Poetry in Motion car cards
Scope and Contents
The bulk of the collection comprises car cards produced in various sizes and formats by New York City Transit Arts for Transit and Arts & Design, and comprise Series 1, which is subdivided thereafter into subseries in function of accession number. The car cards in the series measure 11 x 28 inches, 11 x 44½, or 11 x 70 inches; posters measure 21 x 22 inches. The notation of multiple copies of select items is provided within parentheses in the collection inventory.
Series 2 contains printed ephemera generated or collected in function of the program’s public reception, promotion, and press coverage, and is subdivided into 3 sub-series: Series 2.1 includes press kits and clips, as well as a scrapbook containing letters of appreciation received by Neil Neches from cultural organizations, agencies, and members of the general public evidencing their enjoyment of the program. Correspondents include private citizens; schools and universities, including Brown University, Brooklyn College, and Hunter College; government and transportation agencies, including BART, of the San Francisco Bay Area, Arts in Transit, St. Louis, Mo., NYCT’s own Transit Police Department, and the New York State Senate; and arts and cultural organizations in and around New York City, including Poets House, Literary Partners, Inc., and the Red Hook Community Center. The remaining contents of the second sub-series include programs, fliers, news clippings, and bookmarks produced in conjunction with the program. The final sub-series consist of materials produced by the Poetry Society of America, including a gala program and seasonal calendar bearing tangential relevance to the program.
Series 3 consists of 119 color slides capturing select car cards as seen in Series 1. A list of slides in the order in which they appear in the binder is provided in the inventory below; the supplementary index furnished at the conclusion of the finding aid indicates the slide number assigned to car cards for which corresponding slides exist.
Dates
- 1992 - 2018
- Majority of material found within 1992 - 2018
Creator
- MTA Arts & Design (Organization)
- MTA New York City Transit (Organization)
- Poetry Society of America (Organization)
Languages
Materials in English; some materials appear in foreign languages (Spanish, French, Japanese, Cheyenne) with according English translations.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright restrictions may apply to some materials pending publisher, estate and/or artist rights.
Biographical / Historical
The Poetry in Motion Program was launched by the New York City Transit Authority in 1992, in collaboration with the Poetry Society of America, and was inspired by London Transport’s “Poems on the Underground” program, a similarly themed initiative conceived to bring poetry to a wider audience. From 1993-1999, car cards were produced by the MTA Corporate Communications Department, and featured a specially designed masthead reproducing mosaic tilework from different stations in the system, among other designs. It was placed on a brief hiatus in 2008, supplanting it with “Train of Thought” car cards. The initiative was renewed in March of 2012 under the auspices of MTA Arts & Design, which undertook to pair poems with details from permanent projects commissioned under its larger public arts program. Over the course of its history, the program’s management has fallen under three different offices: MTA Arts for Transit, MTA Arts for Transit & Urban Design, and MTA Arts & Design.
Extent
0.25 Linear Feet (3 flat files containing car cards featuring 240 designs; 577 discrete objects) : Paper records and ephemera
Abstract
Car cards, printed materials, and color slides displaying and promoting the Poetry in Motion program launched by the New York City Transit Authority in 1992 in collaboration with the Poetry Society of America. Championed by Alan F. Kiepper, NYCT President from 1990-1996, the program was overseen by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Corporate Communications Department, under the leadership of Peter Walsh and Neil Neches; it was subsequently managed by MTA Marketing & Communications, directed by Alicia Martinez through 2008; and from 2012 to present day, it operates under the auspices of MTA Arts & Design.
System of Arrangement
The collection has been arranged into 3 series, as outlined below. Car cards pertaining to Series 1 are stored in Flat Files in the Archives and Reading Room and are arranged in order of their accession number, and not necessarily by the year of their production. Within this Series, materials presenting identical copy but produced in different format sizes are treated and cataloged discretely. Printed materials including pamphlets, brochures, and correspondence are stored in Box “PIM 1” in the Archives and Reading Room, and are housed in folders by subseries. Slides depicting select car cards in Series 1 are stored in a binder in cold storage, and have been arranged in deference to their original order.
Other Finding Aids
PDF URL
Provenance
The collection is comprised of car cards deriving from various accessions given or transferred to the archives between 2006 and 2018, with ongoing accretions indefinitely as new materials are produced. The bulk of the car cards in the collection pertain to the accession XX.2017.42, which was found in the archives and is of unknown provenance. Materials from 2006.56, 2008.3 and 2012.44 were all transferred internally from Corporate Communications. Ongoing accretions are transferred on a standing basis directly from MTA Arts & Design and are cataloged under accession 2018.1. Printed materials and ephemera were transferred to the archives under diverse accessions, and have since been reassigned object IDs bearing the 2018.1 prefix to reflect their subject matter and context. Slides were transferred internally by Peter Walsh in 2005 and are cataloged with object IDs reflecting the accession number 2005.26.
Abbreviations
- Tr. Translated by
- PSA Poetry Society of America
- Title
- Finding aid for the Poetry in Motion car cards
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Rebecca Haggerty and Emily Toder
- Date
- 2018
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Revision Statements
- 2022: Edited and reformatted by Elise Winks
- 2023: Manually entered into ArchivesSpace by Joanna Satalof
Repository Details
Part of the Archives and Reading Room Repository