Black Lesbian Archivist Shawnta Smith-Cruz Appointed as NYC’s Chief Keeper of Records

In a moment when battles over history and public data are intensifying nationwide, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Shawnta Smith-Cruz, a Black lesbian archivist, to safeguard the city’s official record.

New York City is placing its history in the hands of a steward who understands what it means to be written out of it.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Wednesday the appointment of Shawnta Smith-Cruz as commissioner of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services, known as DORIS. The agency, often operating outside the public spotlight, holds the city’s municipal archives, library systems, and records management infrastructure, shaping how the nation’s largest city remembers itself and responds to public demands for transparency.

Smith-Cruz, a Brooklyn native who identifies as both queer and lesbian, brings nearly two decades of experience across academic, public, and community-based archives. Her appointment places an out Black LGBTQ+ woman in charge of preserving and interpreting New York City’s official memory at a time when questions about whose stories endure, and whose are erased, have become newly urgent.

That urgency has been sharpened by recent national controversies over historical representation. Federal actions tied to the legacy of the Stonewall uprising drew backlash after references to transgender people were reportedly minimized in official materials. Earlier this year, the removal of the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument sparked legal challenges from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, culminating in a court settlement restoring the flag in early April.

For Smith-Cruz, those conflicts are not abstract. They define the stakes of her work.

“We have such a rich New York City history when it comes to Stonewall in particular,” she said in an interview with The Advocate, emphasizing that preservation must extend beyond well-documented figures to include “other groups and other people whose voices and names were not documented or heard.”

Her appointment also reflects a broader governing philosophy emerging in Mamdani’s early tenure, one that draws leadership from grassroots organizing and community-based institutions. Smith-Cruz described her decision to join the administration as part of a larger vision.

“It’s really a Mamdani experience that I’m interested in being a part of,” she said, pointing to a cohort of appointees shaped by public service and advocacy rather than traditional political pipelines.

That approach is visible across City Hall. In March, Mamdani established the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, appointing civil rights attorney Taylor Brown as its inaugural director, making her the first out transgender person to lead a New York City agency. He also named Lillian Bonsignore as the Fire Department’s first openly gay commissioner, signaling a broader effort to embed LGBTQ+ leadership within the city’s governance structure.

As commissioner of DORIS, Smith-Cruz will oversee both the preservation of historical materials and the city’s response to public records requests, including those governed by freedom of information laws. She framed that responsibility as both technical and deeply political.

“It’s really responding to FOIA requests or people who are thinking about open access to government data, government records, government information,” she said. “That is something that is a right for all people.”

Her career has long centered on expanding that right. Most recently, Smith-Cruz served as dean of the Barnard College Library, where she led collections, digital systems, and research services. Her previous roles include leadership positions at New York University, the CUNY Graduate Center, and the Brooklyn Public Library.

Across those institutions, her work has consistently focused on access, particularly for communities often excluded from traditional archives. She has supported initiatives for incarcerated individuals and curated exhibitions on LGBTQ+ history, including work highlighting the Salsa Soul Sisters, widely recognized as New York City’s first lesbian-of-color organization.

Her commitment to community-building began early. As a teenager, she co-founded Sister Outsider, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that provides paid peer education programs for young women, rooted in harm reduction and economic empowerment.

Smith-Cruz holds a master’s degree in library science with a concentration in archives, a master of fine arts in fiction, and a bachelor’s degree from the CUNY Baccalaureate Program.

Her appointment arrives as debates over public records and historical preservation take on increasing political weight nationwide. Advocates have raised concerns about efforts to restrict or reshape how government institutions document LGBTQ+ lives, racial history, and other marginalized narratives.

“There are national endeavors … scraping U.S.-based government data sites so that we can retain what’s still there before they get shut down,” Smith-Cruz said.

In a statement announcing her appointment, she underscored the civic responsibility embedded in her role.

“Providing access to government records, documents, and data is our municipal responsibility,” she said, adding that the city’s archives must reflect “our many communities.”

In a time when history is being contested in courtrooms, classrooms, and codebases alike, New York City has chosen a keeper who knows that the archive is not just about the past. It is about who is allowed to be remembered at all.