PROGRAM OUTLINE FOR GETTING BY
Tour objectives:
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Help visitors connect to the human experience of living through the Panic of 1873 and the Great
Depression, by describing the options available to the Gumpertz and Baldizzi families and the choices
they made about how to “get by.”
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Help visitors understand how the Gumpertz and Baldizzi families’ choices were shaped by larger
forces, by describing the attitudes, practices, and policies that affected their immigration experience and
their access to assistance. Through the Gumpertz and Baldizzi stories, help visitors understand how
immigrants who are in dire economic straits have to make hard choices in order to get by.
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Help visitors make a personal connection with the Gumpertz and Baldizzi families, encouraging
visitors to compare and contrast their own experiences with the Gumpertz and Baldizzi’s experiences.
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Help visitors compare the Gumpertz and Baldizzis with the experiences of immigrants today
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Foster dialogue among visitors on the question of who is in need and who is responsible for
assisting those in need -- exploring the variety of perspectives on this question that were debated in the
time of the Gumpertzes and the Baldizzis, and encouraging visitors to share a variety of perspectives on
the question today.
1. Inside 108 Orchard Street
2 minutes
 Make sure that you, as an educator representing the Museum, start on time and are dressed in a way that
reflects a respect for the visitor and the families whose stories we tell.
 Announce the tour throughout the Visitor Center, loudly and clearly, beginning in the theatre and moving
in a clockwise direction.
 Let visitors know about assistive listening devices, and foreign language & English guidebooks
2. Outside 90 or 91 Orchard or on Broome Street
5 minutes (*or 10minutes, if you include info from front of 97)
Objectives for Introduction:
1)
Introduce LES as immigrant neighborhood today and in the past
2)
Emphasize the challenge of finding affordable housing for immigrants in NYC
3)
Emphasize the importance of social welfare networks that help immigrants in “getting by.”
4)
Explain that the tour will be interactive and will be an opportunity to hear about and share
personal stories, perspectives, and opinions.
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Welcome: Introduce yourself (including personal connection with Museum) & tour, “Getting By”- 1 hour,
see three apts, families in economic hardship – who do you turn to when times are tough.
Ask visitors –
o Where are you from? This will encourage visitors to connect with each other during tour.
o From where do your ancestors hail? Encourage visitors to think about how all Americans
share an immigrant or migrant history.
o What are some of your observations about the LES today? Educator should refer to the Tour
Content to help provide context for understanding the neighborhood as an immigrant community,
and the social welfare networks that support those communities.
Discuss challenge of finding an affordable place to live, either through personal experience or
describing an immigrant experience.
Point out housing options available in neighborhood today. (Seward Park Extension, located on
Broome and Essex Street, and Rent-stabilized buildings on Orchard Street.)
Introduce the rules (see educator manual for list) for visiting 97 Orchard Street and encourage visitors to
throw out gum in the trashcan on the corner of Orchard and Broome Street.
Sample Transition from 90 Orchard Street to front of 96 Orchard Street or in front of 97 Orchard Street:
“Let’s go take a look at 97 Orchard Street, which was among the first wave of housing options in NYC designed
specifically for the working-class in the 1860s.”
3. In front of 96 Orchard or stoop of 97 Orchard Street (your choice)
5 minutes
Objectives for front of 96 Orchard or stoop of 97:
1)
Provide an overview on the construction and habitation of 97 Orchard Street
2)
Educator should interpret the storefront window exhibition, explaining how it explores
connections between immigration past and present.
3)
Define the meaning of “tenement.”
1) Reinforce the Museum’s rules.
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Introduce 97 Orchard Street: e.g. built in 1863 by Lucas Glockner and inhabited until 1935. The
Museum was chartered at 97 Orchard Street in 1988.
Provide information to questions and comments about Glockner, façade and/or neighborhood,
e.g. the storefront and stoop, fire escapes, and Kleindeutschland.
Highlight art installation, perhaps asking “Does the art say anything to you about contemporary
immigration, and if so, what”?
Remind visitors about rules inside building and confirm all visitors have tickets as the group enters the
building.
Ask visitors – “What words do you usually associate with the word ‘tenement’?”
Define the word and invite visitors to compare their associations with what they discover inside the
building.
Sample Transition from the stoop to the hallway of 97 Orchard Street:
“Let’s enter 97 Orchard Street and see what the Museum discovered when it opened inside the tenement in
1988.”
4. Hallway
8 minutes
Objectives for Hallway:
1)
Explain housing options in the 1860’s
2)
Introduce the idea that government laws affect housing options
3)
Introduce tenement living conditions in the 19th century
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Ask visitors –
o What do you think about what you see in this first floor hallway? OR
o Does anything in this hallway look familiar to a place where you live or have lived?
