Under the Tenement Roofs: Placing Real Life Stories into History

FAIN: BP-50190-10

Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Inc. (New York, NY 10002-3102)
Annie Polland (Project Director: August 2009 to September 2011)

Planning to strengthen and update public tours within a thematic framework of the built environment, lived religion and Americanization, and Progressive-Era social activists.

This project will enable the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, a living testimonial to the history of immigration, to hire historians, museum specialists, and education evaluators to help the Museum strengthen and update the content of its public tours of 97 Orchard St. Between 1863 and 1935, more than 7,000 immigrants lived in this building and the Museum has skillfully recreated six of these apartments to convey the "real-life stories" of these immigrants and connect it to broader themes in American history. Between April 2010 and 2011, these specialists will meet with Museum staff to discuss re-envisioning tour content within the framework of three humanities themes: the built environment, lived religion, and Progressive-Era social activists.