Q&Archives: “Building Stories” with the Museum at Eldridge Street
An Interview with Chelsea Dowell, Director of Public Engagement at the Museum at Eldridge Street
Every building has a story to tell. Like memories captured in photos, buildings are remnants of a past time and past people. They inextricably hold meaning as markers and reflections of what or who is represented through them.
At Urban Archive, our goal is to uncover as many “building stories” as we can. We believe that learning from buildings, just as we would from books or archives, is a key component to better understanding our past and present city, as well as to shaping its future.
With this in mind, this week, we’re chatting with Chelsea Dowell, the Director of Public Engagement at the Museum of Eldridge Street, to explore how the Museum utilizes artifacts, archives and architectural features of its landmark home to provide visitors with a portal to the past and engage with its surrounding community. Enjoy!
Urban Archive: Can you tell us a bit about the Museum at Eldridge Street and your role as the Director of Public Engagement?
Chelsea: The Museum at Eldridge Street is sort of like a historic house museum, but it’s a synagogue. Our landmark building was built in 1887 on Eldridge Street and when you visit the museum, you get to tour through the spaces almost exactly as they were over 100 years ago. It’s a gorgeous, ornate building that has a lot to teach us about immigration to the United States, Jewish culture, and preservation, and design. As the Director of Public Engagement, it’s my job to make sure that potential visitors understand who we are and what stories our building can tell.
Urban Archive: Part of what makes the Museum at Eldridge Street so unique is that the building itself is one of the key components of your programming. How are the building’s architectural details and stories celebrated today through the Museum’s programming and outreach?
Chelsea: We wouldn’t be here without our building, that’s for sure! We talk a lot about how the grand decorative designs of the building were explicit choices made by our immigrant congregation to convey their arrival as new Americans and their aspirations in a new society. They were making a statement with the architecture. But we also discuss the periods of history when our building’s design was not faring so well — when the Lower East Side’s Jewish population was dwindling, much of the synagogue was locked up and became badly deteriorated. It took 20 years to restore the space and that’s a story we don’t shy away from telling, either.
Both its heyday and its years of struggle can speak to larger stories about how communities shift and change. And the building is full of inspiring art and design — our education department leads kids programs that explore shapes and colors through our stained glass and ornamental paint; we celebrate Earth Day by discussing the sustainability practices of our 20-year restoration; and use the unique qualities of the space to install site-specific art installations in the historic sanctuary.
Urban Archive: The Museum at Eldridge Street is not only an exhibition space but an iconic landmark and symbol of change. In what ways does this shape the Museum’s mission and approach to tours, events, and collaboration?
Chelsea: We’re not only aware that we’re in a synagogue now located in Chinatown — we’re proud of it. The neighborhood has changed immensely since 1887. There is very little of the Jewish community left and we consider the museum an essential piece of that remaining history. But we also think the current story is just as important.
Our tours tell a story about immigration to the United States, how new Americans survive in adopted homes, create their own culture, ultimately influence their new communities and often eventually move on. It’s meaningful to us that we’re interpreting that history in a neighborhood that’s continuing to go through that process today. We celebrate today’s Chinatown and the modern manifestation of the story we preserve from a century ago.
Urban Archive: How do you incorporate artifacts and archives into your strategy to engage with the local community and museum visitors?
Chelsea: When the Eldridge Street Synagogue was initially rediscovered, preservationists found historic artifacts everywhere in the building. We’re lucky to have the original minutes from congregational meetings (handwritten in Yiddish!) to help us piece together the story of the building’s evolution. Membership cards, invitations to special events, receipts for repair work — a lot of this material is on display in a small exhibition gallery in the building. And it all helps to show visitors how the congregation used this building on a day to day basis, as a part of their everyday lives.
Urban Archive: What’s one thing people should look for when they’re visiting the Museum?
Just as we celebrate the evolution of the neighborhood around us, we highlight the passage of time within our own building. For the most part, the synagogue’s historic sanctuary has been restored to its 19th-century glory. But there is one area where we’ve marked the space’s place in our contemporary world. The eastern wall of the sanctuary was once home to a grand stained glass window like the one on the western wall — on the facade that faces Eldridge Street. But it had been damaged over time and by the 1940s, the stained glass was replaced with columns of modest glass block. Once the rest of the space was restored, the museum chose to remove the 20th-century intervention and replace it — not with something that recreated what may have been in there 1887 but instead with a brand new design. The window there now is a stunning design by Kiki Smith and Deborah Gans. It’s inspired by the original visual language of the space but conjures new energy. It’s a real conversation starter and a piece we’re very proud of.
To explore the Museum at Eldridge Street on Urban Archive, tap here. You can also catch up on previous Q&Archive conversations by clicking on a link below:
- How the Brooklyn Public Library Approaches Curating Collections and Digital Initiatives
- Capturing a Community-Based Archive with Queens Public Library
- The Future of Records at the NYC Department of Sanitation
- Strategies of Preservation with Village Preservation
- Telling Old Stories in New Ways with the Forward
Thanks again for reading and see you next time!
