Surviving & Thriving on the Lower East Side: How a Neighborhood Shaped America

New York City's Lower East Side bore witness to several historic events that not only shaped the future of the city, but of New York State and the country as a whole.  In this workshop we will examine the short and long-term effects of events such as the Draft Riots of 1863, the landmark Tenement House Acts of 1879 and 1901, and the Immigration Act of 1924, with an emphasis on the contingent, interrelated nature of the various factors in play, as well as the wider repercussions of each event, and the traces these events have left on the built environment, providing a window onto the past.  These events will be presented within the context of broader themes that emerged during our research, including Shifting Demographics; Local Tragedy: Widespread Impact; and Government Intervention. As preservationists, our focus is on the effects of societal change on the built environment, and the interpretation of the physical vestiges to shape our understanding of the past.

The mission of the Pratt Historic Preservation program is to create and sustain a learning community of students, faculty and alumni that is characterized by innovative professional practice, and that emphasizes preservation approaches rooted in the principles of sustainability, equity and public participation.  The walking tours produced for the museum – the final product of our research – are designed to provide an interpretive experience to the local community and visitors alike.  By distilling our research into manageable self-guided walking tours we attempted to turn several blocks of the Lower East Side into a walkable museum, where visitors might engage in an imaginative effort to understand the texture of urban life in the past by layering their own personal experiences over the contemporary urban fabric.

The workshop will be supplemented by historical photographs, maps and visual materials in PowerPoint slideshow format, timed to run approximately one hour in length, including discussion.  As students based in New York City, we look forward to participating in Researching New York 2011.