Look back to go

forward
"Museum and Historical Archive of the New York Street.
Recovering our past. Improvement of the museum and historic center”.

The School
High School N° 12
“Monseñor Enrique Angelelli”
Berisso, Prov. of Buenos Aires
Telephone number: (0221) 4643263
E-mail: esb12berisso@yahoo.com.ar

Management: State
school
Area: Urban
Level: Secondary
Solidarity service: Modality:
Restoration and promotion of the historical and cultural heritage of baccalaureate
Berisso Town through guided visits in points of interest of the Director: Prof. Rubén Darío Coletto
neighborhood.
In 2000, the students from the "America” EGB
School No. 9 set up the Museum and Historical
Archive of the New York Street in the city of Berisso
(province of Buenos Aires). Three years before that,
the school was divided and functioned in two
different buildings, one in the City Center and the
other in the New York Street. For administrative
reasons, in 2000, that division concluded and the
courses that functioned in the city center returned
to the building located in the New York Street. The
change shocked them, as only 25% of the children,
those who lived in the area, decided to continue
being part of the school and stayed in the
institution. The remaining 75 percent did not
consider the neighborhood to be a good place for
their children given the deterioration of the area.
Disconcerted and struggling to find a place of
belonging in the neighborhood, the educational
community began to look for a way to re-establish
this situation.
"I went to school in April 2000, when this project
was starting," recalls Diego Manrique, the current
head of the project. "I began to learn about the
project through the librarian and in meetings with
parents. One of concerns was how to find a way to
connect with the neighborhood. I was new to
teaching and did not know how to handle the issue
myself. So I suggested that from the Social
Sciences area something could be done. "
In Manrique's class, third year students learned
that this place they had so much difficulty adapting
to, had once been the center of Berisso Town and
that in the early twentieth century, along the New
York street there was a commercial, social and
cultural life: around six cobbled streets with more
than 120 shops: tailor and jeweler shops,
warehouses, restaurants, bars, cabarets, among
others.
 In search of a forgotten time
The students and their History teacher concluded
that they had to recover the old mystique of New
In the 1960s, when industrial activity began to de-cline - York Street and its Historical value, and for that a
in 1969 the Armor New York Street accompanied the
museum oriented to the local memory was the best
industrial decay when in 1969 with the closure of the
Armor meat processing plant. Twenty years later, it was way to achieve it. This way they could mobilize the
difficult for students to imagine the intense movement of neighbors and perhaps generate a potential tourist
the street, which their teacher spoke to them about. What attraction in Berisso.
they could see was only closed businesses, families
El manual para 6to de primaria de Ed. Santillana introduce el tema
unemployed or dependent on social plans, informal and
The learning space was extended from the class-
“La Argentina Agroexportadora” con la experiencia de esta escuela. intermittent work.
rooms to the street. Students went out in search of
In the 1930s the neighborhood was populated 7-8 the treasures to assemble in the museum:
thousands of people and four pharmacies, a doctor, neighbors accepted the proposal and donated
two midwives, 56 telephones sets and a cinema -the artefacts and documents linked to the local history.
“Rex”- were part of the patrimony. The proximity to the With the support of public figures, neighbors joined
port had made the area an ideal place for immigrants the school movement, encouraged and stimulated
who landed in Argentine ports in those years. There by various cultural activities. In addition, they
were Italians, Spaniards, Slovaks, Bulgarians, understood that the tourist recovery of the street
Russians, Greeks, Croats, Arabs, Englishmen. Many could become a source of income for the
different languages were heard on New York Street, community. Finally, in 2001 in a store loaned by a
which was often said to be the most cosmopolitan in neighbor the Museum and Historical archive of the
the province of Buenos Aires. These immigrants who New York street was inaugurated with galena radios,
lived in pensions and “conventillos” (tenement phonographs, steam irons and pasta disks, among
houses), worked in the meat processing plant “Armor many other items. The museum was later also a
and Swift”, in the same neighborhood. And many of walking exhibition in several dependencies and local
them participated in the historic mobilization of Octobe festivities, actively led by students who participated in
the design and installation. That was the first moment
of this experience that within the school is known as
"Yesterday tunnel”
End of 2005: the school must turn museum rooms into classrooms
and the pieces donated
by the neighbors are piled up in a corner.
. "Memory portmanteau". In that space, the students
