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!
Ralph McDaniels Oral History (2022)
Ralph McDaniels is a DJ and co-creator and host of Video Music Box, the longest-running music video show in the world. McDaniels was born in Brooklyn and moved to Queens when he was eleven. He attended LaGuardia Community College, simultaneously working as a DJ for the club Encore in Jamaica. In this interview, McDaniels reflects on the founding and evolution of the Encore club, which opened in 1979 on 89th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard. McDaniels was a DJ at the club and was heavily involved in its operations from its inception, watching it grow from an abandoned building to one of the largest clubs in Queens catering primarily to Black visitors. He describes the inspiration the club took from clubs in Manhattan, the experience of seeing a club be built from the ground up, and his observations of the surrounding area, including the Central Library.
Upcoming Events
Preserving Your New York Story: Recording Family Histories with Care
Queens Memory Introduction to Oral History Interviewing
Organize It or Lose It: Digital Declutter Series (When, Where, What, Why, and Who)
Queens Memory Lunch & Learn: Memories of Water Listening Event
Rockaway Memories: a Community Listening Party
Queens Memory Introduction to Oral History Interviewing
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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