THE FINDING AID: BLACK WOMEN ARCHIVISTS

Tuesday, May 21 * 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Malcolm X Boulevard @ 135th Street
Langston Hughes Auditorium

The Finding Aid: Black Women at the Intersection of Art and Archiving is an interactive, multi-media dialogue that explores the intersection of experimental art practices and community-based archiving. This event is based on the idea of a finding aid. A finding aid is a document used in archives for accessibility and discovery. We will transform a finding aid from an archival inventory/guide into an artistic archival experience. Our goal for this event is for people to leave knowing what an archive and archivist is or can be, and feeling empowered to begin their own archival/artistic practice and engage with existing archives.

The Best Cake in the World: What Manuscript Cookbooks Tell Us that Printed Cookbooks Don't

May 23rd from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Light refreshments at 5:30 p.m
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street

Speaker(s): Stephen Schmidt. From roughly 1600 to 1900, many women (and a few men) in the English-speaking world compiled personal recipe collections in bound notebooks. These manuscript cookbooks contain a wealth of information absent from most printed cookbooks: where and from whom the recipes were collected; nonstandard but possibly common ways of substituting expensive or rare ingredients or circumventing tricky or time-consuming techniques; the type of cooking vessel or the size, shape, and number of baking pans used in the preparation of recipes; the management of the fire or oven; the contexts in which dishes were served and the ways in which they were presented at table. Sometimes manuscript cookbooks can also tell us which dishes were truly popular and regularly eaten in a period, although in the past, as today, many more recipes were collected than were actually ever made. This talk will disucss the pleasure and profit to be gained from studying manuscript cookbooks and will also touch on the complicated relationship between these documents and printed cookbooks. Examples of manuscript recipe books and related printed cookbooks from NYAM's rare book collection will be on display for attendees to see. Special reception for current Friends of the Rare Book Room immediately following the lecture.

Around the Block from El Museo Walking Tours

Saturdays, May 25 - August 24, 2013
From 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
Departs from El Museo's Lobby
1230 Fifth Avenue @ 104th Street

Join El Museo del Barrio for a walking tour of the neighborhood around El Museo. We'll explore El Barrio’s vibrant public art, beautiful community gardens, rich cultural organizations, and diverse store fronts that have shaped East Harlem into the unique neighborhood it is today. The tour begins with El Museo del Barrio and its history and will continue on to include the Modesto Flores Community Garden, the Spirit of East Harlem mural, Justo Botanica, Graffiti Hall of Fame, and much more. Tickets available for $15 online or at El Museo del Barrio. Space is limited; pre-purchase recommended. Tours meet in the lobby at El Museo del Barrio and leave promptly at 11:30am. PLEASE NOTE: In the event of inclement weather, a guided tour of our galleries will be offered in lieu of the Around the Block from El Museo tour. Admission: $15.00, pre-purchase recommended.

Monday, June 3rd * 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Malcolm X Boulevard @ 135th Street
Langston Hughes Auditorium

The Literary Society continues the tradition of African-American literary societies formed in the 1880's to encourage reading and education in African-American communities. Founded in Harlem in 1982, The Literary Society, a book discussion group of 50 members, meets monthly to discuss books reflecting the political and artistic experience by authors of African descent. The public is invited to join The Literary Society at the Schomburg Center for a discussion of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis.

35th Annual Museum Mile Festival!

Tuesday, June 11 * 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Fifth Avenue * From 82 - 105th Streets

Grab your familia and join us for the 35th Annual Museum Mile Festival! This year El Museo will feature outdoor art-making activities, dance and music performances, and the opening of El Museo’s Bienal 2013: HERE IS WHERE WE JUMP. A full line up of activities and performances is coming soon! The Museum Mile Festival began as initiative to grow museum audiences in the area, and to increase support for the arts during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s. Museum Mile was formed as a consortium by the museums that share the Fifth Avenue address and the first festival, held in June of 1978, was an instant success. Not only did it expose New Yorkers and NYC visitors to an incredible collection of New York’s artistic riches, it also brought together disparate New Yorkers. From El Barrio and the Upper East Side to the winding streets of the Village and the clustered neighborhoods of the outer-boroughs, people came to celebrate their shared pride in their city. The Museum Mile Festival promotes public awareness through increased visibility, accessibility and attendance at all the museums, and continues to bring many New Yorkers to upper Fifth Avenue for the first time.

Photos by Angelo Rivera, Photographer

Since February 2007, parishioners from Our Lady Queen of Angels Roman Catholic Church in El Barrio have protested the closing of their spiritual "home" by the Archdiocese of New York by holding a Sunday morning mass each week. Join Carmen Villegas and other worshippers to support their efforts to reopen a beloved 121-year-old parish that has served thousands East Harlem residents.