Brooklynology

Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists.

black and white photograph of group of adults and children, mostly men and boys, posing with trash cans, rakes, and brooms. They stand under a bridge on dirt ground in rain jackets and boots.

POTW: Ecology cleanup along Coney Island Creek

Alice

Ecology cleanup along Coney Island Creek, 1971, HERZ_0058; Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Tuesday, April 22 is Earth Day! And this week's Photo of the Week brings us to an ecology clean-up along Coney Island Creek in 1971. Photographer Irving Herzberg captured this intrepid group ready with rakes, brooms, trash cans, galoshes, and rain jackets. Once a wetland haven for fish and oysters, Coney Island Creek has been affected by urbanization and…

POTW: Canine Fitness Month

Liza

[Two dogs and a cat], [190-?], gelatin silver print, AUST_0545; Daniel Berry Austin photograph collection, Brooklyn Museum/Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
 This Photo of the Week celebrates Canine Fitness Month with a breed not typically known for its agility, stamina, or physical prowess: the pug. Initially bred as palace dogs to Chinese emperors, the pug later became the mascot of the Netherland’s royal House of Orange in the 1500s. With the Dutch connection, one may wonder if Brooklyn’s early…

Collage of Linewaiters' Gazette mastheads from different years.

Linewaiters' Gazette: Early Years of the Park Slope Food Coop's Newsletter

Deborah

Mastheads from the Linewaiters' Gazette from various years, including latest (center) from the publication's online instance, 2025.
In 2013 Brooklyn Public Library’s archive, the Brooklyn Collection, acquired the earliest issues of The Linewaiters’ Gazette, the newsletter of the Park Slope Food Coop. At that time, our former collections manager, Ivy Marvel, announced the accession with this blog.Since then, the collection has been available and energetically used by researchers from all over the country, and from abroad…

Rectangular metal tag that reads "Zimets Bed Spring Corp." in red, dark blue and cream.

POTW: Spring Time

Michelle

[Sign for Zimets Bed Spring Corp.] 1934-1936, metal and paint. Artifact collection, M1990.42.1. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
While searching for a seasonal image to share for our Photo of the Week, I came up with a different kind of “spring” entirely. This 6-inch metal sign from Zimets Bed Spring Corp. was likely originally attached to a bedspring made by this Brooklyn manufacturer.  Though the Center for Brooklyn History doesn’t hold any records from the business itself, we can learn more about Zimets…

Long Island Viewbook

Brooklynology Editorial Staff

This blog post is the fourth in a series that is part of a project funded by The Robert David Lion Gardiner foundation to assess and improve access to archival collections in our holdings that relate to Long Island. It was written by Cecilia Wright, an assessment archivist working on the project. 

The scan above is the title page of third volume of Unique Long Island (1899) explored within the following blog post. For more information about this object, one can visit the digital finding aid, or request to view the volume in…

The American Toilet (1837)

Brooklynology Editorial Staff

 This blog post is the third in a series that is part of a project funded by The Robert David Lion Gardiner foundation to assess and improve access to archival collections in our holdings that relate to Long Island. It was written by Cecilia Wright, an assessment archivist working on the project.In a manila folder stored with other manila folders concerning the Petit and Schenk families of Long Island, is a small 4.25” by 5” bound book. The inside page of this book reveals that its title is: The American Toilet. The date on this page, 1837, also explains the choice of “toilet,” which…

Out (Again) on Long Island

Brooklynology Editorial Staff

This blog post is the second in a series, that is part of a project funded by The Robert David Lion Gardiner foundation to assess and improve access to archival collections in our holdings that relate to Long Island. It was written by Cecilia Wright, an assessment archivist working on the project. 

The photograph above is contained within the Plum Island chronicle explored within the following blog post. This chronicle contains a brief history of Plum Island, one of the many islands of Long Island, as well as daily entries…

Printed and stylized image of a steamship in sepia ink with caption Ex-Libris and signature Cassel

POTW: Design Talent Born in Brooklyn

Dee

Dabiel Cassel, Ex-Libris, color print; inside cover, Lincoln Landmark yearbook, Abraham Lincoln High School, 1938; Brooklyn yearbook collection, BCMS.0031, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Dedicated readers of this blog will know that I have a soft spot for our school history holdings. Recently, while searching our yearbooks from Abraham Lincoln High School (located on the border of Coney Island and Gravesend), I came across several charming ex libris illustrations inside their front covers. One…

Row of fire escapes on warehouse wall with complex shadows, and group of children playing on rooftop nearby.

POTW: Angular Beauty in Brooklyn Heights

Deborah

[National Cold Storage Co.], 1955,   WORK_0151, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
I was drawn to today’s photo of the week for purely aesthetic reasons. The composition, with its strong angles and dynamic perspective, seems inspired by a Constructivist aesthetic. There is also some human interest in the details as we discover a group of children playing on a rooftop playground - a reminder that this quiet scene happens in a dense urban setting. …

POTW: Coney Island montage

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Photomontage of Coney Island], [192-?],  CONE_0434, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Today's photo of the week is a dizzying montage of negative images from Coney Island. Among the images is Lane's Irish House, an Irish-themed eatery (as you can guess from the name). Though the cataloger dates the montage to the 1920s, results from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle suggest the eatery opened in 1932 at Bowery and West 15th street.Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s…

A Hanging in Brooklyn, Part 1

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Content note: This story contains strong language, descriptions of violence, and descriptions of racism.  On the morning of August 1st 1884, Alexander Jefferson, known to his family and friends as Alec, walked to the gallows surrounded by clergymen, doctors, and activists. His brother Celestial Jefferson did not attend, but spent time with him the night prior. A throng of spectators spilled out around Fort Greene’s Raymond Street Jail. The ministers sang “Nearer My God to Thee” and other hymns. Doctors stood by, waiting to autopsy and skeletonize his body for research and display.…

POTW: Barrel of Fun

Sarah

 

[Barrel of fun], circa 1953, CONE_256. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
The Barrel of Fun was a popular ride at Steeplechase Park in the shape of a cylinder that rotated as the ride-goer tried to walk through. The unsteady surface caused stumbles and tumbles, falling over family, friends, and dates in an effort to reach the other side. How would you fare in this classic Coney Island attraction? Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit…

POTW: The Williamsburgh Branch

Allyson

 This week's Photo of the Week is an image of the Williamsburgh Branch of Brooklyn Public Library located at 240 Division Avenue. The Williamsburgh Branch, which was built in 1903, was one of 21 branches created with funds provided by Andrew Carnegie. One of the more interesting facts about the Williamsburgh Branch is that enclosed in one of the cornerstones is a capsule containing Brooklyn Newspapers, the Carnegie contract, and other contemporary documents.  Depicted are, presumably, school children, seated at the library with a librarian at the desk in the corner. It is assumed…

Black and white photograph of a woman attaching a gauze face masks onto two young boys sitting on a counter while a man ties a similar mask on a woman standing next to them.

POTW: Smog Safety

Michelle

Brooklyn Eagle, Boro bazar battles smog, 1953, gelatin silver print. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, NEIG_2080. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
From November 18th to the 23rd, 1953, a stagnant air mass trapped high levels of air pollution over New York City. The city’s Department of Air Pollution Control (which had opened earlier that year) was flooded with calls from residents reporting coughing and eye irritation. A 1962 analysis of mortality data found excess deaths between 18-26 persons a day during…

POTW: Viele's Original Prospect Park

Liza

Plan for the improvement of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 1861, cartographic print, B PP-1861.Fl c.2; Map Collections, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
 In 1859 the legislation was passed to establish a sprawling public park in Brooklyn. In 1861, Egbert Viele published the first accepted plans for the park, which are captured in this Photo of the Week. The plans resemble the Prospect Park we know today, but with some very noticeable differences.  Today’s park is encompassed by Grand Army Plaza in…

black and white photo of a young woman standing in front of a chain link fence. A grassy area, trees and some cars are in the background. The young woman is smiling, striking a pose with one hand on her hip and the other behind her head.

POTW: The talkative Annie Brown

Alice

The talkative Annie Brown., 1942, FITZ_0137; Laura Fitzpatrick photograph collection; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's Photo of the Week is a photograph taken by Laura Fitzpatrick of "the talkative Annie Brown" in 1942. Fitzpatrick took photographs of friends and family in Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant with her Agfa Billy camera in the late 1930s and 1940s, and these images make up the Laura Fitzpatrick photograph collection. The askew angle of the shot and Annie's jaunty pose show a playful…

Black and white photograph of woman at desk with papers and ink wells in front of her and gaze direct to camera

POTW: A Steady Gaze

Dee

[Prospect Branch librarian], black and white photographic print, circa 1910s, BPL_1134; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week is an arresting portrait of a librarian at BPL's Prospect branch, now known as the Park Slope Library. According to the branch page on our website, "Park Slope Library began life as a small collection of books on natural history in Prospect Park's Litchfield Mansion. A storefront library soon opened on Ninth Street until the beautiful Andrew Carnegie-…

The Greatest Fair Ever Held

Liza

The Jewish Hospital, Brooklyn, N.Y., [191-?], postcard, V1973.4.384; Postcard collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Prior to the 20th century, the state of medical care for Jewish Brooklynites was dire. The closest Jewish hospitals were a long trip into Manhattan and overcrowded, while local hospitals could not meet religious requirements (e.g. kashrut: Jewish dietary laws). The result was that many Jews went without lifesaving care. However, on November 9, 1901, the State Board of Charities…

Group of children gathered near a snowman listening to story hour.

POTW: Story Hour in the Snow

Deborah

[Winter story hour] ... children standing next to snowman of their own creation; book shows illustration of snowman. CBPL_1236. [195-?] Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
For those who have been shocked by the recent cold temperatures, today’s Photo of the Week features a cheery winter scene of story hour held outside the children’s wing of Central Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.  A group of warmly bundled kids listen to an intrepid reader, but many…

POTW: Mystery Parade

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Brooklyn Bridge Celebrations, 1977, V1984.1.77; Brooklyn slide collection; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week is a Kodachrome slide showing a group of New Yorkers with drums and pompoms parading east over the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan. The original cataloger does not identify the parade, but notes these clues:A 12-13. Bridges. Brooklyn Bridge. Celebrations [handwritten on mount].MAY 77N5 3 [stamped on mount].A curious researcher could search through our digitized newspapers to…

POTW: Street Scenes with John D. Morrell

Sarah

[South side of Kings Highway between E. 16th Street & E. 17th Street. Levine's Clothing, 1612 Kings Highway Adler's Ladies Specialty Shop -1610 Kings Highway], 1961, V1974.9.353, John D. Morrell photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History 
The John D. Morrell photographs collection includes over 2,000 black and white and color negatives and prints, donated by Long Island Historical Society (now CBH) assistant librarian John D. Morrell. Images include street scenes from almost…

Black and white photograph of five children in winter clothes playing and sliding in slushy snow in a park pavilion.

POTW: Sliding in Fort Greene

Michelle

George Bradford Brainerd, [Five children playing under the roof of a pavilion in the winter], [187?], gelatin silver print. George Bradford Brainerd photograph collection, BRAI_0406. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
No skates? No problem! Taken by amateur photographer George Bradford Brainerd (1845–1887) in the 1870s, this photograph shows several children sliding around on the slushy snow beneath a pavilion in what is today called Fort Greene Park. The park would have been known as Washington Park at the time…

Glasslands Gallery

Allyson

 Glasslands Gallery was a club in Williamsburg, located at 289 Kent Avenue. It was opened by Brooke Baxter and Rolyn Hu in 2006. Baxter had a previous gallery in the same building which was called Glass House Gallery. As a concert venue, Glasslands was one of the longest running venues on the Williamsburg waterfront. As notoriety grew Glasslands started to attract bigger acts including Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio, Grizzly Bear, Matt and Kim, Deerhunter, Kimya Dawson and Julianna Barwick. Vampire Weekend and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Bon Iver and MGMT were some of the earlier…

Family around a dinner table raising a glass for a toast.

POTW: New Beginnings

Deborah

New Year's Day dinner toast, 6th Avenue. RCPO_0005. 1977. Larry Racioppo photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Bidding a firm farewell to 2024, we offer this Photo of the Week featuring the Racioppo family gathered for a celebratory meal, as they raise a glass to that coming year, 1977. May this New Year be a happy one for you and yours.More of Racioppo's photographs of his native Brooklyn - its people, streets and celebrations - are hosted on our digital collections page, and a…

Front cover, spine, and back cover of an arsenic green book cover

POTW: Poison Books

Liza

Front cover, spine, back cover of First Impressions of the New World of Two Travelers from the Old, in the Autumn of 1858.
Many of the endsheets and title pages of the Center for Brooklyn History’s books are inscribed with holiday greetings, indicating that they were once given as gifts during the winter season. No harm ever came from gifting a book, right? Well, that depends on whether or not the book is bound in highly poisonous arsenical green pigment. In this Photo of the Week, we take a look at one such poisonous book in the…

POTW: A sidewalk in Bensonhurst

Alice

A Syrian Jewish family. Two girls playing in the streets of Bensonhurst., 1951, BJHP_0027; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's Photo of the Week takes us to a sidewalk in Bensonhurst where Sally and her friend play in front of a laundromat in 1951. From the Biographical Note in the catalog record: The family of Isaac and his younger sister Sally is from Aleppo, Syria. Their father, Jacob, arrived in the United States in 1914, and first lived in the Bronx. He…

Color postcard image of a castle-like tower with ivy growing on it

POTW: A Castle in Brooklyn

Dee

Bliss Castle, color postcard, circa 1910s, POST_0180; Brooklyn postcards collection, BCMS.0060, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Did you know there was once a "castle" in Bay Ridge? Today's Photo of the Week is a color postcard depicting the observatory and tower at the Eliphalet Williams Bliss estate, which eventually became Owl's Head Park. Bliss had purchased the estate from famed NY state senator Henry Cruse Murphy, under whose ownership the property "was the Mecca of prominent politicians, men…

POTW: Cozy in Brownsville

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Librarians at fireplace], 1915?, BPL_0383. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Christmas tree lots are fragrancing streetcorners, the sun is setting before 5, and a chill is driving us all into our homes where we light candles and settle in for the season. These librarians at Stone Avenue Library's gorgeous Carnegie building have set the perfect winter scene: a roaring fireplace, lit tapers, and coniferous adornments. Look at their perfectly trendy hair, some bobbed and some pinned up in a bob style for the…

Oil portrait of an older man in a black suit sitting in a chair holding law book in his lap

Lots of Lott: Examining Portraits of John A. Lott

Michelle

The Center for Brooklyn History is home to a wide variety of portraits of Brooklyn residents. The walls of the Othmer Library include a handful of our portrait paintings—serious-looking oil on canvas images of wealthy 19th-century men and women dressed to impress.

Portraits on the west wall of the Othmer Library. Photo taken by Michelle Kennedy 2024.
Though most of these paintings were donated in the years between the founding of the Long Island Historical Society in 1863 to the early decades of the 20th century, the…

Antique door plate with doorknob with LIHS monogram. Doorplate has details of swirls, flowers, and oil lamp, and an owl

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Who Goes There?

Katherine

[Antique LIHS doorplate and knob], 2000. Renovation photographs, Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC. 288. Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
There are so many details in the décor and architecture throughout 128 Pierrepont Street. Some of the more noticeable ones immediately pop out to visitors, like the stained glass laylight and windows or the busts on the façade. But some of the intricate details are so small that you would easily miss them if you didn’t know where to look. A Center for…

Young boy holding his school report at a desk in his classroom.

POTW: Tribute to a Dodger Dad

Deborah

[David Campanella] DODG_0045 [1950?] Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History 
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle collection has a large number of photographs concerning all aspects of the Brooklyn Dodgers: players on the field, in the locker room, at summer camp, crowds of celebrating fans, and all manner of general horsing around. Among them we also see Dodger families pictured. Today’s Photo of the Week features a Dodger family member, and a wonderful companion image. Our…

Black and white photograph of buildings on St. John's Place, one with a campaign sign for Kings County District Attorney William O'Dwyer in the 1945 mayoral race.

POTW: O'Dwyer for Mayor

Sarah

[1831 St. John's Place], 1945, PORT_0680; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Today's Photo of the Week looks at 1831 St. John's Place, where the owners were supporting Kings County District Attorney William O'Dwyer in the 1945 mayoral race. O'Dwyer was elected the 100th mayor of New York City later that year, and after two terms was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Mexico by President Truman. Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online…

Black and white photograph of two carved carousel horses

POTW: Coney Island Carousel

Allyson

[Coney Island Carousel], 1969, HERZ_0022; Irving I. Hertzberg photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Today's Photo of the Week is by Irving Hertzberg depicting the B&B Carousel. Built in 1906 it incorporates the work of four distinct masters of Coney Island style craftsmanship and artistry: William F. Mangels, Marcus Charles Illions, Charles Carmel, and August Wolfinger and is the centerpiece of the Steeplechase Plaza and a signature attraction at Luna Park in Coney Island.…

scan of a scrapbook page, yellowed paper with black and white image of a building with people standing outside. Handwriting says: "Infant Incubators Dreamland"

Infant Incubators at Dreamland

Alice

Infant incubators as amusement park attraction? Browsing through the digitized Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, I saw a few photographs of the exterior and interior of an old German farmhouse-style building. At the bottom of each photo, Armbruster wrote: "Infant Incubators Dreamland, 1904." 

Infant Incubators Dreamland, 1904, V1974.022.5.115. Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Into the Othmer

Katherine

[Othmer Library, Long Island Historical Society], circa 1938. Long Island Historical Society photographs, v1974.031.65. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Welcome to the Othmer Library!  The room you see pictured here is today known as the Othmer Library. It is original to the building when it was constructed for the Long Island Historical Society from 1878-81. The library was only open to members, where they could casually read and browse the stacks. Once the lecture hall was converted into a…

Black and white photograph of a movie theater marquee over a sidewalk with three people walking further down the block.

POTW: Coal on the Marquee

Michelle

[Albemarle Theatre], [1940?], gelatin silver print, THEA_0003; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Opening to the public in 1921, the Albemarle Theatre at 973 Flatbush Avenue was designed to feature both "photo-plays" and vaudeville acts. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle predicted the theater's nearly 3,000-person capacity and reasonable ticket prices would "...prove magnets for the lovers of nitra attractions", referring to nitrate film base.The Eagle would be proved correct: the…

POTW: Weird Scenes along the Beach

Liza

Storm of October 11, 1896, 1896, scrapbook, V1974.022.4.164; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
In this Photo of the Week, we remember the storm that hit the south Brooklyn coast on October 11, 1896. To quote the Brooklyn Eagle, it was “a Remarkable Atmospheric Disturbance” that buried the old Brighton Beach Race Course under tons of sand, cut new channels to Sheepshead Bay, and left “Wierd [sic] Scenes Along the Beach.”One of the remarkable scenes along…

black and white photograph of a tugboat and barge. The barge has "No. 1" painted on the side and the wording on the tugboat is cut off: "...of Baltimore." The sky takes up about half of the photograph.

POTW: Garbage barge at Barren Island

Alice

Garbage barge at Barren Island, 1910, NEIG_2117; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's photo of the week takes us to a tugboat and garbage barge at Barren Island in 1910. I could not find the associated article with this Brooklyn Daily Eagle photograph, but this could have been meant to illustrate a proposed project to develop Jamaica Bay as a harbor extending "from the southeasterly border of Barren Island to a point some 7,000 feet east of the Long Island…

Opening the Pocket Doors: Highlights from the Audiovisual Recordings

Nicole

A little over two years ago, my colleague Katherine Sorresso and I began processing the institutional records of the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS), now the Center for Brooklyn History at the Brooklyn Public Library. These records document the Society's activities from its founding as the Long Island Historical Society in 1863 until its merger with the Brooklyn Collection in 2020. The collection includes materials produced by various departments and records from individuals in leadership roles within BHS. The earlier materials consist of analog formats – ledgers, scrapbooks, correspondence…

Bluescale portrait photo of Shirley Chisholm at 39 with caption Mrs. Shirley Chisholm, Key Woman of the Year

POTW: Early Shirley

Dee

Mrs. Shirley Chisholm, Key Woman of the Year. Detail from Key Women, Inc. Brooklyn Branch Annual Reception program, September 15, 1963. Irwin Lutzky collection, 1987.006, Box 1, Folder 4; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
In exactly two months, on November 30th, it will be the 100th birthday of Brooklyn's own Shirley Chisholm, who was the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, representing Bedford-Stuyvesant. Chisholm was also the first Black candidate for a major-party…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors – Welcome to the Brooklyn Historical Society!

Nicole

[Denise Joseph (left) and Robert Kolinski (right) at the welcome desk], 1990, arc.202_box16_065. Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC 202. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
This week’s photo of the week shows Denise Joseph and Robert Kolinski greeting visitors to the Brooklyn Historical Society. I recently came across an interview, which features this photo, in the January-March 1990 issue of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s newsletter. In the interview, Kolinski, the first Visitor Services…

Black and white photo showing bright overhead sun on border of the Flatbush Library garden against backdrop of adjacent buildings, the central one with an ivy-covered, sloping roof.

POTW: A Garden Grows Again in Flatbush

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Garden at Flatbush Branch Library], Summer 1932, BPL_0721; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
 Today's photo of the week shows the garden of Brooklyn Public Library's Flatbush branch in the summer of 1932. You can see other views of the garden from the same day here.Maura Johnson, a librarian at the Flatbush branch, revived this garden in recent years in collaboration with colleagues and the New York Restoration Project. The library holds regular Accessible Gardening Hours and Open Garden Hours, which you…

Small boy standing on sidewalk, blowing a horn.

POTW: Jewels in the Sidewalk

Deborah

 

Patric Piccione playing with a noise maker. OSOS_0194. [1923?] Our Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
 Today’s photo of the week features little Pat Piccione blowing a noisemaker on a Brooklyn street. His clothing is quaintly old-fashioned to our eyes: a blousy tunic and shorts, complete with gaiters - twice as much clothing as one would expect to see on a modern child. Adding a note of mystery is the shadow silhouette of a woman photographer in dress…

Two blue and white pins from Erasmus high school. One reads Erasmus and one reads Beat Boys High.

Brooklyn's got school spirit

Dee

Here at the Center for Brooklyn History, we collect anything and everything related to Brooklyn history. That includes materials related to our borough's many schools, such as yearbooks and high school newspapers, documenting Brooklyn's long educational history. But did you know we also have artifacts from Brooklyn schools? Brooklynites have shown their school pride in all kinds of ways through the generations, and we collect and document it all, from our broad composite Brooklyn schools collection to collections of material from specific schools or individuals. In honor of Back to School…

Black and white photograph of children reading at a library

POTW: Back to School

Allyson

Prospect Branch, circa 1910s, BPL_1117; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
 It's back to school time! Today's Photo of the Week shows school children sitting in a reading room at the Prospect Branch of Brooklyn Public Library, a Carnegie library, located at 431 Sixth Avenue. The branch was renamed the Park Slope Branch in 1975. Even back then, kids knew the library was a great place to get their school work done. Just like kids today! Interested in seeing more photos from CBH's collections?…

white man leaning over a table where two white women are sitting; they are all reading a piece of paper

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: To the Library!

Katherine

Brooklyn Historical Society Staff, circa 1990. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The academic year is approaching (or, for some of you, has already begun). Which means it’s time to hit the books and start researching! This picture shows staff members of the Brooklyn Historical Society doing some research, although on what we cannot say. It could range from putting together a program to creating a new exhibit to writing an article. Our staff members at…

POTW: Fort Hamilton Cannon

Sarah

[Boys at Fort Hamilton cannon], circa 1910, V1981.284.55; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
 Today’s Photo of the Week shows a group of youngsters posing on the Fort Hamilton cannon, a 116,000-pound Rodman gun at John Paul Jones Park. The cannon was made during the Civil War, but after several failed tests at Fort Hamilton it was deemed unsuitable for combat. After a brief stay in Pennsylvania, it was returned to Brooklyn in 1900 and installed in the park…

World War One nurses pictured in an office setting

Opening the Pocket Doors: One Building, Many Uses

Katherine

When visiting the Center for Brooklyn History today, you enter a vast space that today has been split into various sections. Upon entering, you are immediately greeted by our wonderful Welcome Services team at the front desk, behind which is a segmented wall that showcases upcoming programs. To the left, we have a quaint gift shop. But if you continue into the space, you will see a large room with chairs, tables, and couches. Occasionally, this space will be rearranged for lectures with a small stage and an array of seats. This lecture set up is reminiscent of this room’s original, intended…

Out on Long Island

Brooklynology Editorial Staff

This blog post is the first in a series, that is part of a project funded by The Robert David Lion Gardiner foundation to assess and improve access to archival collections in our holdings that relate to Long Island. It was written by Catherine Jonas-Walsh, an assessment archivist working on the project. 

This cover page to the guidebook Out on Long Island features the stamp of the Long Island Historical Society, the precursor to the Center for Brooklyn History, and the year it was printed, 1889.
   “It is a goodly…

Multiple exposure color photograph of neon and electric signs at night

POTW: Seeing Double

Michelle

Otto Dreschmeyer, [Night, Coney Island], August 10, 1965, color slide, V1988.12.117. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Have you visited Coney Island this summer? This Photo of the Week is a multiple exposure—created when several exposures are overlaid to create a single image—of amusements along Surf Avenue. Despite the layering of the photograph, many of the brightly lit signs are still legible including Faber's Fascination, the Cavalcade Skooter ride, the Tornado, Nathan's Hot Dogs, and a theater marquee for…

POTW: National Oyster Day

Liza

[Collection of oysters attached to a pipe, false teeth, golf ball, and rubber ferrule, belonging to Frank Seerveld of Great South Bay, Long Island], 1938, Brooklyn Daily Eagle collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This Photo of the Week honors National Oyster Day, August 5, with a slew of images, advertisements, a recipe, and a dispute that document bits of the Brooklyn oyster's story. Many of us have heard the legends of oysters the size of dinner plates (how does one actually go about eating that?), but…

black and white photo of a boardwalk. A man leans against a wall in the foreground with his bike in front of him. A wooden roller coaster if in the background with the curve closest to the camera. A closed food shop is also in the foreground.

POTW: The Thunderbolt

Alice

[Bike on Coney Island boardwalk], 1984, V1992.48.21; Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
 This week's Photo of the Week features an Anders Goldfarb photograph of the Coney Island boardwalk in 1984. A man with his bike rests in the sun against a wall in the foreground. In the background is not the Cyclone, but the original Thunderbolt, a wooden roller coaster that operated from 1925 to 1982. The Thunderbolt soon became a ruin and the structure was demolished in 2000…

Black and white photo showing the entrance to the New York State Exhibit and Amphitheatre Building, with a classic car parked on the left and stacks of materials in front.

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors – World of Tomorrow

Nicole

[New York State Exhibit and Amphitheatre Building], 1939. New York World's Fair scrapbook and photographs, V1977.024. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's photo of the week takes us away from Brooklyn to Queens, where we observe the construction of the New York State Exhibit and Amphitheatre Building for the 1939-40 World's Fair. Themed 'World of Tomorrow,' this historic event was held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, from April 30, 1939, to October 26, 1940. The fair…

Black and white photographic print of an elaborate church building on a street corner

POTW: Turrets Long Gone

Dee

Sand Street Memorial Church, Henry and Clark Sts. Cradle of Brooklyn Methodism, circa 1900; black and white photographic print, CHUR_507; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, BCMS.0002, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  Today's Photo of the Week spotlights a long-gone church building that once stood at Clark and Henry Streets in Brooklyn Heights. Despite having grown up in this neighborhood and walked by this corner countless times, I had no idea that what is currently a boxy apartment building with the…

POTW: Moonlight

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Moonlight, Nelson, Walter H., circa 1887, V1972.1.1218. Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Tonight's Photo of the Week is a cool evening on the water in 1887 by Walter H. Nelson from our Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection. In this scan the silvery photographic substrate slightly obscures the image. In person, the photograph seems touched with moonlight. Nelson was an amateur photographer about whom little has been written. Aside from…

Kitchen Connections

Sarah

One of the things I love about archival research is how many senses it activates. The obvious visual delights, tactile sensations, hints of grass and vanilla wafting from the boxes, and the reading room rustle of papers, chairs, and keyboards. Noticeably and rightfully absent is our fifth sense, taste. Archival research has no flavor*, but food is constantly on the minds of many researchers. What were their research subjects eating? What did it taste like? What did their homes smell like while it was cooking? How and where did they source ingredients? These questions are key to understanding…

woman sitting at computer has her hands up on her head

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Everybody Has Those Days

Katherine

Brooklyn Historical Society Staff, circa 1990. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.Have you ever felt like this at work? The real question is, what exactly is the person in the photograph feeling and expressing? Why was this photograph taken? To me, this photograph evokes extreme frustration, possibly having to do with their work or with their computer. But to different people, the picture could evoke different emotions, such as exhaustion or perhaps even pain from a headache. Unfortunately, we don’t have any more…

Black and white photograph of the Coney Island boardwalk under construction

POTW: Coney Island Boardwalk

Allyson

Rutter, E.E. [Coney Island Boardwalk], 1922, RUTT_0247; Edgar E. Rutter photography collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
It's officially summer time so today's Photo of the Week is brought to you by the Edgar E Rutter collection. It is an 8 x 10 print that shows the exterior view of Coney Island beach and the boardwalk under construction. Image includes a portion of the amusement park in the distant background. Inscription reads: "General view looking east from Steeplechase Pier."Edgar E.…

Group of schoolchildren gathered in front of libary under a banner reading: Make it a library summer.

POTW: Is Your Summer Booked?

Deborah

Library festival, BPL_0440. 1968. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs
Summer is here, bringing long lazy days with time for relaxed reading at the beach and parks. This photo shows a group of youngsters attending a library festival at the Bushwick Branch of Brooklyn Public Library in 1968. Every year the library hosts free programs and resources to enrich your summer with reading and cultural activities. See what we have on offer this year on our Summer at the Library page.Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s…

Small observatory building with dome in residential neighborhood.

Seeing Stars: Astronomical Observatories in Brooklyn

Deborah

Astronomical observatory/laboratory, Flatbush. [191-?] NEIG_0750. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs.
Close on the heels of the recent excitement around the 2024 solar eclipse, we received an email from one of our readers who was able to expand on what we know about one of our photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle: an astronomical observatory in the back yard of a Flatbush home. (I emphasize astronomical because I found in my research in our Brooklyn Newsstand that the word observatory was often used for observation points on high…

Black and white photograph of the Brooklyn waterfront facing the East River with dozens of train cars and empty rail tracks

POTW: New York's Floating Cars

Michelle

[Freight Trains at the New York Dock Company Docks, Red Hook, Brooklyn], circa 1920, V1973.5.878. Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Before trucks became common, trains carried most American freight over land. In the same era, New York Harbor became the busiest port in the United States — if not one of the busiest in the world. Brooklyn’s (and all of Long Island’s) factories, refineries, and warehouses were only connected via freight rail to…

POTW: A Mournful Ouroboros

Liza

Bracelet, [1875-1900], M1990.53.6. Fred Hoyt family research collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
 This black beaded bracelet is shaped like a coiled snake swallowing its own tail, which is an image known as an ouroboros. The ouroboros symbol can have many meanings, but this one, created during the late 19th century, represents the eternal cycle of life and death. The bracelet’s color, materials, and symbolism identify it as an article of mourning jewelry. Victorian mourning culture was…

Black and white photograph of a cat sitting on a wooden fence

POTW from the Vault: Cat named “Lazybones”

Alice

This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on January 9, 2019 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter.

Cat named “Lazybones,” circa 1910, V1981.15.182; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The photo of the week depicts a cat named “Lazybones,”…

Child wearing headphones while holding a green teddy bear.

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Here’s to Baseball!

Nicole

[Child wearing headphones], October 1995. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers' victory over the Yankees in the 1955 World Series, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) curated PLAY BALL! – an exhibit that told the story of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson. Today’s Photo of the Week captures a moment from the exhibition's opening day festivities, where attendees were invited to participate…

Brooklyn poets remember

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Dina Abdulhadi reading, April 24 2024. Photo: Kevina Tidwell.
“She wrote poetry, she published, she was read, and then she died.” Former Brooklyn poet laureate D. Nurkse spoke those words as an introduction to the poet Enid Dame. Nurkse was one of seven poets who read in the Othmer library last month to a packed room. Each poet selected poems from the Center for Brooklyn History’s library and archives collections and read them in conversation with their own poetry and reflections. Nurkse, in his words on Dame…

Black and white photographic postcard depicting a large house on a hill in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

POTW: The House on the Hill

Dee

The Albertype Co., Northwest Corner Ridge Boulevard and 85th Street, circa 1940; black and white photographic postcard, V1973.4.547; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week showcases a beautiful home in Bay Ridge at 8311 Ridge Boulevard. This stunning mansion at the top of a hill is still standing today, though it is located at the corner of 84th Street and Ridge Boulevard, not 85th Street as this postcard states. The house…

Array of noted literary talent of Brooklyn gathers around folk singer Oscar Brand at the National Library Week Luncheon in the Hotel St. George on Tuesday, April 5. Seated, left, is Marianne Moore, the famous poetess of Cumberland Street. Standing, left to right, are Chief Librarian Francis R. St. John of Brooklyn Public Library; Brooklyn Heights humorist Ira Wallach; Paule Marshall, guest speaker, and Norman Rosten, Remsen Street poet and playwright who wrote a special poem for the occasion.

From the Vault: An Ode to Brooklyn Poets

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

 

Array of noted literary talent, 1960s, gelatin silver print, CBPL_1062. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I am reviving, from the vaults, this photo of a major gathering of Brooklyn "literary talent", first featured in this blog about Brooklyn poetry. The original Brooklyn Daily Eagle captions read:"Array of noted literary talent of Brooklyn gathers around folk singer Oscar Brand at the National Library Week Luncheon in the Hotel St. George on Tuesday, April 5. Seated, left…

Postcard featuring the entrance of Green-Wood Cemetery from the Brooklyn Postcard collection.

Green-Wood Cemetery

Anna

Entrance to Greenwood Cemetery, [190-?], Brooklyn Postcard collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. The Center for Brooklyn History provides this guide for those researching Green-Wood Cemetery.  The Center for Brooklyn History’s holdings include books, photographs, maps, deeds, illustrations, and oral histories. In addition to these materials, researchers are encouraged to browse the collections and other research guides for resources that may be relevant to their work. To make an appointment or ask a question, please contact cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org…

Black and white photograph of a metal cylinder covered in floral patterns being worked by a pair of hands with a small hammer

POTW: Hello, Doily!

Michelle

Jules Geller, Royal Lace Paper Works, 1954, gelatin silver print, WORK_0299. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Mass-produced items can still require the human touch. This Photo of the Week depicts an employee of the Royal Lace Paper Works at 846 Lorimer Street hand-engraving a metal die with intricate floral patterns. Though the dies themselves were manufacturing tools, the skill needed to create them was similar to that needed to engrave fine silver. Each die would…

a group of twelve young children with their bikes gather in front of two storefronts in Coney Island

Portals to the Past: A Peek Through the Archives

Kevin

For the past few years, in pursuit of a new career as an information professional, I have been working towards a master’s degree in library and information science (MLIS) with a concentration in archival studies from the iSchool at the University of Missouri, where I will be graduating in May. My profound passion for libraries and archives stems from the belief that providing access to valuable resources is a fundamental service to the community, especially for those underrepresented individuals whose stories are often overlooked and difficult to discover. As a queer first-generation minority…

woman with short hair and a plaid shirt opening drawer of a card catalog

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: The Enthusiastic Catalogers Department

Katherine

Brooklyn Historical Society Staff, circa 1994. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.Did your favorite singer release an album recently and use an image of a card catalog to promote said album? Are you not entirely sure what a card catalog actually is? Not to worry, we are here to explain!  Let’s first look at the word catalog: for the purpose of libraries at its most basic level, it is an organized list of books held by a specific library. Prior to cards, library catalogs were recorded in books. But as…

The Rocks Cry Out

Deborah

One among a row of boulders in Prospect Park with protest posters showing the faces of Oluwatoyin Salau, Rem'mie Fells, Dominique Jonathan Ferrell and Freddie Carlos Gray Jr. in Prospect Park; BRCP_0039. 2020. Brooklyn Resists community photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History 
On June 8, 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in Brooklyn, I took a walk in Prospect Park on a shady path across the East Drive from the Vale of Cashmere, notable for a line of large rocks…

POTW: A Tree Grows on Garfield Place

Sarah

[Garfield Place trees], circa 1916; Raymond V. Ingersoll collection (BCMS.0061), Box 13. Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Walking around Park Slope is especially lovely in the Spring as the trees bloom to create a canopy over the sidewalks. One of the neighborhood's most beautiful streets, Garfield Place, has Raymond V. Ingersoll to thank. Ingersoll served as Brooklyn Parks Commissioner from 1914 to 1917, making tree planting around the borough a top priority for his administration. Garfield Place…

POTW: A Peek Inside Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital

Liza

Bklyn Eye & Ear Hospital, [189-?], photographic print, V1972.1.804; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Beware letting a photographer document your medical procedures lest it end up in a future form of communication we have yet to imagine. This Photo of the Week, taken around 1890, is one of five scenes captured inside the Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital around 1890, possibly for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Here a doctor administers anesthesia to a…

Margaret Armstrong, Alice Morse, and the Decorated Cloth Book Cover

Liza

 In the 1880s, two New Yorkers burst into the competitive scene of cloth book cover design: Margaret Nielson Armstrong (1867–1944), a Manhattanite, and Alice Cordelia Morse (1863–1961), a Brooklynite. They became two of the major forces behind the art's golden age, which lasted from about 1880 to 1910. Fourteen of their works are on display at the Center for Brooklyn History, now through June 2024.

