This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Unique time-based media items have been reformatted and are available onsite via links in the container list. All original copies of audio / moving image media are closed. Email avery-drawings@columbia.edu for more information.
The collection includes correspondence, meetings and speeches notes, articles, newspaper clippings, communicational material, proposals and petitions, research material, photographs, audio recordings, [35mm film] and realia related to the community activism of Joan McClure from the 1960s through the 1980s. The material is arranged into three series: Westsiders For Westway (Formly Villager For Westway), Community Files, and Media Files.
Series I: Westsiders For Westway (Formly Villager For Westway)
A more extensive documentation of McClure's close involvement with the West Side (Westway) Highway Project through the community organization she founded, the series contains administrative records of the organization, correspondence with affiliated personnel and agencies, as well as related information, study and research of the project.
The series consists of administrative records, correspondence, newsletters, flyers, documentational photographs, articles and newspaper clippings of McClure's other community organizational activities such as Village Halloween Parade (VHP), Beautiful Abingdon Square Is Coming (BASIC), Bank/ Bethune Block Association and various other initiatives with primarily focus on the West Village neighborhood.
This series contains mixed media material including audio cassette tapes, ¼" audio reels, 35mm films, [large format posters] and some realia related to the files arranged in the previous two series as well as other civic activities.
This collection is made up of three series: Series I: Westsiders For Westway (Formly Villager For Westway); Series II: Community Files; Series III: Media Files
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Unique time-based media items have been reformatted and are available onsite via links in the container list. All original copies of audio / moving image media are closed. Email avery-drawings@columbia.edu for more information.
Columbia University is providing access to the materials in the Library's collections solely for noncommercial educational and research purposes. The unauthorized use, including, but not limited to, publication of the materials without the prior written permission of Columbia University is strictly prohibited. All inquiries regarding permission to publish should be submitted in writing to the Director, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. In addition to permission from Columbia University, permission of the copyright owner (if not Columbia University) and/or any holder of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) may also be required for reproduction, publication, distributions, and other uses. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of any item and securing any necessary permissions rests with the persons desiring to publish the item. Columbia University makes no warranties as to the accuracy of the materials or their fitness for a particular purpose.
Joan McClure papers. Located in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Gift of Joan McClure, 1994.007
Source of acquisition--Gift of Joan McClure. Accession number--1994.007.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
This collection was processed by Chialin Chou (Archives Intern) under the supervision of Shelley Hayreh, Avery Archivist, in 2013.
2009-06-25 File created.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Joan McClure was a resident of the West Village in New York City for more than sixty years and active in many local civic and social issues. Worked initially as an advertising copy writer for Vogue, and later became full-time community activist, McClure's many activities ranged from the local beginnings of the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, the creation of a landscaped traffic island at Abbingdon Square, to the close involvement in the planning for the Westway highway along the Hudson River.
Westway was first proposed in 1969 by the city planner Samuel Ratensky responding to the rapid deterioration of the highway along Manhattan's Far West Side which was originally built in the 1930s. In 1971, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) proposed to build the highway at the Interstate standard. The UDC plan, the "Water Edge Study," called for the highway to be routed along the ends of the then mostly abandoned piers on the Hudson River and some additional land for parks and apartments, all to be constructed on concrete platforms between the bulkhead and the pierhead lines. Renamed "Westway" in 1974, the final plan called for burying the highway in new landfill south of 40th Street, placing the accompanying development on land instead of on platforms, and a construction budget of $2.1 billion. The project had since become the largest development battle in New York City history in the following sixteen years.
McClure's concern about increasing park space in the Village prompted her in the 1980s to work enthusiastically in favor of the proposed Westway highway and park on Hudson River landfill. She organized community support, participated in many regional development meetings and led a protest after then Mayor Koch announced against the project. In 1982, the U.S. District Court blocked the permit, and the order was subsequently affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On September 30, 1985, the City officially gave up on the project, allocating portions of its interstate highway funds to mass transit and the "West Side Highway Replacement Project".
In addition to Westway, McClure was involved in setting up free health clinics in the Village and Chelsea in the 1960s and 70s, supporting people with H.I.V., and working with Housing Works in finding places for homeless people with AIDS to live. She organized for the first Halloween Parade, helped address several neighborhood safety issues from adding lights to the sidewalk to implementing the whistles program.
With her husband, Dean McClure, an architect, Joan lobbied for years for a green traffic island at Abingdon Square. The proposal came through after she'd moved to California in 1995. She died in August 2005 at the age of 90.
