Cecily McMillan Papers
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Abstract
Cecily McMillan (she/they, born 1988) is an activist and prisoner rights advocate. She was a participant in the Occupy Wall Street momement (OWS), and was arrested and convicted of felony second-degree assault during an incident at an OWS protest in Zuccotti Park on March 17, 2012. McMillan's arrest, trial, sentencing, and subsequent 58 days of incarceration at Rikers Island were highly publicized, and criticized by supporters as a miscarriage of justice highlighting the prevalence of police brutality and the prison industrial complex. Since their release, McMillan has become an ardent prisoner rights advocate, highlighting the connections between poverty and incarceration. The Cecily McMillan Papers (dated 1961-2020, bulk 2007-2019) consist of materials created and collected by McMillan documenting her personal life, education, and activism, with particular emphasis on her participation in the Occupy Wall Street movement and highly publicized arrest, trial, and incarceration. Materials include journals, correspondence, ephemera, meeting notes, photographs, research materials, and publications from Rikers Island. Additionally, there are personal materials such as diplomas, graduation programs, photographs, and correspondence.
Biographical Note
Cecily McMillan (she/they, born 1988) is an activist and prisoner rights advocate. She was a participant in the Occupy Wall Street momement (OWS), and was arrested and convicted of felony second-degree assault during an incident at an OWS protest in Zuccotti Park on March 17, 2012. McMillan's arrest, trial, sentencing, and subsequent 58 days of incarceration at Rikers Island were highly publicized, and criticized by supporters as a miscarriage of justice highlighting the prevalence of police brutality and the prison industrial complex. Since their release, McMillan has become an ardent prisoner rights advocate, highlighting the connections between poverty and incarceration. McMillan's writing has appeared in The New York Times and AlterNet. Their memoir The Emancipation of Cecily McMillan was published by Bold Type Books in 2016, and includes materials from their time as a student activist at The New School in 2011 through their work following their release from prison. As of 2024, McMillan is working for an organization called Queer Equity.
Arrangement
This collection has been arranged into 3 series, as follows:
Series I. Personal
Series II. Trial and Incarceration
Series III. Activism
All of the series are arranged chronologically.
Scope and Contents
The Cecily McMillan Papers (dated 1961-2020, bulk 2007-2019) consist of materials created and collected by McMillan documenting her personal life, education, and activism, with particular emphasis on her participation in the Occupy Wall Street movement and highly publicized arrest, trial, and incarceration. McMillan's journals, notes, and collected printed ephemera document their engagement with the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, including meetings and planning sessions. Their arrest, trial, and incarceration at Rikers Island in 2014 is extensively documented in this collection, and includes materials from their trial and sentencing; correspondence with attorneys; correspondence with family, friends, and other individuals expressing solidarity during their incarceration; handbooks and other administrative documents created by the New York City Department of Correction; and notes and journals documenting their daily routine while incarcerated at Rikers. These materials document not only McMillan's experiences and the impact of her incarceration on her wellbeing, employment, and housing situations, but also the administrative and bureaucratic aspects of incarceration, such as how individuals can communicate with others, what they are allowed to be in possession of, and many other aspects of daily life. Materials in this collection also reflect McMillan's broad activism and prisoner rights advocacy through collected zines and printed ephemera. This collection also documents McMillan's early life, education, life after her release, and the impact of her incarceration on her physical and mental wellbeing. These materials include correspondence, photographic prints, and high school and college course materials.
Subjects
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Cecily McMillan Papers; TAM 807; box number; folder number or item identifier; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Cecily McMillan in February 2022; the accession number associated with this gift is 2022.018.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Appraisal
One box of personal effects of the donor's family were appraised out of the collection and returned to the donor in April 2022. However, in order to document McMillan's life outside of her arrest, many of her personal records were retained, including personal photographs, Organization of Staff Analysts hat, high school diploma and commemorative box, college yearbook, sorority sash, recommendation letters, graded assignments, and ticket stubs.
About this Guide
Processing Information
At the time of accessioning, materials were rehoused in archival folders and boxes, maintaining the original order established by the donor. When possible original folder titles have been transcribed onto new archival folders. Loose materials were foldered in their original order.
One folder of letters from other incarcerated individuals to McMillan during her incarceration at Rikers Island showed evidence of water damage and mold; it was cleaned by the Preservation Department and returned.
At the time of processing, materials were arranged into series. Documents were removed from non-archival sleeves, and oversized materials were unfolded and housed in appropriate sized boxes and/or flat file folders. Redacted copies have replaced materials with sensitive personal information. Financial materials (pay stubs, receipts, blank forms, bills, bank statement), duplicate publications and documents, publications available online, maps, and pamphlets on local service providers were removed. Born-digital items have been forensically imaged, analyzed, and described. New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content.
