October 25, 2016
Article from the Fall 2016 Newsletter

The New York Preservation Archive Project is excited to announce the creation of new “teaser” videos made from the footage recorded as part of the Saving Preservation Stories: Diversity & the Outer Boroughs and Through the Legal Lens: Interviews with Lawyers Who Shaped NYC’s Landmarks Law oral history projects. These initiatives are capturing key memories of preservation campaigns significant to minority communities as well as those of influential legal figures in the evolution of New York City’s Landmarks Law. These videos are available on YouTube and due to the recent redesign of the Archive Project’s website, can now be featured prominently in the Oral History Collection section of our website. 

The Archive Project hopes that these engaging videos will tempt both serious researchers and more casual browsers to delve into these collections of newly captured stories. The videos will also be incorporated into future public programs and conference sessions that will deepen the public’s appreciation and understanding of preservation in New York City and inspire similar efforts in advancing our field. This May, the Archive Project used the Saving Preservation Stories video to illustrate a session on how to plan, fund, capture, and share oral history narratives at the 2016 Statewide Preservation Conference in Albany, NY. The Archive Project will present at additional conferences this fall and also plans to undertake a series of local public programs over the next year to highlight these oral history initiatives. This series will feature a selection of interviewees in a moderated panel discussion to speak on their efforts and the benefits of undertaking oral histories to document their stories. The goal of this series is to highlight the success of this project and inspire local communities and individuals to begin documenting their own history. Make sure to visit our oral history section and Youtube page for more videos. 

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Last fall the Preservation League of New York State presented its most prestigious award, the Pillar of New York, to the former chairs of New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission for their contributions as stewards of the City’s extraordinary Landmarks Law. The honorees were Kent Barwick, Laurie Beckelman, Gene A. Norman, Sherida Paulsen, Jennifer Raab, Beverly Moss Spatt, and Robert Tierney. In conjunction with this award ceremony the Preservation League created a video documenting the legacies of each of these chairs and a brief history of the work of the Commission over the last 50 years. View this inspiring video on the Preservation League’s YouTube page.