Lower East Side Tenement Museum Honored at White House Ceremony

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, a National Trust Historic Site, received the Preserve America Presidential Award, the highest award for achievement in historic preservation on May 12. First Lady Laura Bush, Honorary Chair of Preserve America, presented the award to Renee Epps, Executive Vice President, and Steve Long, Vice President of Education and Collections, in a ceremony at the White House.

The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets immigrant life in New York City’s Lower East Side, traditionally a large immigrant neighborhood and the first destination for many immigrating to America in the late 1800s. For more than twenty years the Tenement Museum has been preserving and interpreting immigrant life in the tenement building at 97 Orchard Street. This tenement was home to more than 7000 people between 1863 and 1935.

The Preserve America Presidential Award recognizes the Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s work in preserving the American immigrant experience. Through five restored apartments the Tenement Museum represents the diversity of America’s immigrant population and their diverse stories. Each of the Tenement Museum’s restored apartments offers a look at the lives of an immigrant family who lived in the building and is restored and interpreted to show what life was like for the many immigrant families.

The Tenement Museum is a National Historic Landmark owned and operated by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Inc. For more information about the Lower East Side Tenement Museum visit their Web site at www.tenement.org. To learn more about the Preserve America Presidential Award, visit Preserve America.