Green Oasis Community Garden was started in 1981 by life partners Norman Vallee and Reinaldo Arana in response to both the City of New York’s and the landlords’ neglect of the neighborhood. In 1997 Green Oasis Community Garden and Gilbert’s Sculpture Garden legally merged, enhancing the sites’ capability to cultivate community. Today the garden spans lots 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26 of block 317 on East 8th Street between Avenues C and D. What started as a grassroots effort to improve the neighborhood, burgeoned into a space for gardening, arts, and community activism. The archives were created by longtime garden member/artist Sur Rodney Sur and officially deposited to the MoRUS archives in 2022 by the gardens members.
The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) is dedicated to preserving the history of grassroots activism on the Lower East Side. The following documents represent a selection from the Green Oasis Community Garden/Gilbert’s Sculpture Garden Inc. To make an appointment to view and research the collection please email John at jharris0093@gmail.com or archives@morusnyc.org.