The search for antique pieces was complemented by
a series of interviews developed by the students to
elders of the neighborhood, many of whom could
enrich with personal anecdotes. They also contacted
foreign communities and cultural and social entities in
search of information. Part of these interviews were at
the heart of the second moment of the experience:
“Making radio”. Between 2004 and 2006, the students
spread the results of their research in a radio space in
FM Sur in Berisso.
August 2009: the collected treasure finally finds its place in a
room ceded by the Museum 1871 of the city of Berisso.
The program "SUPEH and its region" was
transmitted on that radio, which gave the young
historians a monthly space of half an hour called
told the anecdotes that they had collected among
the members of the community through their
interviews. Apart from carrying a historical
research, the students made use of everything they
had learned in the classroom about interviews as an
investigation technique, formulating and asking
questions. Likewise, in the Arts class, souvenirs
were prepared to give presents to the interviewees.
The dissemination of the experience set in motion a
virtuous wheel that gave origin to other movements
in the community -independent from the school- but
that maintained articulations with it in different
levels.
On the one hand, in 2001 the association "Friends of energy renewal for the project.
the New York Street " was created; On the other hand,
the Architects Association from the city of La Plata The strong relationship built up over the years with the Despite the lack of resources and some resistance
actively participated in the survey of the building
students allowed the teaching team to realize that from the community to value the cultural heritage,
heritage of New York Street. Finally, in 2005, thanks to
the joint management of these organizations and the most of them did not adapt to the change and ended this moment gave new reasons to continue.
municipal authorities of Berisso, New York Street was up dropping out of school: they did not find in the large
declared a National Historic Site (Presidential Decree
735/2005). Through this declaration, the project
schools the support that Angelelli School used to Reaching the street
offer. With this concern, the school presented a
obtained funds from the Municipality to pave with
cobblestones and do maintenance in the buildings. project to offer in its facilities the complete secondary In this instance, the articulation with the area of Visual
Much of the objectives set for the year 2000 were cycle. The procedure was approved but with Arts became much stronger. Guided by Professor
being met: the street had recovered its momentum administrative errors and so numerous Martín Reches, the 2nd and 3rd year students painted
and, much more valuable, the ties between the inconveniences occurred. The institution was not murals to decorate the school classrooms. The themes
institution and the community were notably
given the necessary physical space for this purpose of these murals were also historical and had the same
strengthened.
and the result was dramatic: the school had to meaning as the museum project: strengthening the
accommodate the three new courses and it was re- sense of belonging to the school, the neighborhood, the
Move stuff away! quired to dislodge a reading room and the two rooms city. In 2007 one of these murals received a Bronze
At the end of 2005 the school is informed that the that hosted the museum. Medal in the final stage of the Buenos Aires Youth
free radio space was stopped and the institution Tournaments. It represents both sides of the New York
lacks the resources to pay for it; therefore, the The rescue came from the president of the local Street. On the one hand, the beauty of tradition, the joy
program was suspended and the museum project museum "1871" (Berisso's foundational date), who of the neighborhood and, on the other hand, a dark
was limited to the interior of the school. offered them a room to locate the pieces. Thus, the street, resulting from the environmental contamination
third moment began: "Recovering our past". In this produced by the neighboring coal factory that the
new stage, the students classified, packed and students analyzed in their Natural Sciences class.
At the same time, the institution dealt with various transported the pieces to the building located at With this practice they took a step forward, which
transformations undergone by the school during Avenida Palo Blanco and Avenida Montevideo, consisted of painting a mural to beautify the street;
those years. At that time, the school offered only the more than 30 blocks away from the school, to build They did it on a wall ceded by the grandmother of
beginning years of secondary school but then when the "New York Street" room that was inaugurated On one of the students. The theme is the historical
the students finished the basic cycle they had to August 5th, 2009. mobilization of ‘45 and - according to Professor
finish high school in another building in downtown. The new framework of the museum brought an Reche explains - its meaning is purely historical:

