State Parks Announces Federal Grant Supporting LGBT Heritage Research in Greenwich Village

 

Fifth Grant Supports Project Begun in 2014

Nine Greenwich Village Properties Named to State, National Historic Registers So Far

 Marking LGBT History Month in October, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced today the award of a $49,999 federal grant from the National Park Service to expand State and National Registers of Historic Places documentation for the Greenwich Village Historic District in Manhattan.

The grant was made under the National Park Service's Underrepresented Community Grants Program, which works towards diversifying nominations submitted to the National Register of Historic Places. The grant will be facilitated by Park’s Division for Historic Preservation and the New York City LGBT Historic Sites Project, a cultural heritage initiative documenting the city’s LGBT heritage.

State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said, "Greenwich Village, a site of layered social, art, and culture movements, holds a singular place in the nation’s LGBTQ history. It is of the utmost importance that we preserve the Greenwich Village landscape for future generations to understand the accomplishments, struggles, and fortitude of the individuals that have paved the way to expand LGBTQ rights.”

While the Greenwich Village Historic District was originally listed in the Registers in 1978, documentation then did not acknowledge the significant role that the LGBT community played in the history of the village.

In 2014, State Parks received a $49,999 federal grant to help launch the New York City LGBT Historic Sites Project to supplement research in the historic district. This was followed by another $49,999 federal grant in 2016 and additional grants of $25,000 in 2018 & 2019.

The latest grant will expand the registers’ documented history of the historic district, adding important scholarship on LGBT history that encompasses early 20th century LGBT culture and contributions, through late 20^th century, an era of extraordinary significance due to the impact of AIDS epidemic.

Amanda Davis, Manager of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project said, "In the 1920s, Greenwich Village emerged as one of the world's most famous LGBT enclaves, building a presence that continues today through sites of activism, arts and culture, community, nightlife, and residence. Creating an LGBT overlay to the Greenwich Village National Register Historic District will officially recognize the transformative contributions that the LGBT community has made to this famed neighborhood and, we hope, will inspire other historic preservationists to look for and document queer history within new or existing historic districts throughout the country going forward."

October’s LGBT History Month was founded in 1994 by Missouri high school teacher Rodney Wilson. The month-long celebration promotes LGBTQ+ role models and documents the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community.

So far, nine New York City properties have been listed on the National Register due to the project, with the most recent being the Women’s Liberation Center, the first permanent advocacy space for women’s and lesbians’ organizations in New York, and Raisin in the Sun author Lorraine Hansberry’s residence in New York City. 

The Stonewall Inn State Historic Site, a New York City bar and site of a 1969 uprising widely recognized as a key turning point in the LGBT rights movement, was the first such site of its kind in the nation to be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

State Parks has subcontracted the Greenwich Village District amendment project to the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, which so far has documented the history of more than 350 sites across the city, including residences, stores, performance venues, bars and restaurants, organizational and community spaces, medical facilities, and cultural and educational institutions.

The project has documented these locations on its website http://www.nyclgbtsites.org/ and disseminates its content through social media at @nyclgbtsites.

In 2018, State Parks honored the NYC LGBT Sites Project team with a state Historic Preservation Award for its ground-breaking, nationally significant work.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which are visited by 78 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.parks.ny.gov, connect with us on Facebook, or follow on Instagram and Twitter