Left: Van Dyke, Henry. Days Off. Scribner's Sons, 1908. Cover design by Margaret Armstrong. Right: Ford, Paul Leicester. Tattle…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Voices of Brooklyn

Nicole

[Voices of Brooklyn performance], 1998. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
 On January 1, 1898, the city of Brooklyn officially became a borough and joined Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx to form New York City. To mark the centennial of this event, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) created an original theatrical production titled Voices of Brooklyn. Voices of Brooklyn is a 40-minute dramatic performance that tells the…

POTW: Cutting up carpenters

Alice

Carpenters, 1952, Gelatin silver print, SWEL_0721; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Who knew shopwork classes could be so fun! This week's Photo of the Week depicts (from left to right) 6-year-olds Richard Steiner, Augustus Jackson, and Nicholas Parese working on some carpentry projects in May 1952. This class was hosted by Willoughby House, a settlement house founded in 1901, which provided art, drama, and athletic workshops for Brooklyn kids and young people in…

POTW: Rain, rain, go away

Dee

Ralph Irving Lloyd, A Rainy Day, circa 1910; black and white photograph, V1981.15.176; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.015, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
I don't know about you but I'm pretty sick of rain - and we haven't even reached the storied April showers yet. Regardless, I take solace in the fact that rain-flooded streets are nothing new in Brooklyn, as this circa 1910 lantern slide by Ralph Irving Lloyd proves. Dr. Ralph Irving Lloyd (1875-1969) was a Brooklyn…

POTW: Ramadan

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Young girl at evening prayers with her father during Ramadan, 2010, GERH_0001; Robert E. Gerhardt, Jr. photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.This Sunday, March 10 marks the new moon and the start of Ramadan. In this photo from the Robert E. Gerhardt, Jr. photograph collection, a young girl stares intently into the camera. She and her father are praying at the Muslim American Society in Bath Beach, 1933 Bath Avenue, in 2010. Robert Gerhardt Began photographing Muslims in Brooklyn in 2010 during Ramadan, leading him to photograph mosques and Muslims all…

An embellished cabinet card with a small black and white portrait photograph of a Civil War soldier in a gilded surround

Dipping into the Collection: Thall and Lopez family papers and photographs

Allyson

For this month's blog post we thought we might take a peek into the collection, looking at the Thall and Lopez family papers and photographs. The collection consists of documents, ephemera, and photographs related to several generations of the Thall and Lopez families of Canarsie, Brooklyn. Included in the collection are letters, photographs, account ledgers, blueprints, wills, deeds, stock certificates, a Civil War infantry manual, Civil War currency, notes, newspaper clippings, electrification contracts, and assorted legal documents. It’s an interesting look at a family that has lived in…

Railfan Sandwich Man's Loco-Motive to Increase Business

Deborah

Sodas delivered by train. WORK_0842. 1951. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs 
Local businesses are acts of faith - an individual dream of creating a place that people will want to patronize, enriching the owners and community alike. This Photo of the Week shows one inventive owner’s novel idea to boost his business. In early 1951, Ben Lewanda took over the Parkway Sandwich Shop, 4223 Fort Hamilton Parkway. Finding his custom lacked pep, he got the idea of installing a model train to travel around the periphery…

poster of six white women wearing blue dresses, underneath reads "Beauty and the Beer"

Opening the Pocket Doors: Beauty and the Beer (An Exhibit That Never Was)

Katherine

[Beauty and the Beer exhibit advertisement], ca. 2000. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.She’s beauty and she’s grace, she’s Miss..Rheingold? That’s right. From 1941 until 1965, the beer company, Rheingold Brewery—best known as the official beer of the New York Mets—also ran a beauty contest called Miss Rheingold. The beer company was founded by German-Jewish immigrant Samuel Liebmann in the 1850s in Brooklyn. His sons took over their father’s brewery about a decade later and eventually changed the name to…

Black and white photograph of Joan Maynard surrounded by children of various ages

For Valentine’s Day, a Love Letter to Joan Maynard, Activist and Artist

Dominique

February is both the month of Black history and the month of love, so what better time to discuss one of Brooklyn’s most beloved historical figures, Joan Maynard!

Joan Maynard, Weeksville Heritage Center, ca. Brownstoner. Photo by Randy Duchaine
Joan Maynard is probably best known for her work as the first Executive Director of the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History (now usually shortened to the Weeksville Society), a position she held from 1974-2011. Weeksville was an…

Sepia toned photograph of two men on a tandem bicycle

POTW: Biking with a Friend

Sarah

 [Tandem bicycle on the beach at Coney Island], 1889, V1972.1.808; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
What's better than riding a bike on the beach? Riding a bike on the beach with a friend. Today's Photo of the Week looks at the tandem bicycle, an intimate vehicle that requires teamwork. Operating a tandem bike might be easy, but finding a tandem partner is tricky. You need someone sporty, unafraid of leg cramps, with the…

Documenting a Brownstone's Rebirth

Dee Bowers

In 2018, the New York Times published a story about an unusual Carroll Gardens brownstone for sale. 12 Second Place had been painstakingly restored during the brownstone revival movement of the 1960s and 70s, and had been owned by the same couple, Jane and Thor Rinden, ever since. Moreover, the Rindens had documented their five-year renovation process (1968-1973) in a charming and intimate scrapbook filled with photographs and memories. Fascinated by this story, I left a comment on the article, and fortuitously enough, the Rindens' estate decided that the scrapbook should come to the…

Black and white photograph of a Black man with a Black child on his shoulders during a protest

POTW: Happy Black History Month

Allyson

Anthony Geathers, Man carrying small boy on his shoulders at demonstration at Borough Hall, 2020, GEAT_0017; Anthony Geathers photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Happy Black History Month! Today's Photo of the Week is from the Anthony Geathers photograph collection, which consists of about 66 images taken in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations throughout Brooklyn. This image depicts a young boy on a man's shoulder as they listen to people speaking at a…

Black and white photograph of Fort Greene Park in the snow

POTW: Midwinter Remembrance

Liza

[Fort Greene Park], 1926, gelatin silver print, PARK_0111; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
As we enter midwinter, take in this snowy Photo of the Week of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park from 1926. This monument was created by Stanford White and Adolph Alexander Weinman in 1908. It memorializes the roughly 11,500 captives who died aboard British prison ships in Brooklyn’s Wallabout Bay during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). The…

POTW: Great big beautiful dolls

Alice

Great big beautiful dolls, 1951, Gelatin silver print, SCHL_1325; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In August of 1951, Park Slope kids competed in P.S. 77's "beautiful doll" contest. This week's Photo of the Week shows the winners standing proudly with their entries in the schoolyard (from left to right): Judith Flynn (third place), Barbara Joyce Wendel, Roberta Hope Wendel (the Wendel's got the grand prize), and Camille Stafanello (first place). Second place winner Arlene Kennedy did not…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Adopt-A-Block

Nicole

[Daphney Desir (left) and Uchenna Agbim (right) rehousing land conveyances], ca. 1989. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In the 1990s, the librarians at the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) dedicated significant efforts to implementing measures aimed at preserving and enhancing access to the Society’s collections. Several of these initiatives took the form of cataloging projects, many of which spanned multiple years and were funded by state and government agencies. By the…

Color photograph of Fulton Street showing the Majestic Theater and other businesses under blue skies

POTW: From the Vault: Majestic Theater

Dee Bowers

This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on January 27, 2016 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter.

[View of Fulton Street.], 1959, V1974.9.13; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The photo of the week depicts a view of Fulton Street, including…

POTW: Love of Line, of Light and Shadow: The Brooklyn Bridge

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Love of Line, of Light and Shadow: The Brooklyn Bridge, October 24, 1982, V1973.4.86; Postcard Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Clarinetist F. Gerard Errante commissioned a clarinet score and video from Reynold Weidenaar as a "centennial tribute to the Brooklyn Bridge" in 1982. Musical America described Love of Line, of Light and Shadow: The Brooklyn Bridge as "a strangely moving, evocative work ... visually spectacular ... with an equally fascinating soundtrack of traffic resonances and…

Opening the Pocket Doors: A History of Education at the Brooklyn Historical Society

Nicole

[Kids in Museum], ca. 1990. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Education departments play a pivotal role in museum settings. Through teacher workshops, student and adult programs, guided tours, and more, museum educators are tasked with creating accessible educational opportunities, facilitating open conversations, reducing barriers to participation, and ultimately ensuring that the museum experience is meaningful for all patrons. One of the record groups that I was most…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Say Cheese!

Katherine

Brooklyn Historical Society Staff Party, circa 1990. Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Is it even a holiday if you didn't all get together for a big, awkward group photo? While we don’t have all the details behind this particular group photo of a staff party for the Brooklyn Historical Society, we know that director, David Kahn, is pictured on the far right with fellow staff members around 1990. And we can definitely relate to everyone being told to “squeeze together!” or the classic, “say…

POTW: From the Vault: Real Brooklyn, a day in our lives photographs now available at BHS

Sarah

This From the Vault post was originally written by John Zarrillo and published on March 10, 2016 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter.

Chosen for Mom, by Doris Adler, 2003; Real Brooklyn, a day in our lives photographs, 2007.041, Box 1; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This post was authored by BHS Library and Archives processing intern…

POTW: World Wildlife Day & the Pigeon

Liza

Man with pigeons, 1990, gelatin silver print, COHEN_0166; George Cohen photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
December 4th marks World Wildlife Day, which the United Nations describes as “an opportunity to celebrate the many beautiful and varied forms of wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the multitude of benefits that their conservation provides to people.” When thinking of Brooklyn wildlife, the first that comes to mind might be the pigeon. This bird certainly does not require conservation efforts today, and…

Man and woman breaking out of closet with baseball bats.

Honor Among Thieves?

Deborah

How they got out. CRIM_0143. 1952. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs
Today’s dramatic Photo of the Week documents a slick Flatbush burglary with an unusual conclusion. A tenacious robber, who tried several times to gain entry claiming to be a repairman, finally hoodwinked the wary housekeeper by waiting until she brought out the garbage. He brandished a gun and then, joined by a partner lurking nearby, they gained access. Once in, they stole furs, jewels and cash and locked Mrs. Arline Tompkins and the other person on the…

POTW: All this for the Dodgers!

Alice

Take me in to the ball game, 1952, Gelatin silver print, DODG_0184; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Anyone else missing baseball season? This week's Photo of the Week takes us to Ebbets Field where we see a crowd of fans who were unable to get into the final game of the Yankees-Dodgers 1952 World Series. Over 33,000 people attended the game, so many people were turned away at the gates. The boy in the middle appears to be pleading with the photographer to let him in, others look like they would squeeze…

Pint-Sized Pilgrims

Sarah

[Young turkey hunters], 1951, HOLI_0109; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Residents of the Infants Home of Brooklyn, located at 1358 56th Street attended their 1951 Thanksgiving dinner dressed as pint-sized pilgrims, ready to hunt their own turkey! For children living at the Infants Home, a holiday to gather with family may have felt a little sad, but we love how their caregivers tried to make the holiday a little more fun. We hope these little ones had the best Thanksgiving ever.  At…

Not forgotten: Activism in the AIDS/Brooklyn exhibition collection

Alice

[Protest posters], circa 1992, AIDS/Brooklyn Exhibition records, 1993.001; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Friday, December 1 is World AIDS Day, a day started by the World Health Organization in 1988 to "show strength and solidarity against HIV stigma and to remember lives lost." The first World AIDS Day was recognized by awareness events (such as condom distributions and fundraisers), discussions among medical experts and human rights advocates, and world leaders calling on the United Nations to increase their efforts to combat the…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: What Could Have Been

Katherine

Plan of Elevation on Clinton St for Long Island Historical Society Building competition, circa 1878. 128 Pierrepont Street building architectural drawings, M1980.8.7. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Looking up at the looming and detailed façade of 128 Pierrepont, it’s difficult to imagine anything else in its place. The classic Queen Anne style seems to fit right in with the surrounding brownstones, completing the historic feel of the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood. But in 1868, when the former Long Island Historical Society (LIHS)…

From the Vault: Ruby's Bar

Allyson

This From the Vault post was originally written by Julie May and published on May 13, 2013 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. This Photo of the Week was originally written and published by the Brooklyn Historical Society, so some terms and links may be out of date. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Stained Glass Mystery

Nicole

[Stained glass lunette in the Othmer Library], circa 1990s. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
If you've visited the Othmer Library, you might have noticed the large stained glass lunettes (arched windows) on the gallery level. These are original to the space, but did you know there used to be more stained glass features throughout the building? Similar lunettes, faintly visible in the photo below, once adorned the Great Hall. More obscure is the stained glass screen at the rear…

POTW: May the Library Be With You

Dee Bowers

[Child in Luke Skywalker Halloween costume], 1977; Long Island Historical Society photographs, V1974.031, V1974.31.127; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The year is 1977. You're obsessed with the best movie you've ever seen in your life, Star Wars. Of course you want to dress as the movie's hero, Luke Skywalker, for Halloween. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of Star Wars costumes everywhere, as retailers scrambled to catch up with the movie's unforeseen popularity. So you pull out your galoshes and utility belt to get that perfect…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Room of (Our) Own

Katherine

Long Island Historical Society, the Directors' Room, 1938. Long Island Historical Society photographs, V1974.031. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  If you were to go up to the third floor of 128 Pierrepont and walk to the doors that read “Gina Ingoglia Weiner Gallery” and peer through the windows, you would see a room that currently holds a portion of the Center for Brooklyn History’s collections in neat rows of archival boxes. But this room was not always utilized for storage; prior to a storage room, it was used as an exhibit…

National Pasta Day

Sarah

[Employees of I. Defrancisci & Son Macaroni Machines], 1917, OSOS_0015. Our Streets, Our Stories collection. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. Donated for capture by Leonard DeFrancisci.
Did you know that October 17th is National Pasta Day? According to Italy Magazine, there are approximately 350 different types of pasta, including a personal favorite, macaroni. These curved, bouncy little tubes are the perfect vehicle for a variety of sauces and cheeses or eaten alone with butter and garlic. If you lived in Brooklyn…

Black Masons in Brooklyn: an Indomitable Brotherhood

Deborah

New temple dedicated--Past Deputy Grand Master Jacob Lawrence, Grand Master Daniel Mason, and Deputy Grand Master Charles L. Weaver, left to right [all African Americans,] share the gavel at dedication of Universal Grand Lodge's new temple at 442 Willoughby Ave. A cornerstone-laying ceremony has been planned for later in the year. 1954. CLUB_0110. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs
I became interested in the subject of Freemasonry after happening upon several pictures of African American Masons in our Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs.   I have…

Halloween Inspiration

Liza

 

[Gregg Chapel], [191-?], photographic print, GREGG_0008; Gregg Chapel photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Tis the season to get your Halloween costumes ready! Need inspiration? Perhaps this haunting Photo of the Week can assist. Here we have six children dressed as what appear to be bears, bunnies, and…perhaps baby birds? Shrubbery? Stumps? Whatever they are, we hope they inspire you.  This image is believed to have been taken during the 1910s at the Gregg Chapel at 190 4th Avenue. The…

POTW: The Blessing of Brooke the Office Cat

Alice

[Photograph of Joseph R. Lentol at St. Cecilia Catholic Church], circa 2010, Joseph R. Lentol papers, CBHM.0004, Box 4, Folder 19; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's Photo of the Week takes us to St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church in Greenpoint where Brooke the cat is being blessed by a priest during a Blessing of the Animals event circa 2010. The Blessing of the Animals is observed in the Catholic Church in conjunction with the annual Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4th. The man holding Brooke, Joseph R. Lentol…

POTW: From the Vault: Transformation and Discovery

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Cortelyou Road and Flatbush Avenue, 1916, v1973.2.106; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  This From the Vault post was originally written by Julie May (who loves the fall) and published on October 1, 2014 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. As we should expect of our…

Prospect Park Zoo

Allyson

Prospect Park Buffalo, Daniel Berry Austin photograph collection, Brooklyn Museum/Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Today's Photo of the Week is from the Daniel Berry Austin collection. Austin was an amateur photographer whose subjects often included farms and landscapes. This photo, of one of the buffalo's at the Prospect Park Zoo, was taken in 1902. The Prospect Park Zoo opened in 1890. At the time it was known as The Menagrie. Of the original facilities in the park, the Deer Paddock, located near the present Carousel, was…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Get Out Your Camera!

Nicole

Ruth Johnson, [Long Island Roadside Eating Stand], 1938. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Clams, anyone? In celebration of the 75th anniversary of its founding, the Long Island Historical Society (LIHS) sponsored a photo contest geared toward Long Island’s students. Dozens of private and public high schools from all four counties in Long Island (Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk) were invited to participate. LIHS specifically requested student involvement because the board…

I Married the Widow of the Man Who Shot Your Horse

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

  

[Josiah M. Grumman diary cover, clippings, poem, and POW roster], 1861—1862, Josiah M. Grumman diary, 1973.110; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
A researcher wrote to me a few months back, seeking to fact check a piece of romantic Civil War hearsay. * He had heard of a promise made on the battlefield between two soldiers of Brooklyn’s 14th Regiment at the second battle of Bull Run in August, 1862. Quartermaster Sargeant Alexander Barnie Jr. was said to have vowed to the mortally wounded Lieutenant Josiah M. Grumman to marry…

POTW: Park Slope's Colorful Past

Dee Bowers

Carl Steinbuch, [119-125 Park Place], circa April 1973, color slide, V1982.7.11. Carl Steinbuch slide collection, V1982.007; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week shows one block of Park Place looking noticeably different than it does today. Several of the classic nineteenth century brownstone rowhouses on this block are painted not-so-classic colors, with blue, yellow, and mint green all lining up next to the traditional reddish brown of the leftmost house. A bright red convertible in the foregorund brings another…

These Homes are for the Birds

Deborah

Ten boys pose with birdhouses of their own construction, 1916. EAGL_0237. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
In spring of 1916 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle posted a challenge to the children of Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties: make a birdhouse for the birds of Long Island.
Consuelo Gestal sends first entry blank, Junior Eagle-Daily Edition banner. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 6, 1916, p. 5.
The invite appeared in the Junior Eagle - in a section dedicated to…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Save the Clock Tower!

Katherine

Systems Upgrade and History Discovery Center, Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street. Jan Hird Pokorny, Architects and Planners, circa 1996. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
What time is it? Unfortunately, if you were to take a look at the clock tower at the top of 128 Pierrepont, you would not get a reliable answer. Part of the original design by George B. Post, the clock tower has been a part of the building since its construction between the years of 1878 and 1881.…

The George Aptecker Collection

Sarah

George Aptecker, [Girls at Coney Island], 1961. George Aptecker collection, CBHM.0003. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Today's Photo of the Week looks at an image from the George Aptecker collection. Aptecker was a photographer and diarist who photographed street scenes and portraits in and around New York City. He was a frequent contributor to U.S. Camera Magazine, Camera 35 Magazine, and Modern Photography Magazine. He also exhibited his work at the Village Camera Club, Underground Gallery, and the Metropolitan Museum of…

POTW: Telephone Booth: From the Vaults

Allyson

 

[Yard worker in a telephone booth], circa 1965, v1988.37.36, Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard Collection, v1988.37; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on October 4, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. In the not-so-distant past, telephone booths could be seen on…

New York City History Day

Sonya

Last June, 30 students from New York City participated in National History Day, a contest for Middle and High School students held at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD. After months of hard work crafting original historical research projects and competing in multiple contests, they were selected from over 500,000 students who competed internationally. The projects, all connected to the theme – Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas – ranged in topic and presentation. From performances examining the visionary of David Sarnoff and his impact on television; to papers examining…

International Lifeguard Appreciation Day

Liza

[Six orphan children in wading pool], 1951, gelatin silver print, SWEL_0523; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  Celebrate International Lifeguard Appreciation Day (July 31) with this Photo of the Week, which ran in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle on August 20th, 1951. The original caption reads “Maxie, the lifeguard at the Infants Home of Brooklyn, whistles while he works.” The accompanying blurb continues, saying, “When it comes to expert protection of life, leave it to four-year-old Maxie. He is the…

POTW: Cumberland Street Hospital's magnet

Alice

Magnet, 1924, Gelatin silver print, HOSP_0206; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, HOSP_0206, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Is this modern art or Cumberland Street Hopital's 500-pound, $280 electric magnet? This Photo of the Week, originally published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in April 1924, shows a demonstration of the magnet's considerable power: "when plugged into an ordinary electric socket it can lift a steel door key from a hand 12 inches below." While this is an impressive display, the magnet was actually meant…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Peek Inside the Vault

Nicole

[Vault Door Closed, Historic Structure Report], 1993. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week’s photo of the week takes us on a journey into the depths of the Long Island Historical Society (LIHS) building. In the cellar, nestled opposite the crawl space and underneath the stairs, is where one would find the LIHS vault. The safe door, pictured here, was installed after the introduction of the elevator in 1937. The room was lit by a single lighting fixture in the center of…

POTW: Remembering Summer 2020

Dee Bowers

Ron Foster, [Group of people holding their fists up at a demonstration.], July 4 2020, color digital photograph, BRCP_0009. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Three years ago this summer, the streets of Brooklyn, like the streets of cities all across the country, erupted in Black Lives Matter protests in response to the murder of George Floyd along with so many others at the hands of the police. As in years past, the area around Brooklyn's Central library became a gathering point for protesters. Then newly part of the…

Happy Fourth of July

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Sunset, Coney Island, August 23 1963, V1988.12.92; Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Today's photo of fireworks double exposed over a sherbet sky comes from the photographer Otto Dreschmeyer. Dreschmeyer was a resident of Ridgewood (briefly Brooklyn, once and currently Queens) and the son of German immigrants, about whom very little is known. Dreschmeyer was an amateur photographer who captured the kinds of images many of us have on our photo rolls today: parades, cats, and fireworks. Have…

Bookplates: Explanation and Inspiration

Sarah

A bookplate is a label attached to the inside cover of a book, usually with the owner's name or initials, sometimes following the Latin phrase “ex libris” which translates to “from the books of.” Each label is unique to its owner, a way of announcing to the world, "This is mine!" A label that we would recognize as a modern bookplate has origins in late 15th century Germany. One of the first examples is this small hand-colored woodcut print depicting an angel holding a shield, which appears in books from the library of scholar and priest Hilprand Brandenburg (1442-1514). By…

POTW: Brooklyn Fire Headquarters

Alice

Jay St., Brooklyn, N. of Willoughby St., circa 1950; Stereograph, v1974.2.16; Alfred C. Loonam stereoscopic views, v1974.002, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Dan Brenner and published on June 5, 2019 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. In 1892, the Brooklyn Fire Department opened its headquarters at 365…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Humble Beginnings at the Hamilton

Katherine

[Interior of Hamilton Building, Long Island Historial Society, Court and Joralemon Streets], circa 1872, V1974.031.70. Long Island Historical Society photographs, V1974.031. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
When the Long Island Historical Society was founded in 1863, its founding members had grand ideas to house a library and host lectures but did not yet have their own building. The society’s permanent residence did not begin construction until 1878, eventually being completed in 1881.   So where was the Long…

My Parents’ Wedding Photo

Larry Racioppo

We never had much artwork in our home. The visual centerpiece of our living room was a symmetrical arrangement of three framed photographs: my parents’ hand oiled color wedding portrait in the center, flanked by the black and white high school graduation photos of me and my younger brother Robert. My parents, Carmella and Anthony Racioppo, displayed this same wedding portrait in each of their three Brooklyn apartments. I grew up seeing it every day. As I learned about photography, I realized what a good photograph it was: a professionally lighted studio portrait taken with a Century view…

POTW: Brooklyn Army Terminal

Sarah

[Brooklyn Army Terminal], 1945, NEIG_2376; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Today’s Photo of the Week shows the interior of the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT), a sprawling complex spanning 95 acres on the Sunset Park waterfront. Designed by Cass Gilbert and completed in 1919, it was the largest military supply base in the United States. In this photo, we can see supply trains and balconies, which allowed cranes to access cargo from any floor. BAT also served as headquarters for the New York Port…

POTW: When Disco Was King

Allyson

Patrick D. Pagnano photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
For this week's Photo of the Week we are rolling back the clock to 1980 and we're strapping on our skates for a cruise around the dance floor of the Empire Roller Disco on Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights. The indoor rink could accommodate 2,500 skaters and was reportedly so crowded that "if you fell, you didn't fall."  In February of 1980 Patrick D. Pagnano, the street photographer, was hired by Forbes Magazine to capture that moment.  “It…

POTW: A Horse-Drawn Toilet

Liza

[Six horses pulling a Ronalds & Johnson Co. bathroom display], circa 1905, photographic print, ARC_202_Box_20_Folder_3_001_r. Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  This Photo of the Week* highlights what at first seems to be a perfectly ordinary horse-drawn carriage. However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the team of six is not drawing a carriage, but rather a toilet.
Contrasted detail of ARC_202_Box_20_Folder_3_001_r.
Ronalds…

POTW: Penny-farthing

Alice

[Boy with bicycle], 1886, V1974.7.49; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on June 14, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. The photo of the week depicts Eddie Tepper posing with a penny-farthing bicycle in 1886. This is…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: The Trails and Trials of Miss Edna Huntington

Nicole

[Edna Huntington in a canoe], 1935. Edna Huntington papers and photographs, ARC.044. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently finished processing the library correspondence sub-series of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s (BHS) Institutional archive, which contains almost all the mail library staff received from 1863 to the mid-1990s. There are reference questions, membership acceptances and resignations, correspondence to and from other institutions, RSVPs, and much more. Looking at these records provides insight into the activities…

POTW: Olives on the Avenue

Dee Bowers

Jim Kalett, [Interior of Sahadi Importing Company, Brooklyn, N.Y], c. 1983, black and white photograph, V1992.35.5. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week takes us to a Brooklyn institution, Sahadi's on Atlantic Avenue. This photograph of bins of olives and grains inside the store taken by Jim Kalett circa 1983 is similar to one published in Brooklyn...and How It Got That Way by David McCullough, for which Kalett was the photographer. The book notes that the western end of Atlantic Avenue became "…

POTW: Happy May Day from this Brighton Beach Fishmonger

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Worker cutting fish, 1987, COHEN_0092; George Cohen photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  George Cohen, a Bronx-born photographer, donated a selection of his photographs of 1980s Brighton Beach to the Brooklyn Public Library in 2013. On this May Day qua International Workers' Day, I found a worker cutting a fish for sale in Brighton Beach in 1987. This fishmonger reminded me of my father, who worked as a fish cutter in Ohio in the 1980s. He made frequent trips to New York where he…

Eugenie Fribourg: Nearly 99 Years in Brooklyn

Allyson

May is Jewish American Heritage Month and to celebrate I thought we could take a closer look at the Eugenie Fribourg Family Photographs and Ephemera Collection. It is comprised of materials relating to and documenting the family and professional life of Eugenie Merzbach Fribourg, a Jewish-American Brooklynite whose life spanned nearly the entire 20th century. She was born in 1908 and died in 2007, just weeks before her 99th birthday and the vast majority of her life was spent in Brooklyn.

Eugenie and Louis Fribourg, twins. Eugenie Fribourg collection.…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Underneath the Floorboards

Katherine

[Basement View from the Great Hall during Renovation], circa 2000. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
It’s not every day you get the chance to see what lies underneath the floors of an old building. And while we don’t have any beating hearts underneath our floorboards, this photograph offers us a rare glimpse of the foundation of 128 Pierrepont Street.   As was mentioned in our first Opening the Pocket Doors post written by my colleague, Nicole Font, our building at 128…

Want a Tattoo? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Sarah

[Brooklyn Blackie Tattooing], 1961; Irving Herzberg Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Did you know that from 1961-1997 tattooing was banned in New York City? The city blamed the ban on an outbreak of Hepatitis B, but the shops may have been casualties of Mayor Wagner’s crusade to “clean up” ahead of the 1964 World’s Fair. With the shops closed many artists left the city, but a few began working out of apartments, and any New Yorker could still get a tattoo if they knew where to look. This photograph shows a family peeking…

POTW: The Shot Heard Round the World

Allyson

 

Ralph Branca, 1952, DODG_0006; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
To celebrate the return of baseball season, today's Photo of the Week is of Ralph Branca, the man who became famous for what would be called The Shot Heard Round the World. Ralph Branca pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1944-1953 and then again in 1956. He also pitched for the Tigers (1953-1954) and the Yankees (1954). A three-time All-Star, he won 80 games for the Dodgers with a career high of 21 wins in 1947. In 1948 he…

Assessing an 1848 Clairvoyant's Predictions for Brooklyn's Future

Liza

Left: Brooklyn Buildings, ca. 1850, print, ARC.202_box16_311; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.  Right: 162-166 Remsen Street, 1949, gelatin silver print, NEIG_0232; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
On November 21, 1848, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran an article titled “An Evening with a Clairvoyant '' in which an unnamed woman mesmerically read from a book written 102 years into the future. The topic: “the history of…

POTW: Four Horses of Fort Greene

Liza

[Three horses drinking out of a fountain], ca. 1898, photographic print, V1972.2.23; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
In this Photo of the Week, Brooklynites of two and four legs are lured to what appears to be a refreshing fountain on a warm day. The women wear light, summery patterns, and the workmen have bared their shirtsleeves and even forearms. Yet neither heat nor work could disrupt hat fashions. The women display their ornamented millinery while the men sport a variety…

Brooklyn Goes Daffy - It's Spring!

Deborah

View of many flowering daffodil plants in Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1935. GRDN_0093.  Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History​ 
Spring has officially sprung, on March 20th to be exact, and with it come the bright faces of flowers. I am always on the lookout for blooms in the late days of winter, but for me the daffodils mark the true turn of the season. This photo of the week, taken in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 1935, makes the flowers look like they are glowing. If you think the flowers are…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: The Women’s Committee of the Long Island Historical Society

Nicole

[Women’s Committee Fashion Show], 1968. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
To celebrate Women's History Month, this week's photo takes us back to 1968 for a fashion show presented by the Women's Committee of the Long Island History Society (LIHS). The Women’s Committee formed in 1959 to further the objectives of LIHS through fundraising and planning social events. Its creation was spearheaded by Maud E. Dillard, who served as its president from 1959 to 1964. Following her term,…

POTW: One Pub's Layered History

Dee Bowers

Ballybunion Irish bar, 2012, color photograph, OSOS_0280. Our Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This Friday is Saint Patrick's Day, so I searched our Digital Collections portal for something Irish to share for Photo of the Week. I was pleasantly surprised to find an image from my own neighborhood, Bay Ridge, which is home to many Irish-American families. This color photograph of the Ballybunion Irish bar at 9510 3rd Avenue was taken in 2012 and donated to the Our Streets, Our Stories…

POTW: Happy Women's History Month from three Queen Esthers

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

  

 Girls as Queen Esther, 1965, HERZ_0424; Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's photo of the week comes from the Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection. Five Hasidic children stand on the front step of a Williamsburg building on Purim in 1965. Three are dressed as Queen Esther, hero of the Book of Esther, who saved the Jewish people of ancient Persia from King Haman. To read more about the Herzberg collection, see this 2014 blog post. Although some of…

A Tale of Two Schools: a Brooklyn-France Connection in the Aftermath of World War II

Alice

Left: The Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y., circa 1905, postcard, 2014.019.17.07.002; The Packer Collegiate Institute records, 2014.019; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.  Right: [Jules Ferry courtyard], circa 1948, photographic print, 2014.019.08.02.011; The Packer Collegiate Institute records, 2014.019; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
On December 12, 1947, Madame Carrillon, La Directrice of Collège Jules-Ferry in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France wrote to Packer Collegiate…

POTW: A Decade in the Life of a Brooklyn Photographer: the Laura Fitzpatrick Collection

Deborah

Elizabeth and Laura Fitzpatrick, 1943. FITZ_0186, Laura Fitzpatrick photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today’s Photo of the Week comes from the collection of Laura Fitzpatrick, who began taking pictures at age 11 of her friends, family and neighbors in Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, during the years 1938-1948. Our photo depicts Laura and her mother Elizabeth standing on a Brooklyn street, elegantly dressed and coiffed. Behind them we see a line of storefronts and a man breezing by in a wide cap. In…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Celebrating Presidents' Day with President Susan Mullin

Katherine

Susan Mullin, undated, Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Happy Presidents’ Day! This week, we are sharing an image of former Brooklyn Historical Society President, Susan Mullin, who both enacted and embodied change within the Historical Society.   Susan Mullin, originally from Virginia, moved to Brooklyn Heights with her husband soon after marrying. She immediately took to Brooklyn’s charm and diversity. While Mullin initially ran an antique shop on Pineapple Street, she…

POTW: Celebrating Don Newcombe

Sarah

[Don Newcombe], circa 1951, DODG_0749; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Happy Black History Month! Today we’re celebrating Dodgers pitcher Don “Big Newk” Newcombe. Born in New Jersey in 1926, he played for the Newark Eagles, Nashua Dodgers, and the Montreal Royals before pitching his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 20, 1949. Later that year he became the first Black pitcher to start a World Series game and was named Rookie of the Year. After completing two years of…

POTW: Soup Season: The Syrian-Jewish Edition

Allyson

The Hidary and Abadi families. Older woman sipping soup at a soup pot in her kitchen. 1999. BJHP_0283z. Brooklyn Jewish History Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
It's Soup Season! Today's Photo of the Week comes from our Brooklyn Jewish History Project. This is Fritzie Abadi (Hidary) on a Syrian cooking day, testing her recipe. Fritzi (Frieda) was chef Jennifer Abadi's grandmother. Her cookbook-memoir, “A Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie’s Kitchen” (now in its new and revised…

Opening the Pocket Doors: What Past Exhibitions Reveal

Nicole

"Long Island Treasures Preserved in Brooklyn," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 27, 1900. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Throughout its 157-year history, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) executed over 150 exhibitions. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working to process the Exhibits and Special Projects portion of BHS’s institutional archive. To wrap up this part of the project, this blog post highlights the exhibits that stand out as significant in BHS history, particularly those that demonstrate how the society's values…

Brooklyn's Mechanical Milkman

Liza

 

Mechanical milkman, 1953, WORK_0136; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today we’re celebrating not leaving the building for basic necessities! It’s too cold out there. In 1953, automats had been thriving throughout New York City for decades, but Rowe Corporation endeavored to explore territory beyond the cafeteria: the apartment lobby. The Clinton Hill Apartments became the testing site for the charmingly retro-futuristic “mechanical milkman,” which claimed to save women from “braving Winter…

POTW: Kane Street Synagogue

Alice

Kane Street Synagogue interior, 1934, BJHP_0034; Brooklyn Jewish History Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This photo of the week shows the sanctuary interior of Kane Street Synagogue in Cobble Hill in 1934. The building was constructed in 1855 as a Middle Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in the Norman style of Romanesque architecture and was subsequently owned by the Trinity German Lutheran Church. Congregation Baith Israel purchased the building in 1905 when they moved from their Boerum Hill Synagogue (Congregations…

POTW: Odessa in Brooklyn

Dee Bowers

Marcia Bricker, "Odessa Restaurant," circa 1980, color slide, V1992.43.40. Marcia Bricker photographs collection, V1992.043; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This image of a restaurant in Brighton Beach is from our small collection of photographs by Marcia Bricker. Bricker, a documentary photographer, had worked for the federal jobs program CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) documenting the Soviet refugees that began settling in the Brighton Beach area in the 1970s when the Soviet Union relaxed immigration policies. In…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Ba Da Dao/Sunset Park Chinatown History Project

Nicole

[New Neighbors Exhibit Opening], June 1996. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Today’s photo of the week shows a moment from the opening of New Neighbors: Sunset Park's Chinese Community in June 1996. The event featured lion dancers, shadow puppets, food, games, and calligraphy workshops. In this photo, taken in the Othmer library, lions stand beside a shadow puppet theater as an excited audience (not pictured) waits for the play to begin. In 1992, The Brooklyn Historical…

Sliding into the New Year

Deborah

[Families sledding on a snowy hill in Prospect Park]  1978, V1990.2.183, Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, 1990.2, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on February 18, 2015 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. This POTW was originally posted late in a snowy winter. We have yet to see…

Stories a Photo Can Tell

Dee Bowers

[P.S. 15 graduating class], photographic print, June 1900, V1972.1.1343, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photographs, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently reprocessed the composite collection Early Brooklyn and Long Island photographs (ARC.201). This 1900 class photo from P.S. 15 is included in the collection. We have many class photographs like this one, such as in our Class Photographs collection (BCMS.0029) and our Brooklyn schools collection (CBHM.0006). But what caught my interest about this photo was an index card…

July 16, 1968 Was Hot

Sarah

[Cyclone roller coaster], 1968,  V1988.12.47; Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
The holidays are over and we're sliding into the cold, quiet weeks of deep winter. Today's Photo of the Week hopes to bring some color and heat to these dark days! This photo shows Astroland's Over the Falls in front of the Cyclone on July 16, 1968. The photographer, Otto Dreschmeyer, noted on the back of the image that the day was hot. After the freezing holiday weekend, it might be difficult to…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Look at Executive Director, David Kahn

Katherine

[Former Brooklyn Historical Society Executive Director, David Kahn]. undated, Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Welcome to our second installment of Opening the Pocket Doors, our ongoing series looking into the processing of the Institutional Records of the Brooklyn Historical Society.   In our previous post in this series, we delved into a brief history of our institution, formerly known as both the Long Island Historical Society and the Brooklyn Historical Society. Today, we…

POTW: Dining Under the Dome

Gina Murrell

[Diners at Dome Motor Inn restaurant], circa 1978, HERZ_0004_044, color slide.  Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, BCMS.0056. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The Dome Motor Inn was THE place to stay when traveling to Kamloops in mid-20th century Canada. A couple hundred miles northeast of Vancouver, British Columbia, Kamloops was home to the popular inn, which boasted a dome-covered restaurant that itself became a tourist destination. Red and lime-green vinyl seats surrounded wood tables that were arranged beneath an…

POTW: Brooklyn Theater Fire: The Musical!

Allyson

[Mid Flame and Smoke, undated]. THEA_0011. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
On this day, December 5th, 1876, the Brooklyn Theater, on the corner of Washington and Johnson Streets caught fire. This was a terrible tragedy, and close to 300 people lost their lives. You can read more about that tragedy on our The Brooklyn Theater Fire of December 1876: a community's response post. Instead, today's post is inspired by J.W. Turner, singer/songwriter, who took that tragedy and turned it…

Cutting a Rug: Evidence(s) of Social Dance in Brooklyn

Deborah

Juke box jive--Happy-faced teenagers at Colony House [located at 297 Dean Street] applaud two slick-footed regulars [dancing], 1944. SWEL_0695. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History   
Roll up the rug – what you do at the start of a house party  Cut a rug – what happens when you neglected to roll it up first  I’ve been a social dancer most of my life, and the form closest to my heart is Lindy hop. I was interested to see what I could find in the archive that documented…

POTW: The Smallest Horse in the World

Liza

[Miniature Abraham & Straus delivery van], 1908. DEPT_0008. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  Before Cyber Monday became a multi day event, before stampedes of parents besieged displays of Elmo and Cabbage Patch kids with greater gusto than I will ever understand, there was the neighborhood department store. While Manhattan had Macy’s, Brooklyn had Abraham & Straus.  On Valentine's Day, 1865, Abraham & Straus opened its doors at 285 Fulton Street as Wechsler & Abraham, a “…

POTW: Bundling Up

Alice

Toddler on the sidewalk in a winter suit., [1950?], Gelatin silver print, OSOS_0182; Our Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
It finally feels like fall in New York and Brooklynites are starting to bundle up. This photo of the week takes us to the sidewalks of 1950s New York where little Cataldo Piccione poses for the camera in his one-piece winter suit. While the exact location of this scene is unknown, we can see the familiar sight of buildings rising in the background and a not quite legible…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Processing Brooklyn Historical Society’s Institutional Records

Nicole

[Man outside of the Long Island Historical Society], undated. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
The week’s photo of the week shows an unidentified man standing in front of our landmark building located at 128 Pierrepont Street. Designed by architect George B. Post and built in 1878-81, the four-story Queen Anne-style building features ornamentation made from locally produced terra cotta. For over 150 years, staff in this building have worked to preserve, provide access to, and…

POTW: Hurricane Sandy

Dee Bowers

Shore Hotel sign damaged from the Hurricane Sandy], 2012, 2014.010.7, MIchael Claro Hurricane Sandy Photographs, 2010.010; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on November 7, 2018 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. It’s been ten years since Hurricane Sandy, but it’s not soon…

Be Kind, Rewind

Sarah

[Boy outside of video store], 1986, COHEN_0036; George Cohen photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week rewinds to 1986, where a boy is peering into a Brighton Beach video store. These entertainment temples started in the late 1970s and wound down in the 2000s, although there are still some to be found in New York City, serving those looking for a hit of nostalgia or simply unwilling to make the jump to streaming. We all remember having to settle for an older title because the new…

The Lady of Gravesend

Sarah

The Lady so integral to the history and development of Brooklyn spent most of her life in England. She was born Deborah Dunch around 1586, in London’s Gray’s Inn or a country estate outside the city. Her father, Walter Dunch, was a barrister and her grandfather, William Dunch, was an Auditor of the Royal Mint. She was a child during the reign of Elizabeth I, and grew up in the shadow of the plague, which had killed one-quarter to one-third of London’s population only twenty years before her birth and made appearances again in 1581 and 1592.

[Memorial to Lady…

POTW: No Bones About It – They Are Getting the Skinny on This Exam Subject

Deborah

Young students, oldest school--[eight] prospective R.N.'s are receiving instructions from Anna Dennis, R.N., director of nursing at the Prospect Heights Hospital … 1946. HOSP_0566. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
In honor of the scary season, today's photo of the week features our popular Halloween friend. Here in Brooklyn Heights within the last few weeks we’ve seen skeletons clambering up or down the sides of buildings, leaning chattily over a table in quiet conversation, or…

POTW: Five Children and a Puppy

Gina Murrell

[Five African-American children with puppy], circa 1968, HERZ_0667, black and white silver gelatin print.  Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, BCMS.0056. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In the bright sun, five Black children squat down on the ground, forming a semicircle. Four have their hair carefully sectioned off in plaits, the fifth has natural hair closely shaven, as if fresh from the barber. All five look on with affection, their arms outstretched. What is the object of their focus? A fluffy puppy on a…

POTW: The Elephantine Colossus

Allyson

Elephantine Colossus], circa 1893, Illustration, V1972.1.1090; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This From the Vault post was originally written by Dan Brenner and published on November 6, 2019 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter.   The Elephantine Colossus was an elephant-shaped hotel attraction located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Coney Island from 1885 through…

LGBTQ+ History Resources at the Center for Brooklyn History

Gina Murrell

Group portrait taken at Brooklyn Pride Street Fair, 2007. Ann Rosen photograph collection, ROSE_0013. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
October is LGBTQ+History Month. In the weeks leading up to this month celebrating the history and achievements of LGBTQ+communities, a question that is asked by researchers is: What resources do the Center for Brooklyn History have on queer people? The answer? A lot! This Brooklynology blog post will highlight several CBH LGBTQ+history resources that can be referenced in October and all year-round…

POTW: Risky Business: October 1878

Liza

Brooklyn Anchorage, 1878, gelatin silver print, BRID_0040; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.   
  So begins another October, arguably Brooklyn’s best month (feel free to debate me in the comments). Let’s take a moment to travel back to another Brooklyn October, back to this photographed moment in October 1878. Brooklyn was independent from New York City, no Statue of Liberty was yet visible from Brooklyn’s shores, and the only way to reach Manhattan was by boat. But this last detail was…

Black-and-white photograph of two men standing in the center of an unfinished basement with columns along each side

POTW: Wasted Space, But Not for Long

Alice

Wasted space, but not for long, 1952, Gelatin silver print, CBPL_0111; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Can you guess where this week's Photo of the Week was taken? "Referred to as 'the hole' by library personnel," this cavernous space was the sub-basement of our very own Central Library. In this photo we see a miniature Chief Librarian, Francis R. S. John, speaking with a Brooklyn Eagle reporter about plans for the space to be converted into stacks for 500,000 more books. This sub-basement was…

POTW: A Child's Bedroom in 1880

Dee Bowers

[John T. Martin house], c. 1880, v1972.1.1312, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently updated the finding aid for our Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection (ARC.201) and came across this haunting image of a child's bedroom in a home at 28 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Taken around 1880, the image shows a number of dolls standing and sitting in the room, looking disturbingly as if they had just been caught mid-action. Sunlight streams…

POTW: Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, 1900-1939

Deborah

[Portrait of man posing on a boardwalk in Coney Island], 1898, v1974.022.4.068, Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, ARC.199; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on September 13, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. In the dog days of summer, it seems fitting to call out a collection…

The World of Miklos Suba

Anna Schwartz

Miklos Suba, Study for “Barber Pole, South 8th Street,” [1941?], watercolor on paper, 2022.006.28; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
When artist and trained architect Miklos Suba (1880-1944) immigrated to NYC in 1924, he was confronted with a starkly different cityscape compared to his native Hungary. Suba quickly became enthralled by the American urban landscape. He spent hours wandering the busy streets and industrial areas along Brooklyn’s waterfront in search of his next subject. During these excursions, Suba produced numerous…

Remembering 9/11 with Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein

Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein

  This month's guest blog post comes from friend of the blog Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein. First is Larry's contribution followed by Amy's.   On February 19, 2002, I met Jan Ramirez, the vice president and director of the New York Historical Society's museum, at St. Paul’s Chapel, the oldest church building in Manhattan. Soon after the 9/11 attacks she helped to launch History Responds. As part of this series, she commissioned me to photograph the Chapel’s wrought-iron fence which ran north along Broadway from Fulton Street to Vesey Street. Thousands of New Yorkers and…

Williamsburg Bridge

Sarah

[Waterfront basketball], 1951, PARK_0050; Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
The Williamsburg Bridge was completed in 1903, making it the second of three bridges to connect Brooklyn to our neighbors in Manhattan. Make no mistake, this middle sister is no Jan Brady. At completion, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world and quickly became a vital artery for movement between the boroughs. The bridge was one of the last to be designed to accommodate horse and carriage traffic and…

POTW: Shirley Chisholm Visits Fulton Street Festival

Gina Murrell

Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm visits the Fulton St. festival, 1972 ca. 2020.002.018. Khalil Abdulkhabir photographs of the Dar-ul-Islam movement, 2020.002. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In 1972, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm strolled the tables lining Fulton Street, stopping to chat with vendors at the bustling outdoor festival in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. Just four years earlier, in 1968, Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress,…

POTW: Jacob Mann Photographs

Allyson

 

Sunrise on Brighton Beach, 2009, 2010.008.2; Jacob Mann photographs, 2010.008; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on February 28, 2018 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. Brooklyn Historical Society is fortunate to have several fine art photographers represented in the photography…

The Skate Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln’s Unexpected Legacy in Prospect Park

Nathaniel Weisberg

Abraham Lincoln never thought he would witness a kickflip. Never mind seeing one while cast in bronze and elevated nearly nineteen feet high over the southeast corner of Prospect Park lake. However if you stroll through the park’s ornate Concert Grove and make your way down to the waterfront esplanade, taking care to avoid the skateboarders flying around Abe’s feet, you will find yourself being scrutinized by more than the sunbathing red-eared slider turtles who have (against all odds) also made the lake their home. Skaters grind, slide, and slam under the watchful eye of the United…

A coat of arms depicting a royal figure knighting a kneeling hot dog with dachshunds on the sides, a pot of mustard at the top, and the words "calidus canis" at the bottom in a ribbon

POTW: Hot Dog Days

Alice

[Hot dog coat of arms], 1939, Gelatin silver print, CONE_0198; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
It's the dog days of summer here in Brooklyn, a perfect time to head down to Coney Island and enjoy a hot dog on the boardwalk. This coat of arms honoring the 50th anniversary of the hot dog in 1939 shows a royal figure knighting a kneeling hot dog in the center. On the sides are two dachshunds (wiener dogs, of course) standing on their hind legs with faces turned up towards a radiant pot of "sinapi" ("…

Remembering CETA artists in NYC

Anna Schwartz

Walking through the Clark Street subway station in Brooklyn Heights, one can easily miss the two colorful tile murals installed near the entrances. Completed in 1981 by artists Jonah Sellenraad, Alan Samalin, and ceramicist Joe Stallone, the murals depict several nearby attractions, including Plymouth Church and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

Johan Sellenraad's mural of Plymouth Church in the Clark Street subway station.
Plymouth Church House, 1941, CHUR_0109. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs. …

POTW: Summer Vibes

Dee Bowers

HERZ_0080, Bathing beauties, 1959, black and white silver gelatin print. Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, BCMS.0056. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Welcome to August! To bring us into the final weeks of summer vacation, this Photo of the Week is all about those summer vibes. A bevy of the titular "bathing beauties" is seen frolicking in the surf at Coney Island, each with a different stylish swimsuit and creative coif. The palpable joy on their faces is what drew me to this image. Of course during these…

One-Woman Coney Express

Deborah

Ponyback protest--Post office economy moves notwithstanding. The Oceantide Civic Association of Coney Island undertook to show that the mails must go through, 1950. WORK_0770. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Today’s Photo of the Week features a photogenic protest against the curtailment of postal service. The previous year the Post Office ran a deficit of $550, 000. On April 18, 1950 the Postmaster General, Jesse M. Donaldson, acting on advice of the House Appropriations Committee, cut…

Anders Goldfarb Photographs of Coney Island

Anna Schwartz

Anders Goldfarb, [Person reading on boardwalk], 1989, v1992.48.59. Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island, v1974.031. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on August 23, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. Anders Goldfarb is a Brooklyn-born documentary photographer. After receiving…

POTW: Mourning the Victorian Way

Sarah

[Hair Link], circa 1875, M1986.72.7; Artifact collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This simple, braided bracelet holds a special meaning. If you look closely, you’ll see that the braid is actually made of human hair. Although not widely practiced today, collecting a lock of hair from a deceased loved one to incorporate into a piece of jewelry was quite common in the Victorian era. According to author Allison Meier “There was also a hair jewelry industry that emerged with workshops and retailers to support this fashion…

POTW: Extortionists Targeting Abortion Doctors Arrested

Gina Murrell

Accused shakedown artists face law, Sep 28, 1954. Gelatin silver print, CRIM_0066; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In 1954, sixteen years before abortion was decriminalized in New York, four extortionists made it their business to blackmail doctors believed to be performing the then illegal procedure. Two of them posed as cops. They were Bruno Makan, 35, of 185 Marine Avenue in Brooklyn; Robert Murphy, 30, of 61 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn; Doris Aviron, 24, of 311 W. 178th Street in Manhattan;…

Newspaper illustration of books being burned in Nazi Germany on one side with a library of the same books in Brooklyn on the other

Unbanning Books Since 1934

Dee Bowers

You might have heard of our recent initiative Books Unbanned, which allows individuals ages 13-21 nationwide to apply for a free BPL eCard, providing access to our full eBook collection as well as our learning databases, and which makes a selection of frequently challenged and banned eBook & audiobook titles always available for BPL cardholders. But obviously, banning books and restricting access to information is unfortunately not a new phenomenon. Did you know that in 1934, the Brooklyn Jewish Center founded the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books? Though it's…

Black and white image depicting a nurse in the foreground with a stethoscope on the arm of a man. In the background, two men stand with FDNY seals on their hats. On the righthand side, a standing doctor holds a stethoscope to the heart of a man

POTW: To Save Three Lives

Alice

To save three lives, 1948, Gelatin silver print, HOSP_0432; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Tuesday, June 14th is World Blood Donor Day, so this Photo of the Week takes us to a scene at Kings County Hospital on October 22, 1948. According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle caption, eight firefighters donated four quarts of blood "To Save Three Lives." The firefighters knew the three girls for whom they were donating blood: "Dolores Johnson, 4, and her sister, Eleanor, 2, in the institution with critical…

POTW: Kindergarten Class at Fort Greene Park

Allyson

[Kindergarten class at Fort Greene Park], circa 1910, V1981.284.32, Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, v1981.284; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on September 20, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. No matter the decade or time period, it sure is challenging to keep kindergarteners…

POTW: From Factory to Community Hub

Dee Bowers

V1990.7.1, [South Side of Fulton Street between Brooklyn and New York Avenues], circa 1972. Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation publication and photograph collection, ARC.124. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently reprocessed our small Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation publication and photograph collection (ARC.124), which includes this photograph. At first I was thrown off by a notation on the back reading "Sheffield," and thought this must show Sheffield Avenue in New Lots. But I quickly realized…

Introducing the Park Slope Civic Council Records

Alice

The Park Slope Civic Council (PSCC) was founded in 1896 as the South Brooklyn Board of Trade, a kind of chamber of commerce formed to lobby the city and state for improvements to infrastructure and services across the geographic area south of Downtown Brooklyn. In the late 1950s, the South Brooklyn Board of Trade changed its name to the Park Slope Civic Council in order to improve engagement in the neighborhood. As a result of this change, PSCC leaders planned to center civic projects and residents' needs, as opposed to focusing mostly on business owners. …

Fighting Metal: Keys to Victory

Deborah

Librarian Charlotte Villanyi wearing jewelry made from castoff keys collected by the Brooklyn Public Library in nationwide campaign sponsored by the Paper and Twine Club. CBPL_0722, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
When I first saw today’s POTW, I thought - Best jewelry ever, but what is the story here?  The photo’s caption covers the bare essentials, but left me opportunities to dig for more.  Miss Charlotte Villanyi [standing in front of several book shelves] tries out…

Home Sweet Hut

Anna Schwartz

[Canarsie Quonset huts], [1946?], NEIG_0315, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week takes us to one of the city's first housing developments for veterans and their families. These semi-cylindrical structures made of corrugated steel sheets, known as Quonset huts, were erected along the Belt Parkway in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Canarsie and Gravesend. The steel huts, leased from the Federal government and shipped from a naval base in Rhode Island, provided temporary…

Wonder Wheel

Sarah

[Coney Island Wonder Wheel], circa 1945, CONE_0239; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
The world-famous Wonder Wheel is a Ferris wheel (also known as a pleasure wheel) designed by Romanian immigrant Charles Herman and operated by his business partner Herman Garms. Herman walked away after the Wheel’s completion, reportedly earning no money for his invention. Garms ran the Wheel for sixty years, spending his summers sleeping in a home beneath the ride. In 1983, the Wheel was sold to Denos…

POTW: Miss Chien at the Book Chute

Gina Murrell

Miss Chien at bottom of book chute, 1962. BPL_0298; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
On Monday, June 18, 1962, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle announced the opening of a "New Borough Library": the Brooklyn Heights Branch and Business Library. The newspaper sent photographer Ben Schiff to take photos of the new library and its staff, including Janet Chien, seen in the above Photo of the Week. In the photos that Schiff took for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Chien can be seen seated with library coworkers…

Community-driven Change in Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Greater Gowanus

Aimee Lusty

Throughout the Center for Brooklyn History’s archival collections there exists evidence of grassroots community organizations mobilizing to improve the quality of life for Brooklyn residents. Two recently processed collections provide insight into the people, programs, and services of community-driven neighborhood associations in Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Greater Gowanus, meanwhile illuminating common and reoccurring issues faced by residents throughout the greater metropolitan area. This month we take a closer look at the history and impact of the Prospect Lefferts Gardens…

POTW: Jamel Shabazz's Portrait of Louis Reyes Rivera

Allyson

Louis Reyes Rivera. SHBZ_0092. Jamel Shabazz photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
For this Photo of the Week, we are highlighting the work of Jamel Shabazz, a Brooklyn photographer who picked up his first camera at the age of fifteen. Shabazz says his goal is to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture. While having incredible range, Shabazz is often most known for documenting the people of Red Hook, Brownsville, Flatbush, Fort Green, Harlem, the Lower East Side and Bronx's Grand Concourse.…

POTW: April Showers Bring May Flowers and Floods

Aimee Lusty

Flooding at the end of 1st Street and Gowanus Canal, April 15, 2007. Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus records. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This week’s Photo of the Week looks back just 15 years to April 2007. A person in jeans and a raincoat rides their bicycle through at least eight inches of water with their kid in tow. The caption on the back of the photograph reads “4.15.07 - Flooding. End of 1st street and Canal.”  In April 2007, a devastating Nor'easter barreled up the East Coast of the United States,…

POTW: Bringing Swagger to the Court Since 1910

Dee Bowers

Senior Basket Ball Team, Adelphi College yearbook, 1910. Brooklyn Yearbook collection, BCMS.0031. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
For this Photo of the Week we have a captivating portrait of the Adelphi College senior basketball team from their 1910 yearbook. These six women, with their puffy, ruffled dresses, elaborate updos, and, in one case, an enormous hair bow, hardly fit our modern conception of athletic. Nonetheless, they project a confidence, even a ruthlessness, that makes it clear they were formidable on the court. Look…

POTW: What’s Better Than a Bake Sale?

Deborah

St. Thomas Aquinas : moving pictures. [Projection booth for outdoor movies] 1913. CHUR_1201, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This gangly construction was the brainchild of Rev. Dr. James Donohoe of St. Thomas Aquinas Church at 9th Street and 4th Avenue who, desiring to fund the construction of a new school to serve his parish, struck on the idea of offering outdoor picture shows on the planned school site. The setup was carefully considered, with a solid projection building, metal screen, electric…

POTW: Sun and Sea Therapy for Children

Anna Schwartz

 

Group at Coney Island seaside home, 1892, gelatin silver print. Julius Wilcox photograph collection, WILC_0022. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.  
The Seaside Home for Children, run by the Brooklyn Children's Aid Society, was a seasonal charitable facility for sick and lower-income children and their mothers. Located in Coney Island amongst the luxury shoreline resorts, the Home offered families a few days by the sea at no cost. On-site medical care from a dedicated team of doctors and nurses was also available.…

The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company

Sarah

The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company traces back to 18th century Bavaria, where carpenter Casper (Kasper) Faber began crafting and selling lead pencils in the small town of Stein. Casper’s son Anton Wilhelm (A.W.), took over the business in 1784, renaming it the A.W. Faber Company.  

[Faber family], 1924; Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In 1790, French scientist Nicholas Jacques Conte developed a method for heating a mixture of graphite and clay to form a superior writing tool that could be…

POTW: Early Years of the Pratt Institute

Sarah

[Pratt Institute blacksmith students], circa 1905, SCHL_1603; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Today’s Photo of the Week looks at a classroom in the early years of the Pratt Institute. The school was founded by businessman and philanthropist Charles Pratt, who envisioned a school for working-class people to get hands-on experience in industrial trades, arts, and engineering. The school opened in 1887, just a few blocks from Pratt’s home at 232 Clinton Avenue. Starting with only twelve…

POTW: The Cube as an Alternate Plan to Urban Renewal

Gina Murrell

"The Cube Building, a future cooperative for homeless families," The Cooper Square Plan: Report for Discussion, October 15, 1986,  Ronald Shiffman Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In the mid-1980s, there was a rejuvenated plan to redevelop several blocks in Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan. Called the New Cooper Square Plan, it was a continuation of an earlier plan, called the Cooper Square Alternate Plan, that was formulated in reaction to a Robert Moses/New York City urban renewal plan that had threatened to…

POTW: The Evolution of Thought: Work by Lucille Fornasieri Gold

Allyson

Boys with butterfly, 1975, Photographic print, V2008.013.1; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's Photo of the Week highlights the work of Lucille Fornasieri Gold, a Brooklyn photographer. She started photographing with a Leica camera in 1968, while her children were in school. She would develop and print in the kitchen darkroom of her home in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. When she moved, she lost her darkroom and while her negatives were processed, they remained unprinted for…

Changing Tides: 1965 Journal of Brooklyn CORE

Gina Murrell

Changing Tides: 1965 Journal of Brooklyn CORE. Arnie Goldwag Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Founded in Chicago in 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality - better known as CORE - is an interracial organization focused on nonviolent, direct action to achieve equal rights for Black Americans in all areas of US society. While southern chapters of the organization often made national headlines, there were chapters outside the South, including in Brooklyn, New York. The Brooklyn chapter of CORE…

POTW: On a Boat Built for One

Alice

Boys boating along Canarsie Creek, 1924, Photographic print, OSOS_0248; Our Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's Photo of the Week takes us to a scene on the Canarsie Creek in 1924 where 1-year-old, William Johnson, floats in a little toy boat next to a skiff holding an unidentified man and boy. It's possible this creek is a section of the Fresh Creek Nature Preserve, a body of water between Canarsie and Starrett City in the Jamaica Bay Watershed. In October 2021, the Governor's Office of…

POTW: Windows of Rare Beauty

Dee Bowers

CHUR_1206, Spring Window, 1915, black and white silver gelatin print. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, BCMS.0002. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
We've lately had some surprisingly warm days in Brooklyn, and though they've been mixed with days appropriately cold for February, I nonetheless found my thoughts turning toward Spring. So for today's Photo of the Week, we have this Brooklyn Eagle photograph of a spring-themed stained glass window. The window was commissioned by Howard E. Raymond in memory of his…

Built for Brooklyn History: A Place With Many Names

Deborah

[Long Island Historical Society, Pierrepont Street and Clinton Street], 1961, by Ellis Herwig, V1974.031.30; Long Island Historical Society photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on July 26, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. Visitors to the Center for Brooklyn History on Pierrepont Street sometimes…

POTW: An Unsightly Approach

Anna Schwartz

Miklos Suba, Untitled (Brooklyn Bridge), circa 1926, crayon on paper. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The Brooklyn Bridge is arguably one of the most--if not the most--iconic symbols of Brooklyn. It has been depicted in art, like Hungarian-born American artist Miklos Suba’s version above, and replicated the world over. So, it's hard to imagine a time when the bridge was ever considered ugly. In fact, in the early 1900s, the approach to the bridge from the Brooklyn side was referred to by some as "the ugliest spot in the…

POTW: Shark attacks in Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Sarah

[8-foot shark caught on Sheepshead Bay fishing trip], 1950, NEIG_1852; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
They probably won’t need a bigger boat to haul in this little shark, caught off the coast of Sheepshead Bay. Although sharks can be found in Brooklyn’s waterways, attacks are extremely uncommon. In fact, the last shark attack in Sheepshead Bay was in 1916, when swimmers Gertrude Hoffman and Thomas Richards escaped with non-fatal injuries. Brooklynites have little to fear from these finned…

Eubie Blake and the Legitimization of the Black Musical

Allyson

Eubie Blake. 1954. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History ​​​​​​ ​​​​
His father called him Bully. His mother called him Wally. Neighbors called him Mouse. Relatives called him Eubie. And Eubie was the one that stuck for James Herbert Blake.  Happy Black History Month, Brooklyn fans! Today we're going to spend time with the American pianist, lyricist, and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music, Eubie Blake. Not orginally from Brooklyn, but a resident, Eubie Blake was born February 7, 1887…

POTW: Civic Center Book Shop: "For Lovers of Old Books"

Gina Murrell

[Civic Center Book Shop, Pierrepont Street near Fulton Street], December 15, 1958, gelatin silver print,  V1974.4.886; John D. Morrell photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
"He’s sort of a crazy guy," said Walter Goldwater about Irving Binkin, the proprietor of Civic Center Book Shop, in New York City Bookshops in the 1930s and 1940s: The Recollections of Walter Goldwater. "And has a great big bookshop with a lot of stuff in it." The "great big bookshop with a lot of stuff in it," Civic Center Book Shop was…

POTW: Atoms for Peace and Goodbye, Central Library

Michelle Montalbano

[Atoms for Peace], CBPL_0313, 1950s, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
Today, former Brooklyn Collection materials, staff, and all the rest officially moved to our new home at the Brooklyn Historical Society building on Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. As our own exhibits at Central Library also become a thing of the past, let's appreciate this view of the Flatbush Avenue side of Central Library, where the Atoms for Peace exhibit trailer was parked in the 1950s. While we may not know exactly what was on…

POTW: Hell's Gate Explosion

Allyson

Explosion at Hell Gate, [1880], Lantern Slide, V1974.7.121. Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
On October 10, 1885 the ground in Princeton, New Jersey shook. There was no great earthquake. It was, instead, the largest planned detonation prior to the atomic bomb. In order to clear obstacles from Hell Gate - a narrow tidal strait in the East River -- and free up ship traffic the US Army Corp of Engineers started blowing up several obstructions in the waters. This…

POTW: Macaroni-Making Machine

Alice

Automatic short paste drying unit, [1932?], Photographic print, OSOS_0016. Our Streets, Our Stories collection. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Ever wonder how the pasta gets made? This photograph from circa 1932 shows an "Automatic Short Paste Drying Unit," which promised pasta-making "From Press to Package without Handling." The machine itself was manufactured by the Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation at 156-166 Sixth Street in Gowanus. Ignazio De Francisci, an engineer from Sicily, founded Consolidated Macaroni…

Coordinating Dance Moves and Community in Brighton Beach

Cecily Dyer

George Cohen, Brighton Beach YM-YWHA Jewish Community Center, 1987.  George Cohen photograph collection, COHEN_0093. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
If your New Year's resolutions include getting more exercise, perhaps these gals in a Brighton Beach dance class can provide a little inspiration. Photographer George Cohen captured the scene in 1987 at the Shorefront YM-YWHA (Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association), a Jewish Community Center on Coney Island Avenue in Brighton Beach.  The first YMHA…

"The Fastest and Most Thrilling Ride Ever Offered the Public": Flying Turns at Steeplechase Park

Alice

It's January in Brooklyn, but one can always take a journey into summer through the collections at the Center for Brooklyn History (CBH). CBH holds many archival collections and digitized photographs on our digital collections portal and online image gallery that document Coney Island and its fantastic amusement parks, such as Luna Park, Dreamland and Steeplechase Park.  

A corner of the park, [190-?], Postcard, POST_0109. Brooklyn Postcard colletcion. …

POTW: A Million Possibilities

Dee Bowers

Randy Duchaine, Fireworks over the Central Library, April 14, 1997, color print. Media Relations photographs, Brooklyn Public Library institutional archives. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Brooklyn Public Library kicked off celebrations of its 125th anniversary on November 30th and will continue them into the new year. In honor of that, and in the spirit of celebration and possibility brought by the New Year this week, today's Photo of the Week is of fireworks at the Central Library for BPL's centennial in 1997. On November 30, 1896…

POTW: Encounter with Kismet on a Ride Through Bed-Stuy

Deborah

Architectural rendering of Kismet [Shriners] Temple located at 62 Herkimer Street, Bedford-Stuyvesant, 1909. Caption on front: R. Thomas Short, Architect, lower right. CLUB_0509. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History 
Cycling recently through Bed-Stuy I was startled to see two huge onion domes, one with a sag to its finial, rising above neighboring rooflines and I stopped to take some pictures of a remarkable building. A banner on the front indicated it is the Friendship…

POTW: Gil Hodges Gets His Due

Sarah

[Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges, with six baseball bats and duffel bag over shoulder], 1952, gelatin silver print, DODG_0498; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
We’re thrilled that Gil Hodges has finally been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Hodges was one of the famed “Boys of Summer,” but he started life as a son of the Midwest. Born in Princeton, Indiana in 1924 he excelled at high school baseball, basketball, track, and football. After attending…

The Brooklyn Theatre Fire of December 1876: a community's response

Cecily Dyer

At the Center for Brooklyn History, a variety of collections document Brooklyn's vaudeville and theater scenes—from scrapbooks where individuals preserved programs and tickets, to periodicals like The Opera Glass, the Brooklyn Daily Programme and The Brooklyn Daily Stage. These serve as a testament to the popularity of these performances among a wide and diverse segment of Brooklynites.

The Brooklyn Daily Programme, October 17, 1874, and The Brooklyn Daily Stage, December 4, 1876. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History…

POTW: One Photographer's Reflections on Protests and the Pandemic

Francesca Magnani

Protestors kneel down on Flatbush Avenue. Photo by Francesca Magnani, 2020.
As part of Brooklyn Resists, we have invited local photographers, both amateur and professional, to contribute their work to the community-driven digital archive hosted by Urban Archive. Interested in submitting your own photographs, ephemera, audio recordings, or artwork? Click here to find out more about our community collecting project. At the end of May 2020, the case of George Floyd unleashed an unprecedented series of protests all over the United States and beyond…

The Restoration of Endale Arch

Allyson

View of Prospect Park's Endale Arch, cobblestone path, street lamp, several park benches, and portion of park beyond. Endale Arch, 194-?, gelatin silver print. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photograph collection, PARK_0166. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
  This photograph, aside from being an excellent candidate for the liminal spaces Twitter account, depicts the view that park-goers would have seen when exiting the Endale Arch and entering the Long Meadow. It is located under Park Drive, which at construction, would…

POTW: Brooklyn's Dog and Horse Parade

Cecily Dyer

 

The winner of the "smallest dog" title meets an Irish Wolfhound—the winner of the "largest dog" title.  Brooklyn Dog and Horse Parade, 1935, gelatin silver print. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photograph collection, NEIG_1738. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
  The Thanksgiving holiday often revolves around food, family, and friends, but awaiting those holiday mainstays brings its own traditions. For some, one of these might be tuning into the National Dog Show. With a nod to that event, this week’s Photo of the Week…

POTW: Happy Birthday Marianne Moore

Dee Bowers

PORT_0606, Marianne Moore, 1949, black and white silver gelatin print. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, BCMS.0002. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Brooklyn poet Marianne Moore was born on this day in 1887. For a birthday tribute, today's Photo of the Week is this striking portrait of her from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle photo morgue. This image appeared in the Eagle on June 3, 1951 alongside an announcement of Moore winning an honorary degree at the University of Rochester. That same year, Moore's Collected Poems…

Book cover with gilded lettering that reads The Grand Canyon Dedication Tour.

Eaglets on a Jolly Jamboree

Dee Bowers

Title page from The Grand Canyon dedication tour by Edwin B. Wilson, 1920. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In summer 1919, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane invited the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper to conduct a tour of parks of the northwest for the purposes of "stimulating American travel to American resorts," which also "successfully inaugurated the new motor transport service between some of these parks." In 1920, he again invited the Eagle to arrange a tour, this time to…

POTW: Bring Your Photo ID: Filling Gaps in the Archive

Deborah

Flatbush Avenue with a view of Erasmus Hall High School and Astor Theater. 1972-1977. NEIG_0858. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History 
Everyone loves a mystery, and we have no lack of them here in the archive. Some are in the form of unidentified photographs waiting for eagle-eyed staff or other longtime Brooklynites to recognize their true identities and bring them out of the darkness. Today’s Photo of the Week flashed into view as I was browsing our collection, a picture identified only as…

POTW: Trommer's Near-Beer

Sarah

Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, 194-?, WORK_0054, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Today's Photo of the Week takes us to Trommer’s Brewery at Bushwick Avenue and Conway Street. Brewery President George Trommer (right) is smashing a beer bottle to celebrate a new fleet of delivery trucks. George was the son of founder John F. Trommer, a German immigrant who worked as Brewmaster at Ulmer’s until 1897 when he purchased an existing brewery and changed the name to Trommer’s Evergreen Brewery. George took over the business…

POTW: A Tough Rowhouse to Hoe: On Agriculture and Urban Development

Michelle Montalbano

RUTT_0085, Flatbush Ave. Extension, 1924, Edgar E. Rutter Photograph Collection, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
It's difficult to picture from where we're standing, but until the 1920s, significant portions of southern Brooklyn were still farmland. This week's Photo of the Week comes from Edgar E. Rutter (1883-1956), a commercial photographer who was employed by the New York State Public Service Commission and various other state and city agencies to photograph the sites of proposed construction projects in Brooklyn and…

The Kanawake Teieriwakwata hymnal: aiding Mohawk services in the city of churches

Cecily Dyer

[Cuyler Presbyterian Church] , CHUR_0529. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week takes us to Boerum Hill, where residents of the Kahnewake Mohawk territory near Montreal, Canada, settled in the early and mid-20th century. The Mohawk are one of six nations that belong to the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Nation. The large number of Kahnewake Mohawks who resided in this section of Brooklyn while pursuing economic opportunities in New York City earned the area the…

POTW: A (Maybe) Brooklyn Haunting for Spooky Season

Allyson

 

Litchfield Villa, HERZ_0213. Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  Each day on my walk to work I pass the Litchfield Villa, admire it for its Italianate style architecture, glance at the dance class that is usually taking place on the front lawn and continue on my way.  It was designed and built in 1854 by Alexander Jackson Davis, a prominent architect for Edwin Clark Litchfield, a railroad and real estate developer. He's the one who turned a small creek into Gowanus…

The Art of Healing: Works from the Veterans Creative Arts Program collection

Deborah

Courage of a soldier by Mavis John. 2014. VETS_379. New York Harbor Hospital Creative Arts Program Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History 
New York City is host to art programs for diverse populations offered in a range of venues: museums, schools, libraries, cultural institutions and hospitals. It is rare to get a glimpse of artworks made by veterans of military service. From 2008-2017 the Veterans Creative Arts Program, hosted at the Veterans Affairs (VA) New York Harbor Hospital, Brooklyn Campus, offered…

POTW: Dressing for Tradition

Dee Bowers

Kimberly McEwen, 1971, color photograph. Brooklyn Heights Garden Club collection, BCMS.0082. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
I recently finished processing the Brooklyn Heights Garden Club collection, which chronicles the club's history through documents, ephemera, clippings, and scrapbooks. The club was founded in 1940 by Mrs. Thomas Sturgis to "bring added beauty to Brooklyn Heights by the creation and cultivation of gardens, plantings and window boxes." In 1949, the club started organizing an annual…

The Soap Fat Collector

Anna Schwartz

George Bradford Brainerd, [The soap fat man], 1870s, glass plate negative. George Bradford Brainerd photograph collection, BRAI_0234. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Soap making during the 1800s was dirty business. It required two key ingredients: rendered animal fat and lye, a caustic substance traditionally made from wood ashes. Before industrialization, many Brooklynites made their own soap using accumulated cooking fat and grease from the home. The final product, known as soft soap, was stored in barrels and used…

Faces of a Family in 19th Century New York: the Ramus Collection

Deborah

Isaac and Esther Ramus around 1855. bhs_v1978.174.38. Ramus family papers and photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The first set of photographs originating from the former Brooklyn Historical Society to be featured  in the Center for Brooklyn History digital portal is the Ramus family collection.   It is a tantalizing set of images rich in examples of fashionable dress between 1848 and 1910 and a variety of photographic techniques including daguerreotypes, tintypes,…

A Legacy in Lead

Sarah

[Women working in the Eberhard Faber pencil factory], circa 1915, V1988.35.6, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
As New York City students return to the classroom, we’re dreaming of fresh school supplies. Notebooks, rulers, folders, and of course: pencils. Were you the kid who always had two freshly sharpened pencils ready to go at a moment’s notice? Were you the monster who borrowed a pencil and never returned it? Either way, there’s a good chance you've used a Faber pencil. The Faber family started manufacturing pencils in Germany…

POTW: April 1, 1949: A Day in Brooklyn Labor History

Michelle Montalbano

F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company, June 21, 1949, Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photos, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
On April 1, 1949, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle was full of news of workers on strike. The headline for the day announced that a taxi strike was on and "90% tied up," meaning that all but 701 of the city's 11,510 taxicabs had refused to start their engines. Meanwhile, CIO radio operators at Pan-American Airways had launched a strike over deadlocked contract negotiations, and in a slim article further down the page, readers…

The Poet From Syria

Anna Schwartz

Federal naturalization record for Nejib Ibrahim Katibah, 1912. Ancestry.com.
Family history research is one of the Center for Brooklyn History's most popular research topics. Millions of people can trace their roots back to Brooklyn. Yet despite an abundance of resources available at CBH, piecing together the social history of one's ancestors--or anyone for that matter--can be difficult, exhausting, and full of dead ends. Several months ago, I ran across the name of a young dentist (and poet) in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle who emigrated to…

POTW: Inman's Vaudeville

Allyson

[Inman's Casino], 1946, CONE_0451. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.ption
This week's photo is of Inman's Casino, which was located on the Bowery of Coney Island. The Bowery was south of Surf Avenue and ran from Jones Walk to West 16th Street on the east side of Steeplechase Park. Its main drag, known as Ocean Avenue until around 1905 and as Bowery Lane thereafter, ran parallel to Surf Ocean. The Vaudeville opened prior to 1900, and claimed to cater to women and children. But if this…

Water, Water Everywhere

Cecily Dyer

[Flood at Sutter and Saratoga Avenues], 1923, NEIG_0291. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's Photo of the Week takes us to the intersection of Sutter and Saratoga Avenues in Brownsville in July 1923, when severe storms turned the borough's streets into rivers, flooded subway stations and basements, and caused guysers to erupt from manhole covers. Lightning blasted apart wood paving blocks on Cortelyou Road in Flatbush, threw a construction worker from his ladder on Ocean…

POTW: An Unusual Ride to School

Dee Bowers

[Children riding to school in pony cart], circa 1947. Kasper Family Collection, BCMS.0080. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's photo of the week comes from the recently processed Kasper Family Collection. The Kasper family lived at the Manhattan Beach Veterans Housing Project in South Brooklyn in the late 1940s. The Manhattan Beach project was one of many veterans housing projects that the city created in the late 1940s to respond to a surge in demand as soldiers returned from overseas. As this 2011 Brooklynology blog…

POTW: Housing Starts: The Riverside Buildings and the Push for Affordable Housing in Brooklyn

Deborah

Solution of the tenement problem: Riverside Building, the Quadrangle, 1892. WILC_0320, Julius Wilcox photograph collection, Center for Brooklyn History.
In the late 19th century housing conditions for the poor in Brooklyn were crowded, unsafe, poorly ventilated, and lacked amenities. Today's Photo of the Week shows one of the first efforts in our borough to create affordable and pleasant housing for those who struggled to pay the rent.   The cyanotype above…

An Icy Summer

Anna Schwartz

[Ice Delivery from the American Ice Company to Emmanuel House], circa 1910, lantern slide, V1981.284.12. Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.138. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
For non-native New Yorkers like myself, surviving the hot, humid days of summer feels like an annual badge of pride. Grabbing a popsicle from the freezer or an ice cream cone from the neighborhood creamery has long been a favorite way to beat the heat. Today, most Brooklynites take access to cold and frozen food for…

Debate and Diplomacy in Brooklyn’s History

Jen Hoyer

Every year, the National History Day contest provides students with an opportunity to dive into research related to an overall theme and present their findings in a variety of formats at their regional contest. We’re thrilled to host the regional contest for New York City at the Center for Brooklyn History in the 2021-22 school year, and we’ve been using the summer break to brainstorm some of our favorite topics related to this year’s contest theme. This year’s theme is Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences. You can read more about the theme at nhd.org/theme.…

POTW: Hat Works of Knox the Hatter

Sarah

Brooklyn Eagle postcard collection, [Knox Hat factory, St. Marks and Grand Avenues], circa 1905, POST_0558, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today we're looking at the imposing apartment building at 369-413 St. Marks Avenue that began life as the world’s largest hat factory. Founded by Irish immigrant Charles Knox, the Knox Hat Company began operations in lower Manhattan, selling beaver hats in a small store he opened in 1838. Through promotion and word of mouth, the business built an impressive clientele, including Abraham…

POTW: Steve Brodie Jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and Lived (Maybe?)

Allyson

[Rendering of Steve Brodie (1863-1901) who jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge, and survived, on July 23, 1886. Image includes a portion of the East River and four small boats.] 1886. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This is a rendering of Steve Brodie a resident of Manhattan and former newsboy who claimed to have jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge and lived. The bridge, then called the East River Bridge had just recently been completed in 1883 and on July 23, 1886, Brodie took the plunge. Or did he? The…

Contribute to our Brooklyn Resists Community Collecting Project

Michelle Montalbano

GEAT_0002, Anthony Geathers Photograph Collection, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
This week's Photo of the Week is a call to action. Did you know that one facet of Brooklyn Resists is a community collecting initiative? We invite you to share your thoughts, experiences, and digitized personal artifacts as part of the Brooklyn Resists community collecting project. Learn more about what this entails and read our statement of purpose and guidelines here.  Our ultimate goal is to provide…

Celebrating Student Research: Brooklyn Connections 2020-21

Charlie Rudoy

Brooklyn Connections is a program run by the Center for Brooklyn History’s education department that cultivates 21st Century learning skills in students and supports teachers with the incorporation of archives materials into curricula.  Click here to view a selection of this year's Brooklyn Connections final projects. 

The Othmer Library at the Center for Brooklyn History
Has gentrification affected the lives of immigrants in Brooklyn? How did Coney Island become the destination it is today? If you could…

POTW: Bulger's Hotel: Subway Construction Photographs Shed Light on a Lost Brooklyn Business

Cecily Dyer

[Sidewalk conditions on southeast corner of Pearl and Willoughby Streets looking south from roadway of Willoughby St], 1915. Subway Construction Photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
One of the most frequent challenges for staff and researchers in CBH's Othmer Library is finding photographs that provide evidence of Brooklyn's past built environment. The city's 1940 tax photos are our go-to resource, but these can miss houses, businesses, and community landmarks that were razed in earlier years. For some…

POTW: Brooklyn's Lost Saltwater Oasis

Dee Bowers

[Hotel St. George pool], 1930. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NEIG_1455.  Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
As a summer heat wave kicks off the last few days of Pride Month, our Photo of the Week takes us to an elegant indoor pool at the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn Heights. The Hotel St. George was once the city's largest hotel and a glamorous spot to see and be seen. It was also a known cruising and gathering space for gay men, some of whom resided at the hotel. As such, it has been featured in two of…

The Lost Murals of Borough Hall

Anna Schwartz

Brooklyn Borough Hall murals, circa 1939. Edgar E. Rutter photograph collections, RUTT_0001.  Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's POTW takes us inside the office of the new incoming Brooklyn Borough President as New Yorkers get ready to vote in the June 22 primary election.  Borough Hall, originally City Hall, is located in the heart of downtown Brooklyn and is one of the borough's oldest public buildings. It was also home to two highly contentious 900 square foot murals, whose final fate remains unknown today.…

POTW: Process of EL-imination: the last days of the Fulton Street elevated

Deborah

Requiescat in pace--No tears were shed for the passing of the Fulton St. L today, but Masur, the florist on lower Fulton St., rushed out with a wreath to hang on the elevated pillar in front of his shop [with sign, "Funeral services May 31, 1940 of the dirty elevated, undertaker, Mr. Storekeeper of Fulton St."] as a final touching tribute. TRAN_0262, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History
In search of something wholly unrelated, I fell upon the mischievous photograph above from the Eagle commemorating the final run of the…

POTW: Lionel the Lion-Faced Man

Sarah

Marie Roberts Dreamland Circus side show photographs, CONE_0590, c1924, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library. 
Stephan Bibrowski (1890–1932), also known as "Lionel the Lion-Faced Man," was born outside Warsaw, Poland with a rare condition called hypertrichosis. Often called “werewolf syndrome” hypertrichosis causes excessive hair growth on the body and is now thought to be hereditary. While Stephan’s mother was pregnant with him she watched as his father was attacked by a lion, an event she believed caused Stephen’s condition. At four…

Taking a Bite Out of Spiritualism

Sarah

When the Scientific American offered a $2500 prize to anyone who could produce a visible psychic manifestation, Chicago medium Elizabeth Allen Tomson answered the call. In the Fall of 1923 she arrived in New York with her husband and spokesman, Dr. Clarence Tomson and their daughter. Tomson performed several seances in homes across the city, using a technique that involved her entering a large cabinet where she fell into a trance and manifested spirits of the dead. 

The Chat, November 29, 1924
One attendee not impressed with Tomson’s spiritual…

POTW: Wheeling in the Years: A Slice of Brooklyn Bicycle History

Michelle Montalbano

To close out National Bicycle Month, here's a little a celebration of bicycling in Brooklyn, from 1897 to the present. 

POST_0143, Music Island, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y., summer circa 1897, Brooklyn Postcard Collection, Center for Brooklyn History
Even now, in the 21st century, I feel a powerful sense of freedom, exhilaration, and agency whenever I'm riding my bicycle around Brooklyn. It must have been truly extraordinary for women in the 19th century, who were newly admitted to the ranks of "wheel riders" in the 1890s. At the time, Brooklyn…

POTW: A Look Back at Brooklyn's Central Library

Allyson

[Brooklyn Central Library, Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway; Alfted Morton Githens, Francis Keally, Associated Architects], CBPL_0004, 1938; Roy Pinney photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  Recently the Central Library of the Brooklyn Public Library had a ribbon cutting ceremony for the completion of Phase One of a multi-phase renovation project. This phase returns space formerly used for administrative needs back to the public and creates five grand spaces: the Major Owens Welcome Center, New and…

A Story of Sands Street

Cecily Dyer

[Brooklyn Navy Yard Buildings], NEIG_1249, 1908; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's photo of the week takes us to the corner of Sands and Navy Streets in Vinegar Hill, a section of Downtown Brooklyn adjacent to the Navy Yard. While the neighborhood was named for the final battle of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, reflecting the large Irish population who settled here in the early to mid-1800s, people of all backgrounds resided in Vinegar Hill's densely-built streets. The…

POTW: A Mother's Immigration Story

Dee Bowers

The Gottlieb family. Mother holding baby girl in an urban park on the Lower East Side. BJHP_0173, 1947; Brooklyn Jewish History Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This is a photo of Regina (Rivka, nee Kanner) Gottlieb and her daughter Madeline in a park on the Lower East Side in 1947. The joy on both of their faces is palpable, despite the difficult years that preceded this photo. Regina and her husband Alexander were both from Poland, Alexander from Borislaw and Regina from Lodz Ghetto. They had both survived …

The Librarian in Congress: The Life and Work of Major Owens

Michelle Montalbano

Representing Brooklyn From his roots as a librarian here at Brooklyn Public Library, to his ascent to the New York State Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, Major Owens' legacy is defined by his work as a tireless antipoverty reformer and as an advocate for education, civil rights, Americans with disabilities, workers' rights, and immigrants. As Brooklyn Public Library cautiously opens the doors to Central Library and a handful of other branches a little further this month, we are also unveiling renovations and improvements that have taken place during our…

POTW: Spring, Is That You?

Anna Schwartz

[Four people and a field of sheep], circa 1890, arc.202_box17_112; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Spring in Brooklyn is often fleeting, lasting a month or two at most. With it brings relief from winter’s harsh weather, blooming flowers, and tepid evening breezes. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, spring also marked the return of sheep to Prospect Park. Every April, a large flock of Southdown, a breed known for its adaptability and good lambing…

POTW: Mesopotamia in Brownsville

Deborah

Loew's Pitkin Theater, 1958. NEIG_0227, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History
Today’s Photo of the Week features a busy corner in Brownsville, 1501 Pitkin Avenue, where the stately Loew’s Pitkin Theater took up the entirety of the block between Legion Street and Saratoga Avenue. I was drawn to the building by this snapshot showing the random composition and distinctive pinked edges of mid-century candid photography, with the huge structure looming over a…

POTW: Park Slope's Old Tower House

Cecily Dyer

 

Old Tower House, NEIG_1696, 1910; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  Today’s photo of the week takes us to Park Slope, where a residence locally known as "the old tower house” once stood on the south side of 8th street between 5th and 6th avenues. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle published the above photograph of the old tower house in 1910, two years after the death of the building’s longtime owner, Asa B. Richardson. The Eagle claimed at the time that the…

POTW: Brooklyn in Blue

Sarah

WILC_0085, 1892, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
Today's Photo of the Week is a cyanotype created by New York City photographer Julius Wilcox. Wilcox was born in Vermont in 1837, moving to New York at the age of 29 and settling in Brooklyn. He made his living as a writer for the New York Evening Gazette and as part owner of a bicycle business. He seems to have taken up photography as a hobby, photographing mostly in Manhattan, favoring architecture and the city’s working-class and poor. His album of original cyanotypes with…

POTW: National Library Outreach Day: On Bookmobiles and Fugitive Libraries

Michelle Montalbano

BPL_0002, 1951, Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photograph Collection, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
This week is American Library Association's National Library Week, a time to celebrate library workers and outreach efforts, and promote library use and support. Wednesday, April 7th is National Library Outreach Day or the Day Formerly Known as Bookmobile Day.  The bookmobile pictured above dates back to BPL's outreach efforts in the 1950s, a beauty known as the "Library on Wheels." The borough's first, its maiden voyage was in October 1951…

POTW: When the Dodgers went to the Bronx: Game 1 of the 1947 World Series

Allyson

[Opening game of the World Series], DODG_0002, 1947; Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  It's been a strange long year and something like the start of baseball seems even stranger in our current climate. Fields and stadiums are opening slowly with limited entry and required vaccination cards. But back in 1947 all you needed to see a game was a ticket and some excitement. This is a shot of fans from Game 1 of the World Series pitting the New York Yankees against Brooklyn's own beloved Dodgers. 73,365…

POTW: The Opening of a Vaudeville Theater in Williamsburg

Amy Lau

[The Folly], THEA_0027, 1906; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
To celebrate the announcement in the beginning of March that theaters will reopen in April, our photo of the week takes us to the corner of Graham Avenue and Debevoise Street in Williamsburg.   This corner was the location of the Folly Theater which opened on the afternoon of October 14, 1901. The Folly was owned by Richard Hyde who -- according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle --…

POTW: One Bedford-Stuyvesant Block's Industrial Past

Cecily Dyer

[Former Joseph Wild & Co factory, 218 Kosciusko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant], circa 1935; Bommer family collection, 1992.033, Box A0142; Center for Brooklyn History.
This week’s Photo of the Week takes us to Kosciusko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, on the block that forms the northern boundary of Herbert Von King Park (known in the 19th century as Tompkins Park).
[Former Joseph Wild & Co building, 196 Kosciusko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant], circa 1935; Bommer family collection, 1992.033, Box A0142; Center for…

POTW: Cleaning Up the Waterfront with N.A.G.

Dee Bowers

Photo of Neighbors Against Garbage (N.A.G.) litter cleanup, GEHP_0193, c. 1990s; Greenpoint Environmental History Project; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In the early 1990s, residents of Greenpoint and Williamsburg were fed up with the city neglecting their neighborhoods. A number of grassroots community organizations sprang up in response to various issues, including development, community board planning processes, and excessive litter. One such organization was Neighbors Against Garbage (N.A.G.), founded in 1994 in a local…

POTW: The Brief Life of a Fanciful Building

Deborah

Fulton Ferry House, [190-?] TRAN_0364, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History
Our photo of the week features the Fulton Ferry House that once stood where Old Fulton Street met the water’s edge in Brooklyn Heights, one in a series of ferry buildings on that site. One of the handsomest depictions of this building is paired in the Eagle photographs with an earlier Brooklyn ferry house, built sometime before 1746. The early view is adapted from an engraving in Stiles’ … history … of Brooklyn, N. Y. from 1683 to 1884. Stiles is…

Web Archiving at BPL: Saving Brooklyn's Web Content One URL at a Time

Dee Bowers

Did you know that Brooklyn Public Library has a web archive? In 2017, the Brooklyn Collection (now part of the new Center for Brooklyn History) joined the Internet Archive’s Community Webs program, in which public libraries around the country are given the funding and support to start and sustain web archives. We have been archiving Brooklyn web content through this program for over three years now.  Web archiving is how we describe the process by which we save and preserve websites and web content in a stable and static archival format. This is…

Preserving Black History in Brooklyn

Anna Schwartz

[Interior of the Slave Theater], Hiroki Kobayashi, circa 2010; Hiroki Kobayashi photographs on the Slave Theater from the collection of Dexter Wimberly, 2014.023; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Black historical sites are rapidly disappearing across Brooklyn despite efforts by local activists and preservationists. The destruction of these tangible sites of memory--largely as a result of redevelopment and gentrification--impacts the way we remember, understand, and tell history. The recent demolition of the Slave Theater in Bedford-…

POTW: Bedford-Stuyvesant's Dar-ul-Islam Movement

Maggie Schreiner

Khalil Abdulkhabir, Young Girls and Teachers at the Yasin Mosque, circa 1975, 2020.002.005; Khalil Abdulkhabir photographs of the Dar-ul-Islam movement, 2020.002, Center for Brooklyn History.
The Dar-ul-Islam, known as "the Dar," was one of the most significant grassroots movements established by African-American Sunni Muslims in the United States. The founding members of the Dar-ul-Islam came from the Islamic Mission of America, founded in 1939 by Daoud Ahmed Faisal and Sayedah Khadijah Faisal, at 143 State Street (the “State Street Mosque”). In 1962-1963…

POTW: Brooklyn's First Black Elected Official: Bertram L. Baker

Michelle Montalbano

Before Shirley Chisholm or David Dinkins made history, Bertram L. Baker paved the way. If you've found yourself on Jefferson Avenue between Tompkins and Throop Avenues, you may have noticed street signs announcing his name. The first Black elected official from Brooklyn, Bertram L. Baker made his debut in the New York State Assembly in November 1948, where he would serve for the next twenty-two years. It was a milestone in Brooklyn history, but do you know his story, or what politics in the borough looked like when he was elected?  

PORT_0043,…

Community and Activism in one Brooklyn Family's Roots

Cecily Dyer

A few years ago, I went in search of background information about a periodical in the Center for Brooklyn History collections called Afro-America. It was published in the late 1960s from Fred Richardson’s African American Bookstore in Crown Heights, which sold books by and about Black writers, poets, and political leaders, as well as picture books for children and art by Black artists. Fred opened the store when he was just 22.

Fred Richardson in his newly opened store with sculptor Ruth Inge Hardison. New Amsterdam News, Brooklyn Edition, December 12, 1964…

POTW: The Life Saving Station of Manhattan Beach

Cecily Dyer

J. S. Johnston, Life Saving Station, Manhattan Beach, Coney Island, N.Y., c. 1894, v1972.1.557; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's photo takes us to the lost eastern end of Manhattan Beach.Manhattan Beach, on the eastern end of Coney Island, was the brainchild of robber baron Austin Corbin. In the 1870s, he bought 500 acres here and erected two luxury resort hotels for vacationing New Yorkers (not all New Yorkers, however, as Corbin was a notorious anti-semite who barred Jews from the resort). He also built the New York and Manhattan Beach…

POTW: Generations of New Years

Diana Bowers-Smith

Larry Racioppo, New Year's Day dinner toast, 6th Avenue, 1977, RCPO_0005; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Family history, memory, and tradition abound in the work of Larry Racioppo, including this evocative and joyful image of a family New Year's Day toast.
Photographer Larry Racioppo grew up in a large Italian-American family in Brooklyn, and his family has always been well-represented in his work. We hold a collection documenting his work and career, and many of the photographs from the…

Brooklyn's Teen Poets

Sarah

The teenage years are a difficult time, with emotions running high and relationships with the people in your life changing quickly. Poetry is a universal outlet for teens to explore feelings about themselves and their world. While most poems stay tucked away in journals or at the bottom of trash cans, some brave souls are eager to share. Before social media, publication in a school newspaper was one of the most direct ways for a poet to reach their peers. We combed through our Brooklyn High School newspapers for a selection of the very best teen poetry Brooklyn had to offer:…

POTW: When Coal Was King

Anna Schwartz

Office of Z. O. Nelson & SonA corner of our office, Walter H. Nelson, circa 1887, v1972.1.1222; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
In 1917, the best Christmas gift one could receive was a lump of coal. A coal shortage was sweeping the borough and coal reserves were dangerously low. Massive barges, laden with coal mined in the Northeast, idled in waterways along the Brooklyn shoreline. An impenetrable mile-wide ice field prevented their delivery. During the nineteenth to mid-twentieth century…

POTW: A Few of Our Favorite Things: Holiday Photos from the Collections

Natiba

This year has proven to be a year like no other, full of ups and downs, and a longing from most for better and brighter days. Despite the challenges, we at the Center for Brooklyn History are grateful for what we've been able to achieve this year. A historic partnership between two long standing, and significant institutions, and with it, the opportunity to serve our community and our borough, by expanding access to a singular collection in a single space, free and open to all. For this edition of Photo of the Week, we'd like to share our personal picks from our combined collections, that…

POTW: Before the Roller Disco

Cecily Dyer

Ralph Irving Lloyd, Meserole House, 1000 Lorimer St., c. 1905, lantern slide, V1981.15.124; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week’s photograph of Adrian and Mary Meserole’s house on Lorimer Street takes us to the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.  Adrian Meserole’s family had once owned much of present-day Greenpoint. His ancestor Jean Meserole and his wife were Huguenots—Protestants in Catholic-controlled France—who fled with their young son first to Amsterdam and then to New Amsterdam, present-day New York City, in 1663, becoming one of…

POTW: The 1960 Plane Crash That Rocked Park Slope

Sarah Quick

Close-up of portion of United Airlines airplane after crash at Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place, 1960.Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection.
On December 16, 1960 a United Airlines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided in midair above New York City. The TWA plane crashed on the coast of Staten Island, killing all 44 passengers and crew. The United airliner veered to the East, crashing into the densely populated neighborhood of Park Slope, right at the intersection of 7th Avenue and Sterling Place. The plane left a large trench running down Sterling Place and set fire…

POTW: Vanderveer Park: When Flatbush Was a Suburb

Deborah Tint

Rustic Vanderveer Park sign at Flatbush Avenue and Avenue F, with a few houses in the background and a one-horse shay, 1894. NEIG_0905, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History.
  The last quarter of the nineteenth century brought rapid changes to many parts of Brooklyn, not least to the town of Flatbush and its environs. Flatbush (from the Dutch vlacke bos, flat forest or wooded plain) was one of the original 6 towns making up the city of Brooklyn, and became part of that city in 1894. Four years later Brooklyn would become part of the…

Vanderveer Park: When Flatbush Was a Suburb

Deborah

Vanderveer Park entrance sign at Flatbush Avenue and Avenue F, with a few houses in the background and a one-horse shay, 1894. NEIG_0905, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History
The last quarter of the nineteenth century brought rapid changes to many parts of Brooklyn, not least to the town of Flatbush and its environs. Flatbush (from the Dutch vlacke bos, flat forest or wooded plain) was one of the original 6 towns making up the city of Brooklyn, and became part of that city in 1894. Four years later Brooklyn would become part of…

POTW: The Curious Origins of Thanksgiving

Ally Malinenko

Providing for others, 1952, SCHL1347; Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photo Collection, Center for Brooklyn History
Thanksgiving is typically thought of as a day where we watch a parade of large floating creatures, eat ourselves silly and then gather around the television again to enjoy grown men chasing each other in pursuit of a ball. But not too many people know its strange history. Prior to Thanksgiving becoming a national holiday, different versions of it were celebrated at different times throughout the year. One aspect of what we think of today as Thanksgiving has always been…

POTW: Take Two Shots and Call Me in the Morning: The Business of Selling Beer and Liquor

Michelle Montalbano

East Flatbush, 1980s, Jamel Shabazz Photograph Collection, SHBZ_0039, Center for Brooklyn History
There's a long history of medicinal uses of alcohol. Cooking too, for that matter. Recipe is the Latin imperative, and its original use was not for instructions on how to prepare dinner, but in prescriptions, where it was used as a command preceding a list of medicines to combine into a...cocktail. This also speaks to a more holistic understanding of food and drink as healing medicine, and chef as apothecary. But more on that in another POTW post!
"Grip, Colds…

POTW: A Brooklyn Block's Hidden History

Cecily Dyer

Classon Avenue showing entrance to Union PlacePhotograph album; Bommer family collection, 1992.033, Box A0142; Center for Brooklyn History.
  This week we explore photographs of a Clinton Hill block from the Bommer family collection. The easternmost end of Pratt Institute’s Clinton Hill campus gives little indication that it was once a densely-built city block, but it was. Bounded by Classon, Dekalb, and Willoughby Avenues, and formerly by Emerson Place to the west, the block was unusually wide. In the 1870s, a wealthy, Spanish-born merchant-developer named…

A Short History of the Saratoga Park Playground

Sarah

Saratoga Park is one of the many beautiful greenspaces Brooklyn has to offer. It’s the second largest park in Bedford-Stuyvesant, named for the nearby Saratoga Street, which takes its name from the Battles of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War. According to the New York City Parks Department, the word Saratoga might be Iroquois or Mohawk in origin, perhaps meaning either “springs from hillside” or “place of miraculous water in rock.”  Before it became a park, the land was owned by James C. Brower and his family. Brower owned a hardware business, helped organize the New York and…

POTW: This Business of Voting…

Deborah Tint

Voting machine instructionWoman giving voters instruction in the use of a voting machine in lobby of A.I. Namm's department store. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, CLUB_0078; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Brooklynites have seen many changes in voting patterns, locations and technology through the years.In the past, the voting process was more decentralized than it is today and took place in a dizzying array of locations. Many of these are still familiar to us as polling places. A list in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1920 indicates a very large…

POTW: Is It Un-American for Mothers to Work?

Diana Bowers-Smith

SWEL_0298"We want our nursery centers." Brooklyn Eagle, March 9 1947. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, SWEL_0298; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
In the wake of WWII, Brooklyn's working mothers fought to continue government-funded childcare.Women in Brooklyn have been leaders of social change on every conceivable political front, from the fight for racial justice and the right to vote, to equality around labor and reproductive rights. Women have also been at the forefront of protest efforts against the Vietnam War and for environmental justice.…

POTW: Designing the Library of the Future

Amy Lau

2015.008.1Long Island Historical Society, Library Floor Plan, circa 1878; 128 Pierrepont Street building architectural drawings, ARC.302; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
This week we look back at a building design contest that literally shaped our library space.The Long Island Historical Society (the former name of Brooklyn Historical Society which recently became the Center for Brooklyn History) held a building design contest from December 1877 to February 1878 after raising approximately 93,000 dollars to construct a new building at the corner of…

POTW: Celebrating the Next Million Possibilities!

Nalleli Guillen

Button, 1997; M1999.17.1, Center for Brooklyn History
In 1997, Brooklyn Public Library celebrated its 100-year anniversary serving local readers, the first free public library in Brooklyn having opened in 1897 inside Public School 3, in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. This button is one example of our extensive button collection. In the 1980s and 1990s there was a substantive push to collect more community ephemera, and pin-back buttons such as this one are excellent examples of the importance of ephemeral social and cultural history. Last week we announced that…

Reading Against the Grain in the Montauk Club Collection

Dee Bowers

The Brooklyn Collection is now part of the Center for Brooklyn History! Learn more about this historic partnership here. This post is a collaborative effort of historian Dylan Yeats, Vice President of the Montauk Club and co-chair of its History Committee, and archivist Diana Bowers-Smith, who processed the Montauk Club Collection at Brooklyn Public Library along with librarian and archives volunteer Kreya Jackson. Founded in 1889, when Brooklyn was still an independent city, the Montauk Club is a social club in the Park Slope neighborhood. Its landmarked Venetian Gothic clubhouse,…

POTW: Home Sweet Brooklyn

Anna Schwartz

[Candy Dept., A. I. Namm & Son Department Store], 1898, V1972.1.749 ; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Halloween is still four weeks away, but store shelves are already stocked with candy for eager trick-or-treaters. While today most of the candy is manufactured outside of New York, a hundred years ago Brooklyn had a thriving candy industry. In the mid nineteenth and early twentieth century, Brooklyn was one of the largest confectionery and chocolate manufacturing centers in the United States. By 1908, local…

POTW: Fall(ing) into an Odd Brooklyn Autumn

Nalleli Guillen

The "Camperdown elm," circa 1950; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection (V1974.5.3405), Brooklyn Historical Society
With temperatures falling, the beloved (or controversial) smell of pumpkin spice in the air, and the autumnal equinox passed on Tuesday, fall has officially arrived! While the “vehicular-ly” blessed may head upstate or into New England for their annual “leaf peeping” pilgrimages, Brooklynites looking for a taste of fall foliage need only head to Prospect Park. Home to tens of thousands of trees, the one that, perhaps, best embodies our mood in 2020…

Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection now available online!

Amy Lau

Old Navy yard sign that reads: Builders of the World's Mightiest War ShipsFrank J. Trezza, Old Navy yard sign that reads: Builders of the World's Mightiest War Ships, 1978, color slide, V1988.21.344; Frank J. Trezza Seatrain Shipbuilding collection, 1988.21; Brooklyn Historical Society.
  Brooklyn Historical Society is thrilled to announce that the Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection is now available through our online Oral History Portal! Forty-nine interviews with the women and men who worked in and around the Brooklyn Navy Yard, particularly during WWII,…

POTW: The Migration of Mexican Cuisine

Bo Méndez

Old Mexico Restaurant[Old Mexico Restaurant, 115 Montague Street, Brooklyn Heights.], 1959, V1974.4.295; John D. Morrell photographs, Brooklyn Historical Society.
Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! This month-long observance encourages Americans to recognize and celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of communities who trace their heritage to Spanish-speaking populations from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, as well as Spain itself.Hispanic Heritage Month begins every year on September 15 and extends through October 15. Its unique timeframe…

Summer Archives Internship Reflection from Sophia Terry

Maggie Schreiner

Schwarren, Litchfield VIlla, circa 1880, arc.202.box17.113; Photograph and illustration collection, ARC 202, Brooklyn Historical Society.
I’m both lucky and thankful to have gotten the opportunity to intern at the Brooklyn Historical Society this past summer. 2020 has been unique in its challenges, and at the end of a disjointed spring semester, I was left without a real plan for the summer. When I came across a notice for a remote internship through the Brooklyn Historical Society that seemed to fit my area of interest, I decided to apply, despite having never physically…

Summer Archives Internship Reflection from Fiona Wu

Maggie Schreiner

BHS staff with exhibition model

POTW: Sorting Mail at the Post Office

Maggie Schreiner

Men sorting mail at Vanderveer Post Office, circa 1925, V1973.5.630; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection (ARC.202); Brooklyn Historical Society.
Happy (recent) Labor Day! This photograph of workers sorting mail was taken at the Vanderveer Post Office, located on Nostrand Ave near Avenue I.The photo depicts the process of manual mail sorting, from the workers standing at the large wooden tables, to those putting mail onto shelves and into slots. Over time, the process of sorting mail has become increasing mechanized, and as a result, the workforce of the post office…

Supplementing Curriculum with Primary Sources

Rachel Chapman

Brooklyn Connections is the education division of  the Brooklyn Collection where we focus on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula.  This post's author, Rachel Chapman, is a former science teacher and current school librarian at the George Westinghouse Educational Campus in downtown Brooklyn serving grades 6 through 12 where she enjoys engaging students in reading and research. Rachel received her Masters of Science in Library and Information Science (MSLIS) from the…

POTW: Mapping New York City's Waterways

Cecily Dyer

A draught of New York from the Hook to New York Town: by Mark Tiddeman [1773-1780]; NYC-[177-?].Fl.RA; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week’s map is a colorful nautical chart, where the numbers in the water indicate soundings (measurements of the depth of the water) in fathoms (one fathom equals six feet). The map is oriented with north to the right and shows the western end of Long Island, including four of Brooklyn’s original six towns. Can you spot them? A draught of New York from the Hook to New York Town was originally created around 1730 by British navigator and…

POTW: Building NYC's Water Infrastructure

Maggie Schreiner

Profile of lower part of Croton Aqueduct: compiled under the direction of John B. Jervis by Theophilus Schramke. Ground plan of the lower part of Croton Aqueduct; [1846], Map Collection, M-[1846].Fl.Folio; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week we’re taking Photo of the Week on a journey uptown.This 1846 map shows a cross-section of the southern portion of the Old Croton Aqueduct, from the Harlem River to the Distribution Reservoir (at the present-day location of Bryant Park), and resulting flow of water to the southern tip of Manhattan at the Battery. Construction of the Old…

POTW: A Bungalow by the Bay

Anna Schwartz

Auction notice of valuable real estate at Sheeps Head BayAuction notice of valuable real estate at Sheeps Head Bay; [1879], Map Collection, B P-[1879].Fl; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This 1879 auction notice advertising lots for sale in Sheepshead Bay sought to lure potential buyers to Brooklyn's southern limits with the promise of "bathing, boating, and fishing." At the time, the Sheepshead Bay--named after a nightmarish fish with rows of human-like teeth--was less developed than its more popular beachfront cousins, Coney Island and Brighton Beach. Compared to these other…

POTW: No To-Go Cocktails Allowed: Brooklyn's Temperance Village

Nalleli Guillen

Map of South Brooklyn Temperance Village in the 8th Ward of the city of Brooklyn; Map No. B P-[184-?].Fl
Before Prospect Park, before the “Slopes,” before the brownstones, there was “Temperanceville,” or the “South Brooklyn Temperance Village.” This little remembered planned community was part of the first wave of residential development that transformed Brooklyn’s 8th Ward beginning in the early 1830s. This map, probably printed about 1849, advertises available lots for sale between Fourth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, and 12th and 15th Streets. On a current neighborhood map,…

POTW: On the Rail: the Behr Monorail that Never Was

Amy Lau

bhs_bc003516268_aMap showing Behr Monorail route, Brooklyn; [1889], Map Collection, B C-[1889?].Fl; Brooklyn Historical Society.
During the first decade of the twentieth century, Fritz Bernard Behr, a British engineer and inventor of a monorail system, created plans to build a monorail line from South Ferry to Surf Avenue in Coney Island.Behr claimed that express trains on his monorail system would travel between seventy-five and a hundred miles an hour. He also proposed that riders would pay a reasonable three or five cent fare. While Behr had constructed an experimental…

POTW: A Grave Tale: Roswell Graves, Jr. and the Cemetery of the Evergreens

Adrienne Lang

Cedar Knoll, from map 161, Cemetery of Evergreens: [by Robert] Graves, surveyor, Robert Graves, 1860; B A-1860.Fl; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Among other things, Roswell (Robert) Graves, Jr. was a civil engineer, New York City Surveyor, real estate developer, and not-so-honest businessman. In 1849 he was one of six trustees to incorporate the Cemetery of the Evergreens (also known as Evergreens Cemetery) on the Brooklyn Queens border, part of what’s now known as the Queens Cemetery Belt.Prior to the 19th century, New Yorkers were buried in small cemeteries in churchyards or…

POTW: A Litigious Legacy: the Story of a Gravesend Map

Mary Mann

Map of the western part of the Township of Gravesendoriginally laid down by a scale of five chains or 20 rods to an inch, 8th August 1788 by Herman Lefford & Roger Strong: April 16th 1806; [18??]
It was April of 1639, and Anthony Jansen van Salee and his wife Grietje had just been given six months to leave the New Netherlands forever. Anthony, the first known person of Muslim descent to settle in the Americas, had been in and out of court often over the years, chiefly for refusing to pay mandatory fees to the Dutch Reform Church. Grietje had also weathered her share of…

Lesson Learned? Considering the Draft Riots of 1863 for Today

Nalleli Guillen

The arrival of 4,000 Union troops in Manhattan on Thursday, July 16, 1863, marked the beginning of the end to four days of civic unrest and racial violence throughout New York City, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. That week, hundreds of buildings had been ransacked and burned. 119 people had been killed (although some estimates push that number closer to 500) including 19 African Americans, 11 of whom had been publicly lynched.At the height of the Civil War, the events that came to be known as the Draft Riots ignited simmering class and racial tensions in a city–and country–spiraling in the wake…

POTW: Start Exploring with the BHS Map Portal

ljuliano

Average monthly rent by blocks, Brooklyn: supplement to Survey of the New York City market: prepared by Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. and its system companies. [1940]; B B-[1940].FL; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Today Brooklyn Historical Society is excited to celebrate the launch of our new Map Portal, providing online access to 1500 digitized maps. For the remainder of the summer, we’ll be taking a weekly dive into our map collections to give you a taste of the breadth and depth of the collection, and entice you to start exploring!Paying rent is on every New…

Brooklyn Connections Student Projects, an Online Gallery

Charlie Rudoy

Brooklyn Connections is the education division of  the Brooklyn Collection where we focus on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. Click here to view a selection of this year's Brooklyn Connections final projects.

Brooklyn Connections Convocation, in person and in simpler times
Among the many holidays, events, and celebrations that have been upended due to the coronavirus pandemic, a cherished spring tradition here in Brooklyn was cancelled this year.…

Announcing the Launch of the BHS Map Portal!

Maggie Schreiner

Map of land of … situate[d] in the town of New Utrecht

POTW: A Summer Day at Dreamland

Cecily Dyer

v19721771Eugene L. Armbruster, Dreamland, 1904; V1972.1.771, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Eugene L. Armbruster's dreamlike photograph shows a mother and daughter in Coney Island's Dreamland amusement park in 1904, the year the park opened. Dreamland was the last of Coney Island's original three large amusement parks, along with Steeplechase Park and Luna Park, and sought to draw visitors with sophisticated architecture and its location right at the water's edge, where the ocean breeze would cool the public during…

POTW: Quarantine Summer

Maggie Schreiner

Otto Dreschmeyer, Sunset, Coney Island, August 23, 1966, v1988.12.92, Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides, v1988.12, Brooklyn Historical Society.
Now that it is July, Brooklynites are truly in our quarantine summer. Though we may not have our usual bevy of pastimes to look forward to, beaches reopened with lifeguards yesterday, and we are continually entertained (and sometimes annoyed) by fireworks in neighborhoods across the borough and city. This image brings these two pastimes together, showing a view of the sunset behind the Coney Island shoreline with a double exposure of…

A Teacher Grows in Brooklyn: Sarah J. Smith Tompkins Garnet

Jen Hoyer

In March 2020, just before the closure of Brooklyn Public Library’s physical spaces, the Brooklyn Connections team had the pleasure of spending a day at the Brooklyn College Archives with their archivists and a group of New York City school teachers for a day-long professional development workshop on women in Brooklyn. We were excited to be in the Brooklyn College Archives because of their fantastic collection of material about the life and work of Shirley Chisholm; this inspired us to look at material from the Brooklyn Collection that highlights the lives of other women of color in Brooklyn…

POTW: A Reckoning for Brooklyn's Philip Livingston: Slaver, Trader, and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Nalleli Guillen

Attributed to Thomas McIlworth, Philip Livingston, circa 1764; M1974.72.1, Brooklyn Historical Society
We are witnessing a moment of reckoning sweeping across the globe. The simultaneous power and fragility of historical narrative is being exposed as communities reject public monuments erected by past generations. Sculptures of Confederate generals, of Christopher Columbus, of American presidents including Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt are being scrutinized, the “great deeds” they memorialize weighed against the histories of racial oppression and violence they ignore.…

POTW: Transforming Brooklyn's Legal Landscape

Anna Schwartz

Demolition of the Old Kings County Courthouse, Matthew Black, 1961, gelatin sliver print, V1973.5.609; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photograph featured in today's photo of the week shows the demolition of the old Kings County Courthouse in 1961. Only the portico of the once Palladian structure--now a carcass of stone and marble--remains. The courthouse, erected in the 1860s and designed by architects Gamaliel King and Herman Teckritz, was once one of Brooklyn's finest civic structures. Located on 250 Joralemon…

In Honor of Black Life

Natiba

What does remembrance look like? As an archivist, special collections manager and lover of history, a large part of remembrance for me is representation. This and other similar threads are constantly a part of how I think about the work we do at the Brooklyn Collection. Who are we representing? Who has enough, and who does not? I ask this every time I think about a possible donation or addition to our collection. Our current climate and the awakening being experienced by others around Black life and its importance (it is), how history is repeating itself and the renewed calls to remove…

POTW: Grammar School Graduation, 1900

Cecily Dyer

Graduating class, Public School 15
With this week's Photo of the Week, we congratulate the graduates of 2020! The photograph above shows the graduating class of P.S. 15 in the year 1900. The school stood on Third Avenue between Schermerhorn and State streets. Today it is the home of the Khalil Gibran International Academy High School, but you can still see evidence of its history above the entrances, where there appears a “Public School” sign in terra cotta over one door, and “Public School No. 15” over another. We are fortunate that on the back of the photo, the donor…

Processing Privilege and Moving to Action: Watch, Listen, Explore

Brooklyn Historical Society

Conversations to Inspire as We Grapple with Our Long History of Racism, Part 3This is the final of three blog posts that share recordings of past conversations that took place live at BHS. You can see the first post -- “Confronting a History of Injustice” -- here, and the second post -- “Structural Racism in America” -- here. We hope that together, they serve as prompts for each individual’s evolving insights about race, and that they spark frank discussion and spur action.In the midst of this watershed moment in American history there is a great deal to be learned about race…

Structural Racism in America: Watch, Listen, Explore

Brooklyn Historical Society

Conversations to Inspire as We Grapple with Our Long History of Racism, Part 2This is the second of three blog posts that share recordings of past conversations that took place live at BHS. You can see the first post -- “Confronting a History of Injustice” -- here, and the third post -- “Processing Privilege and Moving to Action” -- here. We hope they serve as prompts for each individual’s evolving insights about race. We hope that they spark frank discussion and spur action.In the fight for racial equity, there are many systems in America that have racist roots and are…

Confronting a History of Injustice: Watch, Listen, Explore

Brooklyn Historical Society

Conversations to Inspire as We Grapple with Our Long History of Racism

POTW: Black Lives Matter

Maggie Schreiner

bhs_V1989.22.7_a-1Bob Adelman, Civil rights demonstration, circa 1962, v1989.22.7; Bob Adelman photographs of Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) demonstrations v1989.022, Brooklyn Historical Society.
This image comes from our collection of photographs from the Brooklyn Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). In the spirit of the work that CORE and similar organizations have done over many decades, today we are using this space to highlight campaigns, organizations, resources, and books where you can learn more, donate, and get involved with the movement for racial justice…

Finding your Brooklyn Roots in Brooklyn Historical Society's Beginnings

Adrienne Lang

With its "Finding Your Brooklyn Roots" initiative, BHS invites its followers to submit questions about their Brooklyn ancestors. In this post, we share one of our recent discoveries based on one of your inquiries. When a patron wrote to us hoping to learn more about her family roots in Brooklyn, she didn’t expect that we would be able to trace her ancestors back to Brooklyn Historical Society. We were just as surprised to find out that her second and third-great grandfathers, Julian and John Hooper, were not only early members of the Society, but made several contributions to our collections…

POTW: Brooklyn is not a Place, It is a People

Bo Méndez

Teaching Ballet Class Remotely, March 2020.Lauren Jaeger, Teaching ballet class remotely, March 30, 2020, 2020.003.222; Brooklyn Historical Society COVID-19 collection, 2020.003; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Over the past several weeks, our Photos of the Week have expressed gratitude for Brooklyn and New York’s essential workers who have been keeping the city going during the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant shelter in place circumstances. In this final installment of this series, we’re putting focus on a different facet essential to Brooklyn: Brooklynites themselves. In a…

My Mother's Sisters

Larry Racioppo

After singer-songwriter John Prine died on April 7, 2020 from coronavirus complications, local radio stations and media outlets created playlists of his “essential songs”. Listening to WFUV-FM, I heard When I Get to Heaven for the first time. The song, from Tree of Forgiveness, his 18th and last studio album in 2018, begins humorously, but then turns serious. Some of Prine’s lyrics really struck home for me: “I wanna see all my mama’s sisters because that’s where all the love starts. I miss ‘em all like crazy, bless their little hearts.” My mother had three sisters and four brothers who…

POTW: Class Portraits from Clinton Hill

Cecily Dyer

Group portrait of Miss Stanton and girls
This week we honor Brooklyn's teachers. To all the educators who have rapidly adapted to a remote learning environment, thank you for continuing to provide educational opportunities and a crucial sense of routine to our children. Children in 19th and early 20th century school photographs often look stiff and expressionless—an image of childhood that feels unfamiliar.  The many poses and personalities among these students at Emmanuel House in Clinton Hill, by contrast, give these charming photographs a sense of relatability even one…

“Spanish Influenza” in Brooklyn and What We Can Learn from Our History

Nalleli Guillen

We turn to the history of the “Spanish” influenza pandemic, which swept through New York City in several waves between 1918 and 1920. Today, insights from this past may help us cautiously begin this next chapter in our present.

New York State’s Regional Monitoring Dashboard New York State’s Regional Monitoring Dashboard, https://forward.ny.gov/regional-monitoring-dashboard
On Friday, May 15, New York State will begin the gradual process of rolling back the Executive Order known as NY Pause. This ten-point…

POTW: Cleaning Up in Brooklyn

Maggie Schreiner

Operation Clean Sweep Demonstration, circa 1962, v1989.22.2; Bob Adelman photographs of Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) demo, v1989.22, Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week we’re honoring our borough’s cleaners and sanitation workers. To the people who are cleaning hospital rooms, grocery stores, buses and subways, and picking up garbage and recycling, thank you for doing this important work to keep us safe and healthy! The above image from 1962 shows a Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) demonstration called “Operation Clean Sweep” and illustrates the…

Backgrounds of Brooklyn: Historical Flair for Your Video Calls!

Bo Méndez

[Panorama of Brooklyn and Manhattan waterfronts] [Panorama of Brooklyn and Manhattan waterfronts], circa 1910, photographic prints, v1976.2.268; Edward B. Watson photographs and prints collection, Brooklyn Historical Society.
Video chats and conference calls have become a routine element of our everyday experiences of work, school, and connecting with family or friends. Add a bit of…

POTW: Keeping New York in Motion

Nalleli Guillen

Flatbush car barn, circa 1885; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection (v1972.1830), Brooklyn Historical Society
This week we honor the transportation workers who are keeping New York City connected in this time of global crisis. To the bus and subway operators and drivers, engineers, mechanics, and tradesmen, along with cleaning staff, thank you for what you are doing to keep our essential workers and others still commuting daily safe. We are devastated by reports, including this recent opinion piece from the New York Times, of transit workers getting sick and…

Moving Day: When All of Brooklyn Moved at Once

Allyson

Brooklyn Daily Eagle Saturday May 5, 1888
  Moving. No one enjoys moving – lugging all your furniture into the van, heavy boxes full of books, exhausted family members, crying kids. It’s stressful and miserable moving at any time of the year.  But, I recently learned, it could be worse. Much worse. In fact, in Brooklyn from around the 1820’s to just after the start of World War II, Moving Day was the same for every single Brooklynite – May 1st of each year. Each May, leases ended and in a mass exodus the…

POTW: Changing with the Times, Always First to Respond

Amy Lau

Engine 202 Ladder Company 101 fire fighters on truckEngine 202 Ladder Company 101 fire fighters on truck, 1925 ca., gelatin silver prints, v1973.5.593; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week we honor the first responders in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) -- the paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and the Fire Department of the City of New York -- who provide all kinds of vital pre-hospital care. Thank you!   This gelatin silver print of firefighters from the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY…

"Indian Villages": The Story Behind a Map

Mary Mann

Indian villages, paths, ponds and places in Kings County [1946]; B B-1946.Fl; Brooklyn Historical Society.
A map called “Indian villages, paths, ponds and places in Kings County” is one of the more popular items in Brooklyn Historical Society’s Library & Archives. But a question we often hear is: where did the information in this map come from? To find out we had to look, strangely enough, at the life of a construction worker and vaudevillian from County Longford, Ireland.  James A. Kelly’s first…

POTW: Taking Stock of Staying Stocked

Bo Méndez

Interior of Sahadi Importing Company, Brooklyn, N.Y[Interior of Sahadi Importing Company, Brooklyn, N.Y], circa 1983, v1992.35.5; Jim Kalett photographs for "Brooklyn -- and How it Got that Way", Brooklyn Historical Society.
During these weeks of sheltering in place, we will be honoring Brooklyn’s essential workers: the people who keep us fed, provide groceries and other essentials, clean homes and workplaces, and take care of us when we’re sick.This week we're honoring our borough's tireless grocery store workers, who have been working to keep food, household needs, and…

HIV in Our Communities

Ondine Jean-Baptiste

Health Center, Mid-Brooklyn Health Society, Inc.,1977;V2007.042.83;Brooklyn Historical Society
Everybody gets sick. For most of us, our health is a deeply personal and even private topic. But sickness and health are also public issues that have long shaped Brooklyn’s economy, its built environment, its laws and institutions, and its diverse communities. Taking Care of Brooklyn: Stories of Sickness and Health is one of Brooklyn Historical Society’s current exhibitions which explores how centuries of Brooklynites have understood sickness and health. Through the…

POTW: The Evolution of a Brooklyn Block

Brooklyn Historical Society

[Christmas mail delivery], circa 1925, gelatin silver prints, V1973.5.640; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week we honor all the postal, shipping, and delivery workers who continue to deliver our mail, packages, and food throughout our vast city, come rain, shine, or pandemic. This photograph of a US Postal Service carrier pushing his package-filled cart was taken in front of the Wynmore Social Club at 255 Adams Street in downtown Brooklyn around 1925. The club was located across the street from the main Brooklyn…

Online Instruction and Office Hours with Brooklyn Connections

Jen Hoyer

To all the teachers who are teaching online right now, the Brooklyn Connections team wants to say: thank you for everything you are doing! We recognize how exceptionally challenging, time consuming and emotionally and physically taxing this work is and we are here to offer support. Let us know if we can help in any of the following ways: Online Instruction: Let us take the mic for awhile! Brooklyn Connections educators are here to deliver live or asynchronous lessons of your choosing for grades 4 through 12.  What kind of lessons?  Online research! (i.…

POTW: A Flatbush Pharmacy

Cecily Dyer

Interior of Cutler's Drug StoreInterior of Cutler's Drug Store, 1887, V1972.1.587; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week we are honoring all those employed in pharmacies who continue to work throughout the pandemic, ensuring that New Yorkers can obtain the medications they need.  We thank you!   George E. Cutler was born in 1842 in Massachusetts, where, after serving in the Navy and fighting in the Civil War, he studied pharmaceutics, boarding and working at an apothecary in his hometown. By the 1870s, he had moved…

Poison for Profit

Ondine Jean-Baptiste

Everybody gets sick. For most of us, our health is a deeply personal and even private topic. But sickness and health are also public issues that have long shaped Brooklyn’s economy, its built environment, its laws and institutions, and its diverse communities. Taking Care of Brooklyn: Stories of Sickness and Health is one of Brooklyn Historical Society’s current exhibitions which explores how centuries of Brooklynites have understood sickness and health. Through the experiences of everyday Brooklynites giving, receiving, demanding, and being denied health care, Taking Care of Brooklyn shows…

Stay Connected! Online Research Tutorials for Brooklyn Newsstand and our Digital Collections

Jen Hoyer

Looking for tips for digging into your Brooklyn history research online? Check out our new video tutorials for Brooklyn Newsstand and the Brooklyn Collection's Digital Collections.  Brooklyn Newsstand is a collection of digitized Brooklyn newspapers made available through a partnership with Newspapers.com. Right now, the full content of Brooklyn Newsstand is available for free from any location. The Digital Collections offer a selection of more than 20,000 historical photographs and maps from the Brooklyn Collection, and audio and video recordings created by the Brooklyn…

POTW: Cooking for Brooklyn

Maggie Schreiner

Pilgrim Laundry CookPilgrim Laundry cook, circa 1910, v1989.003.3; Pilgrim Laundry photographs, v1989.003, Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks we will be honoring Brooklyn’s essential workers: the people who keep us fed, provide us with groceries and other essentials, clean our homes and workplaces, and take care of us when we’re sick.This week we’re honoring our borough’s hard-working food service workers, who are cooking meals for delivery-only restaurants, providing grab-and-go lunches for school children, and sustaining our frontline medical workers at…

Contraception, Control & Care

Ondine Jean-Baptiste

Everybody gets sick. For most of us, our health is a deeply personal and even private topic. But sickness and health are also public issues that have long shaped Brooklyn’s economy, its built environment, its laws and institutions, and its diverse communities. Taking Care of Brooklyn: Stories of Sickness and Health is one of Brooklyn Historical Society’s current exhibitions which explores how centuries of Brooklynites have understood sickness and health. Through the experiences of everyday Brooklynites giving, receiving, demanding, and being denied health care, Taking Care of Brooklyn…

POTW: Doing Your Part to Take Care of Brooklyn

Nalleli Guillen

Annual Report, American Red Cross, Brooklyn Chapter, 1943-44; American Red Cross, Brooklyn Chapter collection (1985.091), Brooklyn Historical Society
Are you Taking Care of Brooklyn? In these unprecedented times, support our front line healthcare providers by doing your part: Practical Social Distancing; Stay home; Wash your hands; Avoid touching your face. BHS’s recent public history project and exhibition of the same name, Taking Care of Brooklyn, explores the history of women as caregivers, both in the home and in the workforce. In the late nineteenth century, the…

The Recap: Toxic City

Bo Méndez

An ad for Dutch Boy brand lead paintUsed in Dr. David Rosner's presentation for this program.
Each Recap post highlights a recent public program featured at Brooklyn Historical Society.  Scroll to the bottom of the page to hear the program in its entirety.How can we combat a toxin that is all around us?In New York City, which has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, thousands of pounds of lead-based paint and the dust or chips it can produce have accumulated on the walls, ceilings, and other surfaces in public and private housing, as well as schools, offices, and…

Photographs and Reflection in the Time of Quarantine

Larry Racioppo

I’m restless. I’m 72 years old and have been “sheltering at home” since March 7th. I’m not sure which I miss more – seeing my grandchildren or exploring the outskirts of New York City. I’ve spent many quiet hours photographing its waterfront and abandoned interiors. Almost every day since the 7th, I’ve scanned panoramic and large format negatives or made pigmented inkjet prints, and I expect to continue this routine in the weeks and months ahead. I’m lucky to have the means and equipment to do so, but man do I miss being out photographing. I’m trying to internalize the advice of my friend…

Caretakers as Changemakers

Ondine Jean-Baptiste

Portrait of an unidentified nursing student

POTW: A Mother's Rights

Nalleli Guillen

Collections storage at BHS
This week’s POTW takes you behind the scenes, inside BHS collections storage!Hanging on our paintings rack is an unusual portrait of Brooklynite Rachel Hardy Ray that depicts her nursing a child, not something you see too often in nineteenth-century American portraits. It's almost as if her baby was carefully placed to keep the artist from capturing a full #freethenipple moment!As unusual as it may seem, breastfeeding has actually been a traditional motif in art for centuries, used to represent maternal protection and fertility. It was a common trope…

Pandemics in Brooklyn: a view from 1918

Jen Hoyer

It’s hard to know which of these things is more unexpected: that, in a time of health crisis and desperate need for accurate information, my first instinct is to read the newspaper from 100 years ago; or that said news coverage has proved oddly comforting. If either of these instincts resonates with you as well, check out what the Brooklyn Daily Eagle shared about the 1918 influenza pandemic. First of all: folks felt unsure about things. On September 18th, writing about “Influenza and Sports” (some things never change…), the Eagle reported that “Whether the influenza will flourish is a…

Hidden Ephemera in the Clippings Files

Michelle Montalbano

Beyond the stanchions, in the center of the Brooklyn Collection, sit two rows of cabinets. Clocking in at 110 drawers, they contain a collection of newspaper clippings that are finally getting some much-needed attention. The clippings files include folders with obscure labels such as "Local Color" and "Brooklyn Spirit", and the subjects they cover—the aforementioned included—are cataloged in a 447-page Word document. It is also one of our best-kept secrets. Though we use the clippings files to answer many reference questions, they are so sprawling and voluminous that even a…

POTW: Brooklyn Women Rule the Road

Nalleli Guillen

Woman in car, 1910-1925, V1981.283.3.89; Burton family papers and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society
Sexism in driving is as old as the American automobile industry. At the turn of the twentieth century, as Americans began purchasing personal vehicles, social commentators immediately dismissed female drivers, assuming the “fair motorist” was timid and hindered by “woman’s natural distaste for mechanics.” Luckily, photographs like this one from the Burton family papers and photographs show that women have ruled the road just as long as men! As the Brooklyn Daily…

POTW: Emily Roebling's Bridge

Nalleli Guillen

Brooklyn Bridge, circa 1901; Early Brooklyn and Long island photograph collection, V1972.1.1278, Brooklyn Historical Society
When it opened in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge immediately became one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks, a symbol of American ingenuity and technological prowess. Did you know it likely never would have been completed without the steadfast management of one great woman? Emily Warren Roebling (1843-1903) took over daily oversight of the bridge’s construction in 1872. That year, her husband Washington Roebling developed decompression sickness, “the…

POTW: Hunterfly Road and Brooklyn's Weeksville

Nalleli Guillen

Eugene L. Armbruster, Hunterfly Road, circa 1922; V1987.11.2, Brooklyn Historical Society
Certain houses, streets, or neighborhoods have the ability to transport passersby back in time. The three houses in this photograph, today home to the Weeksville Heritage Center, preserve the memory of Brooklyn's once thriving nineteenth-century free African American community, Weeksville. The earliest of these houses (the single story duplex in the middle of the photograph) dates to the 1840s. The house was built not even two decades after New York State outlawed slavery, when many…

New recordings from the Packer Collegiate Institute now online!

Maggie Schreiner

This post was written by Aliki Caloyeras, Brooklyn Historical Society Digitization Intern. Brooklyn Historical Society is pleased to announce the availability of over 175 newly digitized audio recordings, films, and videos from the Packer Collegiate Institute records (2014.019). This project has been made possible by a generous digitization grant from the Metropolitan Library Council (METRO), and follows up on our previous work with METRO to preserve quickly-deteriorating magnetic media and provide the public with easy access to our audio, video, and film collections.  

…

POTW: Williamsburg families

Nalleli Guillen

Lucille Fornasieri Gold, Williamsburg families, 1980-1985; V2008.013.73, Brooklyn Historical Society
Brooklyn-born photographer Lucille Fornasieri Gold said of her photographs, “I engage the social and moral questions, but I don’t try to answer them.” Through her photographs, Fornasieri Gold documented everyday life in Brooklyn, her portraits and street scenes encouraging viewers to consider the stories captured on camera. This image of a quiet moment shared by two families in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood in the 1980s unlocks a complex local history. Fueled by…

From Castle Keeps to Community Spaces: The Evolution of Brooklyn’s Armories

Deborah

Three new buildings for Brooklyn … Harper’s Weekly, August 9, 1890, p. 616
Walking the urban landscape of New York, one comes upon buildings of different styles and periods—one of the great joys of living in an older city. Even in this wildly varied landscape the armories stand out. One can walk down a row of modest apartment houses and, turning the corner, confront one of these massive structures looming like an apparition from the middle ages. I had never seen an armory until I moved from the flat sprawl of my western city to Brooklyn, and at first had…

POTW: Desegregating Brooklyn's Classrooms

Nalleli Guillen

Group portrait of boys in a classroom, circa 1905, photographic print, v1972.1.739; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This class portrait was taken in about 1905 at Brooklyn's P.S. 134. Of the thirty-two young faces captured in the image, one is African American (visible just left of center). During Black History Month, this unnamed young man’s matriculation at P.S. 134 in the early twentieth century is a reminder of the long struggle to desegregate Brooklyn’s public schools, one that continues into the present day. In the 1800s, Brooklyn’s public school system was strictly…

The Recap: Gentrification 2.0

Ondine Jean-Baptiste

  Each Recap post highlights a recent public program featured at Brooklyn Historical Society.  Scroll to the bottom of the page to hear the program in its entirety. Is change inevitable? That seemed to be the question of the evening at BHS’s first program of the season. On Wednesday, January 15th, 2020, the Great Hall was packed wall-to-wall with New Yorkers from all corners of the city waiting to hear what new aspect of gentrification we could possibly touch upon. Panelists included Matthew Schuerman, author of Newcomers: Gentrification and Its Discontents…

POTW: A Leather Pocketbook

Nalleli Guillen

bhs_m1983.201.2_3of5_a (1)
This leather pocketbook once belonged to shipmaster Elihu Smith (1771-1825). Although he moved to New York City in 1810, Smith was born near New Bedford in Bristol County, Massachusetts. When he came of age, he quickly rose through the maritime ranks. His illustrious sailing career purportedly took him to China, England, and domestically, on frequent trips between New England and New York. Smith family manuscripts (also in the BHS collection) show that Elihu and his second wife Catharine both descended from old American Quaker families, hers from…

POTW: A Souvenir Bell Cast from the Fire

Nalleli Guillen

bhs_m1990.33.1_1of6_a (1)
In 1895, Brooklynite James Dunne (1842-1915) commissioned the manufacture of several miniature bells like this one. Inscribed "Brooklyn City Hall, Feb. 26, '95," they were forged from the remnants of the great bronze bell that once hung in Brooklyn's City Hall (today known as Borough Hall). Originally hung in 1859, the bell weighed 8,626 pounds and was cast in Boston by the ironworks of Henry N. Hooper & Company. Tragedy struck in the early morning hours of February 26, 1895, when the building caught fire. The blaze originated from a…

Brooklyn Historical Society's Statement in Support of our Colleagues at the Museum of Chinese in America

Deborah Schwartz

A statement from BHS President and CEO Deborah Schwartz The staff and Board of Brooklyn Historical Society are devastated by the news of the fire at 70 Mulberry Street, where MOCA stored its invaluable collections. We share MOCA’s commitment to the importance of local history, and we are prepared to help in any way we can as our colleagues establish their path to recovery. From its founding, MOCA has been a bold and creative voice in the museum field, never shrinking from the next challenge in telling the resilient stories of community. MOCA  will need resources and expertise to get…

POTW: Alfred Steers's commemorative medals

Julie Golia

Medal, circa 1900, M1985.15.3; Alfred E. Steers collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Donated to the Society by his descendants, this commemorative medal is one of many in BHS's collection that belonged to Brooklynite Alfred E. Steers (1860-1948). Born into a grocer family in the town of Flatbush (today a neighborhood of Brooklyn), Steers quickly rose to prominence in local government. Appointed first a justice of the peace in Flatbush in the 1880s, Steers became city magistrate the following decade. In 1910, he was elected Brooklyn Borough President. Steers' large…

POTW: Revolutionary-era cannonball

Julie Golia

Musket ball, circa 1700s, M1985.403.1; Brooklyn Historical Society.
BHS possesses a unique collection of Revolutionary War family heirlooms, found objects, and relics that together provide a window into the history of the war itself, and also how later generations commemorated it. Before her death in 1943, New Yorker Nora Gertrude Welch donated this three-pound cannon ball to Long Island Historical Society (today Brooklyn Historical Society). Having discovered it near White Plains, New York, she likely inferred its connection to the Revolutionary War and George Washington's…

POTW: A Ceremonial Firefighter's Helmet

Julie Golia

Firefighter's helmet, circa 1886, M1989.44.7; James A. Kelly collection of Brooklyn firefighting records; Brooklyn Historical Society.
As New York and Brooklyn became increasingly dense cities, the specter of fire and its destructive potential loomed large. In Brooklyn, beginning in 1785, local citizens regularly selected their volunteer firefighters at town meetings. For the next 84 years, an expanding network of volunteers fought fires across Brooklyn. Station crews worked independently of each other, sometimes leading to competition between teams to reach fires first.…

POTW: Happy New Year!

Julie Golia

Swerdlof wedding, 1946, V1991.11.100.17; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week, we are revisiting one of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for 2020. Now that the holidays are behind us, the focus has shifted to the season of glitter, champagne, and the midnight ball drop. In Brooklyn, there are hundreds of events and parties to ring in the New Year. Whether you’re prepping for a festive night on the town or a low-key evening at home, there’s so much to celebrate. All…

I, Asimov in Brooklyn: How the Library Shaped a Writer’s Mind

Allyson

  I'll write as I please and let the critics do the analyzing. — Asimov, 1973

Cover of First Edition of Nightfall and Other Stories by Issac Asimov
By the time he died in 1992, Isaac Asimov had penned or edited over 500 books and hundreds of short stories over the course of his 72 years; a staggeringly prolific career. A giant amongst the hard science fiction genre, he was considered one of the “Big Three” along with Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. He not only won every science fiction award available he created canonical characters and…

POTW: Cozy up for the holidays!

Julie Golia

Runkel's pure cocoa sample, early 1900s; M1986.237.1; Brooklyn Historical Society. 
Seasons Greetings from Brooklyn Historical Society! If you’re celebrating, we hope you’ve had a festive holiday filled with family, Christmas trees and menorah lightings, latkes and hot cocoa. This tiny object from our collection put us all in a cozy mood. Standing about an inch high, this tin from the early 20th century likely held just enough powder for one steaming cup of cocoa. This little artifact is just one of many we're learning more about as we process BHS's historic artifact…

POTW: It's Christmastime in Brooklyn!

Julie Golia

Holiday View 12, circa 1956, 2006.001.1.131; Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings, arc.216; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Today we are revisiting one of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for 2020. It’s a festive time of year all over Brooklyn and the above photograph is just one of many in our collections illustrating just how celebratory our very own Williamsburgh Savings Bank became while it functioned as a bank.  Extremely large Christmas trees, piles of gifts, highly visible…

POTW: Manhattan Bridge

Dan Brenner

Underwood & Underwood, Manhattan Bridge, circa 1910, Gelatin silver print, v1973.5.324; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Manhattan Bridge opened to the public on the morning of December 31, 1909. It was the third suspension bridge built to span the East River, joining the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges. At the beginning of construction, its name was “Bridge No. 3” but that didn’t stick. In the end, the city opted for simple, christening the bridge Manhattan. In 1901, the city recruited Department of Bridges commissioner Gustav Lindenthal and engineer R.S. Buck to…

A Child’s Christmas in South Brooklyn (with apologies to Dylan Thomas)

Larry Racioppo

When I was a boy growing up in South Brooklyn, no one was concerned about keeping Christ in Christmas. That was a given. Even my uncles who never set foot in church went to the standing room only midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

Midnight Mass, St. Michael the Archangel on 4th Avenue. 1974
Only Easter Sunday rivaled Christmas in importance. Both were Holy Days of Obligation, which required attendance at mass, and each was good for a week off from Catholic school. But for me, and my 30 first cousins, it was no contest. The Easter Bunny was cool, and…

POTW: Winter is coming...

Dan Brenner

John D. Morrell, [View of waterfront, taken from Esplanade], February 5, 1961, Chromogenic color print, v1974.9.140; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Even though winter doesn’t officially arrive until December 21, it sure feels like it has already invaded Brooklyn! We are bracing ourselves for the inevitable drop in temperature and the dreadful wintry mix— two words put together that nobody wants to hear. It is especially chilly down on the waterfront, as shown above. This image by John D. Morrell shows a view of the waterfront taken from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade in the…

POTW: Thanksgiving Day

Dan Brenner

Harry Kalmus, Edna Machtiger’s wedding, Thanksgiving day, 1946, Black-and-white negatives, V1991.11.103.4; Brooklyn Historical Society.
From all of us here at Brooklyn Historical Society, we hope you have a safe and happy holiday. Happy Thanksgiving! This image comes from the Harry Kalmus papers and photographs (ARC.046). After serving in World War II, Kalmus took up photography, working for advertising agencies and corporate offices in Manhattan. Later in life, he and his family moved to Kew Gardens in Queens and eventually settled on Long Island in the town of Freeport. He…

Teaching with Primary Sources: History Mystery!

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. Using primary sources in the classroom shows us that we can access history through many different formats as long as we are grounded in historical thinking. A History Mystery is a fun way to create an…

POTW: G. Frank Edgar Pearsall

Dan Brenner

G. Frank E. Pearsall, [Portrait of child], circa 1870, Cabinet photographs, V1992.17.32; Brooklyn Historical Society.
G. Frank Edgar Pearsall was born in New York City on November 23, 1841. His parents died when he was young leaving Frank, along with his brother Alva, to be raised by their aunt in Saratoga, New York. In the early 1850s, the Pearsall brothers’ uncle, Townsend Duryea, took them under his wing. A pioneering daguerreotypist, Duryea owned a photography studio and taught the brothers his trade. After only two years, Duryea left the United States for Australia and…

POTW: John Yapp Culyer

Dan Brenner

Alva A. Pearsall, [John Yapp Culyer], circa 1870, Photographic print, 1977.430; Brooklyn Historical Society.
John Yapp Culyer was born in New York City on May 18, 1839. After studying surveying and engineering at New York University, he became a member of the engineer corps working under Frederick Law Olmsted, who was then superintendent of Central Park. Over the course of the next decade, Culyer also volunteered his services in the United States Sanitary Commission (A federal relief agency that provided support for sick and wounded Civil War soldiers), splitting his time…

Caring for Brooklyn’s Digital History

Maggie Schreiner

Erica López, BHS Digital Preservation Fellow, writes about the joys and challenges of preserving legacy media. We experience, understand and interact with Brooklyn’s rich history in so many different shapes and forms. At Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library, this history is documented in manuscripts, photographs, moving images, oral histories and artifacts. In today’s increasingly digital world, our history can also be found on floppy disks, CDs, hard drives, and smart phones. Digital materials are at risk for a number of reasons, but the biggest risk is obsolescence. For…

On Native Land

Natiba

On October 7th, I attended a convening of Brooklyn based cultural institutions, hosted by Brooklyn Museum in partnership with the Lenape Center. It was a 2-day workshop to discuss Living Land Acknowledgements and develop ongoing collaborative projects between Lenape-Delaware Nations and cultural institutions in Brooklyn. A Living Land Acknowledgment is a statement that recognizes the indigenous peoples who have been dispossessed from the homelands and territories upon which an institution was built and currently occupies and operates in. For Brooklyn, it was originally the “Lenapehoking…

POTW: The Elephantine Colossus

Dan Brenner

[Elephantine Colossus], circa 1893, Illustration, V1972.1.1090; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Elephantine Colossus was an elephant-shaped hotel attraction located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Coney Island from 1885 through 1896. Also known as the Elephant Hotel, this unique structure stood twelve stories high and contained a total of thirty-one rooms, including a tobacco shop and a museum. At the time, it was such a site to behold that it was dubbed the eighth wonder of the world! During its short life on Surf Avenue and West 12th Street, the Elephantine Colossus was…

POTW: The Carroll Street Bridge

Dan Brenner

John D. Morrell, [Carroll Street bridge], February, 28, 1960, Gelatin silver print, V1974.4.1450; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Carroll Street Bridge crosses over the Gowanus Canal between Bond and Nevins Street and resides near the border between the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gowanus and Carroll Gardens. Of the 794 bridges and tunnels currently operating under the purview of the New York City Department of Transportation, it is the least-used bridge in the city. Despite this, the Carroll Street Bridge is actually a New York City historic landmark. It is one of only three…

POTW: Lucille Fornasieri Gold Photographs

Dan Brenner

Lucille Fornasieri Gold, [Russian women in Brighton Beach], circa 1975, Digital image, V2008.013.16; Brooklyn Historical Society
Every photograph in Lucille Fornasieri Gold’s collection is a story unto itself. Case in point, the image above of an early morning scene on the boardwalk in Brighton Beach, a neighborhood alongside Coney Island on the southern shore of Brooklyn. Seated at two tables are four Russian women, collectively looking off into the distance at something out of frame. I wonder what it could be they are looking at. In 1930, Lucille Fornasieri Gold was born in…

POTW: The Frank J. Trezza Seatrain Shipbuilding Collection

Dan Brenner

Frank J. Trezza, [Ship fitters], 1977, Color slide, v1988.21.120; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This image comes from the Frank J. Trezza Seatrain Shipbuilding collection, which documents the Brooklyn Navy Yard through a turbulent period of change. Closed by the Department of Defense in 1966, the Navy Yard was reopened a few years later under the management of the Seatrain Shipbuilding Corporation. A subsidiary of the shipping and transportation company Seatrain Lines, the Seatrain Shipbuilding Corporation was founded in 1968 with the help of federal government subsidies and…

Teaching with Primary Sources: School History in Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection, focused on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. As part of our work, we create freely available Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. Now that school is…

A Voice from the Past

Nalleli Guillen

Preserved in Brooklyn Historical Society’s collections is a wax audio cylinder from 1927 with a big story to tell.Intent listeners will just make out the soft voice of a woman identified as “Mrs. Hunt.” She thanks the congregation of Plymouth Church for inviting her to Brooklyn Heights to celebrate “the memory of one whose name always seems to me to be the complement of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher.”Although a somewhat obscure figure today, Mrs. Hunt, (also known as Sally Maria Diggs, Rose Ward, and, troublingly, "Pinky," throughout her life), shared a unique…

For Every Reader, Their Book

Madeline Knight-Dixon

As soon as I tell anyone I’m a librarian, inevitably one of the first questions people ask is, “Can you recommend a good book?!” The short answer is: Yes! S. R. Ranganathan created five principles of librarianship (and yes, this is the kind of thing you learn in library school). One of these principles is, “Every reader, their book” and “Every book, their reader.” Connecting patrons to books that match their interests and needs is one of my favorite parts of being a librarian. We in “the biz” refer to this as Readers’ Advisory. At Brooklyn Public Library, we’ve taken readers’ advisory to the…

POTW: The Sharon Hall Hotel

Dan Brenner

John D. Morrell, [Sharon Hall Hotel], March 6, 1960, Gelatin silver print, v1974.4.1504; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Some readers might remember this building as the Sharon Hall Hotel. Prior to its revamping however, it was an apartment building known as the Montrose. This magnificent structure was designed, sometime between the 1860s and 1880s, by Montrose W. Morris, the Brooklyn based architect best known for designing some of the earliest multi-unit apartment buildings in New York City. The design of the Montrose is very similar in style to the Alhambra, another larger…

POTW: Zig Zag Records, Sheepshead Bay

Dan Brenner

James and Karla Murray, Zig Zag Records, 2005, 2009.004.28; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The image above shows the exterior of Zig Zag Records, a family-owned shop in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, which shuttered its doors in 2011. This photograph is part of an ongoing project by photographers James and Karla Murray which documents the storefronts of Brooklyn and New York City. It was featured in the 2009 Counter Culture, part of the “Public Perspectives” exhibition series held at Brooklyn Historical Society. The exhibition also coincided with the publication…

POTW: Bliss Estate, Owl's Head Park

Dan Brenner

[Bliss Estate, Owl’s Head Park], circa 1915, V1973.6.680; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Located in the Brooklyn neighborhood previously known as Yellow Hook (today Bay Ridge), Owl’s Head Park is tucked along the water in the neighborhood’s northern most section, offering spectacular views of the bay and nearby New Jersey. In 1856, Henry Cruse Murphy - former Brooklyn mayor, founder of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and first director of the Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society!) - built his estate on the site that would eventually become Owl’s Head Park…

POTW: Altar to Liberty, Green-Wood Cemetery

Dan Brenner

Altar to Liberty, Green-Wood Cemetery, August 27, 1920, V1973.5.1005: Brooklyn Historical Society.
Situated on Brooklyn’s highest point, Battle Hill in Green-Wood Cemetery, stands the Roman goddess of wisdom and war, Minerva. Designed as an altar to independence, the bronze Minerva appears to be waving to the Statue of Liberty which is clearly visible from her vantage point. Charles Higgins, the creator of Higgins India Ink, led the charge on this project. He considered the Battle of Brooklyn, fought on August 27, 1776, to be an overlooked event of historic significance in…

An End of Summer Tribute: Coney Island and the Wonder Wheel

Nalleli Guillen

Imagine this: It’s a cool summer day and you are the first in line with your friends for the Ferris wheel on Coney Island. The operator opens the gate and you hop on a blue passenger car and sit facing the beach. Your pod slowly rises and starts to shake; the higher and higher you get, the more clearly you can see the boats floating on the horizon, and as you sit behind your friends you see a wonderful view of the Verrazano Bridge, then the pod…drops! The wind blows heavy as you swing in the air. You scream, but also laugh it off because you go on the Ferris wheel every time you’re here but…

POTW: Ocean Parkway Bike Path

Dan Brenner

[The Ocean Parkway, Three Drives, Two Bicycle Paths and Sidewalks], circa 1894, V1986.250.1.78; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Stretching from the southwest entrance of Prospect Park to the ocean shore of Coney Island, Ocean Parkway spans just under five miles across the borough of Brooklyn. In 1894, the parkway became New York City’s first dedicated bicycle path, and the very first in the United States! In 1866, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux proposed constructing two stretches of open public parkways to Brooklyn’s board of Park Commissioners, an extension of their…

A (Not So) Brief History of Red Hook

Michelle Montalbano

Shipyards, dry docks, and machine shops. The place with the IKEA and the Fairway. Home of the fabled wild dogs on Beard St. and the abandoned grain elevator. Former home of the Dell's Maraschino Factory and the Snapple Factory. A Brooklyn neighborhood with a "small town" feel, cobbled streets, and limited public transit. It's possible that no other section of the borough has been so readily defined by single facets of its complex character. A waterfront community with deep maritime and industrial roots, Red Hook—like many neighborhoods in Brooklyn—is in flux. This is vividly borne out…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Food in Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection, focused on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. As part of our work, we create freely available Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. Brooklynites love to…

POTW: The Ralph Irving Lloyd Lantern Slides

Dan Brenner

Ralph Irving Lloyd, [Cats on a roof], circa 1905, V1981.15.219; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklynites have been obsessed with photographing cats long before social media was a thing. These fancy felines were photographed by Brooklyn’s own amateur photographer and ophthalmologist, Ralph Irving Lloyd. Lloyd was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on September 11, 1875. After high school, Lloyd moved to New York City and attended the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, graduating in 1896. Two years later, he enrolled at the New York Ophthalmic Hospital for further…

POTW: Clay Lancaster

Dan Brenner

[Clay Lancaster and August Heckscher, reception at Gage & Tollner], November 28, 1967, v1973.5.1582; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Architectural Historian and author Clay Lancaster (on left) was born on March 30, 1917 in Lexington, Kentucky. After receiving his Master’s from the University of Kentucky he moved to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights and worked as both a librarian in the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library and as a lecturer on architectural history at Columbia University in Manhattan. One of Lancaster’s most noteworthy accomplishments was…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Environmentalism in Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection, focused on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula.  This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. As part of our work, we create freely available Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. As summer…

POTW: The Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard Collection

Dan Brenner

Anthony Costanzo, [Brooklyn Navy Yard], circa 1960, v1988.37.118; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This photograph comes from the Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard collection (ARC.023). Costanzo was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. In 1963, he attended Teachers College at Columbia University and received his Master’s in Education. After graduating, Costanzo stayed in New York City, working as a Public Information Officer for the U.S. Department of Navy at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He would remain in…

Map Digitization!

ljuliano

Thanks to our new initiative, Portal to the Past: Creating Brooklyn Historical Society’s Digital Map Collections, BHS has just finished digitizing 1,600 maps!In 2017, BHS received a generous grant from National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support Portal to the Past: Creating Brooklyn Historical Society’s Digital Map Collections, a project that will increase public access to the institution’s extensive collection of flat and folded maps through conservation, digitization, and the creation of a web-based portal. Additional generous funding for this project has been provided by the…

POTW: Marianne Moore

Dan Brenner

[Marianne Moore, reception at Gage & Tollner’s], November 28, 1967, v1973.5.1588; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Coincidentally enough, the other day I was enjoying my lunch on the Brooklyn Heights promenade when an elderly gentleman approached me and asked if I had heard of Marianne Moore. When I told him I had, he sat down next to me and shared the story of his day. He had been walking up and down the promenade all morning asking people if they knew who she was. This man was delighted to have found me, although we ended up not actually talking about Marianne Moore.…

Making Award-Winning Connections

Charlie Rudoy

A visitor to the Brooklyn Collection archive this summer will notice an eye-catching display in our exhibition case. Stepping closer, they’ll learn about the Dreamland fire in Coney Island, read political cartoons about the Verrazzano Bridge, and even see a replica of the Farragut Houses public housing project. The visitor will more than likely learn something new about Brooklyn’s history from this exhibition by local researches. They may be surprised to learn that all of these researchers are students.

Brooklyn Connections was awarded this year's Archival Innovator…

POTW: The Williamsburg Bridge

Dan Brenner

[The Williamsburg Bridge, spanning the East River], circa 1910, v1973.6.575; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Williamsburg Bridge opened to the public on December 19, 1903, spanning the East River and connecting Manhattan’s Lower East Side with the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. It was designed by American Civil Engineer Leffert L. Buck and architect Henry Hornbostel who would later also collaborate on the design of the nearby Queensboro Bridge. This time period coincided with a massive population growth in New York City, prompting an ease of movement between boroughs…

Newly Digitized Historic Video Now Available!

Maggie Schreiner

We are excited to announce that Brooklyn Historical Society has arrived on the Internet Archive!We will be using this new account to provide access to historic films, movies, and audio recordings from our collections. You can currently explore over 40 newly digitized movies and 6 audio recordings from a variety of our collections, ranging from 1920s home movies to 1970s radio commercials. fig-17918] Our digitization project revealed some lovely surprises! We digitized videos of BHS exhibitions from the late 1980s and early 1990s, including “Not Forgotten: AIDS at the Brooklyn…

BHS's Young Scholars Program wins 2019 AASLH Award of Excellence for Leadership in History

Bo Méndez

The AASLH Leadership In History Awards is the Nation’s Most Prestigious Competition for Recognition of Achievement in State and Local History.

CASA Young Scholars visit the Othmer Library
Brooklyn Historical Society is proud to announce that it has been named the recipient of the 2019 American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Award of Excellence for its Young Scholars program.  The AASLH Leadership in History Awards

BHS's Young Scholars Program wins 2019 AASLH Award of Excellence for Leadership in History

Bo Méndez

The AASLH Leadership In History Awards is the Nation’s Most Prestigious Competition for Recognition of Achievement in State and Local History.

CASA Young Scholars visit the Othmer Library
Brooklyn Historical Society is proud to announce that it has been named the recipient of the 2019 American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Award of Excellence for its Young Scholars program.  The AASLH Leadership in History Awards

POTW: Fabulous Coney Island!

Dan Brenner

[Fabulous Coney Island], circa 1950, Photographic postcard, v1973.4.1511; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Summertime in August means it’s time to beat the heat. New York of course has its fair share of beaches but one of its more well-known spots to go for a swim is Brooklyn’s own Coney Island. Pictured above is “Fabulous Coney Island” as captured from the 1950s! The Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone, attractions that both received landmark status in the late 1980s, are represented here as well as the historic Steeplechase Park. All but Steeplechase Park remain today. The park…

POTW: The Red Hook Grain Terminal

Dan Brenner

[Gowanus Canal Grain Terminal], circa 1930, Photographic print, v1973.5.978; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Situated at the mouth of the Gowanus Canal in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, the Red Hook Grain Terminal was built in 1922, as part of the New York State Canal System (formerly known as the New York State Barge Canal). This project was a plan to incorporate a new series of waterways to re-route and improve shipping along the Erie Canal. The New York State Canal System also included the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, the Champlain Canal, and the Oswego Canal. The Erie Canal…

POTW: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

Dan Brenner

C.M. Tacopina, [Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, Construction], 1963, Color slide, v1984.1.154; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Designed by Swiss-American engineer Othmar H. Ammann, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was built between 1959 and 1964. It is the longest suspension bridge in North America as well as the eleventh longest in the world. Totaling 4,260 in length across New York Harbor, it crosses the Narrows waterway from the shore lines of Fort Hamilton in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge to Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island. The bridge is named after sixteenth-century…

POTW: Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden

Dan Brenner

Donald L. Nowlan, [Pond], circa 1975, Color print, v1990.2.241; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s (BBG’s) Japanese Hill-and Pond Garden was the first Japanese garden curated within a public botanic garden in America. Designed by Japanese-American landscape architect Takeo Shiota, the garden took two years to complete, opening to the public in 1915. The project cost $13,000 and was funded largely by a gift from Alfred T. White, a benefactor and trustee. In 1947, Japanese-American Gardener Frank Okamura was hired to care for the Japanese Hill-and-Pond…

POTW: The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch

Dan Brenner

[Cyclists in Grand Army Plaza], circa 1900, Black-and-white-photograph, v1987.41.7; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Towering over the northern entrance of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch was built between 1889-1892 in the Beaux-Arts style as part of Prospect Park Plaza, known today as Grand Army Plaza. Construction of the arch was supported in part by the Grand Army of the Republic, a private fraternal organization for Union Army veterans of the American Civil War founded just after the war’s end, in 1866. The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial…

Outlining inequality: how student research put redlining on the map

Jen Hoyer

At Brooklyn Connections we are all about student research, and so we’re always excited to find historic examples of this in the Brooklyn Collection. One item in particular gives a glimpse into the impact student research has had on our borough. NYPIRG, the New York Public Interest Research Group, was founded in the 1970s as an issues-focused student activist group. Within seven years of its inception it was based on thirteen campuses across the state and counted over 100,000 dues-paying members. Students were able to receive academic credit for engaging in research on NYPIRG projects;…

POTW: The Fulton Ferry Fireboat House

Dan Brenner

bhs_v1989.18.63_tJoseph Maraio, Fulton Ferry Fireboat House prior to renovation, circa 1975, color slide, v1989.18.63; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Located in the Fulton Ferry Historic District in Brooklyn, the Fulton Ferry Fireboat House was built in 1926 on the former site of the old Fulton Ferry Terminal. Two years’ prior, Brooklyn’s Union Ferry Company had terminated service from this location due to the declining number of ferry commuters. This occurred in part because the early 1900s saw a rise in alternate means of available transportation including automobiles and…

POTW: Schenck-Crooke House

Dan Brenner

[Schenck-Crooke House], circa 1900, photogravure, v1981.283.58; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Originally located at 21-33 East 63rd Street in the Flatlands neighborhood of Brooklyn, The Schenck-Crooke House was built between 1675-1677 and is considered to be one of the oldest Dutch colonial houses in New York. The Schenck family arrived from Holland in 1650 and settled in the area then known as Amersfoot. Twenty-five years later on December 29, 1675, Jan Martense Schenck purchased his own farmland and built the house on the property. Designed in the traditional Dutch colonial…

A Personal History of the Mermaid Parade

Larry Racioppo

According to Wikipedia, Coney Island’s first Mermaid Parade took place in 1983, and it is now the largest art parade in the United States, attracting over 3,000 participants and hundreds of thousands of spectators. Hours before the Parade’s start, the audience begins lining up behind police barricades along Surf Avenue. Spectators and costumed participants ride the subway to the recently renovated Stillwell Avenue stop.

Stillwell Avenue subway station, 2015
Mermaid on the subway, 2015
Coney Island USA, founded by Dick…

POTW: Kings Theatre

Dan Brenner

Interior view of Kings Theatre, circa 1950; v1973.5.1847; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush, the Loews Kings Theatre opened its doors on September 7, 1929 with a screening of Evangeline, directed by the prolific filmmaker Edwin Carewe. The theatre was then one of the five “wonder theaters” of New York and New Jersey, all owned by Loews and with similar grandiose designs. The Kings Theatre was the flagship of the company. Programming originally included a stage show accompanied by a feature film, but production costs coinciding with…

The mysterious affair of Stiles

Deborah

 

Brooklyn Collection.
Editor’s note: New evidence has come to light to definitively identify our dapper statuette in the Brooklyn Collection. I am still delighted he came to us to provoke a deep dive into the fascinating life of Henry Reed Stiles but he is an altogether different author, William Makepeace Thackeray. We extend thanks to Joshua J. Friedman for discovering excellent examples of other statuettes from the same mold. Our example has the name burnished off but others, for example this one at the Boston Athenaeum, have a clear label. Some…

POTW: Brooklyn Fire Headquarters

Dan Brenner

Alfred C. Loonam, Jay St., Brooklyn, N. of Willoughby St., 1950 ca; photograph, v1974.2.16; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In 1892, the Brooklyn Fire Department opened its headquarters at 365-67 Jay Street, located between Myrtle Avenue and Willoughby Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. The building was designed by renowned Richardsonian Romanesque Style (and later, Neoclassical) architect Frank Freeman, also known for such brilliant works as the Herman Behr Mansion in Brooklyn Heights, and the Eagle Warehouse in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. Six…

POTW: Huron Street Public Bath

Dan Brenner

Huron Street Public Bath, 1905; illustration, v1973.6.276; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Huron Street Public Bath was built in 1903 and opened its doors in 1904 amidst New York City’s Public Bath Movement, a city-wide Progressive Era initiative intended to improve the lives and living conditions of city dwellers who lived in tenements. At the turn of the century, bathrooms in tenements were not required by city law. Without running water, people were dependent on water provided by city pumps. This lack of personal hygiene combined with overcrowding contributed to the…

POTW: Hicks-Platt House, Gravesend

Dan Brenner

Ralph Irving Lloyd, Hicks-Platt House, Gravesend, circa 1915; lantern slide, v1981.15.5; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In 1643, English Anabaptist Lady Deborah Moody, along with a group of English colonists from Massachusetts, arrived in New Amsterdam to seek out religious freedom. At the time, Director Williem Kieft of the Dutch West India Company needed people to settle and defend the land in Brooklyn he had recently stolen from the local Lenape tribe. Kieft granted a land patent for Moody and her group to establish the area, thus founding what is now the Brooklyn…

Teaching with Primary Sources: the LGBTQ+ Movement in Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection, focused on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. As part of our work, we create freely available Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. Every year in June we…

POTW: Paerdegat Basin

Dan Brenner

Ralph Irving Lloyd, Paerdegat [Basin], circa 1910, lantern slide, v1981.15.144; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The saltwater wetland known as Paerdegat Basin is nestled between the southern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Canarsie and Georgetown. The word Paerdegat derives from the Dutch meaning “horse gate”, but over the years the basin was also known by other names including Bestevaar Kill, Bedford Creek, and Paerdegat Creek. In the early 1900s, this area seemed quite solitary and pleasant, which you can get a sense of from the above image. The trees surrounding the basin were part…

Conservation: BHS’s Maps Get Some TLC!

ljuliano

In our second post about the Library & Archives project Portal to the Past: Creating Brooklyn Historical Society’s Digital Map Collections, we are happy to announce we recently completed a significant milestone: conservation!One large facet of this project was being able to conserve a few maps in order to reintroduce them into our collection for researchers, scholars, and map enthusiasts. The Portal to the Past project team chose ten maps to conserve out of 1,600 based on four parameters: historical significance, uniqueness, state of decay, and those most in scope with our collection.…

POTW: Mozart in Concert Grove, Prospect Park

Dan Brenner

38080B5BMozart in Concert Grove, Prospect Park, ca. 1897, V1973.2.294; Brooklyn oversize 19th century collection, V1973.002; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Have you ever wondered why a bronze bust of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart resides in Prospect Park? The story of how the world-renowned Austrian composer’s likeness came to be in Brooklyn dates back to the year 1897. If you take a stroll through the southeastern side of Prospect Park in Brooklyn you will find yourself in Concert Grove. The area was originally designed for park-goers to leisurely enjoy live music in the nearby…

Emma, the Catablog

Maggie Schreiner

By Julie May and Maggie Schreiner Today, we announce the retirement of Emma, an interactive catalog of the archives and special collections held in the Othmer Library at Brooklyn Historical Society. For the last ten years, the staff at BHS have held Emma in high regard for the function it offered and the stepping stone it represents. Emma included basic records that described individual archival and special collections, and linked out to fuller, more complete descriptions such as finding aids and inventories when they were available. It was built using WordPress blogging software, hence…

POTW: Hotel Margaret

Dan Brenner

Hotel Margaret, ca. 1930, V1984.1.458; Brooklyn Slide Collection, V1984.001; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For years the majestic Hotel Margaret stood on the corner of Columbia Heights and Orange Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, overlooking the New York harbor with a grand view of Manhattan. The ten-story hotel once laid claim to being the tallest building in Brooklyn, the sun parlor on the top floor offering a panoramic view of the city in all directions. The building was designed using polychrome shades of stone which provided even more allure to…

If You Can Make It Here, They Won't Take It Anywhere

Charlie Rudoy

They say you can’t go home again. But for a garbage barge called Mobro 4000, after months of sailing through much of the Northern Hemisphere and capturing the attention of the world, home was the only place it could go.  

The Mobro 4000 docks in Brooklyn, Newsday, 1987
                                 The saga of the “world’s best-known garbage scow” touched the borders of several countries. Yet at its heart, it is a New York story. Using contemporary local news…

POTW: Prospect Park Picnic Ground

Dan Brenner

Prospect Park Picnic Ground, ca.1920, V1980.2.88; Prospect Park lantern slide collection, V1980.002; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Spring has officially sprung! It’s time to put away those winter clothes and bask in the warm rays of the sun. One particular activity I look forward to when the weather permits is having a relaxing picnic. In 1920s Brooklyn, the picnic grounds in Prospect Park were quite the hot ticket as you can see above. Let’s hope the park doesn’t get this crowded over the next few weeks as it gets even warmer. Regardless, go outside and enjoy! This image…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Bridges in Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection, focused on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. As part of our work, we create freely available Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. Brooklyn is all…

POTW: Squibb Plant, Brooklyn

Dan Brenner

Squibb Plant, Brooklyn, V1973.5.789; Brooklyn Photograph and Illustration Collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
After serving as a physician at the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Medical Station, Edward Robinson Squibb founded his own pharmaceutical manufacturing company, The Squibb Company, in 1858. In 1892, he formed a partnership with his family and changed the name to E.R. Squibb and Sons. During the 1920s, Squibb hired architect Russell G. Cory and associate Walter M. Cory of Turner Construction Company to design and build a new manufacturing plant located at 25-30…

Last Suppers and Good Fridays

Larry Racioppo

Our guest blogger Larry Racioppo is a lifelong Brooklynite and photographer who has documented Brooklyn and New York City for over 40 years. The Brooklyn Collection holds a collection of Racioppo's work and recently hosted a retrospective exhibition devoted to his career in conjunction with the release of his book Brooklyn Before. Racioppo was raised in a Catholic Italian-American family and has been documenting Good Friday ceremonies since 1974. Here, he shares some of that work and muses on Catholic iconography and community in general. We did not have art in our home. But we did have an…

Ronald Shiffman collection is open for research!

Maggie Schreiner

The Ronald Shiffman collection on the Pratt Center for Community Development (2013.023) is now open for research at Brooklyn Historical Society!  

Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, the country's first community development corporation.  
Building Hope: The Community Development Corporation Oral History Project.” Funded by the Ford Foundation, this project conducted interviews with leaders from nineteen community development corporations across the country. In addition to audio recordings and transcripts of many of the interviews, the collection includes…

POTW: Brighton Beach Hotel, 1888

Dan Brenner

Brighton Beach Hotel, being moved back from the ocean, April 3rd, 1888, V1973.6.661; Brooklyn Photograph and Illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
After becoming a millionaire selling mules and horses to the Union Army during the American Civil War, William Engeman returned home to New York where he purchased the land nestled between Coney Island and Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn for twenty thousand dollars, then known as Middle Division. He renamed the newly acquired land Brighton Beach and in 1870 opened the Ocean Hotel, a modest structure compared to…

POTW: Stauch Baths in Coney Island

Dan Brenner

Stauch’s Baths, 1984, V1992.48.1; Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island, V1992.048; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Above is a photograph by Anders Goldfarb of Stauch’s Baths on the Coney Island Boardwalk. Once a popular destination for gay men in the 1940-50s, it fell into disrepair after a fire destroyed the building in 1983, and was eventually torn down in 1992. You may also recognize the building from Walter Hill’s iconic 1979 film The Warriors. The graffiti prominently displayed on the front of the bath house was added by the production crew for the opening scene of…

POTW: A Man Playing the Trumpet in Prospect Park

Julie May

v200801381A Man Playing the Trumpet in Prospect Park, ca. 1975, V2008.013.81; Lucille Fornasieri Gold Photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Spring is in the air here in Brooklyn! It’s time to shed those protective layers, put away that winter jacket, and enjoy the warm weather! Whether it be taking a walk through park or playing your trumpet while people are trying to relax on a nearby bench (as seen in this photograph) – the objective is to go outside and enjoy yourself. What are your favorite things to do when winter ends and springtime begins? Let us know in…

POTW: A Man and His Dog in Prospect Park

Dan Brenner

v200801340[Man and Dog], V2008.013.40; Lucille Fornasieri Gold Photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In Prospect Park a dapper fellow sits on a bench, cigarette in hand, and dog by his side. Most likely, this pair of friends are patiently awaiting the first signs of springtime just as we all are doing here in New York City. This week’s photo is dedicated to our canine friends who endure all kinds of weather conditions to be by our side. The trusted sidekick and best friend to all humans, who is looking forward to a springtime walk in the park just as much as you…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Women’s History Month

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection, focused on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. As part of our work, we create Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. Each Packet contains one secondary…

POTW: Coffey Park, 1934

Dan Brenner

v19743160Red Hook Park Paths (Coffey Park), V1974.3.160; Praeger Survey Collection, V1974.003; Brooklyn Historical Society.
  Coffey Park sits snug in the middle of Red Hook. Before it was Coffey Park, it was Red Hook Park. Before that it was a patch of land in a developing neighborhood of Brooklyn. Due to the rise of the waterfront industry and population growth of the mid to late 1800s, Red Hook grew in size. People arrived, houses were built, and a park was declared. It was named after Michael Coffey, a well-known representative of the district and long-time…

I Know What You Did Last Century

June

Since Brooklyn's inception it's residents have been employed in an array of occupations tailored to the needs of their growing community. In addition to addresses the early City Directories listed each resident's occupation as well, providing a unique opportunity to examine the labor needs of Brooklyn in the 19th century.  Coopers, rope-makers, doctors, teachers, laborers, sailors and many others played a crucial role in the daily life of early Brooklyn.  Looking through a directory by hand for every wheelwright, or blacksmith is an ardous, and labor intensive job though…

POTW: Dedication of Bronze Plaque on Samuel F.B. Morse Monument, April 27th, 1968

Dan Brenner

v1973.5.367Dedication of Bronze Plaque on Morse Monument in Green-Wood Cemetery, April 27th, 1968, V1973.5.367; Brooklyn Photograph and Illustration Collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Samuel Finley Breese Morse, the American painter and inventor of the telegraph, died on April 2nd, 1872 in New York City and was subsequently buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenwood Heights. Years later in honor of his 177th birthday, the Morse Telegraph Club (MTC) commissioned a commemorative bronze plaque to be placed on the monument. The…

Forgotten History: Remembering Dr. Mary M Crawford and her Contributions to Brooklyn's History

Allyson

For this Women’s History Month, Brooklyn Collection is spreading awareness about Dr. Mary M. Crawford, a woman who radically altered how the world viewed female doctors during the early 1900s. Not only did Doctor Crawford serve abroad during World War I as the only female doctor in the American Hospital in Paris but she was also the first female ambulance surgeon in Brooklyn who later became chief surgeon of the Williamsburg hospital.  

Dr. Crawford at her graduation from Cornell Medical School. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn…

POTW: Bedford Avenue YMCA

Dan Brenner

v1973.5.5411115 Bedford Avenue YMCA, 1930 ca., v1973.5.541; Brooklyn Photograph and Illustration Collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In 1853 the first YMCA in Brooklyn opened its doors. Back then, the mission of the Young Men’s Christian Association was more evangelical than anything – but they did have a swimming pool and other such facilities. The Bedford Avenue branch opened in 1888 at its original location of 420 Gates Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. As the population of the area expanded in size, so did the need for an even larger…

POTW: Manhattan Furrier

Dan Brenner

2009.004Manhattan Furrier, 2006, 2009.004.15; James and Karla Murray Counter Culture exhibition photographs, 2009.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
 This photograph shows the exterior of Manhattan Furrier, once located at 685 Manhattan Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint.A family owned and operated business since 1916, it unfortunately shuttered its doors in 2011, much to the dismay of their long-time customers. In NYC, the furrier trade reached its peak in the 1960s and 70s as fur coats were quite fashionable and all the craze. The 1990s gave way to a slow…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Black History Month

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection, focused on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. As part of our work, we create Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. Each Packet contains one…

POTW: Juxtaposition

Julie May

20100082Sunrise on Brighton Beach, 2010.008.2; Jacob Mann photographs, 2010.008; Brooklyn Historical Society.
At Brooklyn Historical Society, we strive to collect photographs that document a moment in the history of the borough while also conveying a particular aesthetic that appeals to our aspirations to exhibit beautiful works of art. This photograph is one of those successful juxtapositions that tell us something about the built environment of Brooklyn in 2010 that is also a beautiful execution of the art form. Of his photographs, Jacob Mann says “My photography is a…

POTW: Flatbush Avenue

Julie May

v1973.5.1486612 Flatbush Avenue, 1971, V1973.5.1486; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week's photograph highlights the quotidien caught on the streets of Brooklyn. Flatbush Avenue runs from Downtown Brooklyn through several neighborhoods and over Jamaica Bay into Queens. Driving a portion of it is a tumultuous journey through cultures that demonstrate the variety of Brooklyn life and culture. On the block in this photograph, you could grab a Schaefer beer, buy your favorite lipstick, and head upstairs to your great…

Increasing Access to Vertical Files

Maggie Schreiner

IMG_5808“The Good News

POTW: High Hopes for Snow!

Julie May

From My Office, 1888 V1974.7.81; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I hate to be repetitive, but with this week’s forecast seems both promising and a little harrowing. We may avoid the arctic tundra that the northern Midwest will experience, but may encounter the usual “wintry mix.” As seasoned Brooklynites know, this could mean anything from skating rinks for sidewalks to pellet-rain that permeates the thickest of puffy coats. Or no precipitation WHAT. SO. EVER. Nevertheless, I’m hoping to wake up to that elusive and calming blanket…

The Fierce Women Skaters of Roller Derby's Heyday in Brooklyn

Dee Bowers

In honor of our current exhibit Empire Skate: The Birthplace of Roller Disco, I decided to look into some older roller skating history in Brooklyn. The sport of roller derby has seen a surge of women's teams and leagues emerge nationwide since its 21st-century revival in Austin, Texas in 2001. It was introduced to a wider audience with the release in 2009 of the feature film Whip It, which starred Elliot Page and was Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. What contemporary fans of the sport may not know is that its first heyday of mainstream popularity started in New York City in 1948, and…

POTW: Doing the Snow Dance!

Julie May

Snow Storm, 450 9th Street, Brooklyn, ca. 1905, V1981.15.134; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.015; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s mid-January and New York City has yet to see significant snowfall. I don’t know about you, but I am eager to wake up to a delicate blanket of white throughout what feels like the urban jungle. This week’s photo depicts a man walking through a blizzard upon already well-laid tracks. In addition to carrying a bundle with his left arm, that may also be his winter warrior canine companion…

POTW: Daisies

Tess Colwell

[Children as daisies, from Sewing School Class], ca 1910, V1981.284.23; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks, we are revisiting some of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for the New Year. The photo of the week depicts children as daisies from sewing school class around 1910. The Emmanuel House, located at 131 Steuben Street in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn was a civic center and…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Community Organizing in Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection, focused on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. As part of our work, we create Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. Each Packet contains one…

POTW: Cat named “Lazybones”

Tess Colwell

Cat named “Lazybones,” circa 1910, V1981.15.182; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks, we are revisiting some of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for the New Year. The photo of the week depicts a cat named “Lazybones,” likely in the backyard of a Park Slope home, around 1910. I often come across a similar scene in my Brooklyn neighborhood of Ditmas Park, with cats spotted on porches, fences, hidden…

POTW: Happy New Year!

Tess Colwell

[Swerdlof Wedding], 1946, V1991.11.100.17; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks, we are revisiting some of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for the New Year. Now that the holidays are behind us, the focus has shifted to the season of glitter, champagne, and the midnight ball drop. In Brooklyn, there are hundreds of events and parties to ring in the New Year. Whether you’re prepping for a festive…

The Brooklyn Dodgers

Sarah

In 2013 the Brooklyn Collection acquired several boxes of Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia from Al Todres, a lifelong collector. Todres certainly wasn’t the only one actively collecting Brooklyn Dodgers material nearly 60 years after the team was transferred to Los Angeles. Why does a baseball team that left Brooklyn in the middle of the last century still inspire so much loyalty and curiosity? Every collector has a different answer, and it certainly goes beyond statistics and player performance. The team that would become the Dodgers played in Eastern Park when Brooklyn was still an independent…

POTW: Merry Christmas

Tess Colwell

Holidays View 12, ca. 1956, 2006.001.1.131; Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings, arc.216; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks, we are revisiting some of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for the New Year. It’s a festive time of year all over Brooklyn and the above photograph is just one of many in our collections illustrating just how celebratory our very own Williamsburgh Savings Bank became while it…

POTW: Hand-colored photographs

Tess Colwell

[Girl Seated Wearing Bow-Trimmed Dress], circa 1865, V1978.174.66; Ramus family papers and photographs, 1978.174; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks, we are revisiting some of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for the New Year. The photo of the week is a portrait of an unknown girl, sometime around 1865. This photograph is possibly an example of hand-colored photography, which was the most popular and effective way to create color…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Maps and Atlases in the English Classroom

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. We’ve already talked about how much we love maps and atlases when we’re teaching with primary sources; this blog post looks at how we can use those in the English classroom by examining a lesson on the…

POTW: City Hall on Fire

Tess Colwell

[Brooklyn City Hall Tower Fire], 1895, V1981.15.132; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, 1981.15, Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks, we are revisiting some of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for the New Year. This photo of the week depicts a roof level view of the 1895 fire at Brooklyn City Hall (today's Borough Hall).  If you look closely, you can see fire ladders propped against the building and firefighters on the roof using hoses to…

Before "BROOKLYN BEFORE"

Natiba

Our current exhibition "Larry Racioppo: A Retrospective" highlights the work of photographer Larry Racioppo, a native Brooklynite who has documented the borough of Brooklyn (and New York City) for over 40 years. It includes photographs from his collection, and features many of his Brooklyn-based photo projects such as Brooklyn Churches, Theatres, Coney Island and Prospect Park, as well as photographs and photographic equipment, books, ephemera and archival material from his storied career. His latest book "Brooklyn Before" shows the vitality of his native Brooklyn, stretching from historic…

POTW: Happy Hanukkah!

Tess Colwell

Grandmother at Hanukkah Party, 1980, v1992.43.29; Marcia Bricker photographs, v1992.43; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks, we are revisiting some of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for the New Year. Hanukkah began on Sunday evening and continues through Monday, December 10. If you're celebrating, we hope you’ve had a festive holiday filled with family, menorah lightings, and maybe a few-too-many latkes. Here at BHS we wish you and your…

POTW: Lundy’s Restaurant

Tess Colwell

[Lundy’s Restaurant], 1961, V1974.4.1678; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For the next several weeks, we are revisiting some of our favorite photos of the week. We hope you enjoy looking back with us as we prepare new posts for the New Year. Lundy’s Restaurant in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn has seen its fair share of good and bad times since it opened in 1935. In its heyday, the restaurant reportedly seated over 2,000 patrons. Opened by Irving Lundy, the historic seafood…

POTW: Happy Thanksgiving

Tess Colwell

Sunday School Thanksgiving/Collection, 1910 ca, v1981.284.20; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, v1981.284; Brooklyn Historical Society.
As you prepare for your Thanksgiving travels and celebrations, we bring you a photo of the week from Thanksgiving, 1910.  The photograph depicts a collection of  items we think were sent to Baptist Home, a community center for senior citizens, located in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.This photograph comes from the Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, comprised of 87…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Avoiding Plagiarism

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. Using primary sources in the classroom shows us that we can access history through many different formats as long as we are grounded in historical thinking. When we’re using primary sources in the classroom,…

POTW: Prospect Park

Tess Colwell

[Lake +Wellhouse, Prospect Park], 1896, V1973.5.1528, Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Prospect Park is a Brooklyn treasure providing 526 acres of green space, wetlands, forested areas, and trails for all to enjoy. According to NYC Parks, eight million visitors a year enjoy the park and its many facilities and public spaces. The park was constructed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and opened to the public in 1867. The photo of the week depicts a view of the…

POTW: Hurricane Sandy

Tess Colwell

[Shore Hotel sign damaged from the Hurricane Sandy], 2012, 2014.010.7, MIchael Claro Hurricane Sandy Photographs, 2010.010; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s been six years since Hurricane Sandy, but it’s not soon forgotten. The storm began on October 29, 2012 and brought flooding, wind, and storm surges that devastated many communities throughout Brooklyn and New York City. The photo of the week depicts the Shore Hotel sign in Coney Island showing damage from Hurricane Sandy.This photograph is by Michael Claro, a Brooklyn…

Brooklyn For Peace and the Defense of Civil Liberties

Maggie Schreiner

By Library and Archives assistant Laura Juliano The papers of Brooklyn For Peace, which date from 1983 to the present, and consist of over 25 linear feet of organizational records, event ephemera and recordings, and subject files, are now available for research at Brooklyn Historical Society. The collection reveals both the history of the organization as well as the broader grassroots response to a wide variety of significant social and political issues at the local, regional, and national levels from the late twentieth century to the present. Brooklyn For Peace (BFP) was founded in 1984 as…

POTW: Pygmalion and Galatea

Tess Colwell

[Theater--Pygmalion and Galatea], ca. 1910, 2014.019.17.05.016a, Packer Collegiate Institute records, 2014.019; Brooklyn Historical Society
Need some ideas for your Halloween costume? Get some inspiration from Packer Collegiate Institute students dressed in costume for a stage production of Pygmalion and Galatea, at the Packer Collegiate Institute Chapel, sometime around 1910. The 1871 play by W.S. Gilbert is based on the Greek myth of Pygmalion, where a sculptor’s creation comes to life and falls in love with the artist.…

Seeking Tsuneko Tokuyasu

Dee Bowers

Here at the Brooklyn Collection, one of our biggest collections is the records of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper. The eagle statue from the newspaper's downtown building has perched in the lobby of Central Library for over 20 years on long-term loan from the Brooklyn Historical Society, and you might have heard that due to a post on this very blog, the eagle was recently made a permanent gift to the library, where it will nest in perpetuity. In addition to the eagle sculpture, we hold clippings and other materials from the Eagle offices, including over 200,000 photographs from their "…

POTW: Othmer Library

Tess Colwell

[Othmer Library, Long Island Historical Society], ca. 1938, V1974.031.65, Long Island Historical Society photographs, V1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society
Have you visited our landmarked library? Brooklyn Historical Society houses a world-renowned archives and special collections library on the second floor. The Othmer library has a magnificent reading room that is open to the public. We welcome and invite you to research our collections, read and do personal work, or simply sit and enjoy the space. The library is open…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Claims and Counterclaims in History

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom.  The ability to identify and analyze claims and counterclaims is key for students of all ages. Primary sources give us a terrific opportunity to identify claims and counterclaims of various voices…

POTW: Meserole House

Tess Colwell

Meserole House, 1000 Lorimer St., ca. 1905, V1981.15.124, Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, 1981.15; Brooklyn Historical Society
The photo of the week depicts the Meserole house located at 1000 Lorimer Street in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, around 1905. The Meserole family was one of the original five families who settled in Bushwick, then one of the five towns of Brooklyn, and  today known as the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Jean Miserol (d.1695), a French Huguenot, immigrated to New…

The Faces of Halloween

June

October ushers in one of the most celebrated of Autumn holidays, Halloween - that historical mash-up of Celtic culture, popular culture, Christianity, pagan folk-lore, superstition, and Horror.  In the Brooklyn Collection we have photographers that have captured the many aspects of this holiday, from the humorous to the mysterious, and from the gory, to the adorable. Lev Dodin  Lev Dodin's work is distinguished by his composition and use of vibrant saturated colors.  His demonic hobgoblins contrast vividly with the green and blue background, and his group…

POTW: Ramus Family Papers

Tess Colwell

Julian Ramus, ca. 1900, V1978.174.2, Ramus family papers and photographs, 1978.174; Brooklyn Historical Society
Brooklyn Historical Society’s vast photography collections includes several family portrait collections, including the Ramus family portraits. The photo of the week depicts a young boy, Julian Ramus, on a bicycle in front of 214 Dean Street in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, around 1900.The Ramus family in Brooklyn began with Isaac Ramus (circa 1805-1876). He was a retail dealer in hosiery and…

POTW: Autumn

Tess Colwell

Fall [Prospect Park West], ca. 1905, V1981.15.207, Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Fall is officially here, and it happens to be my favorite time of year in Brooklyn. I love the crisp air, changing leaves, and the abundance of apple varieties. The photo of the week by Ralph Irving Lloyd is titled “Fall” and depicts the tree-lined sidewalk along the stone wall bordering Prospect Park West around 1905. I previously highlighted another photograph by Lloyd titled “Summer.” Which…

BHS Map Collection Update

Tess Colwell

Brooklyn Historical Society's Library & Archives team has an exciting project update to share! In 2017, BHS received a generous grant from National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support Portal to the Past: Creating Brooklyn Historical Society’s Digital Map Collection, a project that will increase public access to the institution’s extensive collection of flat and folded maps through conservation, digitization, and the creation of a web-based portal. The map collection at BHS is unique and robust in the content and historical sweep. Comprised of manuscript and printed street,…

POTW: Typewriting Class

Tess Colwell

[Typewriting class], circa 1930, V1973.5.551; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a typewriting class in the Secretarial School at the Central Branch of the Young Women's Christian Association of Brooklyn in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, around 1930. A note handwritten on the back of the photograph indicates, “The number enrolled in educational classes at the Y.W.C.A. last year was 3,930.” This photograph shows an integrated pool…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Citing our Sources

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. Using primary sources in the classroom shows us that we can access history through many different formats as long as we are grounded in historical thinking. Whether we’re using primary or sources in the…

POTW: William Koch Glass Plate Negatives

Tess Colwell

[Two hunters in a field of haystacks], circa 1900, V1985.4.1; William Koch glass plate negatives; Brooklyn Historical Society.
One strength of Brooklyn Historical Society’s collections is the 19th century photographs. There are hundreds of photographs from this period that glimpse at Brooklyn’s pastoral past. The photo of the week by William Koch is one of my favorites from this period. Two hunters are depicted in a field of haystacks in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, sometime in the late 1890s. There is so much to…

Housing in Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. As part of our work, we create Primary Source Packets to help students and teachers access primary source material from the Brooklyn Collection about local history topics. Each Packet contains one secondary source which provides a general introduction to the topic, followed by at least ten primary sources accompanied by document based questions. For the start of…

POTW: Packer Collegiate Institute

Tess Colwell

[Chemistry room], 1891, 2014.019.17.05.049; Packer Collegiate Institute records; Brooklyn Historical Society.
New York City Schools are back in session this week! Are you ready for another school year? The photo of the week depicts a chemistry classroom at Packer Collegiate Institute in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn taken in 1891.The Packer Collegiate Institute was established as the Brooklyn Female Academy on Joralemon Street in 1845. It was formed by a committee of local citizens who were interested in…

The Bridge: a book report

Jen Hoyer

In the summer of 2018, Brooklyn Connections was delighted to have two of our student alumni join us as interns. Over the course of seven weeks, these interns learned about archival research and chose a topic of their interest to dig into in the Brooklyn Collection. They assembled their findings, and we're excited to share one of them with you on the Brooklynology blog! Intern Ashirah Newton chose to learn about the Brooklyn Bridge, and her research included a book report on a new book in our collection: The Bridge by Peter J. Tomasi, illustrated by Sara DuVall. The following…

POTW: West Indian Carnival

Tess Colwell

[Kiddie Carnival], 1994, 2010.019; West Indian Carnival Documentation Project records; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Every year on Labor Day, the West Indian Carnival brings thousands of people to the streets of Brooklyn.  Activities begin on the Thursday before Labor Day and conclude on Monday with the parade on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Carnival evolved among the enslaved African population in Trinidad as a parallel to, and political send up of, the masquerade balls of French…

POTW: Drake Bakery photographs

Tess Colwell

Girl Contestants, 1941, V1987.7.53; Drake Bakeries photographs, v1987.007; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts children participating in a 1941 cake-eating event sponsored by Drake Bakeries at Luna Park in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. Eight young women are shown with hands behind their backs, competing to try to eat an entire cake. The judges, singers Diane Courtney and Bradford Reynolds are pictured in the background. Drake Bakeries hosted a three-day “Kiddy Party” at Luna Park where a…

POTW: The Cyclone

Tess Colwell

Cyclone No. 2, 2005, 2005, 2008.035.2; Ron Meisel photographs, 2008.035; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s hard to believe that there are only a few more weeks to savor summer. This photograph by Ron Meisel reminds me to make the most of the long summer nights before fall approaches. Taken in 2005, the photo of the week depicts the Cyclone rollercoaster at dusk in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn.The Cyclone is an iconic Brooklyn landmark. It was built in 1927 by Harry C. Baker and Vernon Keenan. In the mid-19th…

POTW: The Michael Shellens family collection

Tess Colwell

[Shellens family portrait], circa 1912, V1988.468.61; Michael Shellens family collection, ARC,094; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the Shellens family around 1912 in front of their home in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. Michael Shellens (pictured back left) was born in Belgium in 1854 and moved to the United States at a young age. He became a ship’s cabin boy in his teen years and worked his way to captain, taking several voyages across the globe until his retirement in 1898. He later…

Processing Found Material: The Martha Gayle Collection

Natiba

Archives acquire materials in a myriad number of ways; it could be through outright purchases, materials bequeathed by planned giving or estates; or donations from collectors who’ve run out of space, time or energy to continue their pursuits. There are those other times when people find material that they deem not useful to them but of enough sentimental or historical value that makes throwing items in the trash not an option. The Martha Gayle Collection falls into the latter category. Donated by George Camarda in 2016; it documents the life of a Caribbean immigrant Martha Gayle and her…

POTW: Brooklyn Storefronts

Tess Colwell

La Borinquena, 2004, 2009.004.8; James and Karla Murray Counter Culture exhibition photographs, 2009.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts an exterior view of La Borinquena, a family-owned grocery store located in the South Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Known as Los Sures (Spanish for the Souths or Southside), the neighborhood’s Puerto Rican roots stretch back to the early half of the twentieth century, when Puerto Rican migrants began settling in the borough. A thriving center of Puerto…

POTW: Happy Summer!