A more extensive documentation of McClure's close involvement with the West Side (Westway) Highway Project through the community organization she founded, the series contains administrative records of the organization, correspondence with affiliated personnel and agencies, as well as related information, study and research of the project.
Box 1 Folder 1-4
Includes correspondence with James Larocca, Edward Koch and Mario Cuomo
Box 1 Folder 5-6
General and for meetings, trials, public hearings and some newspaper clippings
Box 1 Folder 7
Box 1 Folder 8
From Congressman John M. Murphy, Richard S. Kaye, Dean McClure, New York City Partnership and Greenwich Village Chamber of Commerce
Box 1 Folder 9
At CB2, Army Corp Public Hearing, and City Planning Commission. Includes resources
Box 1 Folder 10
Notes, proposals, meeting attendance, membership, contributors, file lists and some clippings
Box 1 Folder 11-13
Press release, media list, mailings, labels, pamphlets, flyers, newsletters, campaign and advertisements
Box 1 Folder 14-15
Notes, correspondence, steering committee, articles and newspaper clippings
Box 1 Folder 16
Traffic, planning, federal aids, notes, article "The Mass Transit Panacea" by Charles A. Lave and some newspaper clippings
Box 2 Folder 1
Traffic, planning, federal aids, notes, article "The Mass Transit Panacea" by Charles A. Lave and some newspaper clippings
Box 2 Folder 2-7
Greitzer letters, Letters to The Editor on NYT and Voice and anti-Westway clippings
Box 2 Folder 8-9
Fact books, pamphlets, concept drawings, travel studies, Applications for indirect source permit, work program, Letters to NY State Legislate, correspondence with Dept. of Transportation, private development plan and memorandum of understanding
Box 2 Folder 10
Public Notice, press release, some correspondence and member's communication
Box 2 Folder 11
Clean Air Act, Land Fill, Wateredge Development Study
Box 2 Folder 12
17 photos and negatives
Box 2 Folder 13
Westway Park, piers, bus garage, biking, ramps at Chelsea Clinton Neighborhood, list of possible resource and some newspaper clippings
Box 3 Folder 1
Membership meeting notice, press conference and some newspaper clippings
Box 3 Folder 2-3
Application, correspondence, meeting notes and waterfront committee
Box 3 Folder 4
Box 3 Folder 5
Attendance, correspondence, "The Artist Looks At WestWay" talk and surveys
Box 3 Folder 6-8
Notes, correspondence, memos, meeting minutes, agendas, statements, mailings, newsletters and position paper
Box 3 Folder 9
News release, reports, membership newsletters, and annual dinner invitation
Box 3 Folder 10
Public Notice, press release, some correspondence and member's communication
Box 8
Draft environmental impact statement and section 4(f) statement for West Side highway, Interstate route 478, Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to Lincoln Tunnel, New York County / [by] U. S. Dept. of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and New York State Dept. of Transportation.
Box 8
Xerox copies
Box 8
The series consists of administrative records, correspondence, newsletters, flyers, documentational photographs, articles and newspaper clippings of McClure's other community organizational activities such as Village Halloween Parade (VHP), Beautiful Abingdon Square Is Coming (BASIC), Bank/ Bethune Block Association and various other initiatives with primarily focus on the West Village neighborhood.
Box 3 Folder 11
Box 3 Folder 12
Includes "Confessions of A Grownup Trick-or-Treater" in The New Yorker
Box 3 Folder 13
Box 3 Folder 14
Box 3 Folder 15
90 photos, contact sheets, and negatives
Box 8
Box 3 Folder 16
Notes, plans, flyers, grant applications, contributor lists, receipt books, financial and legal files
Box 4 Folder 1-2
Notes, plans, flyers, grant applications, contributor lists, receipt books, financial and legal files
Box 4 Folder 3
Correspondence, notes, stationary, information pamphlets, press contacts, memberships, Harvard Club meeting, Historic District Council Meeting and Municipal Arts Society speech
Box 4 Folder 4
Includes "And the Mayor Said, Let There Be Lights....?" in The South Manhattanite
Box 4 Folder 5
Correspondence, product brochure, design sketches, 3 drawings
Box 4 Folder 6
12 photos and 127 slides
Box 4 Folder 7
Notes, correspondence, photos, proposal to improve the park and the location plan for installing new benches
Box 4 Folder 8-9
Final and drafts of the plan, Manhattan Valley studies, maps of the area, sketches of the existing traffic condition, drawings of the proposed fitch barrier installation, design for the safety triangle, 2 photos, and 48 slides
