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Richard Price is the bestselling author of Freedomland and Clockers, . He has also written a number of screenplays, including The Color of Money. Mr. Price was born in the Bronx and still lives in New York City. Below are some of his favorite books about the Lower East Side.

1. The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan
The greatest Social Realist novel of the immigrant experience.

2. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth
The best literary novel of the Lower East Side Jewish immigrant experience

3. Jews Without Money by Micheal Gold
My personal favorite, as bluntly unsentimental as its title. A semi-autobiographical novel of a childhood on the Lower East Side written by a dedicated socialist in the early 1930's...packs a wallop.

5. How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis
The great muckraking tome on poverty in New York, as valued for its incredible photography as it is its sweeping reportage. The only thing that mars the work is Riis's dour Nordic judgementalism, which borders on racism in his description of the various ethnic groups he is trying to champion.

6. A Bintel Brief
Collected letters to the editor of the Forward over a period of 50 years. A poignant collage of Jewish immigrants' passions, heartbreaks, and struggles to adapt.

7. The Triangle Fire by Leon Stein
First book-length account of the fire, written when some of the survivors were still around to be interviewed. Stein was a union man and focuses as much on the political/historical impact of the tragedy as the devastation to the families and communities. Painful and powerful.

The annual Oktoberfest celebration turns our thoughts to 97 Orchard's German brewmeister, John Schneider. During the mid-19th century, Mr. Schneider and his wife Caroline ran a saloon in one of the tenement's storefronts. The Museum recently discovered Caroline Schneider's death certificate, which revealed that she died of tuberculosis in 1885 at 97 Orchard Street and was buried next to 53 members of the extended Schneider family, including her husband, in Queens.

Caroline's jobs likely included preparing the "free lunch" offered at urban working-class saloons of the period. A buffet served from 11am to 3pm, the lunch was only free for customers who bought a nickel beer. The Schneider's spread might have included bread, bologna or wienerwurst, sliced tomatoes, pickles, and radishes, as well as German fare like blood sausage, sardellen, (cheap sardines) "draped across a slab of rye bread" and pickled pig's feet.

Thanks to grants from The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The New York Community Trust and the National Endowment for Humanities, the Tenement Museum is moving forward with planning for the recreation of Schneider’s at 97 Orchard Street, set to open in 2007.

There's less than a month left to vote for the Museum to win this prestigious award. Each vote counts and you can vote every day. We'll let you know how the Museum fared next month. Thank you for your support!

Since 1992, October has marked the observance of Child Health Month. Historically, the health of children, especially ones born to immigrant parents, has been a pressing issue. During the 1860s, children of immigrant parents died at nearly ten times the rate of native-born kids.

One of the residents of 97 Orchard contributed to this startling statistic. In 1869, Agnes Moore, the 5-month old daughter of Bridget and Joseph Moore, died from marasmus, a form of malnutrition, while living at 97 Orchard Street.

While Museum researchers can never be certain, Agnes' malnutrition was probably not caused by lack of food, but by the contaminated milk that was all too commonly consumed during the 19th century. Hundreds of infants died each year from diseases that stemmed from drinking bacteria-ridden, dirty, spoiled and adulterated cow's milk.

Food and beverage contamination was amongst the most troubling public health issues of the nineteenth century. Soon after it was established in 1866, the Board of Health prohibited the sale of food or beverages known to be contaminated. However, without a basis in bacterial knowledge, even the most stringent public health measures proved ineffective.

Today, advanced knowledge about bacteria has led to direct methods, including pasteurization, for ensuring the purity and safety of our foods and beverages.

The Tenement Museum is proud to participate in this month's celebration of Art Beyond Sight Awareness. The Museum will be highlighting some of its accessible programming, including regular touch tours of 97 Orchard Street.

I joined the Tenement Museum because my mother was born on Eldridge Street in 1905…I think [American] history should be preserved, so although I cannot contribute that much to the Tenement Museum, I try to send a wee bit to keep some portions of history alive.
-- Renee H., Tenement Museum Member

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