Tess Colwell

[Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album], circa 1912, 2015.010.1; Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album; Brooklyn Historical Society.
We hope you’re having a fun and relaxing summer so far! The photo of the week is from the Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album depicting summer social activities, including boating, fishing, and sunbathing, from 1908 to 1917 in the Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, and Brighton Beach neighborhoods of Brooklyn. To see more pages from this album, check out this page.Charles (Karl)…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Notetaking Skills

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. Using primary sources in the classroom shows us that we can access history through many different formats as long as we are grounded in historical thinking.

[Children's Room at Grand…

POTW: Lucille Fornasieri Gold Photographs

Tess Colwell

Lucille Fornasieri Gold, [Children playing at water fountain], circa 1975, V2008.013.37; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week by Lucille Fornasieri Gold is one of my favorites from Brooklyn Historical Society’s photography collection. Taken around 1975, it depicts children playing in a water fountain by the Flatbush Avenue entrance to Prospect Park. The wall graffiti and loose garbage on the ground is a reminder of the fiscal crisis that gripped New York City in…

POTW: Marcia Bricker Photographs

Tess Colwell

Marcia Bricker, Women with Ceiling, 1976, V1992.43.12; Marcia Bricker photograph collection, V1992.43; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Documentary photographer, Marcia Bricker, has pursued a visual study of cafeterias since the 1970s, focusing on Dubrow’s cafeteria in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. Dubrow’s was a family-owned chain of cafeteria-style, self-service restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the last of which closed in 1985.  Brooklyn Historical Society photography collection includes 47 photographs taken by…

POTW: Happy Fourth of July!

Tess Colwell

Sunset, Coney Island, 1966, V1988.12.92; Otto Dreshmeyer Brooklyn slides, V1988.12; Brooklyn Historical Society.
All of us at BHS wish you a happy Fourth of July! With that in mind, we bring you some fireworks over Brooklyn. The photo of the week is a double-exposure depicting a Coney Island Sunset and fireworks. A double-exposure is a photographic method that involves opening the camera shutter twice to expose the film multiple times. This results with two separate images superimposed onto one image.This photograph comes…

Brooklyn Historical Society Statement on Muslim Ban Ruling

Deborah Schwartz

As an institution dedicated to the history of Brooklyn, we are proud of the rich fabric of multicultural heritage in Brooklyn. Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision to uphold the government’s Muslim ban makes it even more imperative that we affirm our commitment to the histories of all Brooklynites. We want Brooklyn’s Muslim communities in particular to know that their stories, their struggles, and their contributions are embraced and deeply valued by the Brooklyn Historical Society. As part of our commitment, last year Brooklyn Historical Society launched a public history and arts project…

POTW: Spencer Memorial Church

Tess Colwell

[Spencer Memorial Church], circa 1930, V1973.5.396; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Happy Pride! New York City is celebrating LGBTQ pride this month with parades, parties, and events throughout the city. This week, we bring you a Photo of the Week focused on a Brooklyn space with a historic connection to the LGBTQ community. Spencer Memorial Church, pictured here around the 1930s, is located at the corner of Clinton and Remsen streets in the Brooklyn Heights…

Teaching with Primary Sources: How can we do research with political cartoons?

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. Using primary sources in the classroom shows us that we can access history through many different formats as long as we are grounded in historical thinking. The Brooklyn Connections team loves…

POTW: Soccer in Brooklyn

Tess Colwell

[Brooklyn soccer league team], circa 1991, V1989.2.8.1; Photography collection, V1989.2.8; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This summer, soccer fans across the globe are celebrating the return of the 2018 FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia. In a major upset, the United States men’s national soccer team didn’t qualify this year, but Brooklynites are fortunate to have access to dozens of opportunities to watch the matches throughout the day, accompanied by all nationalities represented and the fervor of the world's adoration for…

Fostering Civic Engagement through Local History Research

Jen Hoyer

Jen Hoyer and Julia Pelaez were thrilled to represent Brooklyn Connections at the 2018 American Library Association Annual Conference. They presented a session on fostering student engagement through local history research, which included a discussion about how local history research can spark civic engagement in students, and what tools we should equip students with so that they can succeed with their research.  The goals of this workshop were to understand how local history is a unique and relevant entry point for guiding inquiry-based learning and civic engagement; to identify,…

Just When You Thought Everything was Destroyed: Street Art and Brooklyn’s Waterfront

Alli

circa 1973, V1984.1.553; Brooklyn slide collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.
  Brooklyn’s waterfront neighborhoods have undergone many transformations throughout history. From small villages, to bustling dock-side storage centers, to massive industrial hubs, to abandoned post-industrial landscapes, to revitalized cultural centers, these many iterations gesture to the ways Brooklynites throughout the centuries have interacted with these spaces as sites of home, work, and recreation. The DUMBO neighborhood is…

POTW: Jackie Robinson Exhibition

Tess Colwell

[1953 Brooklyn Dodgers], 1953, V1987.19.4; Photography collection, V1987.19; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s your last chance to catch the exhibition Until Everyone Has It Made: Jackie Robinson’s Legacy, on view at our main location at 128 Pierrepont, celebrating the legacy of Jackie Robinson and his role integrating baseball, as well as his lifelong commitment to racial equality. Robinson understood the crucial role he played in the integration of America’s national pastime, but he also knew the journey toward equality…

POTW: American Sugar Refining Company

Tess Colwell

American Sugar Refining Company, circa 1890, V1973.5.840; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Well before the iconic Domino Sugar sign that graced the skyline until 2014, this is what the Domino Sugar empire looked like along the Brooklyn waterfront. The history of the sign and company goes back to William Havemeyer, a German immigrant who arrived in the United States around 1799. With the help of his brother Frederick, he opened his own refinery in 1807 on Vandam Street…

POTW: Brooklyn Dogs

Tess Colwell

Lucille Fornasieri Gold, [Women with four large dogs], circa 1975, archival inkjet prints, v2008.013.92; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s no surprise that Brooklynites love their dogs! Brooklyn Historical Society’s photographic collections include hundreds of images depicting Brooklyn dogs from various time periods. You can view roughly 50 of these photographs published online. The summer is a great opportunity to appreciate the borough’s love of pups with over 30 dog-friendly parks and dedicated spaces, and many dog…

A Look Back at Brooklyn's LGBTQ+ History

Allyson

  Happy Pride Month Brooklyn! Pride month is always tons of fun in Brooklyn. From the parades to the parties it’s a wonderful time to celebrate diversity, inclusion and visibility, the highlight of which is the Pride Parade. The Pride Parade was started in 1970 to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community to protest the police raid of the Stonewall Inn. Historically Stonewall is often seen as the start of the Gay Pride movement, a veritable phoenix rising from the ashes, but even before…

POTW: Coney Island Boardwalk

Tess Colwell

[View of boardwalk at Coney Island.], 1958, V1974.4.526; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Coney Island boardwalk is fun for visitors all year long, but there’s nothing quite like Coney Island in the summer! Last week, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Brooklyn boardwalk a Scenic Landmark in recognition of its historic significance and as an effort to preserve the site for future generations. This weekend is the perfect time to celebrate Coney…

POTW: Tony Velez Photographs

Tess Colwell

[Home of Consuelo de Passos], 1989, v1989.1.13.9; Brooklyn’s Hispanic Communities Documentation Project, ARC.120; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week by Tony Velez depicts Consuelo de Passos in her Brooklyn home with part of her collection of Mexican regional costumes in 1989. This photograph is part of the Hispanic Communities Documentation project, initiated by Brooklyn Historical Society in 1988 to document the experiences of Brooklyn residents who arrived from Puerto Rico, Panama, Ecuador, and several…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Asking Questions for Research

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. Our big question is: How can we ask questions to help us with our research? Get Ready Asking good research questions is an important part of the research process. We love to explore how primary sources can…

POTW: Cherry Blossoms at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Tess Colwell

[Blossoms], circa 1977, v1990.2.219; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, ARC.120; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden opened on May 13, 1911, over a century ago. According to their website, the Original Native Flora Garden was the first display garden at BBG which showcased native plants. Springtime is my favorite time to visit when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. You can now keep track of the blossoms using the Cherrywatch feature on the BBG site. The photo of the week depicts the Cherry Esplanade in…

Rambunctious Brooklyn boy falls for bridge

Deborah

Sunset behind the Brooklyn Bridge – Photo: Brooklyn Collection
  Bill Powers - photographer, writer, theater director and filmmaker - has donated 125 of his photographs of the Brooklyn Bridge to the Brooklyn Collection chronicling his 47-year love affair with the iconic structure. To accompany those materials he also recorded an interview with BPL’s Our Streets, Our Stories oral history project about growing up in Brooklyn. His stories describe a Park Slope very different from its quiet gentility today. The Bridge as…

POTW: David C. Hurd papers and photographs

Tess Colwell

David and Avril at their home in Brooklyn, July 1960. David C. Hurd papers, 2015.019; Brooklyn Historical Society.
One of the most exciting aspects of working with the rich collections at Brooklyn Historical Society is uncovering the lives and stories of past Brooklynites. The photographs and letters in the David C. Hurd papers, reveal a heartwarming courtship and love story between David and Avril Hurd, pictured here in July 1960.David C. Hurd was born in Jamaica and migrated to Brooklyn in 1907, living in various…

POTW: Brooklyn Gardens

Tess Colwell

Students Tending Victory Garden, 1943, 2014.019.17.01.006; Packer Collegiate Institute records, 2014.019; Brooklyn Historical Society.
One of the best parts of spring in Brooklyn is the reward of endless produce options from the farmers market or grocery store to your local CSA or community garden. According to NYC Parks, community gardens account for 100 acres of public open space in the city. The photo of the week depicts Packer Collegiate Institute students tending to their Victory Garden on campus during the spring of…

First Communion Pictures

Larry Racioppo

I’ve been photographing First Communions, one of the three Catholic Initiation Sacraments, since 1971. One of my first ‘serious’ photographs depicts my Aunt Millie and her son John standing in the rain outside our parish church. John has just made his First Communion and is proudly holding his little prayer book wide open for me. Over the years I often returned to photograph at this church St. Michael the Archangel in Sunset Park (where I had made my First Communion), and to St. John the Evangelist in South Brooklyn where I lived in the 1970’s and 80’s.…

POTW: Edna Huntington

Tess Colwell

[63-71 Sands Street], circa 1940, v1974.16.0043; Edna Huntington papers and photographs, ARC.044; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society has a legacy of notable collection staff who work hard providing research assistance and enhancing our rich collections. We just passed National Library Week and thought it would be a good opportunity to draw your attention to a former librarian who donated hundreds of photographs and personal papers to the BHS collection. The photo of the week by former Head Librarian…

POTW: Baseball

Tess Colwell

Boys Club, circa 1910, v1981.284.51; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s officially spring, which also means the start of baseball season. The photo of the week depicts a portrait of a boys baseball club taken at the Emmanuel House in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, around 1910. Brooklyn played a key role in baseball's early history, in part because of the rapid growth of amateur clubs that developed within a decade after 1845. By 1858, there were 71 clubs in…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Using the Internet to find Primary Sources Online

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. We all spend more time online than we can probably add up (or would like to admit?!), but are we experts at finding primary sources online? Moreover, how do we teach our students to become pros at digging…

An Ode to Brooklyn Poets

Natiba

 

Array of noted literary talent (ca. 1960's)-Photo: Brooklyn Collection
  Brooklyn has been the home (in some cases, adoptive or transitionary but still, home) to a myriad number of literary figures. Drawn to it by its vibrancy and multiculturalism, Brooklyn inspires most who visit, and encourages them to put down roots and become a part of its fabric. For poets it’s a natural fit, a place to spin a tale, where all you need is an imagination and a gift of prose. There are few literary figures that come to mind…

Happy Passover and Easter!

Tess Colwell

[Helen (Rosenfeld) Ginsberg and Katy Cohen Rosenfeld at Passover], 1939, v1990.33.6; Photography collection, V1990.33; Brooklyn Historical Society
[Greenhouse Easter Display], circa 1920, v1980.2.73; Prospect Park lantern slide collection, v1980.2; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Tis the season of Easter and Passover celebrations! In recognition of both holidays we thought we’d bring you two photos this week. The photo on the left depicts 19-year-olds…

POTW: Luna Park

Tess Colwell

[Children in the Scenic Railway], circa 1930, v1973.5.1228; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In honor of Luna Park opening for the season last weekend, the photo of the week depicts children on the Scenic Railway amusement ride at Luna Park around 1930 in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. The railway ride known as “Dragon’s Gorge” opened to the public in 1905 taking visitors through a fantasy world of fire-breathing dragons. In 1944, an electrical issue caused…

POTW: Spring

Tess Colwell

[Flowers], circa 1975, v1990.2.232; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, ARC.120; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Tuesday, March 20 marked the official first day of spring with promises of warmer, greener days ahead! With that in mind, the photo of the week depicts flowers of various colors behind a row of hedges in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during the spring of 1975.This photograph comes from the Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection comprised of papers and photographs pertaining to Nowlan’s high school and college years…

POTW: 24 Middagh Street

Tess Colwell

[24 Middagh Street], 1922, V1974.32.72; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, ARC.022; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Housing research is one of the most popular topics at Brooklyn Historical Society. Last week, a researcher visited the Othmer Library in search of information related to 24 Middagh Street, a home in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. We uncovered some fascinating photographs and resources pertaining to this historic property, including the photo of the week depicting the southeast…

Teaching with Primary Sources: What’s a Primary Source?

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. At Brooklyn Connections, we love to share ideas on how to develop skills for teaching and learning with primary sources. But let’s take a moment to step back and ask ourselves: what IS a primary source?? How…

Coney Island Season Is Here!

Natiba

This guest post is in conjunction with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and their "Last Stop in Brooklyn" Contest. You can read the first post in the series here and enter to win a copy of "Last Stop in Brooklyn" here courtesy of Crown Publishing!  

Last Stop in Brooklyn by Lawrence H. Levy
  As you read Last Stop in Brooklyn by Lawrence H. Levy, you’ll get a beautiful vision of what Coney Island once looked like, yet a gloomy view into the late-1800s politics and social tensions. While you gear up for…

POTW: Drake Bakeries

Tess Colwell

[Industrial Mixing Equipment Inside Drake Bakeries Building], circa 1940, v1987.7.6; Drake Bakeries photographs, v1987.007; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts an interior view of Drake Bakeries factory at 77 Clinton Avenue on the border of the Clinton Hill and Fort Greene neighborhoods of Brooklyn around 1940. A man is pictured pouring ingredients into an industrial mixing container.Drake’s Cakes was a brand of snack cakes founded in Brooklyn by Newman E. Drake in 1888. Around 1900, the company…

POTW: Jacob Mann Photographs

Tess Colwell

Sunrise on Brighton Beach, 2009, 2010.008.2; Jacob Mann photographs, 2010.008; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society is fortunate to have several fine art photographers represented in the photography collections, including Jacob Mann, a fine art photographer and painter based in Brooklyn. The photo of the week depicts a sunrise on Brighton Beach taken by Mann in 2009.About this photograph, Mann says, “In my playground pictures I see the playgrounds as places from fairy tales within a dark and preoccupied…

The Eagle Above Our Doorway

Dee Bowers

If you've been to BPL's Central Library, you may have noticed that there is a large eagle sculpture presiding over the inside of the front entrance, and if you've taken one of our building tours, you know that the sculpture came from the headquarters of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper. The records of the Eagle have been at BPL since 1957 and are still a large part of the Brooklyn Collection's holdings, so the eagle looms large here in more ways than one. There's been some debate about the eagle sculpture amongst our staff…

POTW: Winter Sports in Brooklyn

Tess Colwell

Prospect Park Skiing, circa 1925, v1980.2.61; Prospect Park lantern slide collection, v1980.2; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The 2018 Winter Olympics are underway! I have been watching in amazement and wonder at all of the incredible athletes, including 19 New Yorkers, competing in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. With that in mind, I dug up some photographs of Brooklynites enjoying winter sports. The photo of the week depicts a man skiing in Prospect Park in the mid-1920s.This photograph comes from the…

POTW: Happy Valentine’s Day

Tess Colwell

[Elderly couple in Prospect Park], circa 1975, v2008.013.30; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we share a photograph that captures a couple’s tender moment in Prospect Park, around 1975. We hope you have a day filled with love and maybe a little too much chocolate.This photograph comes from the Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs collection comprised of 93 color and black and white photographs by street photographer, Lucille Fornasieri Gold,…

Valentine's Day/Ash Wednesday: Musings & Photos

Larry Racioppo

Photographer Larry Racioppo is back with another guest post for Brooklynology, this one musing on this year's rare congruence of Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday. Today is the first time since 1945 that Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day fall on the same day. This rare occurrence has made me think about the significance of each day and what they symbolize: Ash Wednesday – death, Valentine’s Day – romantic love. What I learned about Ash Wednesday in Catholic grammar school is summed up here: “…we use ashes made form the burned palm branches distributed on the Palm Sunday of the previous…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Maps and Atlases

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. With Google Maps available at the touch of a finger, students are more familiar than ever with using maps to get around. Exploring the ways we can use maps as informational texts leads to great classroom…

POTW: Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Collection

Tess Colwell

[Eberhard Faber boxing and labelling department], circa 1920, v1988.35.2;Eberhard Faber Pencil Company collection, ARC.028; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts employees in the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company’s boxing and labelling department, around 1920, in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. The company began in Nuremberg, Bavaria (now Germany) in 1761 when Casper Faber began manufacturing and marketing pencils in his village of Stein. The business continued to grow and expand through many…

POTW: Harry Kalmus papers and photographs

Tess Colwell

[Smitty Smith’s baby], circa 1950, v1991.11.106.1; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The strength of Brooklyn Historical Society’s photographic collections is the built environment, including photographs of buildings and homes that document nearly every Brooklyn neighborhood’s street grid. Not to be overlooked, however, are the collections that focus on Brooklyn’s diverse and active population. This photo of the week from the Harry Kalmus papers and photographs collection depicts…

Susan Smith McKinney Steward: Brooklyn's First Black Woman Physician

Allyson

Welcome to Black History Month at the Brooklyn Collection! Last year our blog highlighted the good work of Hattie "The Tree Lady" Carthan. This year we want to share the story of another Black woman pioneer – Susan Smith McKinney Steward who was Brooklyn's first black woman physician (who also happened to be the third Black physician in the whole country.) Dr. Kinney Steward had a very successful practice with locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan but for her, medicine was more than just treatment. It was a means by which she could further elevate and impact the community she loved…

POTW: Empire Stores

Tess Colwell

[Empire Stores], circa 1880, v1991.90.9.1; George J. Bischof papers and photographs, ARC.008; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society is exited to announce the opening of the Waterfront exhibition at BHS Dumbo. Waterfront is an exhibition and multimedia experience that brings to life the vibrant history of Brooklyn’s coastline through stories of workers, artists, industries, activists, families, neighborhoods, and ecosystem. BHS Dumbo is located in Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Empire Stores, pictured here…

131 Miles and Countless Stories: Finding the Lost Histories of Brooklyn’s Waterfront

Julie Golia

Several years ago, in the thick of research and development for a Brooklyn Historical Society project about Brooklyn’s waterfront, I found myself calling a long list of New York City government phone numbers. My goal was simple but elusive – to figure out exactly how many miles of coastline there were in the borough of Brooklyn. I had scoured books and articles – to no avail. City reports on the waterfront are plentiful – especially in the years after the devastation of Superstorm Sandy – yet still no luck. But I’m a historian, and we historians can be pretty dogged about research. About ten…

Badges of Honor

June

Most of the exhibitions we create here in the Brookyn Collection are comprised solely of material from our numerous holdings - historical photographs, letters, prints, maps,etc.  We took a slightly different approach with our curent exhibit, "Badges of Honor: Brooklyn's Protectors".  The result is an exciting collaboration, pairing the Brooklyn Collection's resources, with the unique Brooklyn badge collection on loan from Art Sinai. Brooklyn born Art Sinai started acquiring badges in 1978 when he worked for the Treasury Department.  His first badge was a gift from a colleague…

Call for Donations: Public Protest Materials

Julie May

In January 2016, Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) posted a call for Brooklynites to donate their Women’s March Posters. We received 50 contributions that now make up the Women’s March Poster collection. Brooklynites have a long history of actively participating in local, regional, and national events that have an impact on Brooklyn and the United States. As the one-year anniversary of the Women’s March and the 45th President’s Inauguration approach, BHS invites Brooklynites once again to help build our collections. We seek to broaden our scope by documenting Brooklyn’s history and…

Teaching with Primary Sources: Observations and Inferences

Jen Hoyer

Brooklyn Connections is the education outreach program in the Brooklyn Collection. It focuses on cultivating 21st Century learning skills in students and supporting teachers on the incorporation of archives materials into curricula. This blog post is part of a series from the Brooklyn Connections team, sharing skills and ideas for using archives primary source material in the classroom. Archives are rich in primary sources that can be used for teaching valuable skills to our students. They key starting point to using primary sources in the classroom is teaching foundational skills of how to…

POTW: Brooklyn Academy of Music

Tess Colwell

Brooklyn Academy of Music, Montague Street, circa 1895, v1972.1.781; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Today, Brooklynites know the iconic Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) building off of Flatbush Avenue in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, but it got its start just blocks away from us at BHS Pierrepont. BAM, seen here around 1895, opened its first location on January 16, 1861, at 176 Montague Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.  A fire…

POTW: Snowy Brooklyn

Tess Colwell

[Frozen lake in Prospect Park], 1985 ca.,v2008.013.45; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Following the Bomb Cyclone and icy temperatures last week, Brooklyn has been looking frozen and snow-covered. The photo of the week depicts the Prospect Park Lake iced over during the winter of 1985. Here’s hoping for some warmer days ahead!This photo comes from the Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs collection comprised of 93 color and black and white photographs by Gold, taken between 1968…

POTW: Frigid New Year

Tess Colwell

[Man smoking on boardwalk], 1984, v1992.48.56; Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island, V1992.048; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s cold out there! 2018 welcomed us with frigid temps and a wind chill that doesn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon. We hope you’re staying warm out there.The photo of the week depicts a man smoking on the Coney Island Boardwalk during the winter of 1984. Somehow, his expression makes me think that he can relate to the weather we’re experiencing right now. This photo comes from the Anders…

POTW: Season’s Greetings

Tess Colwell

[Holidays view 28], 1960 ca, 2006.001.1.138; Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings, ARC.116; Brooklyn Historical Society.
We hope you are enjoying the holiday season and we wish you a joyful, bountiful New Year!The photo of the week depicts a holiday display at the Williamsburgh Savings Bank around 1960 in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. This photograph comes from the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings collection comprised of photographs…

POTW: Happy Hanukkah!

Tess Colwell

Grandmother at Hanukkah Party, 1980, v1992.43.29; Marcia Bricker photographs, v1992.43; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Wednesday, December 20 is the last day of Hanukkah. If you’ve been celebrating the last 8 nights, we hope you’ve had a festive holiday filled with family, menorah lightings, and maybe a few-too-many latkes. Here at BHS we wish you and your family a Happy Hanukkah!The photo of the week depicts a grandmother at a Hanukkah party in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1980. This photograph comes from…

Deck the Blog: Staff Favorites from the Brooklyn Collection


Brooklyn is home to some of the most iconic winter tableaus in the world. Whether it's the ski worthy snow-capped hills of Fort Greene Park, the odd beauty of fire escapes adorned in holiday lights, or the faces of the brave souls who wait bundled and stoic for the B26 bus; Brooklyn winter is a special kind of wonderful! To celebrate the holiday season we’re decking the blog with some of our favorite seasonal photos from the Brooklyn Collection. We dug deep to find images that celebrate the character and vivacity of Brooklyn landmarks and people. There are hilarious snapshots from the Our…

POTW: Brooklyn Theatre Fire

Tess Colwell

Johnson St. as it appeared after the fire, 1876, V1972.1.923; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Brooklyn Theatre Fire—one of the deadliest theatre fires in history—occurred 141 years ago, on December 5, 1876. The tragic event occurred during the final act of the play “The Two Orphans.” The fire started when a gaslight ignited part of the show’s scenery. Acclaimed actress, Kate Claxton, who performed that night, reported to the New York Times in 1885 that she and…

POTW: Packer Collegiate Institute Records

Tess Colwell

Gym class on roof, 1911 ca, 2014.019.17.05.039b; Packer Collegiate Institute records, 2014.019; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Packer Collegiate Institute is an independent school for preschool through Grade 12, located on Joralemon Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, just a few blocks from BHS Pierrepont.  Thanks to funding from Packer Collegiate Institute and the Leon Levy Foundation, the Packer records have been processed, described, and accessible via a digital humanities website dedicated to the…

POTW: Happy Thanksgiving!

Tess Colwell

Sunday School Thanksgiving/Collection, 1910 ca, v1981.284.20; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, v1981.284; Brooklyn Historical Society.
All of us at Brooklyn Historical Society wish you a relaxing and joyful Thanksgiving holiday! With that in mind, the photo of the week is a view of a Sunday School Thanksgiving collection around 1910 in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.This photograph is from the Emmanuel House lantern slide collection comprised of 87 photographs dating from 1900 to 1914 depicting children…

POTW: Urban Archive

Tess Colwell

[Stanley’s Lunch], 1958, v1974.4.914; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society’s collections include more than 30,000 photographs—7,500 of which can be searched in our online image gallery. You can also view BHS’s photographic collections in a few other locations online: the Digital Public Library of America is a rich resource of over 18,000,000 materials gathered from institutions throughout the country; and the newly released Urban Archive app is a location-based…

Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) Launches website, The Packer Collegiate Institute: A Story of Education in Brooklyn

Julie May

In 1845, a group of Brooklynites formed a committee to establish a school for "Female Education." This group established a board of trustees, raised money to build the school and it opened as The Brooklyn Female Academy on Joralemon Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn with increasing success year after year.  A fire nearly destroyed the school's future in 1853, but Harriet Putnam Packer offered the funds to rebuild. The school was designed by Minard LaFever (also known for St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church) and reopened as The Packer Collegiate Institute in 1854. The…

NYC Trash: Past, Present and Future

Natiba

In this post, guest blogger, photographer Larry Racioppo shares with us a glimpse of his work photographing "Trash" in Brooklyn and NYC. His photos will also be on exhibit at the City Reliquary in their show "NYC Trash: Past, Present and Future" and will "present the stories behind New York City’s solid waste, from “one man’s garbage is another man’s gold” to the inventive ways New Yorkers are reusing and recycling." To view more of Larry's portfolio and his photos of trash in Brooklyn, visit us at the Brooklyn Collection! Natiba Guy-Clement,…

POTW: BLDG 77

Tess Colwell

[Building 77], 1948, v1973.6.365; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society and Brooklyn Navy Yard have a thriving partnership leading student, teacher, and after school programs at BLDG 92 in Social Studies and STEM topics, including labor and industry, sustainability, and innovation. Since 2001, the BNY has undergone major upgrades, expansion and growth that has yielded significant growth in employment and industry. Part of that expansion is the…

POTW: Dodgers

Tess Colwell

The Last Night at Ebbets Field, 1957, 2011.007, Schaefer Brewing Company scrapbook on Ebbets Field, 2011.007; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Tonight is Game Seven of the 2017 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros. The Dodgers have appeared in 19 World Series—9 in Brooklyn and 10 in Los Angeles. In 1957, fueled by financial and political circumstances, the Dodgers’ team owners made a controversial decision to leave Brooklyn for Los Angeles. The photo of the week depicts three Dodgers pitchers (…

A strange case of Widow's Mite, or the Ghosts Come Knocking

Alla

In a few days, Halloween will roll through the city, with the trick-or-treating gaggle of supermen, frankensteins, skeletons and witches roaming the streets. There will also be a fair amount of ghosts and ghouls among them. The gossamer-looking ghosts will be swaying by the front porches and windows even past October 31st, until the obligatory turkeys and pilgrims will replace them. Brooklyn loves a good ghost story and is protective of several such legends. All Brooklyn ghost hunters know of the haunted apartment on the corner of State and Clinton once occupied by none other than H.P.…

POTW: Happy Halloween

Tess Colwell

[Children in horror costumes], 1984, v1992.48.55, Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island, v1992.48; Brooklyn Historical Society.
With Halloween just around the corner, we wanted to bring you one of the spookier photographs from our collections. The photo of the week is a portrait of two kids wearing Halloween costumes in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1984.This photograph comes from the Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island collection comprised of 68 black-and-white photographs of Coney Island in…

POTW: Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch at Grand Army Plaza

Tess Colwell

[Soldiers and Sailors Arch, 1894], 1894, V1986.250.1.18, William Schroeder, Sr. scrapbook collection, ARC.121; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch at Grand Army Plaza was unveiled 125 years ago on October 21, 1892 to commemorate those who fought with the Union troops during The Civil War. John H. Duncan won a $1,000 prize for the design of the arch and construction began in 1889. While the war ended over 30 years earlier, the 1880s and the 1890s were at the heart of a period historians call “…

POTW: Hurricane Sandy

Tess Colwell

[Woman in front of a damaged home caused by Hurricane Sandy], 10/29/2012, 2014.010.8, Michael Claro Hurricane Sandy Photographs, 2010.010; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s hard to believe five years have passed since Hurricane Sandy hit the New York City region. The city is still recovering from the devastation caused to homes, businesses, public transportation, and lives since the 2012 superstorm. We are heartbroken to hear of the devastation caused by storms in the Caribbean, Florida, and Texas. If you feel inclined, we…

POTW: Telephone Booths

Tess Colwell

[Yard worker in a telephone booth], circa 1965, v1988.37.36, Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard Collection, v1988.37; Brooklyn Historical Society
In the not-so-distant past, telephone booths could be seen on nearly every street in New York City. Today, there are only four remaining old-style, glass, enclosed, functioning sidewalk phone booths along West End Avenue in Manhattan. The photo of the week depicts a yard worker making a phone call in a telephone booth at the Brooklyn Navy Yard around 1965.This photograph comes…

POTW: John D. Morrell photographs

Tess Colwell

[Hicks Street], 1974, v1974.9.477, John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Hicks Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1974. I love the variety of retro cars visible along the street in this photograph. How many can you name? If you’re looking to be transported to 1960s and 1970s Brooklyn streets, look no further than the John D. Morrell photographs collection. This collection is comprised of over 2,000 photographs that include buildings and…

POTW: Kindergarten class at Fort Greene Park

Tess Colwell

[Kindergarten class at Fort Greene Park], circa 1910, V1981.284.32, Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, v1981.284; Brooklyn Historical Society.
No matter the decade or time period, it sure is challenging to keep kindergarteners still for a group photograph! The photo of the week depicts a kindergarten class in Fort Greene Park around 1910. I love how every kid has a different expression on their face and no one seems interested in the photograph.This photograph was exposed on a glass plate negative. There are two…

POTW: Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks

Tess Colwell

[Portrait of man posing on a boardwalk in Coney Island], 1898, v1974.022.4.068, Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, ARC.199; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Did you catch the Tales from the Vault program at BHS Pierrepont on Monday? If not, we have some exciting project news to share. In 2015, BHS received a generous grant from Gerry Charitable Trust to digitize and catalog seven scrapbooks from the Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks collection. We are pleased to announce that the scrapbook pages are…

Discovering Gravesend

Jen Hoyer

“Lady Moody Established Gravesend Town.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 11 June 1911, pp.17.
“4 Here Made Trustees Of Gravesend Cemetery.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 20 February 1943, pp.2.
Old burying ground. 1946. Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection.
 
“50- Family Apartment House to Displace Old Van Sicklen Home, an Historic Landmark.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 13 September 1925, pp.15.
…

POTW: Tennis

Tess Colwell

[Dr. Wade and his cousin Dr. L. N. Anderson in Prospect Park], circa 1881, v1974.11.12, Anderson and Nostrand families papers and photographs, ARC.199; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The 2017 United States Open is underway, bringing some of the best tennis players in the world to New York City. This year marks 20 years at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. You can learn more about the US Open and get tickets here.The photo of the week depicts Dr. Wade and his cousin, Dr. L.N. Anderson, and two unidentified women, posing with…

Coney Island: America's Playground

Education Department

Brooklyn Historical Society has partnered with over a dozen Brooklyn schools in the past decade to implement Cultural Afterschool Adventures (CASA) programs in partnership with NYC Council Members. In the Young Scholars program, our educators meet with a group of upper elementary school students over the course of the spring semester, culminating in the creation of a book on a pre-selected theme. These books are then distributed to students, their families, and their schools. A copy of the student work is added to the Othmer Library & Archives, memorializing the student work for…

West Indian Immigration and Carnival: Coming to Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

In the summer of 2017, Brooklyn Connections was delighted to have two of our student alumni join us as interns. Over the course of seven weeks, these interns learned about archival research and chose a topic of their interest to dig into in the Brooklyn Collection. They assembled some of their findings, and we're excited to share them with you on the Brooklynology blog! This post is by Emilia Boothe. Caribbean immigrants have been coming to New York in small but significant numbers ever since the 1960s. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (also known as the Hart-Celler Act) had a great…

Park Slope: Recollections of Change

Education Department

Brooklyn Historical Society has partnered with over a dozen Brooklyn schools in the past decade to implement Cultural Afterschool Adventures (CASA) programs in partnership with NYC Council Members. In the Young Scholars program, our educators meet with a group of upper elementary school students over the course of the spring semester, culminating in the creation of a book on a pre-selected theme. These books are then distributed to students, their families, and their schools. A copy of the student work is added to the Othmer Library & Archives, memorializing the student work for…

Women, Work, and World War II

Education Department

Brooklyn Historical Society has partnered with over a dozen Brooklyn schools in the past decade to implement Cultural Afterschool Adventures (CASA) programs in partnership with NYC Council Members. In the Young Scholars program, our educators meet with a group of upper elementary school students over the course of the spring semester, culminating in the creation of a book on a pre-selected theme. These books are then distributed to students, their families, and their schools. A copy of the student work is added to the Othmer Library & Archives, memorializing the student work for…

POTW: West Indian Carnival

Tess Colwell

[Performers at West Indian Carnival], 1994, 2010.019, West Indian Carnival Documentation Project records; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Now in its 50th year, the West Indian Carnival in Brooklyn is one of the largest outdoor street festivals in North America. The West Indian Carnival tradition in New York City stems from private gatherings and parties held in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in the 1920s, typically in February. In the 1940s, an outdoor street festival began taking place on 7th Avenue in Harlem,…

Caribbean Immigrants in Brooklyn: an American story

Education Department

Brooklyn Historical Society has partnered with over a dozen Brooklyn schools in the past decade to implement Cultural Afterschool Adventures (CASA) programs in partnership with NYC Council Members. In the Young Scholars program, our educators meet with a group of upper elementary school students over the course of the spring semester, culminating in the creation of a book on a pre-selected theme. These books are then distributed to students, their families, and their schools. A copy of the student work is added to the Othmer Library & Archives, memorializing the student work for…

Stories of Our Brooklyn Firefighters

Education Department

Brooklyn Historical Society has partnered with over a dozen Brooklyn schools in the past decade to implement Cultural Afterschool Adventures (CASA) programs in partnership with NYC Council Members. In the Young Scholars program, our educators meet with a group of upper elementary school students over the course of the spring semester, culminating in the creation of a book on a pre-selected theme. These books are then distributed to students, their families, and their schools. A copy of the student work is added to the Othmer Library & Archives, memorializing the student work for…

POTW: Anders Goldfarb Photographs of Coney Island

Tess Colwell

[Person reading on boardwalk], 1989, v1992.48.59; Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island, v1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Anders Goldfarb is a Brooklyn-born documentary photographer. After receiving his MFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1986, he moved to Greenpoint and turned his lens on his neighborhood. His work includes many scenes from the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, but also scenes from other Brooklyn neighborhoods. Brooklyn Historical Society has a collection of 68 black-…

Love Letters from David C. Hurd, a Jamaican immigrant in Brooklyn

Julie May

This post was written by Yingwen Huang, Processing Intern “I only wish I could send you some of this nice cool weather along with some rain and hail that we are having just now; for it would do Kingston a world of good. Even a little snow wouldn’t do any harm.” -- David C. Hurd to his pen pal Avril Cato in Jamaica, March 16, 1914.

Portrait of David C. Hurd, 1914. David C. Hurd papers, 2015.019, Brooklyn Historical Society.
In 2015, Brooklyn Historical Society acquired the papers of David C. Hurd from his granddaughter,…

POTW: Collection Storage

Tess Colwell

[Collection Storage, Long Island Historical Society], circa 1980, v1974.031.60; Long Island Historical Society photographs, v1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society’s collections include books, photographs, archival materials, maps, oral histories, fine art, and artifacts. Many of these materials are stored on-site, however, because of the size and needs of such a large and diverse collection, BHS has two additional off-site storage locations. In order to responsibly care for collections, the…

Dog Days of Summer

Deenah Shutzer

Herzberg, Irving I. Elderly Woman Sitting on Boardwalk with Dog. 1974. The Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
  Thought you were the first and only Brooklynite to sweat so much you nearly transform into a salty pool on the asphalt below? Well, the dog days of summer have plagued our crowded city streets for decades and resouceful Brooklynites have had to turn to a number of different activities for respite, particularly when coasting from AC office to AC train to AC apartment just wasn't an option. We mined…

POTW: Brooklyn Storefronts

Tess Colwell

Vasquez Grocery, 2004, 2009.004.3; James and Karla Murray Counter Culture exhibition photographs, 2009.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
James and Karla Murray are photographers who have spent years documenting storefronts throughout New York City. Their work is a unique and rich record of New York City infrastructure, documenting vanishing establishments and some that have stood the test of time. Brooklyn Historical Society is fortunate to have a small collection of photographs by James and Karla Murray that depict…

BHS DUMBO: Photographer Robin Michals reflects on the Brooklyn waterfront

Meredith Duncan

Robin Michals is one of over two dozen photographers featured in the Brooklyn Historical Society DUMBO exhibition "Shifting Perspectives: Photographs of Brooklyn's Waterfront," on view through September 10, 2017. In this post, she reflects on what attracted her to the waterfront as a subject. Click here to learn more about the beautiful exhibition of Brooklyn waterfront photography. 

