IB
Union Calendar No. 348
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4158
[Report No. 103–642]
To establish the Lower East Side Tenement Museum National Historic Site.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 24, 1994
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
AUGUST 1, 1994
Additional sponsors: Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. BONIOR, Mr.
FILNER, Mr. MILLER of California, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. NADLER, Mrs.
MALONEY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. OWENS, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. SERRANO,
Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. WASHINGTON, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms.
SLAUGHTER, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. LOWEY, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. MANTON,
Mr. ENGEL, Mr. BOEHLERT, and Mr. SOLOMON
AUGUST 1, 1994
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House
on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 24, 1994]
A BILL
To establish the Lower East Side Tenement Museum
National Historic Site.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lower East Side Tene-
ment National Historic Site Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘historic site’’ means the Lower
East Side Tenement National Historic Site estab-
lished by section 4.
(2) The term ‘‘Museum’’ means the Lower East
Side Tenement Museum, an education corporation
chartered under the laws of the State of New York.
(3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of
the Interior.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) the Lower East Side Tenement at 97 Or-
chard Street, New York, New York, is an outstanding
survivor of the vast number of humble buildings in
New York City that housed immigrants to the United
States during the greatest wave of immigration in
American history;
(2) the Lower East Side Tenement is well suited
to represent a profound social movement involving
great numbers of unexceptional but courageous people;
(3) between 1880 and 1921, almost three-quar-
ters of the immigrants to the United States entered
the country through New York Harbor, most passed
through immigration stations at Ellis Island and,
earlier, Castle Clinton, both of which have been des-
ignated as national monuments, and millions of these
immigrants made their way to the Lower East Side
of New York City;
(4) no other single identifiable neighborhood in
the United States absorbed a comparable number of
immigrants;
(5) the Museum is dedicated to interpreting im-
migrant life on the Lower East Side and its impor-
tance to United States history, and is located within
a neighborhood long associated with the immigrant
experience in America;
(6) the tenement building at 97 Orchard Street
has been designated as a National Historic Land-
mark, has been found to be historically significant,
and possesses a historic fabric of exceptional integrity
dating from the period of peak immigration to the
United States; and
(7) the National Park Service has found the
Lower East Side Tenement to be nationally signifi-
cant and to be best protected and interpreted through
designation as an affiliated area of the National Park
System while remaining under private ownership and
management.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to assure the preservation, maintenance, and
interpretation of the Lower East Side Tenement and
to interpret, in the tenement and the surrounding
neighborhood, the themes of early tenement life, the
housing reform movement, and tenement architecture
in the United States;
(2) to assure the continuation at this site of the
Lower East Side Tenement, the preservation of which
is necessary for the continued interpretation of the
nationally significant immigrant phenomenon associ-
ated with the Lower East Side of New York City and
the role of the phenomenon in the history of immigra-
tion to the United States; and
(3) to enhance the interpretation of the Castle
Clinton National Monument and Ellis Island Na-
tional Monument through cooperation with the Lower
East Side Tenement National Historic Site.
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF HISTORIC SITE.
In order to further the purposes of this Act and the
Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16 U.S.C. 461 et
seq.), the Lower East Side Tenement at 97 Orchard Street,
New York, New York, is hereby designated as a national
historic site.
SEC. 5. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of the purposes of
this Act and the Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16
U.S.C. 461 et seq.), the Secretary may enter into a coopera-
tive agreement with the Museum to effectuate the purposes
of this Act.
(b) TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—Any
agreement entered into under subsection (a) may include
provisions by which the Secretary will provide technical as-
sistance to mark, restore, interpret, operate, and maintain
the historic site. Such an agreement may also include provi-
sions by which the Secretary will provide financial assist-
ance to mark, interpret, and restore the historic site (in-
cluding financial assistance for the making of preservation-
related capital improvements and repairs, but not includ-
ing financial assistance for other routine operations).
(c) ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS.—Any agreement entered
into under subsection (a) shall contain provisions that—
(1) the Secretary, acting through the National
Park Service, shall have the right of access at all rea-
sonable times to all public portions of the property
covered by such agreement for the purpose of conduct-
ing visitors through such property and interpreting
the property to the public; and
(2) no changes or alterations may be made in
property covered by the agreement except by mutual
agreement between the Secretary and the other parties
to the agreement entered into under subsection (a).
SEC. 6. REPORT.
The Museum shall, as a condition of the receipt of any
assistance under this Act, provide to the Secretary and to
the Congress an annual report documenting the activities
and expenditures for which any such assistance was used
during the fiscal year preceding the report.
SEC. 7. APPROPRIATIONS.
There is hereby authorized to be appropriated
$6,400,000 to carry out the purposes of this Act, such sums
to remain available until expended.
Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to establish
the Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site.’’.