Queens Memory collects personal histories, photographs and other records of contemporary life in Queens, New York.
Queens Name Explorer
The Name Explorer project seeks to enrich local history by increasing knowledge of individuals honored with named places in Queens – its streets, monuments, schools, parks, and buildings. This ongoing project creates a dynamic living archive, while enhancing awareness of communities not represented or underrepresented in our borough. To date, 1,300+ named places have been identified, and 1040+ of them are live on the Name Explorer map.
But your help is needed. The map still has many entries lacking information and photographs. If you can add info, an anecdote, and/or photograph, please do so by clicking the blue “Add/Edit” button in the top right corner. See a street named after a member of your community not currently on the map? Or a sign that needs maintenance and restoration? Add/Edit to let us know!
Tejas Desai Oral History
Tejas Desai is a novelist, short story writer, and the Assistant Community Library Manager of Queens Public Library's Cambria Heights branch. Desai discusses his visits to Queens Public Library as a child in the 1980s and 1990s, his early interest in writing fiction, and his reflections on how his junior high school and high school experiences in New York City, including incidents of bullying and racism, influenced his writing during that time. Desai reflects on his academic and personal life while attending Wesleyan University and his subsequent career path toward librarianship. Desai, who began working at Queens Public Library in 2007, describes his day-to-day experiences of working in a busy public library and interacting with diverse customers. Desai also explains how working at Queens Public Library has enabled him to continue his own writing career and to offer programs and resources to support other independent authors in Queens.
Upcoming Events
Home Movie Day 2024
Queens Street Names Stories : A Name Explorer Listening Party – An Open House New York Weekend Event
Queens Memory Oral History Workshop
Monday Memories: Queens College Story-Sharing with Lori DiBella Wallach
I Was Here: Name, Place and The History Between – A Writing Workshop with Sherese Francis
Climate Action: How to Prepare for Flooding in Northeast Queens
Listen to the Queens Memory Podcast
Season Three of the Queens Memory Podcast is coming soon! In this season, “Our Major Minor Voices,” we feature stories from our neighbors of Asian descent in Queens, New York. New episodes will air each Monday, starting April 11th 2022. Click Here to listen to the trailer for the season, and to hear to new episodes, as they are released. To hear Season One of the Queens Memory Podcast, Memories of Migration, Click Here. Season One features Queens residents who moved from all over the world over the past century to settle in the “World’s Borough”. To hear Season Two of the Queens Memory Podcast, The Borough We Became: Queens Residents on Life during COVID-19, Click Here. Season Two features interviews with Queens residents and highlighted sound and video contributions to our COVID-19 Project as the pandemic unfolded.
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