Since 1869, more than a million people have been buried on Hart Island, the narrow strip of land off the Bronx in the Long Island Sound: immigrants, incarcerated people, artists, early AIDS patients, and New Yorkers who died of COVID-19 among them. Many people buried there are shrouded in anonymity, and explanations can be hard to find. Long closed off, the island is soon expected to open to the public for the first time. Radio Diaries' new series traces the stories of people who were buried in Hart Island's mass graves, from lost family members to a beloved writer to a missing neighbor.
Join us at NYPL to hear from some of the show's creators and subjects about how these stories came to light. This event features a one-night-only display of rare materials from the collections of The New York Public Library inspired by Hart Island.