page 49
showing how the community of this neighborhood "This project is a good pedagogical tool," Coletto
led a key episode in Argentine history. This mural told a local newspaper when this phase of the
was made by artists but with special student experiment was inaugurated. "The students take
participation. The proposal was shared with the the role in which they feel most comfortable, some
program "Patios Abiertos" that works in the school are guides, others take pictures, others do
on Saturdays. interviews with a recorder. All of them participate.
The presence of the school in the community We want to open up the visits proposal not only to
significantly extended somehow, the students schools, but to other institutions, such as old
appropriated the street with a new modality of people's home, for example. "
community service: guided tours to groups of Professor Manrique says that, beyond the
schoolchildren. One possibility was to visit the New bureaucratic procedures that must be done prior to
At each tour post on New York Street and surrounding area,
York room in the 1871 Museum, for which the students read a script themselves make. guided tours, the best moment of the experience is
appointment was at the Museum's doorstep. The the exit to the street itself. "That’s when I see what
I think it was educational in all senses, we ALL
other alternative offered was a tour through posts we have learned in the classroom, when the
learned and enjoyed it. I had the satisfaction that my
that allowed to reconstruct the history of the students put into action in everything they have
students would say “thank you for bringing us” ...
neighborhood. In order to prepare it, the students done: asking questions, rebuilding them, using the
We could get involved in the history of the place
had to deepen the historical research, design the recorder." Among the changes observed in his
because of the way Berisso students introduced us
circuit and develop the texts they read in each of the students, Manrique points out: better behavior in out-
to the time and space of the New York street.
posts: The port, The nursing home, The English of-school settings; application of skills acquired
Nothing was left behind; from the reception to the
Bar, The refrigerators, The School, The Arch of the through this experience; socialization of the project
organization of the route. There was a sense of
"Mansión Obrera", The power plant. In this case, progress in networks that students share with
dialogue between the past and the present that it is
the appointment was in the school, the visitors were schoolmates, friends, families, etc.; Concern and
not easy to achieve. Students’ labor was wonderful,
shown the classrooms murals, with an introductory commitment as attitudes towards the different steps
I know that in that work there is much effort and it
power point while sharing a breakfast before setting and progress of the project; loss of fears to show
gives me hope about the capacity of education to
out to the route. what has been learned at school in external settings,
transform reality. "
A teacher that took this visit with his students from reading and speaking in public. In addition, it
When the Angelelli School performs this type of
the “Rafael Hernández” National School, wrote to highlights the great satisfaction that the children feel
tours, the tasks are distributed as follows: 3rd year
History teacher, Prof. Diego Manrique these words: when perceiving the recognition of the neighborhood.
students have to organize a triptych presentation of
"Today I experienced the most perfect pedagogical "Several times I have taken to the school the guest
the route; the tourist scripts are read by first and
experience! book of the Museum "1871". There are always
second year students. Between stops, 3rd year
learners interview the visitors, who at the end of compliments from the people who come into the room
the visit receive a souvenir prepared by the 1 st year and find out from the museum staff that this is the
students. work of students at our school. For them that is very
important.”
Students’
activities
For the creation of the Museum • Study through several historical sources
• Analysis of texts
Research and systematization of information on • Making timelines
the past of Berisso and “New York” Street. In • Library work
the neighborhood, recollection of significant
elements from the local past. Tours with some
neighbors for the elaboration of a neighborhood
map. Organization of campaigns to disseminate
the museum initiative, cultural activities in the
neighborhood and fundraising. Design and
installation of the "New York Street Museum".
Promotion of the recognition of the New York
Street as a local and national historical site.
• Projection and analysis of images
For the development • Drawing up of sketches
• Selecting images on the Internet
of the radio program • Miscellaneous productions
Search for information about media. Visits to
local radio. Selection of the name and musical
interlude of the program. Writing scripts.
Election of the themes for each program and
search of information about it. Presenting and
Citizenship Concept of "citizenship" as socio-historical • Definition of the steps to follow in the project
