Queens Memory

Queens Public Library founded the Queens Memory program in 2010 to preserve a record of life in Queens, one of the five boroughs of New York City and home to one of the most diverse populations in the world.

The Queens Memory team collaborates with community members to collect oral histories, photographs, and other mementos to share on DigitalArchives.QueensLibrary.org. Staff and volunteer curators exhibit donated items in public galleries on QueensMemory.org and some of these items join the library’s collections in the Digital Public Library of America.

This App is a tool for submitting images and audio recordings from a mobile device directly to Queens Library staff for review. Approved photos and audio documenting Queens history will join the library’s permanent archival collections, where they will be freely available to researchers. Anyone can contribute to our collections. If you know people living remarkable lives in Queens, you can record interviews with them, take portraits of them, or digitize their historic photos and upload them using this simple App. Queens Memory also collects “wild sound” ambient recordings of public places and events in Queens, such as busy street corners or festivals. Expect every 15 minutes of audio recording to take about a minute to upload. The main Queens Memory website (QueensMemory.org) has a faster upload feature for larger files.

Features:

• Upload .png and .jpg format image files

• Upload .wav, .m4a, .aac and .mp3 format audio files

• Select files that are stored locally on your mobile device

• Receive confirmation messages from Queens Library staff as your materials are reviewed and added to the library’s digital archives

• Share your images and audio under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, available at the following site: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode