How Joe Papp turned a dilapidated building into The Public Theater

In his search for a home for new American theater, producer Joseph Papp saved a historic building in “ruins” from demolition. It was once the Astor Library, which became the first free public library in New York, and had been converted into a place for homeless Jewish people after World War II by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. In the 1960s, the building would evolve into a permanent space for The Public Theater.