Eugenia Flatow papers

The Eugenia Flatow papers consist of correspondence, printed materials, published and unpublished reports, subject files, photographs, digital media, and oversized material that document Flatow's decades-long career in civil service.

Approximately half of the collection includes records from her time as Administrator of the Model Cities program under the John Lindsay administration from 1966 to 1970. These records present the entire application process for Model Cities funding and the housing and urban development projects that were part of the program. There is also extensive documentation that provides a preliminary view of the problems, objectives, and approaches in the Model Cities neighborhoods (Central Brooklyn, South Bronx, and Harlem – East Harlem).

In addition to the Model Cities material, there are records of Flatow's work in housing and urban development after the program ended in the mid-1970s. The files from this work document her consultancy work on numerous housing projects and demonstrate her interests in mutual housing, infrastructure reliability, affordable housing, and equitable housing policy. As her career progressed, Flatow became increasingly involved in the areas of waterfront development and revitalization, coastal management, the quality of New York City's water supply, and environmental policy.

The collection also holds the records of nine different civic and environmental organizations and task forces in which Eugenia Flatow served a prominent role. The materials for each organization are not comprehensive, but the correspondence, minutes, agendas, financial records, and other materials in the collection document the inner workings of these organizations from the perspective of Flatow's role in them.

Few materials in this collection document Eugenia Flatow's personal life, most of which only cover her undergraduate and graduate school years. There is, however, material from her campaign for councilman-at-large that reveals aspects of her early career, political ideology, and family life as of the early to mid-1960s.

The materials arrived in boxes that were organized and labeled according to their contents. It is unclear who performed this arrangement, but this order is reflected in the arrangement and description of the collection. Many folders in this collection were labeled by Eugenia Flatow, and all original file names have been preserved. Folders in poor condition were discarded, but many were retained. A sizable amount of material arrived in hanging files, which were removed for storage and preservation purposes. There were also several binders of material included in the collection; in most instances, documents were removed for preservation purposes and the binders.

There are 10 CDs included in the collection that contain digital versions of photographs taken at events planned by the New York City Soil and Water Conservation District (NYCSWCD). Many of these files are duplicates of photos found elsewhere in the collection, but they offer insight into the events (most notably educational programming for New York City school children) that Flatow attended or helped organize.