Travel back in time with virtual exhibits from these five New York City institutions—and, even better, use their resources to help document your own stories for the next generation.
Tenement Museum
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The Tenement Museum, which is physically located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, continues to offer interesting virtual activities including educational activities for grade-school children, exclusive behind-the-scenes articles, and video tours of the tenements. Consult their events calendar for an up-to-date list of virtual offerings.
A recent digital exhibit explores the experiences of five former residents of the museum’s tenement buildings who lived with, and ultimately died from, contagious disease. By tracing these individuals’ specific experiences—with tuberculosis during the nineteenth century, the influenza outbreak of 1918, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s—curators are able to put a most human spin on history. Explore Beyond Statistics: Living in a Pandemic.
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“So many of us have stories, passed down through the generations, illustrating our ancestors’ resilience through hardship,” notes the introduction to Objects of Comfort, a new crowd-sourced exhibit launched by the Tenement Museum in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, as we are living through a crisis, which objects that bring us comfort will become part of our collective history? Share your own stories (it’s really easy), or explore the array of contributions that have come in thus far.
Jewish Food Society
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The Jewish Food Society, a nonprofit working to preserve, celebrate, and revitalize Jewish culinary heritage, is “as likely to share a grandmother’s Old World kreplach recipe as we would a newfangled maple-glazed challah from Vermont. What they have in common is this: They tell the stories of how Jewish people live and love, how they celebrate and mourn, and the way they cook.”
I was recently introduced to the organization via “The Great Big Jewish Food Fest,” a 10-day virtual festival born out of this historic time with so many of us housebound—and active in our kitchens. I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop “Preserving Your Family’s Culinary Heritage with Jewish Food Society”; while this one’s not in the archive yet, you can browse a host of other tasty presentations here.
Schmaltzy, the society’s annual storytelling event (“it’s like The Moth, but with pastrami eggrolls”) yields morsels of conversation highlighting Jewish cooking traditions. Listen in as Mimi Sheraton ponders “one of the most essential Jewish food questions: Are floaters or sinkers superior?” and Stacey Harwood-Lehman makes a case for cooking and kasha in times of crisis.
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If you would like to contribute a recipe to the Jewish Food Society’s living archive, share it here. Note that they prioritize recipes that hold stories, whether that is a connection to the past, an emotional tug to family or the homeland, or a recurring (or new) holiday tradition. Find recipes including Jo Betty Sorensen’s Sixth Generation Coleslaw and Uri Scheft's Challah along with the tales behind each dish.
The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation
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Do you think you have an ancestor who came through Ellis Island? Consider accessing an expert from the American Family Immigration History Center on Ellis Island right from the comfort of your own home: They’ll conduct a 30-minute personalized research session (cost, $30) to help you uncover your Ellis Island connection.
If you already know what ship your family member came over on, why not browse the foundation site to see if any former U.S. presidents, artists, or entertainers were on the same voyage?
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The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation invites you “to share your own family immigration story with [them]: when your family came to America and why, the challenges they faced in leaving the homeland and settling here, and how your family has become a part of the American Experience.”
You must be a member to contribute to the archive (membership is free and allows you to search for family immigration records). Browse some of the family histories that have been submitted to the archive, and share your own here.
Photos tagged #covidstoriesnyc from the Museum of the City of New York’s Instagram feed. See how you can contribute below.
Museum of the City of New York
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Museum of the City of New York issued an open call via social media for images documenting a socially-distanced NYC. Since the launch of #covidstoriesnyc they continue to share a vivid portrayal of “the impact of this event on life in this dense, creative, and resilient city.” Share your own photographs reflecting your personal experiences during this challenging time by posting on Instagram or Facebook using hashtag #CovidStoriesNYC and tag @museumofcityny.
New-York Historical Society
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The New-York Historical Society is also collecting history as it’s happening. Their History Responds initiative began in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001, and has since proactively sourced artifacts and ephemera representative of the Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter protests as well as other historical NYC moments.
What items—no matter how modest or mundane—tell the story of the COVID-19 pandemic to you? Perhaps you’re writing in a journal or taking pictures that reflect sheltering in place? Maybe you’ve hung a sign in your storefront or painted rainbows in your apartment windows. If you would like to donate something significant to you related to the coronavirus, fill out this form.
NYHS invites students to keep coronavirus diaries (in whatever form they would like—digital, analog, video, voice memo) and share them, too.
Your Own Family Archive
Whatever you document for the organizations listed above, please don’t forget to keep copies for yourself. And if you decide sharing in such an official capacity is not for you, why not browse these digital resources simply to inspire you to preserve your own stories, just for you? Your stories are an important part of your family history, no matter where they are preserved.
If you would like help taking on a family story project, browse our list of professional biographers or reach out to us to see who we recommend for your particular needs.
Dawn Roode, a personal historian based in northern New Jersey, helps families and family-run businesses preserve their legacies in bespoke coffee table books.