You are reading

Queens Memory Project Celebrates 10 Years of Collecting Borough Memories

These shoppers look happy to be on Jamaica Avenue during the Jamaica Day sales in October 1957. This is one of the many images available from Queens Memory.

Sept. 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin

The Queens Memory Project, an ongoing community archiving program supported by the Queens Public Library and Queens College Library, will celebrate its 10-year anniversary next week with a Facebook Live event.

The project, in which volunteers record interviews with Queens residents, has collected more than 600 oral histories of people from 30 different countries who call Queens home since it began a decade ago.

Queens Memory Project Director Natalie Milbrodt will mark the anniversary by sharing highlights from the collection of stories and interviews during the “A Decade of Stories: The Queens Memory Project Celebrates 10 Years” livestream on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. Special guests who have been a part of the project over the years will also join.

“We are so proud to be a trusted keeper of Queens stories,” Milbrodt said. “We can only do it with the help of Queens residents, who are incredible partners in this work, recording interviews with neighbors, family members and friends for the collections. We are grateful to them for making history with us.”

The Queens Memory Project has also been a dedicated source of recording residents’ experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. In April, it launched the COVID-19 Project, which has been documenting first-person accounts from communities most affected by the virus.

The stories have been compiled into a podcast and feature interviews with healthcare workers who have battled the coronavirus, essential workers on the front lines and people who contracted COVID-19.

email the author: [email protected]
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Five Queens Village residents charged after search warrant turns up drugs, weapons near 10-year-old boy’s bedroom: DA

Five people were arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on drugs and weapons charges late Wednesday night, hours after the NYPD executed a search warrant at their Queens Village home and seized four firearms — including an assault rifle — and more than 4 kilograms of fentanyl-laced cocaine and heroin with a street value of more than $200,000, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. The weapons and drugs were discovered just steps away from a 10-year-old boy’s bedroom.

Cambria Heights Library gets $2.8 million for crucial resilience upgrades

Sep. 20, 2023 By Bill Parry

As Climate Week NYC got underway, Councilwoman Nantasha Williams presented a check for $2.8 million in funding to Queens Public Library to support vital resilience upgrades at the Cambria Heights Library on Monday, Sept. 19. The resilience upgrades are designed to enhance the library’s ability to withstand and recover from adverse events and to ensure that it remains a valuable hub for education, information and community engagement.