Around Queens: Queens Memory Project

Queens Memory is a community archiving program founded in 2010 and supported by Queens Public Library and Queens College, CUNY. We engage with Queens residents in our mission to both (1) make the public aware of our local history collections through programming and online resources, and (2) continually add new materials to our collections from the diverse communities of Queens. The goal is to raise awareness and a sense of ownership in the creation of our shared historic record, and our dream is that all Queens residents who visit these collections feel their experiences and perspectives are represented. Queens Memory also provides training and materials for those wishing to contribute oral history interviews, photographs, or other records of their neighborhoods, families, and communities. These materials are permanently preserved in the Archives and are shared with the public on a variety of platforms including Aviary, Urban Archive, our podcast series, Instagram, and in the archival repositories of Queens Public Library and Queens College’s Rosenthal Library. Queens Memory was founded in 2010 and has received numerous honors, including the 2014 Archivists Round Table Award for Educational Use of Archives and the 2019 New York State Archives’ Debra E. Bernhardt Annual Archives Award for Excellence in Documenting New York’s History.