The Young Curators at PS 32 Take a Walk Around the Block

Erin Boyle served as an Educator for the Young Curators program at P.S. 32 in the Spring of 2013.

On a very cold afternoon all the way back in February, I led a joyful crew of 4th and 5th graders from PS 32 in Gowanus on a walk around the block. When we set off for the walk, The Young Curators had spent two class sessions scouring photocopies of an historic map from the BHS collection and had planned out a route—a simple square path that would take them from their school on Hoyt Street, across the Union Street Bridge and back across the Carroll Street Bridge to complete the square. Together we'd identified landmarks they we knew to still exist, P.S. 32 for one, along with others, including an old factory called Planet Mills that we weren't so sure about.

"I pass over the Gowanus Canal nearly every day when I ride the subway and I wonder about it." -- Aurel

Armed with pencils and paper (and the necessary assortment of mittens and hats) we set out with maps, routes outlined in crayon. Along the way, we marked off sites that we wanted to learn more about: the Gowanus Canal, Planet Mills (still there!), and the old Box Factory. Over the course of the next eight weeks, we worked together to learn as much as we could about those few square blocks. Our investigation of just one tiny part of the city illuminated stories of industry, immigrants, technology, environmental disaster and rehabilitation. Through primary document research, students investigated the history of the neighborhood immediately around their school and learned how they could share such rich history in just three exhibit panels.

Photocopy of a map of our neighborhood from a 1903 atlas, with student notes and drawings.

Most exciting, both for me and for the students, was the reminder that our city provides tangible links to the past. By investigating the stories of the past imprinted on our city streets, we learned about more than the particulars of the city infrastructure – we also learned about the people who called this place home. In a sign of success, I think the Young Curators began to see themselves as civic actors: recognizing the role that their school played in a neighborhood environmental dispute in 1903, they were able to conceptualize the role that the school, and its students, continues to play today.

Young Curators in the P.S. 32 school yard; photo by Erin Boyle.

 “Young Curators” turns classes of students into curators through 10-week in-school residencies with a BHS educator.  Students become the historians as they explore primary sources from BHS’s collections in order to uncover the history of their school and neighborhood.  Since launching this program in 2006, BHS has worked in collaboration with ten different elementary schools on sixteen different projects. Each “Young Curators” program culminates in professionally designed, historian-vetted exhibit panels that can be displayed prominently in schools for continued learning. BHS “Young Curators” residencies are typically funded by Cultural After School Adventures (CASA) grants from New York City Council Members.