Series V. Elizabeth Rohatyn Board Files, 1993-2013
Extent
Scope and Contents Note
The series includes Elizabeth Rohatyn's files concerning her work on the boards of three organizations: French Regional & American Museum Exchange (FRAME), Teaching Matters Inc. (TMI), and the New York Public Library (NYPL). The material concerning FRAME is perhaps the richest as it includes documentation related to the founding, first decade, activities, and evolution of this international cultural organization's operations from 1999 forward. The TMI files also include concept papers, Board minutes, program proposals, and other materials concerning the organization's mission and development, but coverage is inconsistent, dating mostly from the 2000s, well after the organization's founding in 1994. Similarly, the New York Public Library files include useful Board and Committee level documents spanning 2002 to 2013, but there is a high level of inconsistency in coverage from year to year.
Arrangement Note
The series is organized in three subseries:
Subseries V.A. French Regional & American Museum Exchange (FRAME)
Subseries V.B. Teaching Matters Inc. (TMI)
Subseries V.C. New York Public Library (NYPL)
Subseries V.A. French Regional & American Museum Exchange (FRAME), 1999-2012
Extent
Scope and Contents Note
The subseries includes documentation concerning the founding and first decade of FRAME's operations. Among these documents are vision and mission statements, historical notes, membership lists, budgets and fundraising efforts, meeting agendas and summaries, press clippings, exhibition schedules and publicity, and correspondence and printed emails in connection with website development and other initiatives. The subseries includes documents related to the evolving nature of the organization in its first decade, including leadership changes, FRAME's incorporation as a not-for-profit entity, and by-law changes.
Arrangement Note
The documents in the subseries remain in their original folders. These folders were compiled together in sets that are topically related (e.g., budgets, fundraising, meetings, etc.) and which advance in roughly chronological order.
Biographical/Historical Note
The French Regional & American Museum Exchange (FRAME), now known by the somewhat abbreviated name of French American Museum Exchange, was founded in 1999 by Elizabeth Rohatyn during her husband's, Felix Rohatyn's, tenure as U.S. ambassador to France. The mission of the organization was, and is, to develop U.S.-France cultural exchanges in the context of museum collaborations for exhibitions, education programs, and the like. Elizabeth served as one of FRAME's two Founding Co-Presidents, the other being Francoise Cachin, who was then the Director of the Musées de France. FRAME's Founding Director was art historian Dr. Richard Brettell of the University of Texas.
FRAME initially operated under the auspices of the Foundation for French Museums. In 2006, FRAME incorporated itself as a not-for-profit organization in the United States. FRAME operates through two organizational arms, one in the U.S. and the other in France, each headed by a President and a Director. A Board of Trustees heads the overall organization. Starting from a membership of about 18 museums in 1999, the organization included 30 museums in its consortium as of 2017.
FRAME has sponsored about 21 exhibitions since its founding. The first exhibition was Made in the USA: American Art from 1908-1947, which toured at three museums in France. Most of the exhibitions since then made stops at museums in both the U.S. and France.
(The above note was based principally on FRAME's website http://www.framemuseums.org/en/ and from documents in the collection.)
FRAME Files (23 of 32 folders), 1999-2008
FRAME Files (9 of 32 folders), 2005-2012
Subseries V.B. Teaching Matters Inc. (TMI), 1993-2012
Extent
Scope and Contents Note
The TMI files include concept papers, Board meeting minutes and materials, early by-laws, mission statements and strategic plans, fundraising efforts, and budgets. There are also program proposals and reports, including an evaluation of TMI's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) pilot program (2008), the McKinsey & Company's Connecting K-12 Schools to the Information Superhighway (1995), and TMI's first annual report (1995). There are a few files from TMI's earliest years in the mid-1990s, but most of the material dates from the 2000s. Coverage is inconsistent; for example, there are materials for only a few Board meetings in the 2000s. The subseries includes a folder of speeches given by Elizabeth from 1993-2000, not necessarily all concerning TMI. That same folder includes contact sheets of photographs of Elizabeth Rohatyn at an unidentified award ceremony and reception.
Arrangement Note
The documents in the subseries remain in their original folders and are arranged by subject matter.
Biographical/Historical Note
Originally known as The Waterford Institute, the organization was restructured in August 1994 and renamed Teaching Matters, Inc. (TMI). Elizabeth Rohatyn is credited as TMI's founder, and she was its first Chairman. A not-for-profit organization, TMI focused on the professional development of teachers and school administrators to enhance their effectiveness. In the early years of the organization this mission was expressed particularly in terms of assisting with the integration of technology into the school and classroom
TMI Files (14 folders), 1993-2012
Subseries V.C. New York Public Library (NYPL), 2002-2013
Extent
Scope and Contents Note
Elizabeth Rohatyn served on NYPL's Board of Trustees from 1985, including as Chairman in 1996. The subseries includes various Board-level documents from the 2000s, though there is considerable inconsistency in the specific content. The subseries includes Board agendas, minutes, and meeting materials (2011, 2013); materials from various committees including the Executive (2004, 2011, 2013), Nominating (2003-2013), Budget (2002-2003), and Digital Strategy Committees (2007-2008); development strategies, fundraising and partnering efforts (2003-2011); and special initiatives including the Campaign for the Branch Libraries (2003-2005), a draft of McKinsey & Co.'s presentation on positioning the library for continuous improvement (2003), and the Virtual Library Task Force (2011-2012).
Arrangement Note
The documents in the subseries remain in their original folders and are arranged by subject matter.