Jason Antos was appointed Queens Borough Historian this week, filling a post left vacant for 21 months after the death of his mentor and predecessor, Jack Eichenbaum. At 44, Antos is likely the youngest person to hold the title, though records do not conclusively establish prior historians’ ages.
Antos, a lifelong Whitestone resident and the Queens Historical Society’s executive director since 2021, has written seven books on borough history and said he plans to expand public programs and educational initiatives. Borough historians are volunteer officials charged with preserving local government records and producing programming that brings neighborhood histories to residents.
Antos said he was honored by the appointment and emphasized a public approach to history. "I’m very honored that I was chosen," he told reporters, adding that Queens’s history "belongs to everyone." He described plans to bring a hyper-local curriculum to borough schools and to expand public access to documents, photographs and maps that reveal how neighborhoods and infrastructure have changed.
Antos succeeds Eichenbaum, who served as borough historian for 13 years and died of a stroke in December 2023. The Borough President’s Office conducted a drawn-out selection process that invited a shortlist of candidates to submit portfolios of their work and subjected those submissions to review by multiple academic and institutional stakeholders across the city.
"During the selection process, Jason exhibited a sound vision for the role, showcased extensive institutional connections and was highly recommended by many respected stakeholders," Chris Barca, communications director for the borough president, said in a statement.
Antos has produced neighborhood-focused books with titles such as Jackson Heights, Queens: Then and Now, and Shea Stadium, and he has worked alongside Eichenbaum at the Queens Historical Society’s headquarters at Kingsland Homestead, an 18th-century farmhouse. He credited Eichenbaum with mentorship and said carrying on that legacy was a priority.
Antos also highlighted the way small, local stories can illuminate larger historical movements, citing as an example settlers in Newtown, now Elmhurst, who he said helped weaken Dutch control in the region before the British assumed control without armed conflict. He described such episodes as part of his motivation for making local history accessible to students and neighbors.
A substitute public school teacher, Antos said classrooms respond strongly to visual materials and local narratives. "The kids are just — they’re so fascinated by it — to see the old photographs and the maps and to realize that there was like this whole world that existed before them," he said.
Officials noted that vacancies in borough historian posts can be protracted. Antos’s appointment follows a 21-month gap after Eichenbaum’s death, a timeline the new historian said was "surprisingly typical" for the multi-step selection process.
As borough historian, Antos will serve without pay and will be expected to collaborate with municipal archives, historical societies and schools to preserve records and mount public-facing programs. He said he will prioritize projects that make archival material easier for residents to discover and that integrate neighborhood histories into school lessons. His appointment closes a chapter left open by his mentor’s death and sets the direction for efforts to broaden engagement with Queens’s past.
The Borough President’s Office did not immediately provide a timetable for Antos’s first public events in the role. He has said he intends to begin outreach to community organizations and schools in the coming months and to continue work with the Queens Historical Society.