I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2344
To establish the Lower East Side Tenement Museum National Historic Site,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 14, 1995
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself and Ms. MOLINARI) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Resources
A BILL
To establish the Lower East Side Tenement Museum
National Historic Site, and for other purposes.
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 Museum National Historic Site Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) the Lower East Side Tenement Museum at
97 Orchard Street is an outstanding survivor of the
vast number of humble buildings that housed immi-
grants to New York City during the greatest wave
of immigration in American history;
(2) the Museum is well suited to represent a
profound social movement involving great numbers
of unexceptional but courageous people;
(3) no single identifiable neighborhood in the
United States absorbed a comparable number of im-
migrants;
(4) the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is
dedicated to interpreting immigrant life on the
Lower East Side and its importance to United
States history, within a neighborhood long associ-
ated with the immigrant experience in America; and
(5) the National Park Service found the Lower
East Side Tenement Museum to be nationally sig-
nificant, suitable, and feasible for inclusion in the
National Park System.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to ensure the preservation, maintenance,
and interpretation of this site and to interpret in the
site and in the surrounding neighborhood, the
themes of early tenement life, the housing reform
movement, and tenement architecture in the United
States;
(2) to ensure the continuation of the Museum
at this site, the preservation of which is necessary
for the continued interpretation of the nationally sig-
nificant immigrant phenomenon associated with the
New York City’s Lower East Side, and its role in
the history of immigration to the United States; and
(3) to enhance the interpretation of the Castle
Clinton National Historic Monument and Ellis Is-
land National Historic Monument through coopera-
tion with the Museum.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) HISTORIC SITE.—The term ‘‘historic site’’
means the Lower East Side Tenement Museum des-
ignated as a national historic site by section 4.
(2) MUSEUM.—The term ‘‘Museum’’ means the
Lower East Side Tenement Museum at 97 Orchard
Street, New York City, in the State of New York,
and related facilities owned or operated by the Mu-
seum.
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF HISTORIC SITE.
To further the purposes of this Act and the Act enti-
tled ‘‘An Act to provide for the preservation of historic
American sites, buildings, objects, and antiquities of na-
tional significance, and for other purposes’’, approved Au-
gust 21, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.), the Lower East
Side Tenement Museum at 97 Orchard Street, in the city
of New York, State of New York, is designated as a na-
tional historic site.
SEC. 5. ACQUISITION OR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may—
(1) acquire the historic site with donated or ap-
propriated funds; or
(2) enter into a cooperative agreement with the
Lower East Side Tenement Museum to carry out
this Act.
(b) TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The
agreement may include provisions by which the Secretary
will provide—
(1) technical assistance to mark, restore, inter-
pret, operate, and maintain the historic site; and
(2) financial assistance to the Museum to ac-
quire ownership of and to maintain the historic site,
or to mark, interpret, and restore the historic site,
including the making of preservation-related capital
improvements and repairs.
(c) ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS.—The agreement may
also contain provisions that—
(1) permit the Secretary, acting through the
National Park Service, to have a right of access at
all reasonable times to all public portions of the
property covered by the agreement for the purpose
of conducting visitors through the properties and in-
terpreting the portions to the public; and
(2) prohibit changes or alterations in the prop-
erties except by mutual agreement between the Sec-
retary and the other parties to the agreement.
SEC. 6. LAND ACQUISITION.
The Secretary, through the use of appropriated funds
or funds donated for such purpose, may assist the Mu-
seum in acquiring real properties that the Museum occu-
pies or uses.
SEC. 7. APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums
as are necessary to carry out this Act.
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