The Bronx, NY: History-making work in the South Bronx’s Mott Haven is hidden in plain sight. In community gardens, workplaces, church basements, barber shops, hair salons, and senior centers, on stoops and sidewalks, countless informal historians—or history keepers—keep scrapbooks, tell stories, and teach young people.

*Marco Saavedra talking about his experiences as an immigration activist in his family’s South Bronx restaurant, where a banner with his family’s story is posted.*

The stories these history keepers hold are as varied as the history of Mott Haven itself: stories of resilience in the face of fires that burned through the neighborhood in the 1970s and 80s; of HIV and AIDS; of Covid-19; of the neighborhood’s global impact on music and art; of organizing community-controlled healthcare; of developing co-operative housing; and of connectedness, creativity, and community.

However, these history keepers work largely outside of humanities institutions, which has limited our knowledge of how humanities work happens in everyday life. It has also limited how their work is resourced, both financially and otherwise—until now.

We are thrilled to announce that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has granted Incite $150,000 in support of Mott Haven History Keepers, a project that aims to support existing history keepers working outside of humanities institutions, expanding what counts as humanities work and who counts as humanities workers. In practice, this project will involve identifying five Mott Haven history keepers, pairing each with an apprentice, and connecting them with intellectual, financial, and archival resources. Incite/Oral History Master of Arts (OHMA) and Bronx County Historical Society (BCHS) staff have partnered to make these connections possible.

Mott Haven History Keepers will be directed by Amy Starecheski, a fourth-generation South Bronx resident, director of our OHMA program, past president of the Oral History Association, and co-PI on the NEH-funded, “Diversifying Oral History Practice: A Fellowship Program for Under/Unemployed Oral Historian”. Mott Haven History Keepers builds on Starecheski’s efforts to develop models for non-extractive, fairly compensated, community-led history-making work.

*Project team from the Mott Haven Oral History Project, also directed by Starecheski.*

“By investing in community members who are already doing the work of caring for, interpreting, and passing on the neighborhood’s history,” Starecheski says, “the National Endowment for the Humanities has shown that they value the expertise and knowledge of all humanities workers, whether they have academic credentials or not.”

BCHS will provide training to fellows and apprentices, as well as the opportunity to archive oral histories and personal collections in the Bronx County Archives. Training will be provided by Pastor Crespo, Jr., research librarian and archivist at BCHS, and Steven Payne, Director of BCHS, founder of the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project, and oral historian for the Bronx African American History Project and other projects.

“The Bronx County Historical Society looks forward to working closely with Dr. Amy Starecheski and Incite to amplify the ongoing humanities work of local history keepers, who embody the vibrant histories of our Bronx communities.”

Steven Payne
Director, Bronx County Historical Society

Incite and BCHS will work directly with the chosen history keepers to develop training and support that centers their needs and priorities. As desired, Incite and BCHS will also connect fellows with other New York City institutions that could offer pathways to future partnerships. This collaborative work will yield several new public resources, including new collections, finding aids, oral histories, and training opportunities.

As Incite invests in developing new modes of collaboration that integrate and value expertise from outside the academy, we are energized by the opportunity to support Mott Haven History Keepers. Not only will the project deepen and diversify the nation’s cultural and historical record, it will make conceptual and practical contributions to our understanding of collaborative research models.

If you are interested in being one of the history-keepers supported by this project, you can read more here.

Project flyer (English)
Project flyer (Español)

Project team

Amy Starecheski, Project Director
212-851-4395

Steven Payne, Director, BCHS
718-881-8900 ext. 109
Pastor Crespo Jr., Research Librarian, BCHS
718-881-8900 ext. 105

About Incite at Columbia University

Incite is an interdisciplinary social science research institute at Columbia University. Our mission is to create knowledge for public action—to catalyze conversations that lead to more just, equitable, and democratic societies.

About The Bronx County Historical Society

The Bronx County Historical Society (BCHS), founded in 1955, is a non-profit educational and cultural institution chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. BCHS is dedicated to the collection, preservation, documentation, and public interpretation of the history of The Bronx and lower Westchester County from its earliest human habitation by indigenous peoples through the present.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation.