The Mercury Diaries began while my family was placed in relocation housing due to unsafe living conditions. I only had a few belongings with me, but still felt the need to create. I bought a small watercolor kit, crayons, and a sketchbook to document our journey. Through illustrated notes from meetings and reflections on our emotional state, the diary captures our experience.

In 1993, my husband and I joined a group of 15 other artist families to buy a large factory building at 800 Grand Street, Hoboken, NJ. It was a beautiful old building, and our goal was to convert it into live/work artist studios and homes. It took us three years to renovate the building and move in. We lived there for one year.

After we moved in, one of our partners lifted old floorboards and discovered a pool of mercury. As we investigated further, we learned that the building had once been a General Electric mercury vapor lamp factory. The entire structure was saturated with mercury, making it unsafe for habitation— it should never have been approved for residential conversion.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA intervened, and we were immediately evacuated from the building and placed in temporary housing at a nearby hotel. Eventually, we entered a relocation program, and the building was designated a Superfund site before being demolished. This became the largest case of residential mercury contamination in U.S. history. It took three years for us to settle the case and move to a permanent home.

Although it was a traumatic experience, we were ultimately fortunate that the site was classified as a Superfund project. Many contaminated homes across the U.S. remain occupied, trapping residents who can't sell them and often leading to serious health issues, including cancer. The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers were wonderful to work with, and I remain deeply appreciative of the role they played in my life.

Eileen Hoffman

Eileen Hoffman