The CNY Artist Archival Project is building more than a publication, it is creating a permanent cultural institution dedicated to preserving the voices, experiences, and creative legacies of the people who make Central New York. Through a collaborative oral history program rooted in shared stewardship of cultural memory, participating artists become archive contributors, creating a born-digital research collection that will serve future generations. Rather than documenting history after it has passed, the project preserves living history while it can still be told by those who lived it.

The archive embraces a broad definition of the artist. It documents painters, musicians, photographers, writers, and sculptors alongside auto mechanics, welders, electricians, linemen and linewomen, carpenters, farmers, and anyone whose skill, craftsmanship, and dedication shape the region. If you care about the quality of what you make, take pride in your craft, and lose yourself in the work, you are part of this story.

Each archival collection includes a professionally recorded oral history, documentary photographs, a searchable transcript, descriptive metadata, and a narrative profile. Together, these materials preserve not only what people created, but how they worked, what inspired them, and the communities they helped build.

As the archive grows, it will become a lasting resource for artists, educators, students, historians, museum professionals, librarians, researchers, genealogists, and the public. Every interview adds another voice to the historical record, creating a comprehensive documentary archive of Central New York's makers. The project is founded on a simple belief: preserving the stories of the people who create our culture is as important as preserving the objects they leave behind.