My visit to the Wagner Archives

Open on weekdays from 9:30 to 4,  My ENG101 class went on an interesting trip to the Wagner Archives in La Guardia Community College. Upon entry, the class was split between to small rooms. One room was rather decorated with organized shelves, red carpet, lamp lighting, and somewhat sophisticated atmosphere. The other, a small conference room with a round table and a rather large television. I was sat in the small conference room with a few of my classmates. Our tour guy, for lack of a better term,was a man named Steve. In the conference room, we held a nice discussion about the 1960's and explaining primary sources in the use of researching history. From newspaper cut-outs to television recordings, the Wagner Archives really had it all. Mr. Steve gave us copies of Mayor Robert F. Wagner's speech given July 22, 1964; when the Harlem Riots were at it's peak. After analyzing the speech line by line, we were able to grasp the violent and misunderstood atmosphere of Harlem at the time. In his remarks, the mayor described specifically how there were broken houses, angry gangs and residents sprawling the streets. Later on we went into the cold room where we saw journal writings and paraphernalia from the 1960's. One object that was very entertaining was the giant, gold glove Mohammed Ali signed for Mayor Beame. In one journal entry, which was written in German, Steve went into detail about how the lower east side of Manhattan was an area filled with fresh-off-the-boaters from Germany, Italy and so on. In the end, what I collected from all this was how much global activity started rising in the 60's, despite the Harlem Riots.