Hart Island Project News
November 26, 2007, New York Times: Searching for Names on an Island of Graves, by Sewall Chan. New York City has agreed to turn over 1,300 pages of records that could shed light on the identities of some 50,000 people who have been buried over the past several decades at Hart Island, the city’s public burial ground in Long Island Sound ... Read more
December 5, 2007, NYFA Current: Melinda Hunt on the Hart Island Project, edited by Nick Stillman. Since 1991, I have had a virtual studio on New York City’s most invisible 100 acres... Read more
February 19, 2008, Eyewitness News Investigators: Finding relatives in Potter's Field, by Jim Hoffer. It is the largest taxpayer-funded cemetery in the world, yet public access is severely restricted. And those trying to identify whether a missing loved one is buried there still face a bureaucratic maze ... Watch here or on WABC TV
March 24, 2008, New York Times: Finding the Names of Hart Island's Forgotten, by Cara Buckley. An artist is hoping to create an online database of the names of people who have been buried since 1985 on Hart Island, home to New York ... Read more
September 26, 2008, Times Literary Supplement: Freelance, by Michael Greenberg. Last week a friend introduced me to the artist Melinda Hunt who has been boring through the bureaucratic and metaphysical mysteries of Hart Island since 1991 ... Read more or go to TLS on-line
January 12, 2009, Fox 5 Investigates: Missing Brooklyn Mother, by John Deutzman. In May 2008, the daughters of Antoinette Rubin searched for help to determine if their mother was buried on Hart Island. After finding her burial record and death certificate, they arranged for her remains to be disinterred after twenty years in Potter's Field. Watch here or on MyFOX
May 23, 2009, Fox 5 Investigages: Hart Island Babies, by John Deutzman. There are accusations that the city could have mishandled the burials of at least 1,000 babies. It's a disturbing discovery made by a woman who has a passion for helping people find their loved ones. Watch here or on MyFOX
September 13, 2009, New York Post: Field of Baby Sorrows, by Reuven Blau. Juana Morales just wants to find her baby. She was 24 and six months pregnant when she awoke one morning ... Read more (Please note: This article is incorrectly states the size of the mass graves. There are 1000 babies per grave and 150-162 adult per grave.)
June 2009, Eye News Investigators: Mistakes in Burying Babies, by Jim Hoffer. This is where New York buries its babies... Watch here
April 16th, 2010, Poets To Spotlight N.Y.C.'s Hart Island Potters Field, by Linda Frye Burnham. On Mothers' Day, May 9, 2010, poets will gather at historic Flushing Meeting House to read names of people who died in New York City, 1980-2008...Read more