Scope and Contents

Nicholas Scoppetta kept these files from each of his significant career roles over the last forty-odd years of his working life: Commissioner of Investigation for the City of New York (1972–1977), Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice (1976–1978), Professor at New York University School of Law (1978–1982), Commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services (1996-2001), and 31st Commissioner of the Fire Department of the City of New York (2002–2009). Also present is material from his long association with the Children's Aid Society, and from New Yorkers for Children, the non-profit arm of the Administration for Children's Services he founded in 1996.

Note that these appear to be Scoppetta's personal files, not his official working documents (which are likely still housed with their respective agencies), and so provide spotty coverage of his myriad duties. The researcher interested in a specific activity or event in Scoppetta's career should consult the chronological arrangement of the series described below to determine where information is likely to be found.

Much of the collection is printed matter: press releases and digests, internal memos, e-mail printouts, funeral and dedicatory programs, annual reports, conference proceedings, course readings, and so on. A number of Scoppetta's speeches and addresses, in draft and finished form—some with manuscript emendations—are scattered throughout. There is very little correspondence.

The collection includes a large amount of audiovisual material—VHS tapes, audiocassettes, CDs and DVDs—most of it on the theme of child welfare (see Subseries II.C in the container list, below).

Memorabilia in the form of photographs (of Scoppetta with significant figures like Mayor Abraham Beame and First Lady Barbara Bush), awards (including one signed by Hillary Rodham Clinton as United States Senator from New York), political pins (e.g., "NICK SCOPPETTA FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL" from his unsuccessful 1978 bid for that office), and lapel pins (many with post-9/11 sentiments) rounds out the collection (see Series IV in the container list, below).