A Forest of Stacks. Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Steel plate 6 x 25 ft and huge shear for trimming. Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution.

We want your stories

Do you know someone who has an interesting story to tell about Buffalo's industrial past?

Did you, or someone you know, ever work for the steel industry in Buffalo/Lackawanna?

Do you remember what the steel industry meant to Buffalo during the heyday of Bethlehem Steel?

If you, or someone you know, would like to participate, please send an email to steelstories@albrightknox.org or call Sarah Ruszczyk at 716.270.8296 or Nancy Spector at 716.270.8283 to arrange a time to record a story or memory to be used (space permitting) in connection with Industrial Trace.

AIR Calame Oral History Project

Gallery staff will work with citizens in the community to create an audio memory project related to Buffalo's industrial past–the inspiration for Ingrid Calame's residency project. This oral history on audiotape–collected from individuals at community centers, in businesses, and neighborhoods who live near, once lived near, or once loved someone who lived near the sites Calame will visit during the residency–will capture the community's collective memory of those times and places. What did the steel industry mean to Buffalo during the heyday of Bethlehem Steel? Who remembers Bethlehem Steel in action? Who worked in those jobs, applied for them, came home to their families from them? Just as Calame traces the marks people have made doing their jobs or as part of their everyday lives and connects them to the world of art, these voices of Buffalo will connect our region's past with the present.

AIR Calame Industrial Trace Oral History Participation

Many people worked for the steel industry, experienced its effects on our region, or have heard about these things from someone close to them. As part of this project, a library of the memories and stories of individuals whose lives were touched by Buffalo's industrial past, present, or future will be developed to be used in conjunction with Industrial Trace, Calame's exhibition of artwork based on the great industrial past of the Buffalo Niagara region. The exhibition will be on view at the Gallery from January 23 to April 19, 2009.