Louis Armstrong's Queens House of Jazz Aims to Boost Visits, Become Most Visited Spot in U.S. by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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Among the thousands of photos at the museum are shot of trumpeter in his living room admiring a 1930s portrait. Below, bus that carried Louis Armstrong Orchestra on tour.

The Queens house of jazz great Louis Armstrong is vying to someday rank alongside three of the most visited historic homes in the U.S. - which draw about 40 times its tourist total.

"One day we will be on a par with Monticello and Mount Vernon and Graceland," said Michael Cogswell, the museum director at Satchmo's Corona home. "It takes time to get there. You have to do it step by step."

Cogswell said he hopes two initiatives - cataloging the museum's entire collection online by the end of 2011 and opening a visitor center in 2013 - will raise the home's profile.

Still, Armstrong's tiny 107thSt. residence has far to go before it can match the crowds that flock to the sprawling estates of two founding fathers - George Washington and Thomas Jefferson - and rock legend Elvis Presley.

About 12,000 tourists come to the Louis Armstrong House Museum each year.

By comparison, Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia lures 450,000 visitors annually, Presley's Graceland in Memphis grabs 600,000 and Washington's Mount Vernon in Virginia attracts more than 1 million.

But Armstrong fans contend the African-American trumpeter and singer - famous for hits like "What a Wonderful World" and "Hello Dolly!" - deserves respect for helping to create and popularize jazz.

Though Armstrong died in 1971, the Armstrong museum's website brags his influence remains "universal, unmatched and very much alive today."

To make his work more accessible, the museum recently finished cataloging its three largest collections online, offering the ability to browse the archive's mix of sound recordings, photos, letters and more.

The catalog is available at www.louisarmstronghouse.org.

Cogswell dismissed concerns that posting the archives online may make tourists less likely to visit the physical museum, which is run by Queens College.

"This is our mission - to share Louis Armstrong's legacy with the world," he said, adding online access typically "generates more interest than ever" in historic figures, especially musicians.

"The same thing happened with the birth of recordings back in the early 20th century," he said.

Cogswell and project archivist Ricky Riccardi also noted that researchers must still travel to the Corona home to view or listen to the materials.

"If you actually want to read it and quote from it, then you actually have to come here," said Riccardi, who is working on cataloging the museum's remaining memorabilia.

The museum also recently completed a two-year process to design its long-awaited visitor center opposite the frame house, where Armstrong and his wife, Lucille, moved in 1943 and spent the rest of their lives.

Plans call for a nightclub-like "jazz room" with cafe tables, chairs and theatrical lighting that can host small concerts, lectures and film screenings.

Cogswell said the new setup will allow the museum to host concerts year-round for the first time. Performances are now held outdoors in the house's garden.

"We have to schedule them in the summertime and then pray that it doesn't rain," he said with a laugh.

Are Web Pics of Damage to Restored New York State Pavilion Map Real? by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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What a makeover mess for the New York State Pavilion.

Photos posted online claim to prove that tiles from a huge state road map created for the 1964 World's Fair icon were cracked and left lying in dust and weeds after undergoing a heralded $40,000 restoration.

[Photo caption: Parks Dept. preservation director John Krawchuk points out missing and damaged tiles (below) in January from map created for NYS Pavilion at 1964 World's Fair. Hagen for News]

A spokeswoman for the city Parks Department, which cares for the pavilion, said she didn't know if restored tiles had gone back into the pavilion at some point. But she said the tiles were put into special-made crates under supervision of a historic preservation specialist and are now safe in an enclosed storage space.

Early this year, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania pulled out 13 tiles - mostly from the Long Island part of the map - and restored several with a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Queens Museum of Art then put a collection of tiles - some restored, some not - on display for an exhibit that began in January and ended in May.

A few weeks later, photos were posted on a World's Fair fan Web site that showed some tiles with the Long Island forks visibly cracked and back inside the aging pavilion. It's unclear when the photos were taken.

Convinced the pictures were shot after the exhibit ended, visitors to the Web site posted angry messages blasting the city. "If this is what they do with $40,000, what would they do with the millions it'll take to fix the pavilion?" asked Christian Kellberg, 56, who attended the 1964 fair. But Parks Department spokeswoman Patricia Bertuccio denied the city would neglect the tiles after working toward restoration.

Conservator John Hinchman, a University of Pennsylvania professor who managed the map project, said he wasn't sure if the tiles in the photos matched the ones he helped preserve. Tom Finkelpearl, executive director of the Queens Museum of Art, said he hadn't seen the photos and didn't know whether to trust them. But he figured the tiles wouldn't have suffered damage from being back in the pavilion.

"What destroyed the tiles was not the weather," Finkelpearl said. "It was the plants that were growing into them and cracking them apart."

To view photos posted by the fan go to:

www.worldsfaircommunity.org/index.php?showtopic=8024&st=0

or

www.worldsfaircommunity.org/index.php?showtopic=8121&hl

Latimer House in Flushing Now Under Historic Trust by Stephen Stirling - Howard Beach Times - YourNabe.com

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The Lewis Latimer House in Flushing has officially joined the Historic Housing Trust, the city Parks Department announced last week.

The move transfers the landmarked home, at 34-31 137th St., from the control of the city Cultural Affairs Department to the Parks Department, a move which could open up more funding possibilities for the historic home of inventor Lewis Latimer.

As an official member of the trust, Parks will now collaborate on the house's conservation, interpretation, promotion and property along with the current operator, the Lewis H. Latimer Fund Inc.

The petite Queen Anne-style home was constructed in the late 1880s and home to Latimer from 1903 until his death in 1928. The house remained in the Latimer family until the 1960s and was threatened with demolition in the 1980s until receiving its landmark status and being moved from its original home on Holly Avenue.

Latimer was a black inventor and an electrical pioneer who collaborated closely with men like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. He is most famous for his work on the incandescent light bulb, which he improved when he invented and patented the carbon filament — an innovation that vastly improved the bulb's lifespan.

Today the Latimer House serves as a museum celebrating the life of the inventor. Under the supervision of its new director, Vivian Millicent Warfield, and through its new collaboration with the Historic Housing Trust, the museum hopes to expand its hours and programing.

Beginning Sept. 2, the museum will extend its hours to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for tours of the house and its garden.

During the fall, the Latimer House plans to start an after-school program and host a series of special events in honor of the inventor's 160th birthday, each targeted at highlighting the importance of Latimer's and other blacks' contributions to science and technology and city history.

Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, ext. 138.