Snapshot Project at Jefferson Market Library

By Corinne Neary

The photograph, from 1992, shows Michael Paul, local photographer and East Village mainstay, in his first and only Manhattan apartment on 14th Street. In the photograph, he has just moved into the studio which he still calls home, and the excitement of his new adventures is evident. This is despite the leaking radiator, the slanting floor, and the lack of heat. The apartment was advertised in the back of the Village Voice and rent was $500.
You might not know Michael, but if you’re reading this article, you might be able to identify with the story this picture tells, and there’s a good chance it brings up memories of when you first moved to the Village, or some of your times along the way, good or bad. Photographs convey so much, in a way that words cannot. This is why we are working on a new, neighborhood sourced exhibit of snapshots that tell a story!
If you’ve been following our activities for a long while now, you’ll remember our Greenwich Village ephemera project, or our oral history project, both of which gathered the memories of our neighborhood and the people who make it up. This project similarly aims to gather memories, this time framed by the simple snapshot.
Do you have a pre-digital era photograph that tells a story? Of yourself, of the time and place, of friends or places that have changed or disappeared? We would love to see it! Our idea is to gather these photographs, and the stories that go with them, for an exhibit in early 2024, with some public programs to go with it. Please reach out to me, at corinneneary@nypl.org, or say hello when you come by the library for a book.
And now for another update: our Jefferson Market Library Zine is returning this month, for the first time since COVID stopped us in our tracks. This time we are back with a whole slew of new contributors and editors, and a lot of new ideas! We’re aiming to have copies available before the Holidays, so please come by to get a copy, and let us know what you think. If all goes well, we will be putting new editions out quarterly, so if you’d like to contribute to our Spring issue, please reach out.
We’ll have some fantastic new JMU courses starting in January and February, as well as some exciting additions to our movie screening lineup, so here’s to lots of good things to come.