In Harlem, Gov. Hochul Pledges Millions To Renovate Schomburg Center

HARLEM, NY — The state will spend millions to renovate the storied Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday during a visit to Harlem.

Hochul, whose visit coincided with Harlem Week, said the $8 million project will add "critical infrastructure" including a new facade, roof, windows and energy-saving features to the public library and archive on the corner of West 135th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard.

"This is more than a facelift of a building," Hochul said during a speech at the Schomburg Wednesday morning. "It is putting the best face forward to the rest of the world about the pride that we all feel, not just in Harlem but as a state, that this is right here in our midst."

Originally based out of the small 135th Street Library building, the Schomburg became a focal point in the Harlem Renaissance and amassed a huge collection of materials — now numbering more than 11 million items — documenting Black history in the U.S. and worldwide.

It expanded in 1980 to a brick building on the corner of Lenox Avenue, and was renovated and expanded further in 1991, 2007 and 2011.

Though it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the facility now "needs a little sprucing up," Hochul said.

Joy Bivins, who has served as the Schomburg's director since last year, said Wednesday that the "critically important" work would "help future-proof this institution."

Funding will be administered through the state's Dormitory Authority, which funds projects for the public good. The office will also provide design services and construction management, according to Hochul's office, which did not give any timeline for when work would begin.

Hochul was joined at the library Wednesday by most of Harlem's top elected officials, including Assemblymembers Inez Dickens and Eddie Gibbs, New York NAACP President Hazel Dukes, and State Sen. Cordell Cleare, who called the Schomburg "the literal embodiment and repository for the entire history of Black people."

Hochul, who took office last year, said the Schomburg renovations would be personally important to her, as the "first major project that I've had the privilege to do as governor."

She related the project back to her own childhood, when she visited a public library to repeatedly check out the same book: a history of Harriet Tubman's childhood and her escape from slavery.

"The library gave me access to that story," Hochul said.