History Committee

Meets: The History and Archives Committee has reserved the third Saturday at 9:00 a.m. for their meetings. Some meetings may be by Zoom and some by email. Please contact our office manager to get the link or to get on the distribution list for H&A updates.

Chair: Mary Daniel Cooper

Mission: Collect, preserve, and present history of life in the 19th Ward.

Updates from the History and Archives Committee:

Businesses in the 19th Ward

This year we have lost a few of our cherished, long-term businesses in the 19th Ward such as Cutaia’s Meat Market. We’ve seen examples like this from
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Notable Projects:

First newspaper article about the 19th WCA

Rapids Cemetery:

  • Restoration work at this 200-year-old pioneer cemetery on Congress Avenue is a joint project with the City of Rochester, local veterans organizations, 19th Ward neighbors, and students from both UR and RIT. We are working this year with four teams of multi-media students from RIT.

Archival Work:

  • The first 34 years of the Association’s Archives—from its inception in 1965 through 1998—are housed in the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation, University of Rochester River Campus Libraries. In 2017, our committee worked extensively in that collection to make this valuable resource available to researchers interested in community-building. Anyone can visit the archive and review the materials by calling ahead of your visit. Click here for the online finding aid.

A sampling of the potentially exhibit-worthy items we found in this archive:

  • Update 19, 1st issue Mar 1966
  • a Public Relations Brochure, 1980
  • a rich archive of news clippings, 1966 – 1974
  • “Insurance Redlining: A Consumer Handbook,” Aug, 1980
  • “Lots of Lots,” Rochester City brochure explaining how to buy or adopt a lot
  • T-shirts on the theme of Neighborhood, from many years of Square Fair.