It was a rainy day on Tuesday, December 9, but a large and enthusiastic crowd still gathered at the Bronx House to celebrate The New York Public Library’s oral history project, Voices from East of Bronx Park. This project is the first large scale effort to collect stories from people who have lived or worked in the Bronx, with Allerton, Pelham Parkway, Van Nest, and Morris Park communities leading the start to an ongoing effort to collect Bronx oral histories.

The evening was full of wonderful speakers who all came with different perspectives on their neighborhood’s story. Robert Diamond is an historian who spoke in November at the East Bronx History Forum meeting. He brought in a fascinating presentation on transportation history in the Northeast Bronx.

Dr. Lois Fermaglich, a storyteller for the project, grew up in Pelham Parkway and talked about her experience revisiting her childhood neighborhood with family and friends who also grew up nearby.

Jeremy Warneke, District Manager of Community Board 11, gave us all some helpful advice about conducting interviews. Mr. Warneke has already conducted several interviews for the project with longtime residents. He is a newer neighborhood resident himself and is using this project as an opportunity to both learn about the area and preserve its important, untold history.

Grace Lovaglio is an engaged community member, active in several local organizations. She spoke about the strength of the community to speak up for itself and prevail through many changes. Ms. Lovaglio is also an interviewer for the project.

David Nochimson (Pelham Parkway-Van Nest Library), Dawn Holloway (Morris Park Library), and Manny Martinez (Allerton Library), local NYPL branch managers, all described their interest and enthusiasm in the oral history project. Everyone agreed that there is a real need to preserve this history as it hasn’t been extensively captured yet. 

All of the branches involved plan to host events around the project that celebrate community history and inspire dialogue between new residents, longtime residents, and those who grew up in the area. Allerton Library is screening a film in January as part of this programming – for more information click here.

Stay tuned for more information as this project moves forward.

About our Oral History Project:

Voices from East of Bronx Park is an oral history project that works to both preserve and document the neighborhood history of the Allerton, Pelham Parkway, Morris Park, and Van Nest communities through the stories of people who have experienced it. The project will collect oral histories of people who live in neighborhoods east of Bronx Park and train community members to conduct these interviews. Longtime residents and those who have worked in these neighborhoods are invited to share their stories, documenting an important past and present history. Interviews will be preserved at The Milstein Division of United States History, Local History, and Genealogy. Interviews will also be available in a circulating collection and accessible on this website.

This is a project of the Alleron, Morris Park, and Pelham Parkway-Van Nest Libraries.

To listen to some of the first stories collected, please visit oralhistory.nypl.org.