Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group 2020 Project

Focus

We document the experiences of our neighbors in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of the Upper West Side of Manhattan during the year 2020.

History

The Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group, founded in 2000 as the Park West Village Neighborhood History Group, has a long history of collecting documentation of history-in-the-making of our neighborhood, mainly in files we have kept in the Bloomingdale branch of the New York Public Library, where they have been available for research. Towards the middle of the year 2020, as we became aware that the story of the COVID-19 pandemic would be a long one, and as protests over the killing of George Floyd washed over the city nightly, the Planning Committee of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group convened online and decided to invite neighbors to contribute to an online cache of photographs and short writings about the entire year.

Collection

Contributions have mostly taken the form of photographs, along with a few drawings and paragraphs. People have submitted photographs from anywhere they were during the year, not just our neighborhood on the Upper West Side. Though we invited memories of people who died, for the most part neighbors preferred to focus on creative attempts to maintain health and a positive attitude and on businesses’ efforts to stay afloat.

Form of Collection

Digitized photographs and drawings and writings. They are organized by date. 

Emphasis

We are focused on the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Manhattan’s Upper West Side (96th Street to 110th Street between Central Park and Riverside Park). However, neighbors submitted pictures from all over the city and even of places they moved outside of the city to “escape” the pandemic. 

Time Period

We decided to limit the 2020 Project to the calendar year 2020, though pandemic and social upheavals continue in 2021 and we are always interested in collecting material about the history of our neighborhood—past, present, and future. 

Public Access

The collection is posted at www.upperwestsidehistory.org/2020-project.html 

Director

The Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group.

Contact Persons

John Gorham and Vita Wallace

Email: bloomingdalehistory@yahoo.com

Telephone number: 212-666-0928

Website: upperwestsidehistory.org