For the month of May, we’re showcasing thirty-one of the extraordinary stories that have been shared by New Yorkers throughout our city as part of The New York Public Library’s Community Oral History Project. This project is a volunteer-powered initiative that aims to document, preserve, and celebrate the rich history of our city’s unique communities by collecting the stories of people who have experienced it firsthand. Since the beginning of this project in 2013, over one thousand stories have been collected by more than three hundred volunteer interviewers.

Like what you hear? Browse all of our oral history recordings at oralhistory.nypl.org. 

Want to make these stories searchable? Try your hand at our transcript editor.

All recordings will also be archived in the Library's Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy research collection.

Special thanks for this audio series goes to: Joanne Dillon, Elizabeth Downs, Kaitlin McClure, and Sherri Niziolek.