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Push for a
Greek Museum
By Demetrios Rompotis
National Herald, December 16, 2000
The presence of Greeks in America starts
officially with Columbus/Chian sailors and follows various phases leading to the
immigration waves of the late l9th and 20th centuries. In that period of time,
Greek Americans have reached the highest levels in almost every aspect of life.
However, their story is relatively unknown, prompting two entrepreneurs, and close
friends, Katherine r. Boulukos and Anastasia Nicholas, to undertake the task of preserving
through the creation of a Greek Museum in New York City.
The idea started about five years ago, when they went to Chicago for
a conference and in a tour guide they saw the Greek Museum among the city'’ leading
cultural institutions. After visiting it, they thought that “if they
could do it in Chicago, we could do it in New York
Later they found out that there is another museum in Salt Lake City,
Utah, dealing with Greeks immigrants who headed West. And in San Antonio, Texas,
one can find an impressive Greek section in the town’s museum.
“Here in New York, the portal where so many millions of Greeks
came through, there is no place to show the immigrant experience, say Boulukos, noting the
interesting oxymoron.
The first step was to establish a non profit organization, legally
chartered in the State of new York with tax free IRS status under the name of The Greek
Museum – The Center for Greek American heritage. Then “we started an
honory board, we have a working board, we are soliciting money of course, because such a
project cannot be done overnight, notes Nicholas. George Stephanopous, maestro Dino
Anagnost, professor Alice Skourby, Angelica Douris, Head of HANAC, Chris Gyftos, Art
Director at the metropolitan Museum and Art, Nicholas Gage, Olympia Dukakis, and other
personalities from political, artistic and scientific fields are among the Honorary
Board’s members.
According to its founding statement, the Museum’s purpose will
be to preserve the contributions of Greek immigrants to the American culture; to collect
objects that represent the life of Greeks in America and to increase awareness of the
contributions of Greek immigrants. The museum will serve many functions, with
educational and cultural features as well. It should
be located in Manhattan, because that’s; where “every ethnic organization has
some kind of building or presentation or exhibit for their culture, according to Nicholas. Besides, some of the earliest Greek communities were
established in the Lower East Side.
Having dealt with the bureaucratic part, the two friends, along with
a group of more than 20 energetic volunteers, are currently working on setting up an
exhibition in order to prove that such a museum can be established.
The New York Historical society, next to the Museum of Natural
history, has agreed to provide the space for the presentation. “That we believe would give credence or validity,
that “look, we can do this museum, we just need more support, said Boulukos.
The exhibition will include early work tools, embroideries,
handicrafts, garments, photographs, traveling documents, music, etc. The cost of such a project, which would run for six
months, will reach $ 250,000 and it will include a book and the publicity necessary. The two friends use as a guide a similar effort by the
Italian American community that not only broke even but brought an additional $ 400,000
from donations for the Italian museum to be.
So far, they have received a grant of $ 5,000 from the New York
Community Trust and they rely on contributions of the Greek Museum’s members. The community’s support has been weak so far. “We have approached at least l00 wealthy Greek
Americans, “, says Boulukos.
“Everyone commends us for our ambition,
for the idea, for saying that it is necessary, all of them
uniformly say it’s very difficult to do, it can be done.
I; 11 help you eventually the problem is when is this eventually? From 250 letters to Greek American organizations, they got only
six responses. “And
we didn't’t ask for money in the letter, just cooperation!
However, the biggest disappointment has come from people who said
they feel ashamed that their parents or grandparents were “dishwashers and look upon
as second class citizens.
According to Mrs. Nicholas, that’s a very unfair assessment
indicative of people who don’t know that part of our history and thus cannot
appreciate it. It also shows the necessity of such a museum that could be a common
reference point for Greek Americans’ “In a
relatively short period of time, actually within l00 years, our people have achieved great
roles, as compared to other minorities in the same period of time, she notes.
Despite the difficulties, the Greek Museum’s people keep working
and some major Greek American organizations have promised to help.
They are also soliciting material that would be part of the
museum’s collection’. “We are interviewing elders. We
have a 90 year old woman who told us about how there was a “proxenio and how she went
to Boston to meet her future husband, says Nicholas.
“A lot of our heritage is getting lost.
Our community’s contributions are many and
we want to be able to keep them for our children, said Boulukos.
For information, call 5l6 8 68 4992, or write PO Box l863, Grand
Central Station, new York, NY l0l063.
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