Timeline
The History of Poets House
1980
January 1
January 15
1985
- Poets House, Inc. is established as a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization
- Stanley Kunitz becomes Poets House Board President, Rachel Bellow its first executive director
- Betty and Stanley organize the Poets Advisory Committee, a diverse group of poets representing all aesthetic approaches to poetry, to advise on program initiatives
January 15
January 15
1987
- Passwords, the signature Poets House program series, which features one poet reading and discussing the work of another, is developed by Didi Goldenhar, Poets House’s first program director
1990
January 15
1990
- Poets House moves to 72 Spring Street, a 2,200 square foot loft space
- Margo Viscusi begins her long tenure as Board President
- Stanley Kunitz becomes President Emeritus
January 15
1992
- Poets House’s first annual Poets House Showcase, then called the “Poetry Publication Showcase,” featuring new poetry books from 1991 and discussions about the future of poetry publishing.
January 15
1993
- Axe-Houghton Multimedia Archive established
January 15
1995
- Poetry in The Branches (PITB) established in partnership with The New York Public Library; Philip Levine presents first public PITB event
- First Summer Reading Series in Rockefeller Park in partnership with Battery Park City
January 15
2000
January 15
2000
- First Poets House website launched
January 15
January 15
2003
- Third People’s Poetry Gathering, bringing together over 30 downtown programming organizations
January 15
January 15
January 15
2008
- Poets House construction in Battery Park City begins
- Poetry in the Zoos project begins in five US cities
- The Invention of Farewell: The poetry community says farewell to 72 Spring Street
January 15
2010
January 15
2010
- Launch of expanded Children’s Room services at 10 River Terrace and free class trips
- First year at 10 River Terrace features programs on ecopoetics
January 15
2011
- Attendance more than doubles at new location, reaching 50,000 in the fiscal year ending June 30th
- Emily Dickinson at Poets House: Exhibit drawn from the Donald and Patricia Oresman Collection opens at Poets House, featuring rare manuscripts, books, letters, and fragments
- 25th Anniversary celebration of Poets House features a year-long series of poems tracing the 3,000-year history of poetry
- Poets House participates in groundbreaking program with City Lore, Illuminated Verses: Poetries of the Islamic World
- Emerging Poets Fellowship at Poets House begins
January 15
2012
- Poetic Voices of the Muslim World, co-sponsored with City Lore—an exhibit and program series—travels to library systems in ten U.S. cities (through 2015)
January 15
January 15
2014
- A yearlong exploration of poetry in relationship to other literary genres
January 15
2016
- Nick Potter becomes Poets House Board President
- 20th Anniversary of the Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge
January 15
2017
- 25th Anniversary of the Poets House Showcase
- 30 close readings of poems, celebrating 30 years of Poets House public programming
January 15
2018
- Field Work, a model program aligning STEM learning with poetry in diverse partner libraries
- New website, blog, and digitization project launch