Learn How to Capture the Stories of Your Neighborhood With the Brooklyn Public Library

Local activism has a long and colorful role in protecting the places that New Yorkers hold dear. The Brooklyn Collection at the Brooklyn Public Library is hoping to help Brooklynites capture those stories with an oral history training session.

Home to more than 5,000 books and an archive that includes 200,000 photographs, manuscripts, newspapers, sheet music and more, the Brooklyn Collection is a valuable resource for research into the deep history of the neighborhoods of Brooklyn. This includes materials documenting local advocacy and preservation groups like Bedford-Stuyvesant Youth in Action and the Brooklyn Heights Association.

To make sure local stories survive, the Brooklyn Collection is hosting the oral history training in conjunction with the New York Preservation Archive Project (NYPAP), an organization which documents and celebrates the stories of preservation in the five boroughs. Liz Strong, Oral History Program Manager for NYPAP, will lead the free session. Participants will learn more about the importance of oral histories in capturing the disappearing tales of community activism and local history and get tips on starting a project in their own neighborhood.

The event takes place on Wednesday, November 14 at the Central Library at 10 Grand Army Plaza. There will be a reception at 6:30 p.m. and then the workshop kicks off at 7 p.m. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, click here.

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• Longtime Bed Stuy Resident Claudette Brady Reflects on Preservation and Change
• Oral History Project to Capture “Voices of Crown Heights” Through Extensive Audio Interviews
• Young East New York Native Fights to Preserve Neighborhood’s Historic Gems

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