The educator should guide this discussion toward the theme of how the legal definition of what is
considered acceptable housing has changed.
Discuss decorative features: e.g. tile floor, metal ceiling, burlap wall covering, and paintings.
Describe amenities: Explain the building originally had no central lighting – turn out lights momentarily nor central heat, indoor plumbing, or running water.
Introduce concept of the tenement as one of the housing options for poor and working-class
families in 1864.
o Show pictures of other options available to tenants at the time.
o Explain conditions in the 19th century, e.g. using the outhouses and retrieve water in the
backyard, carrying coal or wood up the stairs.
o Describe the 7,000 former residents of the building and how the Museum has identified almost
1,300 of them. Refer to the banister and the number of tenants who likely used it as a way to
illustrate the size of building’s population.
o Explain how Lucas Glockner, the landlord, likely thought it was a fine option because he moved
into 97 Orchard Street after it was built.
Sample Transition from the hallway to the Gumpertz apartment:
“Let’s visit the home of one of Lucas Glockner’s tenants and see what their experience was like at 97 Orchard
Street. Follow me up the stairs to their apartment, which the Museum restored to 1878.”
Group Management: Lead the visitors up the stairs to the Gumpertz apartment and close doors to ruin
and/or Baldizzi apts if they are not already closed
5. Gumpertz Apartment
KITCHEN WITH PARLOR DOOR CLOSED
7 minutes
Objectives for the Gumpertz’ kitchen:
1) Introduce apartment and explain Gumpertz family story
2) Describe economic hardship in the 1870s.
3) Introduce social welfare options available in the 1870s
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Set the context for the space: e.g. apartment is typical, three-rooms, 325 square feet. We recreated
this apartment to depict the Gumpertz family home in 1878.
Describe the Gumpertz story (incorporate touchable objects into story whenever possible)
Transition into an explanation of the Panic of 1873 and Julius’ mysterious disappearance in the
midst of Kleindeutschland.
Explain that we don’t know what happened to Julius and invite visitors to speculate.
Ask visitors - What do you think might have happened to Julius?
Educator should touch on some of the possible reasons for the disappearance, e.g. murdered,
abandoned the family, as well as the fruitless search for Julius.
Ask visitors –
If someone in your family disappeared today, to whom would you turn to help you “get by”?
Educator should provide historical context for responses such as: family, landlord, neighbors, mutual aid
associations, government, and employment. Emphasize that some of the answers are different today.
Sample Transition from Gumpertz kitchen to parlor:
“Let’s move into the parlor to see who and what Natalie relied upon to help her ‘get by’ in the midst of her
difficult circumstances.”
PARLOR
8 minutes
Objectives for the Gumpertz’ parlor:
1) Explain the network of support constructed by Natalie to “get by.”
2) Compare access to public assistance in the 1870s with today.
3) De-romanticize the appearance of the apartment.
4) Describing changing immigration demographics in the late 19th century and foreshadow
changes in social welfare.
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5) Describing changing immigration demographics in the late 19th century and foreshadow
Ask visitors
changes– in social welfare.
What do you think about this apartment? How is it similar or different from where you live?
Educator should guide discussion to focusing on what is different from what we expect in homes today,
i.e. dark rooms, coal stove for heating and cooking, the lack of running water, no bathroom.
Ask visitors – Do you think it’s easier or harder for immigrants to get by today?
Educator should raise the possibility of accessing public assistance and describe why it was unavailable
to Natalie Gumpertz.
Reference court petition and describe inheritance.
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Ask visitors – What is the first thing you would do with the inheritance money if you were Natalie?
When a visitor says “move,” educator should ask her/him, why? Link responses to an explanation about
why Natalie moved to Yorkville, e.g. better housing, changing neighborhood.
Sample Transition from Gumpertz to Baldizzi apartment:
“Natalie relied on many sources of support to help her family “get by” in the 1870s and ‘80s. Fifty years later,
another generation faced a similar economic cataclysm, but many of the sources of support they could access
were different. The next family we’ll meet lived in 97 Orchard Street in the late 1920s and early 1930s, they
were unemployed, undocumented immigrants. Before we got into their apartment, take a moment to imagine
what their home will look like.”
Educator should follow the group of visitors out of the apartment and make sure that the Gumpertz’
kitchen door is closed.
6. Baldizzi Apartment
START IN THE KITCHEN
7 minutes
Objectives for the Kitchen in the Baldizzi apt.:
1) Describe how the 1901 Tenement House Act affected living conditions in the 20 th century.
2) Explain the Baldizzi family
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6) Describing changing immigration demographics in the late 19th century and foreshadow
changes– in social welfare.
Ask visitors
Does the apartment look like or unlike what you expected? OR
What do you notice that is similar or different about this apartment?
