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SIM-17: Robert Hagenhofer Collection

 Collection
Identifier: SIM-17

Scope and Contents

This collection contains one Staten Island Planning Foundation, Inc. document, four copies of Open Space Action, a copy of the Staten Island Greenbelt Clarion, two city development reports and various newsclippings. It also contains four buttons that promote the Greenbelt preservation movement.

Dates

  • Creation: 1966 - 1989

Conditions Governing Use

The researcher assumes full responsibility for compliance with laws of copyright. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Coordinator of Archives & Special Collections.

Biographical / Historical

Robert Hagenhofer was a graphic designer and Staten Island environmental activist who was active in preserving park land now known as The Greenbelt. He was born in Chicago in 1923 and served in the military during World War II. He graduated from the Chicago Institute of Design, and moved to Staten Island in 1952, where subsequently lived in several communities and worked in the Graphics Department at the College of Staten Island. Hagenhofer became active in environmentalism in the 1950s when Robert Moses proposed to build a highway through the Staten Island Greenbelt. Hagenhofer helped form the Staten Island Citizens Planning Committee, a group of citizens who, through activism, managed to stop construction of the highway even though the local and state governments, as well as construction industries, were in support of it. He also attempted to improve quality of life by calling for urban renewal for some Staten Island communities, as well as for the improvement of educational facilities such as Sailor’s Snug Harbor. He continued his activism when he moved to New Jersey, and remained active until he passed away in 2007, at 84 years of age.

Extent

2 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection helps document the activities of the Staten Island Citizens Planning Committee in stopping the proposed construction of a highway through the Staten Island Greenbelt.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

These papers were donated to the CSI Archives & Special Collections in January 2008 by Eva Baez, daughter of Robert Hagenhofer

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Steven D’Avria.

Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the CSI Archives & Special Collections Repository