9, 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped, Akiko was about 1.3 miles from ground zero. She felt firsthand the destruction and desperation of the Japanese people in the days following and after the war ended.
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Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, Akiko became an interpreter for the U.S. Marines and then the American Army of Occupation in Nagasaki. After marrying an American soldier of the 34th Infantry Regiment in 1953, she came to America and lived at an Army base in Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn. Between 1955 and 1963, Akiko resided in Puerto Rico, Staten Island, then Germany as her husband’s station assignments changed. She worked as a receptionist for Fuji Bank, a dress shop manager in Puerto Rico, in the Army library in Germany, and for Kanebo USA. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, Akiko moved back to Brooklyn, where she lived and worked for about 35 years until she and her husband moved to Monroe Township, NJ. Akiko passed away aon February 17, 2022.
