Lives of Consequence
Elaine Deutsch Engst '68
Elaine Engst oversees the care and exhibition of such national treasures as one of five original copies of the Gettysburg Address and an original Soviet Sputnik that are kept in a state-of-the-art underground building on the Cornell University campus. As director and university archivist of the Division of Rare Manuscripts Collection for the past 13 years, she has become a leader in the advancement of the collections at the Carl A. Kroch Library at Cornell University. The archives contain an array of subjects, some with more personal connection to Engst, such as the historic letters of HWS Trustee Anna Botsford Comstock, a friend of William Smith.
In addition to maintaining items of national and historic significance, Engst also oversees Cornell's record retention policy. Responsible for helping to create a permanent record for generations to come, she determines the historical worth of relics and how they should be preserved. In this digital age, this includes navigating such uncharted waters as reviewing which e-mails or blogs should be preserved.
An instructor of undergraduate students on the Rare Manuscripts Collection, Engst believes it is important for students to interact with real artifacts and has collaborated with other colleges to help students better experience Cornell's resources. She is an historical scholar who understands the value of knowing where we came from and strives to help students learn the same through sharing knowledge and resources.
Engst graduated from William Smith in 1968 with a B.A. in history and earned a master's degree at Cornell University. She received her M.A. in history in 1972 and along with her husband, Christopher Engst, ran a small family farm for several years. She returned to Cornell to lead archival efforts for the center that was designed especially for the storage of rare and fragile materials. She first served as an assistant archivist and rose to the position of Director of Rare Manuscripts in 2000. In 1991, she was awarded the C.F.W. Coker Prize for Finding Aids by the Society of American Archivists for having a substantial impact on descriptive practices.
An author, Engst's publications include: "Migrant Farmworkers Records in Upstate New York: Survey and Guide" (co-edited with Linda Norris), "Urban America: Documenting the Planners" (co-authored with H. Thomas Hickerson), and "Guides to Historical Resources in New York Repositories."
She has also presented papers and given workshops and talks to Cornell alumni and the Society of American Archivists, including: "Rabbi Harold I. Saperstein: A Cornell Life," "Part and Apart: Black and Jewish Students at Cornell, 1869-1969," "Green Dragons and Big Red Bears," and "Regardless of Sex or Color."
Engst has curated numerous exhibits, including: "I Would Found an Institution: The Ezra Cornell Bicentennial," "The Passionate Collector: Willard Fiske and his Libraries," (co-curator), "Remembering Cornell," and "Nature By Design: Landscape Architecture Collections at Cornell."
She is a member of the Society of American Archivists and the New York State Historical Records Advisory Board, where she has served as co-chair since 2006; she is a past member and chair of the New York State Documentary Heritage Program Advisory Committee.