locution, reading advertisements, poems and construction and as political practice. • Selection of representative icons and places
stories of neighbors referred to the theme of the Problematization of the knowledge, the • Writing a historical script according to
practices and the interests of the students. contributions made by neighbors and working in
program. Interviews to guests and reception of Tools that enhance expression, participation
and action of subjects in the exercise of active library
phone calls from listeners. Conducting • Guided tours of the historical circuit and the
citizenship
interviews with significant people from Berisso. museum "1871"
Preparation of advertising posters and souvenirs
for the guests.
Organizations with
which the school
articulates
• District Schools
• Municipality of Berisso
• SUPeH Ensenada Union
• Museum 1871
• Puerto La Plata Consortium
• Civil association
"Friends of New York Street"
Analysis of written documents
on different contents
Observation of images and
murals of the city
Visits to museums in the city of
La Plata, Argentine Theater
Elaboration of tourist scripts
Touring and taking pictures
Construction of a Guestbook
Drawing up of sketches
Compromiso
Commitment
Predisposition
Socialization
Belonging to school, to a school
proposal and to the
neighborhood
Acquisition of linguistic, artistic
and the citizenship competences
Mural made by the students, about the life and
work of Monsignor Enrique Angelelli
I belong here
“I think the most important thing that we have
achieved through this is that the students’ have
experienced a sense of belonging to the
community, which was our objective”, says
Professor Manrique. "The other thing that
impresses us is how we have grown over the years.
How this experience allowed us to leave the little
school we thought we had, and occupy spaces we
would never have imagined". One of these areas is
the cover of the chapter “Argentina Agroexporta-
dora", by Editorial Santillana a textbook for the 6th
year of primary school. In that chapter, to introduce
the subject the meat plants from Berisso and the
work done by the students of the School are used
as examples. The experience is also part of a
selection relayed by Mg. Alba González in Heritage,
School and Community. Specializing in the
teaching of History and Service-Learning, the
author uses the experience of this school to reflect
on how the museology, the historical heritage, the
community and the school institution can be
articulated today from the Social Sciences subject
area.
The evolution of the experience allowed the area
of Visual Arts, and History to collaborate to the
pedagogical space of Citizenship, one of whose
objectives is precisely "to make the student
investigate, understand, explain and transform
The students were in charge of the work of cleaning, packing sorting
and transfer of the pieces to the final room.
social reality, based on democratic values and
open thinking". In this sense, the project entails an
ideal proposal for the development of these
objectives insofar as it proposes to start from a deep
knowledge of the community and the
interrelationships of the different social actors to
build a critical view of the places that are part of the
Historical and Cultural Heritage. The school
principal says: "Through experience of being
guides, students are proud of their place. It does not
mean that they are happy with everything in their
reality, but today they do not hide behind a veneer
because they are ashamed. Today they show it and
say 'today this place is what it is, someday it will be
better'". Before receiving group of visitors at school, the students
from 3rd year meet to produce the triptych presentation
circuit.
3rd year students interview with the students and teachers of the
“Rafael Hernández” National High School of La Plata on the occasion of
a visit (La voz de la Nueva York, the school magazine)

LVNY: Why were you interested in
coming to New York Street?
-Because we are studying the issue in
history: the arrival of immigrants to
Argentina. I think it is a fundamental
point in our country's growth, when
they all came there was a lot of
cultural and economic movement and
it is good to see it and return to the
place where those events happened.
(...)
LVNY: What did you think of the tour?
From what we saw so far is fine,
it's good.
LVNY: What things do you think could
improve?
We saw a little, I think it's good
because we have to keep it. Do
not lose the essence.
LVNY: What struck you the most?
-The buildings, we were struck by the
cobblestones. In our place, in La Plata
we do not see them, here they are
more preserved… Besides, it is good
that the neighbors have put them. (...)
Talking with the owner of the bar ... a
genius (...) the meat plant, which is Professor Diego Manrique, History professor in charge
huge, immense, colossal, as defined of the project.
by the owner of the English Bar, "a
monster that is sleeping there in front
of us", learning about the people who
worked there, thousands of jobs that
were then lost ...
LVNY: Would they come again?
-Yes. Many things remained to be
known, and we did not have
enough time...

Professor Darío Coletto, Director of the "Monseñor

Angelelli" School.