Volunteers in the Vaults

This special Volunteers in the Vaults event will be hosted by the staff of the Lewis H. Latimer House in Flushing.

The house served as the home of African-American inventor Lewis Howard Latimer from 1903 to 1928 and is now operated as a museum dedicated to his work. Latimer, who was born in 1848, was determined to overcome his lack of formal education and taught himself mechanical drawing while in the Union Navy and became an expert draftsman. He played a critical role in the development of the telephone and, as Edison’s chief draftsman, he invented and patented the carbon filament, a significant improvement in the production of the incandescent light bulb. Over the course of his career, Latimer supervised the installation of street lighting and the construction of electric plants in many American cities, as well as London and Montreal.

Attendees will be able to engage with special treasures prepared for us by the Latimer House staff, and will have the chance to discuss their ideas for Queens-related oral history projects and network with Queens Memory volunteers and staff.

Please join us! RSVP to digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org