Mott Haven History Keepers: Investing in Grassroots Public Humanities Infrastructure

FAIN: PN-293468-23

Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York (New York, NY 10032-3725)
Amy Starecheski (Project Director: January 2023 to present)

The training of five history keepers and five apprentices to conduct oral histories, facilitate community archiving, and produce public programming documenting the South Bronx neighborhood Mott Haven.

This project will identify and support the people within the South Bronx’s Mott Haven community who are already serving as “history-keepers,” expanding what counts as humanities work and who counts as humanities workers. We will honor, invest in, and learn from the people who hold our neighborhood’s history and who are not professional, credentialed humanities workers. Each history-keeper will be provided with a significant stipend, training, and a paid apprentice. They will be supported to deepen the work they are already doing, and share it within their neighbors through a public exhibit, performance, or event. Working with the Bronx County Historical Society, history-keepers will have the opportunity to preserve, digitize and archive any materials they choose to share, including oral histories. Through amplifying the knowledge of long-time residents, this project will strengthen social networks and build on existing practices for resilience and creativity.