Baltimore Region Institutional Studies Center Records

The Baltimore Region Institution Studies Center (BRISC) was founded at the University of Baltimore in 1973 by urban sociologist, William Theodore Durr. BRISC operated as an experimental archives and records management repository with an emphasis on city planning. By 1976, the Center had acquired records of many of the city's foremost institutions, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Baltimore Committee, the Citizen's Planning & Housing Association and twenty others.

From 1977 to 1980 under the auspices of BRISC, partnering with city agencies and community groups, the Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project conducted oral history interviews with residents of seven city neighborhoods and workers at the Port of Baltimore. The oral history project led to a theater production in cooperation with the Baltimore Theater Project, Baltimore Voices, which was presented in about three dozen venues throughout the city. It also led to a book, Baltimore People, Baltimore Places.

When federal grant programs had their budgets slashed in the 1980s, BRISC's operations ceased. The BRISC archives were transferred to Langsdale Library and managed by Adele Newburger. Today, the archival collections acquired and maintained by BRISC are part of the Baltimore Regional Studies Archives in Langsdale Library Special Collections.