Adolfo Baldizzi

Visit the apartments of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family in the 1870s and the Sicilian-Catholic Baldizzi family in the 1930s, and learn about the networks of support that were available to them during hard times. Discuss the development of social welfare in the United States, and compare the options that people had in the past to those that are available today.

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Pauline & Max Levine

Celebrate the 1897 birth of Max Levine in the apartment/garment shop run by his parents, Jennie and Harris from Poland. Then pay a shiva (bereavement) call to the Rogarshevsky family, mourning the loss of Abraham, who worked as a presser in a garment factory until succumbing to tuberculosis in 1918. Older students will hear other immigrants as well - from Europe, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere - recall their lives in the garment industry from the 1930s to the present through an interactive audio presentation.

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Victoria Confino, upper right, and friends

Especially designed for families and students of all ages, this living history program focuses on 1916 and the Sephardic-Jewish Confino family. Visitors are met by a costumed interpreter, playing young Victoria Confino, who welcomes them as if they are new immigrants who have just arrived on the Lower East Side. During the program, visitors touch items in the apartment, try on period clothing and talk to Victoria about her life on the Lower East Side. Issues such as family, assimilation, cultural identity and the role of community are discussed.

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An intrepid Tenement Inspector

In this 90-minute interactive program, students take on the role of tenement inspectors-in-training in the year 1906. They learn about the establishment and enforcement of housing laws by inspecting 97 Orchard Street for violations. Studetns will gain unique perspectives from two costumed interpreters who play a tenement inspector and a landlord. This program also explores contemporary housing laws and conditions.

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Stroll the Lower East Side and learn how different immigrant groups shaped, and continue to shape, the community. See the public spaces and the historic buildings that have been used by successive groups of immigrants who have settled on the Lower East Side.

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Explore our tenement building using hands-on artifacts, an architectural model, audio recordings, even smell! Take the Getting By or Piecing It Together tour using verbal description and a multi-sensory approach for students with visual impairments.

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