Box 4 Folder 10
Correspondence, block association list, file organization, meeting sign-up sheets, legal and financial files; demonstration rally and CRASH meeting
Box 4 Folder 11
Memos, maps of the area, introduction texts, proposed traffic plans and drawings
Box 4 Folder 12
Box 4 Folder 13-14
Includes Xerox originals and the original 1981 AD on The Villager
Box 4 Folder 15
For Community Board No. 2, Horatio Street Block Assc, Dept. of Transportation Info Session, 19 photos and film negatives
Box 4 Folder 16
Includes notes for speeches and hearing prep
Box 4 Folder 17
Includes 1981 The Villager "Letters to the Editor"
Box 4 Folder 18
Mailing lists and blank copies of the coupon
Box 4 Folder 19
Duplicates and blank sheets
Box 5 Folder 1-3
Constitution and By Laws, structure of organization, logo film, membership, attendance lists, correspondence, notes, articles, clippings and 2 copies of the publication "The Grass Roots Primer" by James Robertson and John Lewallen (pp. 189-199)
Box 5 Folder 4
Box 5 Folder 5
Includes the originals
Box 5 Folder 6
Announcements, notes, permit, 66 photos, contact sheets and film negatives
Box 5 Folder 7-8
Programs, safety campaigns, correspondence, crime studies, 1976 Apr. Good House Keeping Magazine article "Blowing The Whistle On Crime", other articles and newspaper clippings
Box 5 Folder 9
Notes, correspondence, maps, 2 drawings, petitions for pier 49, the Waterfront booklet by City Planning commission and Warehouse Newsletter - Piers 48 and 51
Box 5 Folder 10
Trees & Tree Fences; Stolport; Garden Committee Reform; Resolution for Westway; West Village Housing; Water Quality, Landmarks and Shoe Repair
Box 5 Folder 11-13
Correspondence, traffic light petition and truck traffic research
Box 5 Folder 14
Issues about traffic, crimes, community exterior, includes correspondence with Rita Lee about Abingdon sq., Traffic Speakout pamphlets, traffic regulation pamphlets, text about The Woonerf, 34 photos and negatives; Bethune St. Parking and The South Manhattanite, publication of Neighborhood Gov't
Box 6 Folder 1-2
Issues about traffic, crimes, community exterior, includes correspondence with Rita Lee about Abingdon sq., Traffic Speakout pamphlets, traffic regulation pamphlets, text about The Woonerf, 34 photos and negatives; Bethune St. Parking and The South Manhattanite, publication of Neighborhood Gov't
Box 6 Folder 3
Appointments, by laws, correspondence, flyers, women's house of detention and documents related to Arthur Stoliar
Box 6 Folder 4
Art, Street painting, Roller rinks, Post office, Trees NYC, Tree Fences, health clinic and sanitation
Box 6 Folder 5
Press release, notes, correspondence, flyers, articles on Hal Mayerson speech (published in Village Independence Democrats) and clippings
Box 6 Folder 6
Bulletins, newsletters, meeting agenda, West Village Housing info, correspondence and clippings; general housing research including rent control origins and squatters housing
Box 6 Folder 7
Committee meetings announcements, programs and heroin research
Box 6 Folder 8
Notes, correspondence and grant proposals
Box 6 Folder 9
Notes, correspondence, ruler & procedure, letterhead, flyers, membership and clippings
Box 6 Folder 10
10th Anniversary celebration, party and photos and clippings
Box 6 Folder 11
Political Correspondence, speeches, lists, letterheads and research on NYC Government
Box 6 Folder 12-14
Contains the1979 Oct, Villager article on McClure House and personal files and the Village of Saltaire Lawsuit
This series contains mixed media material including audio cassette tapes, ¼" audio reels, 35mm films, [large format posters] and some realia related to the files arranged in the previous two series as well as other civic activities. Bank / Bethune Block Association Meeting typically included annoucements and messages from committee members on sanitation and dog behavior; traffic and transportation; local history; crime prevention; entertainment; trees and plantings; recycling.
Box 7 Folder 1-2
7 audio cassettes, 2 in original envelopes. WSHP meetings
Box 7 Folder 13
Box 7 Folder 5-8, 11, 13
23 audio cassettes. Includes steering meetings, general meetings, W12th St. members meeting, pier meetings, planning speak out, Traffic meeting, emergency meeting and CPC HRG - CPD #2.
Box 7 Folder 9
6 1/4" audio reels. Bethune Street Block Party Sound Roll #1-6. Wild Track Pop Com.
Box 7 Folder 10
1/4" audio reel. New York, New York Interview
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 8
Box 7 Folder 3
Box 7 Folder 4
Box 7 Folder 12
Includes election campaign buttons