Long Island, New York

Partner Organizations:
Middle Country Public Library
Long Island Museum of Art, History and Carriages

Community Profile:
Long identified as a symbol of middle class suburbia, Long Island is changing rapidly due to the loss of an agricultural base, an influx of immigrant families, intensive commercial development, and a steady rise in the numbers of older adults who are "aging in place." The growing population of retirees and active older adults is a demographic trend across Long Island.

In 2005 Suffolk County, where both Middle Country Public Library and the Long Island Museum are situated, established several action committees including the Perceptions of Aging Committee, which is exploring new models of aging and the different ways the Committee can influence the perception of aging. In recent months, the library hosted a four part series entitled "Calling All Boomers and Seniors" which explored wellness, housing, government services, and cultural opportunities for older adults on Long Island.

The changing face of Suffolk County is reflected in the 15.8% of residents over 60 and the ethnic demographics: 84.6% of residents are White, 6.9% African American/Black, and 2.4% Asian.

Local Project:
The Long Island Museum and Middle Country Public Library will collaborate on a project that addresses the theme "Aging in the Home" by exploring the changing family roles and relationships through the lens of the history of childhood on Long Island. By focusing on the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, and how they have changed over time, the project will engage a broad audience in an exploration of how changing views of age, and the role of the elderly, have affected family relationships over time.

The basis of the project is "Long Island Grows Up" an upcoming exhibition at the Long Island Museum on the history of childhood. The project will create oral histories from videotaped interviews of older Americans. Selected interviews will be transcribed and will be used as part of the exhibit. The partners will create a joint Age in America web site that will include photographs and objects from the exhibition as well as excerpts from the interviews.

In addition to the formal oral history sessions, the partners will host "memory sharing" sessions where older adults will exchange stories of their childhood, and the similarities or differences to their grandchildren's experience, through discussions of objects from their childhood. Objects from some of the participants may be included in the exhibit.

Middle Country Public Library — Long Island Museum of Art, History and Carriages

Winter 2008-09 Update

The Long Island Museum and Middle Country Public Library are collaborating on a project that explores changing family roles and relationships through the lens of the history of childhood on Long Island. By focusing on the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, the project is engaging a broad audience in an exploration of how changing views of age, and the role of the elderly, have affected family relationships over time.

The two institutions are located in the neighboring communities of Stony Brook and Middle Country in Long Island's Suffolk County, a section of New York State that is changing demographically due in large measure to the numbers of adults who are "aging in place."

The basis of the collaborative project is an exhibition on the history of childhood titled "Long Island Grows Up." The two institutions already have a tradition of collaboration, having worked together on two exhibits opening in 2008. This new collaboration includes not only the museum exhibit but also a smaller exhibit on the same theme the library. Additional Age in America components include: oral history interviews to augment the museum exhibit, a web site, "memory-sharing" sessions, and special public programs related to the theme of growing up on Long Island.

Through the Age in America collaboration, the two different constituencies of the library and the museum are being introduced to and included in the "Long Island Grows Up." Outreach around the interviewing process and the public programs will help to build new audiences. Interview subjects are patrons of both institutions.

The project is creating oral histories from videotaped interviews of older Long Island residents. Most of the interviews are taking place at the Middle Country Public Library, with several members of the Library's Teen Advisory Council carrying out the interviews. A number of interviews have also been conducted off-site at area schools. All the teen interviewers have been trained in interviewing by members of the Age in America team.

Interview topics are varied, including questions about favorite childhood foods, toys, and methods of getting to school, to highlight differences between their childhood and coming of age today. The interviews are designed to provide information on changing family roles and relationships. In many cases interviewees have brought with them photographs or other items which were important either to their role as child or grandparent. Selected interviews are being transcribed and will be used as part of the exhibit and the Age in America web site hosted by Middle Country Public Library. The photographs and objects may also be used in the exhibit.

According to local Age in America Project Coordinator Betsy Radecki,

Using the interviews on the web site and as part of the exhibition will help us connect to a broader audience and enable us to look at "age" beyond any one specific stage of life. The project will help us connect to multiple generations.

While all ages are targeted for the museum exhibit, older audiences have been targeted as interviewees, with teens involved in carrying out the interviews. Information on the exhibit and the related interviews will be sent to senior centers, independent- and assisted-living facilities as well as promoted to both institutions usual vehicles and agency partners.

The collaborating institutions are dividing responsibilities for the various aspects of the project. The museum's history curator and education director developed the interview script in consultation with the library's specialists in teen and adult programming. The library has sought out older adults to interview, recruited and prepared the teen interviewees, and provided the space for the interviews to take place. In the exhibit, the museum will draw on its permanent collection for artifacts that illustrate the history of childhood on Long Island. The library is hosting the project web site. The public relations departments of both institutions are working together to encourage interest in the interviews, the programs for older audiences at each institution and the exhibit itself.

Highlights of project activities July – November 2008

The two institutions advertised the interviews at both the library and the museum. Interviews were conducted during the summer and fall of 2008, so that the interviews can be transcribed and used in the exhibit, and to generate interest in the upcoming exhibit. A flyer about the interviews was produced by the Age in America team and circulated widely through both institutions communications networks.

The collaborating organizations are cross-promoting the exhibit — which is slated to open in February 2009 — and related Age in America activities through ongoing programs offered specifically for older audiences. Examples include the "Calling all Boomers and Seniors" Program at the library and the Senior Tuesday free exhibit programs at the museum.

A number of interviews have been conducted and transcriptions are now in process. Some additional interviews are being conducted off site at area schools.

Planning is now taking place for the website, to be developed by the library. The website will include information about the museum exhibit, the smaller exhibit at the library, detailed information about the programs at each venue, as well as some off-site programs of interest. The website will have an interactive element, so that visitors can react to the exhibit and related programs.

Programs are being planned for each location. These will include book talks, memory sharing sessions and a possible film or television program series. Local organizers are pleased that the project will be linked to a book talk by Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose book, Wait Till Next Year, is a memoir of growing up on Long Island. The talk is sponsored by "Long Island Reads," to which MCPL subscribes; it will take place on April 18 at the Farmingdale library. MCPL has also developed a similar program, "Middle County Reads." MCPL has selected Wish You Well, which is a memoir of growing up, although not on Long Island. In conjunction with the book, author David Baldacci will be speaking at the library on March 5.

The local Age in America committee will also be developing an evaluation form to be used at the exhibit and for all related programs. The committee will be using the evaluation planning manual by David Scheie, Nan Kari and Rose Herrera Hamerlinck to help plan the evaluation.

The following websites provide further information about the public programs:

• Long Island Reads: www.longislandreads.org
• Dowling College conference: www.dowling.edu/intergenerationalcenter