Queens Memory Project
The Queens Memory Project is a digital archive which aims to record and preserve contemporary history across the borough of Queens, New York. The project is a collaborative effort between Queens College and Queens Library that was initially funded through a grant from the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO)[1] . Materials in the archive are made accessible to the public through a website which contains oral history interviews and photographs documenting the lives of Queens residents. The stories and images are presented alongside digitized historical photographs, maps, news clippings and other archival records. The goal of the project is to allow visitors to the site to view otherwise scattered archival materials and personal stories in a searchable database of collective memory representing the borough of Queens.
History
The archive began in June 2010 as an independent study for project director and archivist Natalie Milbrodt, then a Special Collections and Archives Fellow in the Queens College Libraries and a master’s degree candidate in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. Focusing on Flushing, Milbrodt conducted oral history interviews with 20 residents in the Waldheim neighborhood, a small area less than a mile from downtown Flushing[2] . A grant from the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) enabled her to establish collaboration with Queens Library to combine archival materials from their holdings relevant to Queens history with those of Queens College. The website was later developed by software firm Whirl-i-Gig and used to combine digital audio of the project interviews with images and other digital content from the collections. Future development of the Queens Memory Project will include expansion beyond the area of Flushing and the incorporation of Web 2.0 technology to allow direct user contributions.[3]
Oral Histories
The collection contains over 60 individual oral history interviews from residents of Queens. The recordings are in digital WAV format.
Audio Recordings
Ambient sounds recorded during the documentation of events in Queens are included in the collection. The recordings are in digital WAV format.
Photographs
Digital photographs of Queens residents and events are included in the project as well as digitized historical images from the contributing archival collections. Digital images are stored in TIFF format.
Maps/News Clippings/Ephemera
Other items in the Queens Memory Project archive include digitized maps, news clippings, and other ephemera. Digital images are stored in TIFF format.
References
- ^ "Metropolitan New York Library Council Awards $70,000 In Grants To Support Collaborative Digitization Projects". Hadassah. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ Press Release. "Capturing the American Experience Through Queens". Queens College News Services. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ Banrey, Jason. "A Place To Store Queens' Memories". Queens Tribune. Retrieved 17 September 2011.