Revitalizing NYCHA’s Archives:
Honoring our Legacy, Building our Future
NYCHA Archive PROGRAM
Public Housing Community Fund Receives a Grant to Expand NYCHA’s Archives at LaGuardia Community College
The Public Housing Community Fund (PHCF) receives a $493,000 grant made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation to support the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in revitalizing and expanding NYCHA’s archival collection in partnership with LaGuardia Community College and the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives.
The Revitalizing NYCHA’s Archives: Honoring Our Legacy, Building Our Future ensures that critical chapters of New York City’s history are accessible to a broader audience for perpetuity, while also helping NYCHA communities understand and appreciate their shared histories. The New York City Housing Authority, North America's largest public housing authority, was created in 1935 to provide decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. Building on the groundbreaking work the Leon Levy Foundation Archives Program has done with the other historic institutions, this project uplifts the importance of public housing in New York City by digitizing over never-before-seen photographs, key historical documents, videos, and old NYCHA Journal newspapers, creating an accessible and digital database that reflects the profound impact of NYCHA on the city's social and cultural fabric. The initiative will ensure that these invaluable historical assets are meticulously organized, cataloged, and made available to the broader public, not just researchers and academics.
Through this 3-year initiative, the Public Housing Community Fund (PHCF) and the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives will collaborate to incorporate oral histories into the NYCHA Collection, capturing the personal stories and experiences of NYCHA residents and scaling the production and recording of oral histories across more NYCHA communities. The project culminates in a comprehensive “StoryMap,” an interactive, web-based platform that showcases content featuring maps, videos, historic documents, oral histories, and photographs. The StoryMap component will feature NYCHA collection materials that are currently not publicly displayed. It will represent a comprehensive timeline of NYCHA’s history across all five boroughs, with a focus on art and culture. By making these archives more accessible, robust, and engaging, the project will celebrate and highlight NYCHA's legacy.
LEARN ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF THE NYCHA COLLECTION
Digitizing new and existing photographic prints, negatives, and transparencies
Enhancing the metadata/indexing of the NYCHA Photograph Collection
Adding more than 2,000 photographs to the online database, complete with descriptive captions and easier discoverability
Funder
The grant program is made possible by funding from the Archives and Catalogues Program grant from the Leon Levy Foundation.
The Leon Levy Foundation, founded in 2004, is a private, not-for-profit foundation created from the estate of Leon Levy by his wife and Founding Trustee, Shelby White. The Foundation continues Leon Levy’s philanthropic legacy and builds on his vision, supporting the preservation, appreciation and expansion of knowledge in the ancient world, Arts and Humanities, Nature and Gardens, Neuroscience, Human Rights, and Jewish Culture. To learn more, visit: www.leonlevyfoundation.org
Partners
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the largest public housing authority in North America, was created in 1934 to provide decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. NYCHA is home to 1 in 17 New Yorkers, providing affordable housing to 520,808 authorized residents through public housing and Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) programs as well as Section 8 housing. NYCHA has 177,569 apartments in 2,411 buildings across 335 conventional public housing and PACT developments. In addition, NYCHA connects residents to critical programs and services from external and internal partners, with a focus on economic opportunity, youth, seniors, and social services. With a housing stock that spans all five boroughs, NYCHA is a city within a city.
The LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.
