Queens Memory collects personal histories, photographs and other records of contemporary life in Queens, New York.
Queens Name Explorer
The Name Explorer project seeks to enrich local history by increasing knowledge of individuals honored with named places in Queens – its streets, monuments, schools, parks, and buildings. This ongoing project creates a dynamic living archive, while enhancing awareness of communities not represented or underrepresented in our borough. To date, 1,300 named places have been identified, and 1040 of them are live on the Name Explorer map.
But your help is needed. The map still has many entries lacking information and photographs. If you can add info, an anecdote, and/or photograph, please do so by clicking the blue “Add/Edit” button in the top right corner. See a street named after a member of your community not currently on the map? Or a sign that needs maintenance and restoration? Add/Edit to let us know!
Gina Pinos Oral History
Gina Pinos was the fiancée of James Nicholas Pappageorge, an FDNY firefighter who perished at the World Trade Center responding to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Gina recalls how she and James met at a gym in Queens where James worked as a personal trainer, explaining that James admired her from afar for approximately one year before speaking with her. Gina recalls their first date and their journey to falling in love and becoming a family with Gina's young son, Justin. In July 2001, James joined FDNY Engine Company 23 in Midtown Manhattan; Gina recalls briefly speaking with James via telephone on the morning of September 11, 2001 moments before James departed from his firehouse to the World Trade Center. Gina also discusses James' childhood growing up in Jackson Heights and the renaming of 98th Street and 38th Avenue in Jackson Heights as Firefighter James Pappageorge Way.
Upcoming Events
Where? Who Were They? A Conversation About Queens History With Prof. Rebecca Bratspies
Climate Action: A Conversation on Climate Justice in Southeast Queens
Learn More About the Queens Memory Project
Home Movie Day 2024
Queens Street Names Stories : A Name Explorer Listening Party – An Open House New York Weekend Event
Queens Memory Oral History Workshop
Listen to the Queens Memory Podcast
Season Three of the Queens Memory Podcast is coming soon! In this season, “Our Major Minor Voices,” we feature stories from our neighbors of Asian descent in Queens, New York. New episodes will air each Monday, starting April 11th 2022. Click Here to listen to the trailer for the season, and to hear to new episodes, as they are released. To hear Season One of the Queens Memory Podcast, Memories of Migration, Click Here. Season One features Queens residents who moved from all over the world over the past century to settle in the “World’s Borough”. To hear Season Two of the Queens Memory Podcast, The Borough We Became: Queens Residents on Life during COVID-19, Click Here. Season Two features interviews with Queens residents and highlighted sound and video contributions to our COVID-19 Project as the pandemic unfolded.
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