Naison, who has been a professor at Fordham since 1970, has had a long career as an educator, historian, and political activist. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, publications, and more that date from 1931 to 2011.

“The placement of my papers in the Brooklyn Historical Society is not only a great honor, it is a way of assuring than the human rights initiatives I participated in, whether at Columbia, at Fordham, or in the Brooklyn and Bronx communities I lived and worked in, will be documented in a form that students and scholars can easily access,” said Naison.

He credits others with helping to initiate and assemble the project. “The idea for preserving this collection came from journalist and author Kevin Powell, who assigned four student interns to the task of organizing papers by theme and persuaded the Brooklyn Historical Society to be their depository. I am very proud to be able to make this modest contribution to historical research on topics of great importance to me.”

To access the collection, visit the Brooklyn Historical Society.