Projects archive memories of Brooklyn, Filipino community in NY

BROOKLYN, New York — A partnership between the Brooklyn Public Library and a Filipino American artist will use technological tools to archive memories of Brooklyn in general and the Filipino community in New York City in particular.

Our Streets, Our Stories is a grant given by METRO’s (Metropolitan Library Council of New York) Culture in Transit to the Brooklyn Public Library.

My Baryo, My Borough is a grant funded by the Laundromat Project to Claro De Los Reyes, as a commissioned artist and Create Change fellow.

Our Streets, Our Stories provides members of the Brooklyn community with the tools and technology to share their Brooklyn memorabilia and culture heritage materials with the world.

Many items that can help tell Brooklyn’s story are sitting forgotten in apartments and basements all over the borough, being lost due to improper storage conditions and neglect.

Library users are encouraged to dig out these items and bring them to the library, which is looking for materials like photographs, fliers and documents from Brooklyn families, businesses, block parties, community organizations and anything else that tells the story of Brooklyn.

Here’s how it works:

• Our Streets, Our Stories will bring a high quality scanner and camera to library branches around
Brooklyn, asking participants to bring in these items for digitization.
• All scanning will be handled by the library and volunteers; participants don’t need any scanning experience.
• After digitization, participants will keep their items and receive a flash drive with high resolution digital copies of their items.
• Participants will be invited to share digital copies of their items with the library’s digital catalog and the Digital Public Library of America.

My Baryo, My Borough

Like Our Streets, Our Stories My Baryo, My Borough uses art and creativity to celebrate the Filipino and Filipino American community in New York City. Through public art programs, theatre, and creative story sharing, the broader NYC community is invited to celebrate NYC Filipino / Filipino American experience.

Central to the project is a community-centered oral history collection that mobilizes community members to collect, share and celebrate the largely overlooked legacy of the Filipino/ Filipino American community of New York.

The community is invited bring family photos to scan in to the Brooklyn archives, meet community members, share and listen to stories and memories over coffee on Saturday May 7, anytime between 11:30 a.m. -3:30 p.m. at Purple Yam Restaurant, 1314 Cortelyou Rd, Brooklyn, NY 11226. All are welcome to participate. The event is co-sponsored by Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Metro NY Chapter.