NEW YORK — Anthony Broadway is a volunteer at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Founded in 1925, the Center has more than 11 million artifacts celebrating the Black experience. Langston Hughes' ashes are buried here. The historic American Negro Theatre is in the basement.

"It was something for me to just give back to the neighborhood,” Broadway said. “It's been here for years and it's always meant a lot to the community."

Broadway started volunteering, signing up members, in 2010. He now spends most of his time at the information desk, helping guests schedule research appointments and introducing them to the Center.

"The Schomburg has such a reputation worldwide of its Blackness and what we're all about,” Broadway said. “I wouldn't want anyone to come here and for it to be not that."

Broadway is so passionate about the work, he's become a liaison between the volunteers and the staff.

"I do what I can where I can,” he said.

Broadway isn't just a veteran volunteer. He's a veteran of the Air Force and a veteran Harlemite. Broadway has lived in the neighborhood for three decades. And he has seen the changes over the years.

"They were Black-owned, Black ideas, Black culture, Black designers from the streets,” Broadway said. “Now there's like the same one on 42nd Street."

He says those special spots are now a bit harder to find. Madame CJ Walker's salon once stood on West 136th Street. He pointed out a Dunkin Donuts on Malcolm X Boulevard. It used to be a popular barbecue joint.

Even with the changing world beyond the Schomburg's doors, Broadway has a daily reminder of what once was and keeping it in the present for future generations. He said he was happy and proud to “guide people of color through some of the history they may have never known.”

For helping to preserve Black and Harlem History, Anthony Broadway is our New Yorker of the Week.