In the wake of the presidential election, New Yorkers covered the Union Square subway tunnel with "love notes to America."
14th St Subway Station. The last time I saw something like this was 9/11.
The project, called "Subway Therapy" was started by Matthew Levee Chavez the day after the election. It grew massively and organically in the following weeks, until thousands of messages of love, fear, and resilience covered the walls.
“I wept for our children and I wept for our future," one person wrote.
“You will not divide us, love is everything," said another.
On Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the sticky notes would be preserved, thanks to a partnership between the New York Historical Society and Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
From Tuesday until Inauguration Day on January 20, people can participate in the project by putting their sticky notes on a glass wall inside the front entrance of the New York Historical Society on Central Park West at 77th Street.
Chavez, who is assisting with the preservation efforts, will also be archiving sticky notes from the walls of the subway station.
"We are ever-mindful of preserving the memory of today’s events for future generations," New York Historical Society President and CEO Dr. Louise Mirrer said. "Ephemeral items in particular, created with spontaneity and emotion, can become vivid historical documents.
Previously, the New York Historical Society has preserved artifacts from a number of contemporary historical events, including 9/11, the legalization of same-sex marriage, and the vigil at Stonewall Inn for victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting.
Governor Cuomo visited the Union Square subway last month to write his own sticky note.