Revisions to this Guide
Repository
Series I. Personal, 1961-2019, inclusive
Extent
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Scope and Contents
This series consists of personal and educational materials created and collected by McMillan throughout her life. Many of these materials, especially those related to her college and graduate school courses, illustrate the theories and ideas that influenced and informed their activism. School materials include McMillan's recommendation letters, syllabi, readings, planners, notebooks, class assignments, and meeting minutes for groups in which they participated, such as the Dean's Advisory Council. In addition, there is some personal correspondence, playbills of theater productions in which they were involved, and medical records describing their medical decline post-incarceration. Also included are personal photographs (both physical and digital), a high school diploma and commemorative box, a sorority sash, scrapbooks, and ticket stubs.
Family Photographs, 1961-1987, inclusive
Cecily's Birth Year -- Photographs, 1988
Early Childhood -- Photographs, 1989-1992, inclusive
Childhood -- Photographs, 1993-2000, inclusive
Middle School -- Photographs, Poems, Journal, and Camp Songs, 2001-2002, inclusive
High School, 2003-2007, inclusive
Scrapbooks, Photographs, Planners, Journals, and Correspondence, 2003-2007, inclusive
Digital Photographs, 2006-2007, inclusive
Digital materials
College and Scholarship -- Acceptance, 2007
High School Graduation -- Diploma, Box, Program, and Correspondence, May 2007
Lawrence University, 2007-2011, inclusive
Correspondence, Photograph Prints, Planners, and Assignments, 2007-2011, inclusive
Digital Photographs, 2007-2008, inclusive
Digital materials
Ride Share Poster and Painting, circa 2008-2011, inclusive
The Lawrentian, February 11, 2011
Graduation -- Program and Correspondence, June 2011
The New School, New York City, 2011-2014, inclusive
Correspondence, Photographs, and Assignments, 2011-2013, inclusive
The New School Free Press and The Indypendent, 2013-2014, inclusive
Planners, January-March 2014
Post-Rikers -- New York City and Atlanta, 2014-2017, inclusive
Photographs, circa 2014-2015, inclusive
Correspondence, Ticket Stubs, and Planners, 2014-2015, inclusive
Correspondence, Planner, and Theater Programs, 2016-2017, inclusive
Georgia State University -- PhD Program -- Application, Assignments, Disability Materials, and Planners, 2017-2019, inclusive
Health Decline, 2018
Atlanta -- Correspondence, Notes, Playscript, and Theater Poster, 2018-2019, inclusive
Playscript by Cecily -- "Cigarette Break", undated, inclusive
Series II. Trial and Incarceration, 2012-2018, inclusive
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Scope and Contents
This series consists of legal documents and materials compiled by McMillan leading up to her trial, during the trial, during her incarceration, and after her release. All of the materials in this series reflect McMillan's experience of knowing, in their own words, "what it's like to lose your freedom, to abandon any sense of personal space, and to face a level of humiliation that is almost impossible to describe". Materials include trial and appeals transcripts; probation terms; McMillan's handwritten notes about their trial; notebooks and journals written during incarceration; correspondence with attorneys, friends, family, supporters, and other incarcerated individuals; Department of Correction's publications and notices; research materials (articles on court support and rights for incarcerated individuals); and press and publicity about McMillan's case. Additionally, there are event schedules, correspondence, and planning documents created by #Justice4Cecily, the campaign created to support and advocate on behalf of McMillan, and transcript of a trial of a deceased fellow incarcerated individual in whose behalf McMillan testified.
Source Cited
"I Went From Grad School to Prison," Cosmopolitan, published August 12, 2014, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a29775/cecily-mcmillan-grad-school-to-jail/
Preparing for Trial and #Justice4Cecily, 2012-2014, inclusive
Correspondence, Planners, Zines, and Event Notices, 2012-2014, inclusive
Oversize Planning Materials, undated, inclusive
Trial Transcript, 2014
Sentencing -- Transcript, Speech, Letters of Support, and Probation Conditions, 2014
New York City Department of Correction -- Handbooks, Notices, and Records, 2014
"Prison Notebook(s)", May 5-July 2, 2014
#Justice4Cecily -- Cecily's Notes and Correspondence, 2014
Rikers Letters, 2014
Talking Points for Release, 2014
Press, Publicity, and Photographs, 2014
Welcome Home Letters, 2014
Probation Conditions and Termination, 2014-2017, inclusive
Appeals Case, 2016-2018, inclusive
Estate of Judy Jean Caquias, Deceased, v. City of New York, et al. -- Transcript, 2018
Series III. Activism, 1970-2020, inclusive
Extent
Extent
Scope and Contents
This series contains materials related to McMillan's activism and lifelong commitment to civil rights movements. Included are Occupy Wall Street materials (publications including The Occupy Wall Street Journal and Tidal, banners, posters, agendas, zines, flyers, guidelines on "knowing your rights" and nonviolent action, and schedules); agendas, charters, and meeting minutes for various groups (#ResistRikers campaign, Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America, and Bum Rush the Vote/Manny for the People Campaign for State Senate); advocacy materials for other incarcerated individuals (including her brother, James); and publicity and press for the publication of their memoir.
