Brooklyn Friends School Post-It Mural collection
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Abstract
The collection includes several hundred sticky notes (i.e., Post-its) posted by third grade students at the Brooklyn Friends School to a wall in the Lower School Library from December 2016 to February 2017. Inspired in part by artist Matthew "Levee" Chavez's work Subway Therapy, the students' project was a response to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Historical Note
Beginning in December 2016 and continuing through February 2017, the third grade at Brooklyn Friends School created a mural of sticky notes (i.e., Post-its). They were inspired in part by Subway Therapy, which was created by artist Matthew "Levee" Chavez following the 2016 presidential election, in which Donald J. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. From the day after the election in November until 16 December, Chavez invited passersby at Manhattan's Union Square subway station to express their emotions about the election on sticky notes and post them to the station wall. By the time Chavez's work was taken down, approximately 20,000 total notes had been posted. The Friends School students were further inspired by the book Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell and illustrated by Rafael Lopez, which they had studied in their Caldecott Medal Unit. Similar to Chavez's subway work, the Brooklyn Friends School third graders' mural was a response to the election. The mural was created on the third floor Lower School Library by the students under the guidance of the librarians.
(The above is based largely on a description of the project, which is included in the box with the collection, provided by Brooklyn Friends School.)
Arrangement
There is no particular arrangement to the sticky notes, that is, how they are found in the container does not necessarily reflect their original relationship to one another on the wall at Brooklyn Friends School.
Scope and Contents
The collection includes several hundred sticky notes (i.e., Post-its) posted by third grade students at the Brooklyn Friends School to a wall in the Lower School Library from December 2016 to February 2017 in response to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
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Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers. N-YHS also holds two other, similar collections of sticky notes (see Related Materials Note); to ensure that the contents are not accidentally mixed, only one of the collections may be presented to a patron at any one time.
This collection is stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult it, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as Brooklyn Friends School Post-It Mural Collection, MS 3026, New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by the Brooklyn Friends School, 2017.
About this Guide
Processing Information
The individual sticky notes/Post-its that make up the collection were housed on plastic sheets by conservator Alan Balicki in April 2017. The descriptive finding aid was prepared by archivist Larry Weimer in May 2017.