More than 100 longtime community members recently shared their stories as part of The Jefferson Market Library’s Greenwich Village Oral History Project. This project has been an overwhelming success because of the dedicated participation of all the volunteers, interviewers and storytellers that make up the heart of this neighborhood, both past and present. These memories of a changing neighborhood were recorded, so that things that might have been forgotten will instead be remembered, preserved as part of The New York Public Library’s archives. You can also visit oralhistory.nypl.org to hear Lisa Davis talk about floor show performers in mafia-owned gay nightclubs in the 1940s, Ralph Lee describe his journey from a one-room school house in Middlebury, Vermont, to founding the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in 1974 and enjoy all of the other oral histories recorded as part of this project.
This community came together in a big way to collect these stories, and now we need your help with the next phase: making the stories searchable for researchers, residents and anyone curious about Greenwich Village history. You turn to the index at the back of a book to look up specific names, places and subjects, and we want it to be just as easy to find information within the oral histories. Although those who have shared their stories for the project have been longtime residents of the neighborhood, volunteers who are interested in annotating the interviews can be new transplants, non-residents or anyone else who has an interest in the neighborhood or in helping make the information accessible. Indexing the recordings just involves listening to interviews and marking them whenever you hear important keywords. A keyword could be a location, like St. Vincent’s Hospital; an event, like the Stonewall Riots or a person, like Rollerina. This simple process can be done easily using a special tool at oralhistory.nypl.org. Come to the library and we’ll give you a quick lesson in how to use it.
We’re also excited to announce that the oral history project has inspired a new film series at Jefferson Market. The series will further explore this unique community’s rich history using rare 16mm prints courtesy of the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The first installment of the series will take place at The Jefferson Market Library on Thursday, July 17 at 6:30pm and will feature two films. The first, Village Sunday (1960; 12min), is a fun docudrama that shows different happenings in Greenwich Village on a Sunday afternoon. The second, Community Dig (1984; 18 min.), is a documentary about the archeological excavation of Sheridan Square in 1982. A group discussion will follow the screening.
The Jefferson Market Library Oral History Project is taking submissions for new stories. If you are interested in sharing your story or for more information about this oral history project, contact Corinne Neary at 212-243-4334 or email her at corinneneary@nypl.org.
Corinne Neary has been a librarian at the Jefferson Market library since 2009. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.
VILLAGE SUNDAY has been preserved by the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation.
