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New York Hospital, Division of Professional Services and the Department of General Services (Cosmo LaCosta) Records

 Collection
Identifier: US-NNCORMA-RG01-SG010-001

Scope and Contents

The records have been organized into seven series: Administrative Files (1962-1987), Reports (1979-1987), Committees (1977-1987), Burn Center (1976-1980), C. V. Starr Pavilion (1971-1987), Helmsley Tower (1979-1987), Major Modernization Records (1976-1989). Only the committee files contain records about Cosmo LaCosta personal activities in various committees in and outside of the medical center. The rest of the records document various capital and construction projects at the medical center. Most noteworthy are records pertaining to the construction/establishment of the Burn Center, C. V. Starr Pavilion, Helmsley Tower, Warner's Communications Child Life Center, AIDS Special Studies Center, and the Hermine Neustadl Stich Radiation Therapy Building.

Dates

  • 1962 - 1989

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Materials from this collection cannot be reproduced outside the guidelines of United States Fair Use (17 U.S.C., Section 107) without the advance permission of the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine or the copyright holder. In the event that anything from the collection become a source for publication, a credit line indicating the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine is required.

Historical records in the Medical Center Archives are protected by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) and internal policies which require protection and confidential handling of all protected health information (PHI). Materials containing PHI, personally identifiable information (PII), and/or student information (protected under FERPA) have been restricted and require additional permissions prior to reproduction and use.

Please visit the Medical Center Archives website for the most updated policies and procedures regarding reproduction and use.

Biographical / Historical

Cosmos LaCosta earned a BS in Education in 1963 from Fordham University and a MA in Public Administration (Health Administration) in 1973. He served with the U.S. Army at the hospital in Orleans, France, 1964-1965 and the U.S. Reserves from 1966-1968. He first joined the staff of New York Hospital in 1967 as an executive assistant. He moved up the ranks to assistant director (1971-1975), associate director of Professional Services (1975-1983), and Executive Associate Director of General Services (1983-1989). In 1989, he was appointed associate dean for operations at the Cornell University Medical College. Later, he was the director of Gracie Square Hospital, and the Senior Vice President of Continuum of Care at The New York Hospital-Queens.

Extent

16.46 Linear Feet (16 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection is a consolidation of four donations that Cosmo Lacosta made to the archives. They were originally cataloged under the departments that he held at the time of the donation. However, all of the records extended into different positions that he held at the Division of Professional Services and General Services (later called General and Support Services). Due to the overlap of these collections, it was decided to consolidate them into one collection to make it easier to access these records. The collections were donated as follow:

General Services, date of donation not noted General and Support Services, June 8, 1988 Associate Director, Division of Professional Services, November 1995 Burn Center Records, date of donation not noted

Processing Information

This collection was processed and finding aid was written by Elizabeth Shepard in 2014. This collection is a consolidation of four donations that Cosmo Lacosta made to the archives. They were originally cataloged under the departments that he held at the time of the donation. However, all of the records extended into different positions that he held at the Division of Professional Services and General Services (later called General and Support Services). Due to the overlap of these collections, it was decided to consolidate them into one collection to make it easier to access these records. Duplicates were discarded.

Minor modifications to the finding aid were made during migration to ArchivesSpace in 2025.

Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine Repository

Contact:
1300 York Avenue
Box #34
New York NY 10065
(212) 746-6072