{"id":15214,"date":"2024-08-07T08:12:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T12:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=15214"},"modified":"2024-08-05T11:29:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T15:29:55","slug":"preserving-new-yorks-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2024\/08\/07\/preserving-new-yorks-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving New York\u2019s Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Emily Kahn \u201919 is executive director of the New York Preservation Archive Project.<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"Emily
Photo by Laura Barisonzi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s a joke among Emily Kahn\u2019s friends that she walks around her home city of New York like a tourist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m always looking up,\u201d says Kahn \u201919 of the habit that causes her to \u201cconstantly bump into things\u201d but also feeds her natural curiosity about what came before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn New York, a lot of commercial storefronts have come in and changed the historic fabric that was there. But if you look up to higher stories toward the cornice, you can see more original architectural detail,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m constantly thinking about how things have changed over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The executive director of the New York Preservation Archive Project, Kahn has been passionate about preserving the past since childhood, when frequent trips to historical sites \u2014 especially those visited on family vacations to Nantucket, Mass., or places connected to her Jewish identity \u2014 sparked an early interest.

\u201cMy parents instilled in me the importance of honoring the people who came before us, to know their stories, to learn from them, and to be grateful for what you have because people fought before you,\u201d says Kahn, who grew up in Westchester, N.Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Colgate she cemented her love for historic preservation while abroad as part of the London History Study Group and in Xaltocan, Mexico, where she worked alongside Associate Professor of Anthropology Kristin De Lucia digging for artifacts from the ancient agricultural village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a member of Colgate\u2019s Class of 2019, Kahn reveled in the University\u2019s Bicentennial celebration of its history and the research opportunities it presented. In 2018 she was one of six students to research and co-author the book Repression, Re-Invention, & Rugelach: A History of Jews At Colgate<\/em>, edited by Professor of Jewish Studies and Russian and Eurasian Studies Alice Nakhimovsky. After graduating with a degree in history, Kahn enrolled in Columbia University\u2019s historic preservation graduate program and swiftly found a mentor in Professor of Historic Preservation Andrew Dolkart \u201973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since taking on her role at the Archive Project in summer 2023, Kahn has focused on not just protecting the physical aspects of New York history, but also in collecting, preserving, and sharing the city\u2019s stories. For one of her current projects, Kahn is overseeing lengthy oral history interviews with leaders of New York\u2019s preservation movement, which will be edited into an upcoming podcast series. The oral histories cover topics such as community garden preservation, the roots of the LGBTQ preservation movement, and the growing call to preserve modernist architecture \u2014 an issue of particular interest to Kahn since first encountering Colgate\u2019s modernist Dana Arts Center as a student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cModernism is a major part of the preservation movement now in a point when many modernist buildings are being landmarked and listed on the National Register of Historic Places,\u201d says Kahn. \u201cWhether or not you think Dana is hideous or beautiful, from a preservationist\u2019s perspective, you can\u2019t argue that it\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with spearheading the Archive Project\u2019s own preservation efforts, Kahn also helps the nonprofit award grants to other organizations working to steward collections related to NYC\u2019s preservation history \u2014 crucial funding, explains Kahn, that has helped digitize collections of archival documents and make them accessible to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while Kahn\u2019s spare time has become scarce in recent months, she has recently discovered a new hobby not too distant from her day job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting very into antiques lately,\u201d she says, explaining how quirky flea market finds and antique shop scores (vintage postcards and art from the 1970s, mostly) have made their way into her Upper West Side apartment. \u201cI\u2019m not collecting things that I think will be worth millions someday, just things that bring me joy,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re like little statements that show an appreciation for a history that a lot of people think is lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an alumna, Kahn serves on the Presidents\u2019 Circle Membership Council. She received the Ann Yao \u201980 Memorial Young Alumni Award at Reunion 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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