Effects of 1901 Tenement House Act: Educator should direct visitor responses toward an explanation of
the effects of the 1901 Tenement House Act, e.g. interior windows, running water, toilets in the hallway.
Mention that because of another housing law, this family is moving out in 1935.
Introduce Josephine Baldizzi’s oral history and describe how the Baldizzi’s came to call this
apartment home. Distribute large print versions of the audio tracks and play track 1 or 2 from the oral
history. Turn off the audio and invite visitors to move into the parlor.
IN THE PARLOR (8 minutes)
Objectives for the parlor in the Baldizzi apt.:
1) Describe economic hardship in the 1930s and government’s response.
2) Encourage visitors to voice a personal connection with economic hardship.
3) Compare access to public assistance in the 1930s with today.
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Ask visitors – Has anyone here lived through an economic depression or recession or does
anyone have family stories of the Great Depression? Who did you turn to “get by”?
Draw out personal stories and link these to the options available to the Baldizzis, e.g. friends (Bonofiglios,
Respizios), church, neighbors (Adolpho walking up and down Orchard Street), employment (compare the
Baldizzis’ jobs with day laborers and garment workers today) and public assistance
Emphasize that public assistance is now available for the Baldizzis. Tell mourning glory story and
contrast it with the story of Josephine receiving men’s shoes from Home Relief
Explain how in the 1930s, government provided those in need with food and clothing and ask
visitors – What do you think the government should provide today?
If time allows, educator may wish to provide historical context on the 1937 law.
Ask visitors – who do you think should be eligible for assistance today?
Sample Transition from the Baldizzi apartment to the Ruin apartment:
“Beginning in the mid-1930s, city planners increasingly believed the private sector was no longer solely able to
provide affordable housing. They encouraged the construction of public housing, instead of tenement housing
like 97 Orchard Street. So, what happened to tenements like this one? Let’s go down the hallway to find out.”
Educator should instruct visitors to go through the door of the apartment at the top of the stairs (the ruin
apartment) and should be the last to leave the Baldizzi apartment to make sure that the door is closed.
7. Ruin Apartment
BEGIN IN KITCHEN OF THE RUIN
3 minutes
Objective for the kitchen in the ruin apartment:
1) Explain why apartment looks as it does today.
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8) Describing changing immigration demographics in the late 19th century and foreshadow
Explain to visitors that this is how the Museum found all the apartments when it moved into the
changes in social welfare.
building in 1988. Describe how a 1934 housing law requiring the fireproofing of the public hall combined
with the decrease in demand for housing on the LES.
Sample transition from Ruin kitchen to Ruin Parlor:
“Not only was a demand for housing decreasing on the Lower East Side in the 1930s, the amount of available
units available declined, too. Let’s look out the two windows to see what happened.”
MOVE TO PARLOR
7 minutes
Objectives for parlor in the ruin apartment:
1) Bring the story of housing in the neighborhood up to the present.
2) Describe social welfare and housing options available to immigrants today
3) Compare contemporary options with those available to the Gumpertz and Baldizzi
families
4) Describe changing immigration demographics in the late 19th century and foreshadow
changes in social welfare.
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“Slum Clearance”: After inviting visitors to look out the back windows, Educator should describe how
“slum clearance” led to the widening of Allen Street when a row of tenements was razed.
Ask visitors –
In hindsight, do you think this 1934 housing law was or was not an improvement for residents of
the Lower East Side? OR How would you feel about being forced to leave your home, even if it
was considered below standards by the government?
Point out the writing on the wall and invite visitors to conjecture why it’s there. Explain the Museum
believes it dates from after the building closed as a residence. – The commercial establishments
remained, as more and more buildings were closed as residences. Educator should describe how the
neighborhood changed since the 1930s. Reiterate how neighborhood housing is increasingly
expensive.
Ask visitors – If you were forced to move out of your home, to whom would you turn to help find
something affordable?
Use visitor responses to reiterate social networks mentioned earlier in the tour (e.g. neighbors,
employment, religious institutions) used by past immigrants to help them “get by,” and compare them with
social networks used by immigrants today. Educator should point out Allen Street and the evidence of
some of these network options, e.g. employment, church, neighbors.
Introduce the pressures of gentrification and its effect on the neighborhood.
Ask visitors a concluding question, e.g.
How do you think the experience of immigrants today compares with that of the Gumpertz and
Baldizzi families? Is it easier today for immigrants to “get by” today? Should it be easier for
immigrants?
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Pitch membership
Group Management: Explain to visitors how to go through the “exit ruin,” down the stair tower, out
the gate and around the corner to the Visitor Center. Close the door to ruin apartment and follow
visitors out of the building (also making sure the door to the stair tower and gate are securely closed).
© 2005 Lower East Side Tenement Museum