By Vicki Yiannias

The Greek Museum, the Center For Greek American Heritage, has existed vividly in the minds of founders Stacey Nicholas and Kathryn Bouloukos but is now on a rapid course toward actualization. This forward momentum indicates that a Greek museum also exists in the hearts of countless other Greek Americans in the New York area and that a Greek Museum is a project whose time has come

The Greek Museum, which is to be located in Manhattan, has stepped out of the realm of abstract ideas through a major fundraising drive and a membership and artifacts donations drive. Assistance from the Greek American community is needed, say both women, and there is no time to waste before the treasure trove of available information is lost. A web page has been created and meetings with interested people are in full force.

Stacy’s and Kathryn’s plans for the display and preservation of artifacts and audial presentations of the oral history and observations of surviving elders express the aims of sophisticated folk museology.

An artifacts collection, a music archive of records, which ancestors brought to America and a photo archive have been begun. Nicholas and Bouloukos are particularly excited with the oral history collection they are amassing.

The Greek museum’s professionally curated premiere exhibit will celebrate Greek Americans of the New York City area by showcasing their contributions in the arts, business, politics, labor, medicine, education, law, journalism, the food industry and sports.

The long range goal of raising public awareness through documentation of of the extensive contributions made by Greek Americans to American society is made clear in the museum’s mission statement, The Greek Museum is being created for the purpose of collecting and preserving the tangible objects which represent both the former lives of the Greek immigrants in their beloved homeland and their subsequent lives in America, for admiration, interpretation and future studies.

The Greek Museum will consist of exhibition space for permanent and rotating exhibits; a space for film showings, concerts, dance recitals, lectures, play performances and receptions; a library and research collection containing documents, books, newspapers, magazines and manuscripts; an oral history dept. With audio tapes and videos recording the contributions of the early immigrants; hands-on displays with particular interest for children; a music library with emphasis on the early music of the immigrants; a permanent exhibition area that will include embroideries, costumes, jewelry, pottery, household items, photographs and religious objects, and a gift shop featuring unique items related to the museum.

In other words, the Greek museum will be a dream space for both enjoyment and study, for congregating, for sharing.

The museum will be open to the general public on a daily basis with a professional staff to coordinate these activities.

In defense of the existence of a Greek museum, Nicholas and Bouloukos note that there are 26 ethnic museums in the New York area. “Other ethnic groups, Italians, Jews, Poles, have established museums for their heritage there are 26 ethnic museums...why not the Greeks”? say Kathryn and Stacy, A museum must be created to preserve and record how our ancestors came, struggled, suffered years of strife and hardship, and yet maintained their culture, their religion, and their heritage. Chicago and Salt lake City have opened very successful museums dedicated to preserving the Greek American experience; so can New York.

A non-profit organization*, The Greek Museum was incorporated in New York State in 1996 and is chartered under the Board of Regents of the New York State Education Department.

Both women and the rapidly growing number of supporters of this archival project firmly believe that existing household items, passports, photographs, personal records, musical recordings, and family heirlooms- handicrafts, embroideries, dowries, and early tools of trade, that were brought down village roads to ports of departure by our adventurous and hopeful forebearers can help succeeding generations define the present by this link with the poignant beauty of the past.

For families whose family artifacts have been lost or destroyed through time, the museum will provide a collective opportunity to recapture the precious past.

Nicholas and Bouloukos emphasize the idea that the Greek immigrants who made possible the countless success stories of Hellenic Americans succeeding in the arts, business, legal and professional worlds will be remembered through the preservation and acknowledgement of the contributions made to American culture by our fore bearers.

Both my parents came to America in the 1930s and struggled, sacrificed and worked hard to achieve a better life for their children than they knew, says Stacy Nicholas. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college and to have a lifestyle that my parents never even dreamed possible; it is to pay them homage that my generation must perpetuate their memory through the preservation of their history. And it must be done now before it is forever lost to future generations.

It is important that with the Americanization of the Greeks in society today, we can identify ourselves as individuals with an ethnic past, that we not lose our cultural identity in the great melting pot, says Kathryn Bouloukos, that we identify with our ancestral heritage.

Stacy and Kathryn state it is with great pleasure that they invite you to join them as founding partners in preserving the Greek experience in America through The Greek Museum: The Center For Greek American Heritage.

They look forward to meeting with individuals and boards of organizations to discuss contribution to the museum. “Input, ideas, money and talent are what we are looking for”, say Nicholas and Bouloukos. We ask you join us in this endeavor now, at its momentous beginning.


*All donations are TAX deductible under the IRS 501©.
Please make checks payable to:
The Greek Museum
POB 1863
Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163



©Vicki James Yiannias 2000 All Rights Reserved