Queens Memory Marks Its 10th Anniversary With Special Programming Celebrating Its Achievements
Queens Memory Has Also Unveiled Its New Logo and Website
Queens, NY (September 21, 2020)—Queens Memory, an ongoing community archiving program supported by Queens Public Library and the Queens College Library, celebrates its 10-year anniversary with special programming and rebranding that includes the launch of a new logo and new user-friendly website.
To underline its numerous achievements, on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 7 pm, during “A Decade of Stories: The Queens Memory Project Celebrates 10 Years” event, Queens Memory Project Director Natalie Milbrodt will share highlights from the collections and welcome some special guests who have contributed their talents to Queens Memory over the years making it the successful program it is today.
In the past decade, the Queens Memory team has involved hundreds of volunteers in the work of enriching the historic record of Queens, collecting over 600 oral history interviews with Queens residents from over 30 countries of origin. In addition, it has partnered with dozens of community organizations, educators and cultural institutions, creating exhibitions and special documentation projects and hosting over 300 events at various locations across the borough as well as virtually on its Facebook page.
In April, Queens Memory launched the COVID-19 Project, which has been documenting first-person accounts from the communities affected in the most acute ways this past spring, when New York City was the center of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Stories collected as part of this initiative are featured in a new 10-episode season of the Queens Memory Podcast, “The Borough We Became: Queens Residents on Life During COVID-19,” with installments released weekly on the Queens Memory Aviary platform and available anywhere you listen to podcasts. Each episode covers different aspects of life in Queens during the pandemic, including stories from healthcare workers battling the coronavirus, essential workers on the front lines, people who contracted the virus, and the new challenges facing teachers and students.
“We are so proud to be a trusted keeper of Queens stories,” said Natalie Milbrodt, Queens Memory Project Director. “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.”
As part of its mission, Queens Memory offers training and materials for anyone wishing to contribute interviews, photographs, or other records of their neighborhoods, families and communities, providing residents from diverse backgrounds with tools to document the personal histories that together tell a more complete story of life in the borough.
Contact: Queens Public Library—Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska
###