Brooklyn Navy Yard, Dry Dock 3, Marcus G Langseth, 2015 Archival pigment inkjet print, 14 x 21 in. Courtesy Robin Michals
Robin Michals: The…

POTW: Happy Summer!

Tess Colwell

[Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album], circa 1912, 2015.010.1; Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album, 2015.010.1; Brooklyn Historical Society.
We hope you’re having a fun and relaxing summer! The photo of the week is from Charles (Karl) Blieffert’s personal scrapbook, depicting some of his summer adventures in Brooklyn around 1912. The album includes 249 black-and-white photographs of Charles Blieffert’s young friends in the Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, and Brighton Beach neighborhoods of Brooklyn. He documented…

POTW: Brooklyn Historical Society Pierrepont

Tess Colwell

[Long Island Historical Society, Pierrepont Street and Clinton Street], 1961, V1974.031.30; Long Island Historical Society photographs, v1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Visitors to the Brooklyn Historical Society Pierrepont location sometimes ask if the building served another purpose before it was the historical society. The answer is—it was always the historical society! Built in 1881, the Queen Anne-style building was designed by architect George Browne Post. The Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn…

POTW: 19th Century Photographs

Tess Colwell

[Women and little girl in garden], circa 1900, v1985.4.38; William Koch glass plate negatives, v1985.4; Brooklyn Historical Society.
One strength of Brooklyn Historical Society’s vast collections is the 19th Century Brooklyn photographs. The photo of the week is from one of those collections--the William Koch glass plate negatives collection-- and depicts a woman and little girl in a garden in Brooklyn, around the late 1890s. Glass plate negatives were a popular photography format during this time and required a light-…

POTW: Prospect Park

Tess Colwell

[Tennis on the Long Meadow], circa 1915, v1973.5.3422; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts lawn tennis on the Long Meadow in Prospect Park, around 1915. To celebrate the park’s 150th anniversary, Brooklyn Historical Society has partnered with Prospect Park Alliance to present a new exhibition titled The Means of a Ready Escape: Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The exhibition highlights the social history of the park and features over one hundred…

The Kosciuszko Bridge and the Changing Face of Brooklyn

Jen Hoyer

Bridges are icons, creating unforgettable outlines across beloved skylines. The Kosciuszko Bridge may not often have been deemed postcard worthy, but the show-stopping cable-stayed design of its replacement (opened in April 2017) is drawing nostalgia over the soon-to-be-removed historic span. Taking a closer look at the Kosciuszko Bridge – and the many bridges that have stood in the same location through centuries past – paints a picture of a changing neighborhood in a changing city.

Kosciuszko Bridge [picture]. Brooklyn Eagle. 4 August…

POTW: Happy Fourth of July!

Tess Colwell

Sunset, Coney Island, 1965, V1988.12.112;Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides,v1988.12; Brooklyn Historical Society.
We hope you had a festive and relaxing holiday weekend! Watching the annual fireworks is one of my favorite Fourth of July traditions. With that in mind, the photo of the week depicts a fireworks display at Coney Island in 1965.This photograph comes from the Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides collection comprised of 157 color slides taken by Dreschmeyer in Brooklyn from 1965 to 1968. Dreschmeyer was a lifelong…

Third Avenue Series: Scrap

One More Folded Sunset

Blogger One More Folded Sunset and photographer Larry Racioppo are working on a series of pieces on Brooklyn's Third Avenue. This is the fourth, about a visit to the 3rd Avenue Junk Shop. Click here for the first, second, and third, and stay tuned for more.

The volume of business at the yard differs from day to day. Some days the scrap comes in as soon as the shutters roll up, and the place stays busy till closing time.  Other days things are quieter.  Business is "spotty," says owner Dominick Palmiotto.…

POTW: Cyclone

Tess Colwell

Thrills on the Cyclone, circa 1955, V1973.4.1456.11; Postcard collection, v1973.4; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Coney Island Cyclone is 90 years old! The wooden roller coaster opened to the public on June 26, 1927, costing twenty-five cents per ride. The Cyclone was declared a NYC landmark in 1988 and a National Historic Landmark in 1991. The photo of the week depicts the Cyclone around 1955 in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn.This photograph comes from the Postcard collection consisting of hundreds of…

POTW: Pride

Tess Colwell

[70 Willow Street], 1922, V1974.32.99; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, ARC.308; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Every June, NYC Pride is a month long celebration commemorating and celebrating the LGBT community. The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project maps out historic sites associated with the LGBT community in all five boroughs, including Brooklyn.The photo of the week depicts one of those historic sites: 70 Willow Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, pictured here in 1922. This home was…

POTW: Penny-farthing

Tess Colwell

[Boy with bicycle], 1886, V1974.7.49; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Eddie Tepper posing with a penny-farthing bicycle in 1886. This is one of my favorite photographs in the BHS collections. I love the boy’s pose and how the circular wheels are echoed in the circle frame.Penny-farthing is a type of bicycle that was popular from roughly the 1870s until the 1880s. They were faster and lighter than previous bicycles, but they were also very dangerous…

The Many Faces of the Brooklyn Bridge

Dee Bowers

Yesterday was the birthday of John Augustus Roebling, who designed the Brooklyn Bridge. In honor of that occasion, here is a selection of images of the bridge from our collections. Search our historic photographs here for more images of the bridge through the years.

Front page of the Brooklyn Eagle on the Brooklyn Bridge's opening day, May 24, 1883.
George Bradford Brainerd, c. 1870s
Julius Wilcox, c. 1880…

POTW: Beach Season

Tess Colwell

[Group at the beach], 1909, v1981.283.3.88; Burton family papers and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s officially beach season! All NYC beaches opened on Memorial Day, operating daily from 10am to 6pm until Labor Day. The NYC Parks Department maintains 14 miles of beaches, many of those miles in Brooklyn. To learn more about NYC beaches, and to find one closest to you, check out this page.The photo of the week depicts a group at an unknown beach in 1909. This photograph comes from the Burton family…

Through His Lens: The photographs of Theobald Wilson

John Zarrillo

Theobald Wilson self-portrait, 1974; Theobald Wilson photographs, 2013.005, Box 30 Folder 3; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In 2013, Brooklyn Historical Society acquired the photographs of Theobald Wilson, a commercial photographer who operated in Brooklyn from the late 20th to the early 21st centuries. These photographs, along with related records and photography equipment, are now open to researchers thanks to generous funding provided by the New York State Archives Documentary Heritage Program. Wilson was born in the San…

POTW: Kennedy Memorial

Tess Colwell

Kennedy Memorial, 1965, v1988.12.4; Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides, v1988.012; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Monday was Memorial Day, a federal holiday remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. While Memorial Day became a federal holiday in 1971, its origins can be traced back to the years after the Civil War. Today, thousands of parades and events take place throughout the country . We hope you took a moment to honor those who have died in service.The photo of the week…

Dining under Gas Lamps at Gage & Tollner’s

John Zarrillo

This post was authored by BHS Library and Archives processing intern Yingwen Huang. Ying processed the Edward and Gertrude Dewey collection of Gage & Tollner records, which are now open and available to the public in our library. For more information,  please see the collection’s finding aid. Walking down Fulton Street shopping district in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood, you can’t help but notice the striking building featuring two white Doric columns under a portico. This landmarked building was once Brooklyn’s iconic Gage & Tollner restaurant. Closed in 2004, the…

Third Avenue Series: Mystic Essentials of Brooklyn

One More Folded Sunset

Blogger One More Folded Sunset and photographer Larry Racioppo are working on a series of pieces on Brooklyn's Third Avenue.  This is the third.  Click here for the first and second, and stay tuned for more. It's loud on Third. Even in a changing city economy, with "makers" on the rise (how did we ever live without them?), and industry lighter than in earlier decades, that expressway traffic never goes away, and the cycles of delivery, spreading out across the city, roll on and on. Even when most of the businesses below bring down their shutters for the night, leaving only the…

POTW: Shifting Perspectives

Tess Colwell

In the Surf, Manhattan Beach, U. S. A., 1889, v1972.1.1019; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week is a stereograph depicting men and women wading in the surf at Manhattan Beach. Stereographs are two nearly identical photographs that have been mounted on cardboard. When viewed through a stereoscope, a 3-D image appears. You can view this photograph, along with 7 additional stereographs from our collection at BHS Dumbo’s inaugural exhibition,…

POTW: BHS Dumbo

Tess Colwell

[Dockworkers, Brooklyn], 1924, v1973.5.917; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts dockworkers on Furman Street in Brooklyn, hoisting and moving goods into a waterfront warehouse—once a ubiquitous sight in the early twentieth-century, when Brooklyn boasted one of the largest commercial waterfronts in the world. Today, only a few of those waterfront warehouses remain. Empire Stores, located on Water Street in DUMBO, is one of them. It’s also the…

"Let Me Make This Perfectly Clear...": Photo Retouching in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Deborah

Radio tribute to Brooklyn - Photo: Brooklyn Collection
Back in the days of analog (film) photography, there was a lag, serendipitous or frustrating depending on how you looked at it, between taking a photo and seeing the result. Once the prints were in hand, shuffling through them brought the realization of joyful accidents and unforeseen failures, like seeing a friend's portrait that seemed quite right when taken and in the print she sprouts a lamppost from her head. Now, with the advent of digital photography, we can…

POTW: Happy Mother's Day

Tess Colwell

Waiting on Myrtle Ave. for Car- Mothers' Outing, 1911, V1981.284.27; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In honor of Mother’s Day this Sunday, we bring you a mother-themed photo of the week. The photograph depicts women and children waiting for the Gates Avenue train car on Myrtle Avenue during a “Mothers’ Outing.” The closer you look, the more charming the photograph gets—small moments between mother and child and adorable outfits. If only we knew what this outing entailed!This…

“Views of Nassau County” now online!

Tess Colwell

Brooklyn Historical Society received a generous grant from Gerry Charitable Trust in 2015 to digitize and catalog seven scrapbooks from the Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks [Arc.308]. Eugene Armbruster was an amateur photographer and historian during the late 19th century and early 20th century in Brooklyn. Following retirement from The H. Henkel Cigar Box Manufacturing Company, he became interested in local history and took thousands of photographs depicting buildings and street scenes throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, and neighboring states. His scrapbooks are…

The Other Side of the Park

Larry Racioppo

Photographer Larry Racioppo, whose work is on display in our current exhibition on Prospect Park for the park's 150th anniversary, shares some memories and photos of the park in this guest post. Racioppo is also working on our Third Avenue blog series with blogger One More Folded Sunset. Prospect Park was a part of my life long before I became a photographer. Glued to the black construction paper pages of Racioppo and Tenga family albums are photos of my parents and their friends posing ‘dressed up’ in the park or just outside it, along its stone walls.…

POTW: Ambergill Falls

Tess Colwell

[Ambergill Falls in Prospect Park], 1880 ca., v1974.7.109; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Now that spring is upon us, it’s the perfect time to explore Brooklyn’s green spaces. The photo of the week depicts Ambergill Falls located by Rock Arch Bridge in Prospect Park. This is one of several waterfalls that was designed by Olmsted and Vaux, the Park’s creators. Prospect Park Alliance offers many free walking tours and events throughout the warmer months, which is a great way to…

Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) Launches Oral History Portal

Zaheer Ali

Brooklyn Historical Society's Oral History Collections portal front page. Click on the image to visit the portal at brooklynhistory.org/oralhistory.
"I didn't know anything about that part of Brooklyn," remembers writer and filmmaker Nelson George, talking about the Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene in the early 1980s. "I had no inkling I would move here." As it turned out George ended up living just a few blocks from where up-and-coming director Spike Lee lived, just as Lee was making his mark on Hollywood. Pretty…

POTW: Housing and Building Research

Tess Colwell

[#1661-1665 85th Street.], 1958, v1974.4.491; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Housing and building research is one of the most popular research topics at Brooklyn Historical Society. The library and archival collections include a variety of materials that are helpful in understanding the history of Brooklyn neighborhoods, blocks and buildings. If you’re interested in diving into your own housing research, be sure to check out our Housing and Building Research guide that outlines a…

POTW: Brooklyn Pets

Tess Colwell

Cat [in flower garden], 1967, v1988.12.134; Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides, v1988.12; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Pet photography appears almost immediately after photography was introduced in the mid-19th century. The first known photograph of a dog was a daguerreotype title Poodle with a Bow, on a Table by an unknown photographer in the 1850s. It’s clear from the photographic collections at Brooklyn Historical Society that Brooklyites love their pets! There are hundreds of pet photographs in our collections and many…

POTW: Aerial Photography

Tess Colwell

Our City, 1926, v1972.1.1266; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This aerial photograph depicts downtown Brooklyn (foreground), the East River (middle), and Manhattan (background) in 1926. When this photo was taken, aerial photography had been in existence for nearly 70 years. In 1858, French portrait photographer Gaspard Felix Tournachon shot the earliest-known aerial photograph from a tethered balloon. Unfortunately, that image does not survive. The earliest known…

POTW: Jackie Robinson Exhibition

Tess Colwell

[Jackie Robinson (R) and Yogi Berra/ World Series- Yankees and Dodgers], 1955, v1987.1.4; Photography collection, v1987.1; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Jackie Robinson had an impressive and record-shattering baseball career. He was the first African-American player in the Major League; winner of the inaugural Rookie of the Year award in 1947 and Most Valuable Player award in 1949; and he led the Dodgers to their 1955 World Series victory. Robinson viewed his athletic career as an endeavor greater than baseball. He was an…

Third Avenue Series: At the VFW

Thomas

Blogger One More Folded Sunset and photographer Larry Racioppo are working on a series of pieces on Brooklyn's Third Avenue.  This is the second.  Click here for the first, and stay tuned for more.

Larry Racioppo, 2017
  VFW Post #7096 has been at 804 Third Avenue since 1956.  When it opened, there were around ninety active posts in Brooklyn.  Today the VFW website lists fifteen. Post #7096 sits in the shadow of the Expressway, right around the site of the Gowanus village the Dutch settled almost four…

Miss Manhattan and Miss Brooklyn are back!

Thomas

In January 2017, a new piece of art was installed at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Tillary Street, at the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge. Two snow-white resin sculptures representing “Miss Brooklyn” and “Miss Manhattan” were hoisted above the busy street traffic on two slowly rotating “Lazy Susans” supported by a stem-like post. Now, as they steadily revolve in opposite directions, they enjoy a 360 degree view of the area from whence they were banished nearly 60 years ago. The original “Miss Manhattan” and “Miss Brooklyn” were not rotating. Once upon a time, they were firmly…

The Story of Pinky

Thomas

Women formed a central part of the abolitionist movement in the years that led up to the civil war and during war time. They participated in many varied ways, from writing and giving speeches to becoming conductors of the Underground Railroad and assisting union soldiers by organizing Sanitary Fairs around the country. There were others who participated in a more unconventional role that afforded them no agency. This is the story of one such woman, or rather, an enslaved girl of 9 years old, and her part in the abolitionist movement. Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights and its Reverend…

POTW: Spring

Tess Colwell

[Pathway and Trees in Prospect Park], circa 1975, v1990.2.166; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, v1990.2.166; Brooklyn Historical Society.
*Update: We originally attributed this photograph to Brooklyn Botantic Garden, but thanks to reader feedback and to our colleagues at BBG we were able to confirm that it is in fact Prospect Park. Look how the public helps us update our collection records! Thanks!Monday marked the first day of Spring, after the sixth warmest winter in New York City. The photo of the week depicts a…

Bushwick and her Neighbors, Vol. 1-3 now online!

Tess Colwell

Brooklyn Historical Society received a generous grant from Gerry Charitable Trust in 2015 to digitize and catalog seven scrapbooks from the Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks [Arc.308]. Eugene Armbruster was an amateur photographer and historian during the late 19th century and early 20th century in Brooklyn. Following retirement from The H. Henkel Cigar Box Manufacturing Company, he became interested in local history and took thousands of photographs depicting buildings and street scenes throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, and neighboring states. His scrapbooks are…

POTW: Reliable & Frank's

Tess Colwell

Inside Reliable and Frank's, two customers], 1978, v1988.21.370; Frank J. Trezza Seatrain Shipbuilding collection, v1988.21; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the interior of Reliable and Frank's, an Army-Navy store located across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, in 1978. The store sold uniforms to sailors until 1966, when the Navy decommissioned the Yard. Despite this, the store remained opened by diversifying their clientele. They later sold uniforms to cruise ship workers, college students, and even…

POTW: Bernard Gotfryd photographs

Tess Colwell

[East New York courtyard.], 1970 ca, v1987.3.6; Bernard Gotfryd color slides and photographs, v1987.3; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Bernard Gotfryd color slides and photographs is one of my favorite collections at Brooklyn Historical Society. Gotfryd’s photographs capture Brooklyn street scenes with children playing, people sitting on stoops, and sidewalk activity from 1965 to 1983. The photo of the week is an image from this collection that depicts people cleaning up a courtyard in the East New York neighborhood of…

Under the Expressway: Marking Time on Brooklyn's Third Avenue

Thomas

Blogger One More Folded Sunset and photographer Larry Racioppo are working on a series of pieces on Brooklyn's Third Avenue.  This is an excerpt from the first.  In future posts, they'll be interviewing businesses owners, uncovering art, and continuing to find inspiration in the avenue's changing landscape. I'm drawn to city borders.  Not 'edge of town' divisions, but the ones inside the city limits, where infrastructure, for better or worse, creates some kind of boundary: a rail track, a highway, an elevated train line.  They're city landmarks, hardly ever for…

POTW: Smith-9th Street Station

Tess Colwell

[View of portion of Smith-9th Street Station (IND).], 1958, v1974.4.1131; John D. Morrell photographs, v1974.4; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Do you live off the Smith-9th Street station? The photo of the week depicts the snow-covered station located in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, in December 1958. The station opened in 1933 and closed for two years during massive renovations between 2011 and 2013. The elevated station is 87.5 feet high and is considered the highest above-ground subway station in the world.This…

Ina Clausen & Protest in Brooklyn

Deenah

Ina Clausen (center), 1957, Prospect Park, Brooklyn. With the inauguration of Donald Trump in January, it seems that we have entered a renewed moment in the public sphere, with each week defined by protests, community meetings, and urgent calls to contact your elected officials. This moment, however, is not so very brand new -- there is of course a long and varied history of protest movements and resistance both in the United States and abroad. Given the current political climate, I thought it would be appropriate to mine the Brooklyn Collection for some local precedent. I turned to…

POTW: Family Research

Tess Colwell

[Man with child], ca. 1909, v1981.283.3.103; Burton family papers and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week is from around 1909 and depicts a man holding a baby outside a Brooklyn home. This photograph comes from the Burton family papers and photographs collection which contains personal documents and photographs from the Burton family. To me, family photographs can convey genuine, intimate interactions and evoke feelings of affection and comfort that resound in loving families. I admire…

POTW: Hunterfly Road Houses

Tess Colwell

[Hunterfly Road Houses], 1922, v1987.11.2; Eugene L. Armbruster photograph and scrapbook collection, v1987.011; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Hunterfly Road Houses in 1922, the last remaining structures of the Weeksville community, part of the present-day Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Weeksville was founded in 1838, and named after James Weeks, a former slave from Virginia, who was an early investor and resident of the community.  It quickly became a thriving community of black…

Hattie "The Tree Lady of Brooklyn" Carthan

Thomas

“We’ve already lost too many trees, houses and people…your community – you owe something to it. I didn’t care to run.” – Hattie Carthan Welcome to Black History Month at the Brooklyn Collection. As most of you know, many great artists, leaders, educators, activists and politicians contributed to Brooklyn’s rich and indispensable Black history. Today we thought we would highlight one of those activists, Ms. Hattie Carthan, a community leader and environmentalist who forever changed Bedford-Stuyvesant. Hattie Carthan moved to Brooklyn from Virginia, and was once described as “the best…

POTW: Brooklyn Sewers

Tess Colwell

[New Catch Basin/Court +Remsen Sts], 1920 ca, v1974.24.42; Arthur Weindorf glass plate negatives , v1974.024; Brooklyn Historical Society.
You’ve probably heard the urban legend of alligators living in the New York City sewers, but did you know there is small grain of truth to that? In February 1935, a few teenage boys discovered a 125-pound alligator in a sewer at 123rd street while shoveling snow. A New York Times article describes one of the boy’s encounter with the alligator: “What he saw, in the thickening dusk,…

POTW: Jackie Robinson

Tess Colwell

[Jackie Robinson in dugout], circa 1950, v1987.1.3; Photography collection, v1987.1; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Yesterday would have been Jackie Robinson’s 98th birthday. He became the first African American baseball player to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He played ten years in the MLB and helped lead the Dodgers to their 1955 World Series championship. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. On April 5, 2017, Brooklyn Historical Society…

You Gotta Believe

Thomas

Swimming is one of the best ways of keeping physically fit, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages.  There are those that swim recreationally, and then there are those brave souls who test the limits of their capabilities by endeavoring to swim the English Channel.  One such person was Mrs. Betty Cohn of 120 Ocean Parkway, who became the first grandmother to swim the channel when she swam from France to England in 1951. News of her swimming prowess was carried in newspapers around the world. like the Singapore Free Press, and Melbourne Australia's Argus newspaper where she said…

POTW: Blizzard of 1888

Tess Colwell

[Horse-drawn sleigh, Flatbush Avenue and Clarkson Avenue], 1888, V1974.7.74; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I’ve been missing the magic of a Brooklyn snow fall during this unseasonably warm winter, but looking at this photograph, I’m reminded that I should be careful what I wish for. New Yorkers were reportedly experiencing similarly warmer temperatures and rain leading up to the Blizzard of 1888. No one suspected a four day blizzard in March, with high winds and roughly 40…

POTW: Paerdegaat Basin

Tess Colwell

Paerdegaat [Basin], ca 1910, v1981.15.144; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides,v1981.15; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Paerdegaat Basin around 1910 in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. The 1.25 mile long channel connects to Jamaica Bay in the south, and is named for the Dutch word “horse gate.” The surrounding wetland area includes groves of trees and a habitat for many bird and animal species. I love the soft tree reflections in the water and the small tent visible in the background. Did…

Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral history open to researchers in January, 2017!

Brett Dion

Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) and Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration) partnered on the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Oral History project in 2007-2008 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Restoration’s founding as the first community development corporation (CDC) in the United States. Fifty-six interviews were conducted with founding board members, supporters, activists, artists, tenants, and other community members. Audio clips from these oral history interviews were included in the exhibition Reflections on Community Development: Stories from Bedford…

POTW: Ektachrome Film Returns

Tess Colwell

[Brooklyn Bridge], 1964, v1988.1.181; A. Edna Glyde Photograph Collection, v1988.1; Brooklyn Historical Society.
A few months ago, I featured a photograph taken with ektachrome film, which has been out of production since 2012. Last Thursday, Kodak announced that they are bringing back their iconic Kodak Ektachrome film later this year. They stated, “The film, known for its extremely fine grain, clean colors, great tones and contrast, became iconic in no small part due to the extensive use of slide film by the National…

Puerto Rican Oral History Project records now open to researchers

Brett Dion

This collection includes recordings and transcripts of oral histories narrated by those in the Puerto Rican community of Brooklyn who arrived between 1917 and 1940. The Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society) initiated the Puerto Rican Oral History Project in 1973, conducting over eighty interviews between 1973 and 1975. The oral histories often contain descriptions of immigration, living arrangements, neighborhood ethnicities, discrimination, employment, community development, and political leadership. Since their creation in the 1970s, the recordings had not been…

POTW: Second Avenue Subway

Tess Colwell

[Subway passengers], ca 1985, v2008.013.87; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 20087.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Over the weekend, the Second Avenue Subway opened after almost a century of planning. The station extends the Q line to three new stations at 72nd, 86th, and 96th streets in Manhattan. Did you ride the new subway line over opening weekend?This photograph is one of my favorite images of the NYC subway in our collection. Taken by photographer Lucille Fornasieri Gold, it depicts subway passengers on an…

Oral histories of the West Indian Carnival Documentation Project records now open to researchers!

Brett Dion

Brooklyn Historical Society launched The West Indian Carnival Documentation Project in 1994 to supplement existing photographs and histories of the event with personal narratives and life histories of Carnival participants. In cooperation with the West Indian American Day Carnival Association and the Brooklyn Museum, the project attempted to document different viewpoints from within the Carnival organization and the diverse participants. Since their creation in 1994 and 1995, recordings had not been fully processed and have been inaccessible to researchers, that is... until now! The oral…

POTW: Happy New Year

Tess Colwell

[Winter sunset, Coney Island], 1968/01/21, v1988.12.85; Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides, v1988.012; Brooklyn Historical Society.
There’s something beautiful and peaceful about the beach during the winter. I love this photograph by Otto Dreschmeyer depicting a Coney Island sunset in January 1968. I hope to experience at least a few of these in person during the New Year. What are you resolving to do in the coming year? Whatever it may be, we wish you a healthy, happy, and abundant 2017!This photograph comes from the Otto…

Listen to This: Crown Heights Oral History collection now open to researchers

Brett Dion

Titled Listen to This by the donor Alexandra Kelly, this oral history collection includes interview audio and summaries created and collected within the context of a community project undertaken by project director Kelly and Paul J. Robeson High School interns Treverlyn Dehaarte, Ansie Montilus, Monica Parfait, Quanaisha Phillips and Floyya Richardson. These interviewers recorded conversations with forty-three narrators. In addition to the educational experience for the student interns, the oral histories were conducted as life history and community anthropology interviews. Topics of…

POTW: Happy Holidays!

Tess Colwell

[Holidays view 19], ca 1965, 2006.001.1.129; Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings, ARC.116; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s the most festive time of year in Brooklyn. Christmas-related festiveness is just one of the many forms of celebrations taking place this time of year. This includes pop-up holiday markets, Christmas tree stands, and festive home decorations galore. However you choose to celebrate, we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season!With that in mind, the photo of the…

Crown Heights History Project Oral Histories now open to researchers:

Brett Dion

Also known as "Bridging Eastern Parkway," the Crown Heights History Project produced oral histories in audiotapes and transcripts within the context of an exhibition project undertaken in part by Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) in 1993 and 1994. Three interviewers recorded conversations with over forty narrators. In addition to exhibition product value, the oral histories were conducted as life history and community anthropology interviews; topics of discussion include family and heritage, immigration and relocation, cultural and racial relations, occupations and professions, education and…

Bushwick and Her Neighbors, Vol. 1 is now online!

Tess Colwell

Brooklyn Historical Society received a generous grant from Gerry Charitable Trust in 2015 to digitize and catalog seven scrapbooks from Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbook collection. Eugene Armbruster was an amateur photographer and historian during the late 19th century and early 20th century in Brooklyn. Following retirement from The H. Henkel Cigar Box Manufacturing Company, he became interested in local history and took thousands of photographs depicting buildings and street scenes throughout Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island. His scrapbooks are organized by subject and…

POTW: Electrification of Long Island Rail Road

Tess Colwell

[Electrification of Long Island Rail Road at Washington Avenue], 1903, v1984.1463.3; Long Island Rail Road construction photographs, V1984.1463; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the excavation during the electrification of the Long Island Rail Road on Washington Avenue in Brooklyn in 1903. A crew of men can be seen using shovels and picks to manually complete the arduous excavation work during winter. This photograph sticks out to because of the view of men and women and horse-drawn carriages at…

POTW: Prospect Park Sea Lions

Tess Colwell

Sea Lion Pool, Prospect Park Zoo, 1987, v1990.62.2; Jerome Frank photographs, V1990.62; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Have you visited the sea lions at the Prospect Park Zoo? The photo of the week depicts the Sea Lion Pool on October 15, 1987. The zoo is located on the east side of Prospect Park, along Flatbush Avenue. The zoo opened in 1935 as part of a city-wide revitalization project initiated by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. The Sea Lion Court is one of the most popular exhibits and is also a unique architectural…

POTW: Brooklyn Storefronts

Tess Colwell

Katy’s Candy Store, 2005, 2009.004.31; James and Karla Murray Counter Culture exhibition photographs, 2009.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the exterior of Katy’s Candy Store, a specialty candy shop located at 125 Tompkins Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The family-owned shop opened in 1969 and closed permanently in 2007. This photograph is part of an ongoing project by photographers James and Karla Murray to document storefronts in Brooklyn and New York City. A…

POTW: Happy Thanksgiving!

Tess Colwell

[Edna Machtiger’s Wedding, Thanksgiving Day], 1946, V1991.11.103.2; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
As you prep for your Thanksgiving celebrations or travels, we bring you a photo of the week that takes us back to Thanksgiving, 1946. This photo depicts an unidentified man carrying a plate of food for Edna Machtiger’s wedding on Thanksgiving Day, 1946. Do you think there’s turkey on that plate?A New York Times article published on November 26, 1946, describes a suggested menu for a…

POTW: Brighton Beach Hotel Move

Tess Colwell

[Men examining railroad cable at moving of Hotel Brighton], 1888, V1974.7.86; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Brighton Beach Hotel was a grand, three-story, 174-room waterfront hotel in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn.  The hotel was built too close to the ocean, and after ten years, the hotel faced serious erosion issues that threatened the structure and foundation. In April 1888, a decision was made to move the entire (estimated eight million pound) structure…

POTW: John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge

Tess Colwell

[John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge], ca 1890, v1981.283.55, Burton family papers and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio. If you look closely, it might remind you of another bridge here in Brooklyn. That’s because both the Brooklyn Bridge and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge were created by the same civil engineer and designer, John A. Roebling. The above bridge spans the Ohio River to connect Cincinnati, Ohio and…

POTW: Brooklyn Bar

Tess Colwell

[Men inside Bar], ca 1900, v1972.1.1063, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
If you made it to the Oktoberfest-themed Free Friday event here at BHS, you may have seen this photograph among other beer-related collections items. I find this photograph particularly charming because it offers a glimpse into the bar customer and décor in turn of the century Brooklyn. I love the landscape images depicted behind the bar, the barkeeper’s clothing, and the wood details. Today…

POTW: Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Tess Colwell

[Manhattan skyline at night], ca 1964, V1988.1.147, Edna Glyde photograph collection, V1988.1; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The breathtaking view of the Manhattan skyline from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade never ceases to amaze me. At BHS, we’re lucky to be able to experience the views from the Promenade regularly, as it’s only a few blocks away from our office in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. I love this photograph of the skyline at night, taken by Edna Glyde around 1964.The unique tone of this…

Gertrude Hoffmann's First Act

Thomas

This week, guest blogger Sunny Stalter-Pace marks the 50th anniversary of dancer and choreographer Gertrude Hoffmann's death with a post sharing some information about Hoffmann's early life and career. Stalter-Pace is writing a biography of Hoffmann and has used the Gertrude Hoffmann Collection here at the Brooklyn Collection as part of her research. Gertrude Hoffmann (1885-1966) enjoyed a long career as a performer, choreographer, and producer. Brooklynology introduced the versatile vaudevillian in a blog post that’s now more than 5 years old; it followed that post with another on her…

Fashion, Fashion, Who's Got the Fashion?

Thomas

Recently, I had a to check a number of microfilm reels of the Brooklyn Daily Times. As I scrolled through the reels, a recurring comic feature caught my eye. Modish Mitzi features stunning fashion illustrations and the trials and tribulations of the titular Mitzi, a wealthy fashionista who always has to have the latest styles. With the help of her equally stylish friends Polly and Adelaide, and of course, the funds from her very accommodating father, Mitzi somehow manages to both navigate her socialite lifestyle and always be wearing the most up-to-the-minute 20s and 30s fashions while…

POTW: Burton Sisters

Tess Colwell

[Portrait of three women], ca 1885, v1981.283.48, Burton family paper and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I love this tintype photograph of sisters Minnie Burton and Virginia Burton with their sister-in-law (presumably Josie Newcombe) seated with arms interlocked, identical outfits, and fierce expressions. This photograph was taken around 1885 by an unknown photographer, but likely at a studio in Brooklyn.The Burton family included William H. Burton, a house painter, and his wife Virginia Baptista, both…

Brooklyn on film at the Library of Congress

Thomas

A couple of months ago, a colleague at the Brooklyn Museum Library tweeted that she had found a film reel in their collection with nitrate film. Since nitrate film is highly flammable and needs to be stored in special conditions in order to prevent it from catching fire, the library needed to identify the film quickly in order to decide whether or not to keep such a dangerous item. All they knew was the film's title, "Brooklyn Progress," the date range, 1933-1937, and that the content included a kind of tour through prominent Brooklyn sites.Photo courtesy J.E. Molly SeegersI offered to…

POTW: Scrapbooks

Tess Colwell

Autumn Scene Near 3rd St., ca 1900, V1986.250.1.73, William Schroeder, Sr. scrapbook collection , ARC.121; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week is titled “Autumn scene near 3rd street” and depicts a view of Prospect Park around 1900, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. This photograph comes from the William Schroeder, Sr. scrapbook collection that comprises three scrapbooks created by Brooklyn physician, Dr. William Schroeder, Sr., from around 1900 through 1904. This photograph is part of the “Parks…

POTW: Fine Art Photography

Tess Colwell

Astroland Park with Happyface and bottom half of Wonder Wheel (panoramic), 2006, 2008.035.1, Ron Meisel photographs, 2008.035; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In addition to the thousands of historical photographs in Brooklyn Historical Society’s collections, there are also a few smaller collections of fine art photography created by contemporary artists. The photo of the week depicts a panoramic view of Astroland Park in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn taken by local photographer Ron Meisel in 2006. Astroland was…

POTW: Fall

Tess Colwell

Fall [Prospect Park West], ca. 1905, V1981.15.207, Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15; Brooklyn Historical Society
Last Thursday marked the first day of fall, and it happens to be my favorite time of year in Brooklyn. I love the autumnal colors, the crisp air, and the abundant apple varieties! With that in mind, the photo of the week is titled “Fall” and depicts the tree-lined sidewalk along the stone wall bordering Prospect Park West on a rainy day in autumn, around 1905. In the distance is a small group of…

POTW: Othmer Library

Tess Colwell

[Othmer Library, Long Island Historical Society], circa 1938, V1974.031.65, Long Island Historical Society photographs, V1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Have you had the opportunity to visit Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library? If not, you’re in for a treat when you do. The New York City interior landmark was built in 1881 and features a unique truss system, beautiful stained glass, ornately-detailed shelving, and columns made of black ash wood. It is one of the most comprehensive collection of materials on…

POTW: 19th Century Brooklyn photographs

Tess Colwell

[Man with camera and boy], ca. 1880., v1974.7.45, Adrian Vanderveer Martense Collection, v1974.7.45; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society has many rich photography collections documenting Brooklyn from the mid-1800s to the present. One particular strength of the photography collections is the photographs depicting 19th century Brooklyn. The Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, Emmanuel house lantern slide collection, Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, and William Koch glass plate negatives collection…

AIDS/Brooklyn Oral Histories at Othmer Library now open to researchers

Brett Dion

Conducted for an exhibition undertaken by the Brooklyn Historical Society in 1993, the AIDS/Brooklyn Oral History Project yielded an exceptional set of twenty-one recorded oral history interviews. The project attempted to document the impact of the AIDS epidemic on Brooklyn communities. Recordings, initially made on audiocassette tape and videotape, were with narrators who had firsthand experience with the crisis in their communities, families and personal life. For many years since the exhibition closed, the tapes had not been fully processed or digitized. Thanks to the generous funding…

POTW: Red Hook

Tess Colwell

[Boy walking in Red Hook], ca. 1973, V2008.013.64, Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts an unidentified boy walking in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, around 1973. Personally, I love the striking red, white, and blue color palate of this photograph. The red fire hydrant, sign, and hat guides my eye throughout the frame. I think this photograph is a good example of how photographer Lucille Fornasieri Gold uses color and light in her work. She has…

POTW: Glass plate negative

Tess Colwell

[Two boats off beach], 1900 ca., V1985.4.18, William Koch glass plate negatives, V1985.4; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Can you make out the two boats depicted in this photograph? I love the dreamy quality of this image created by the smudges and texture on the glass plate negative. Glass plate negatives are one of the earliest forms of photographic negatives, dating back to 1851. There are two types of glass plate negatives: collodion wet plate negative and the gelatin dry plate. Both techniques require a light-sensitive…

POTW: Knickerbocker Field Club

Tess Colwell

[Men playing tennis, Flatbush, Brooklyn], 1889., V1974.7.71, Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, Arc.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
If you’ve ever walked along Church Avenue in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, you might not notice a gated entrance to the Knickerbocker Field Club, also known as “the Knick”, located at East 18th Street and Tennis Court. Since 1889, the private, member-owned tennis club has maintained five tennis courts tucked behind a large apartment complex and above the Q train line. It’s a…

POTW: East 25th Street

Tess Colwell

[As at present at corner of East 25th St. and Avenue D – 1917], 1917., V1986.65.1.14, John Jay Pierrepont photograph collection, Arc.197; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Last week, the stretch of East 25th street (between Avenue D and Clarendon Rd) in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn was named the “Greenest Block in Brooklyn” by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Judging criteria included maintenance, creativity, community participation, suitability of plants, and more. How does your Brooklyn block compare?The photo of the…

POTW: Red Cross

Tess Colwell

Red Cross Office, 1917 ca., v1973.2.238, Brooklyn Oversize, 19th Century Collection, v1973.2; Brooklyn Historical Society.
During World War I, the Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society) transformed the 600-seat auditorium on the first floor of its Brooklyn Heights building into a Red Cross headquarters and office. The photo of the week depicts Red Cross activities in the BHS office location, around 1917.  According to their website, the Red Cross provided aid in the form of donations, medical…

POTW: Nathan's

Tess Colwell

[View of Surf Avenue Coney Island.], 1958, V1974.4.1146, John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Nathan’s Famous has stood at the corner of Stillwell and Surf Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn for 100 years. Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker and his wife Ida Handwerker opened the hot dog stand in 1916. A New York Times article reported that the Handwerkers used their life savings of $300 to open the business. Ida Handwerker created the secret spice for the hot dogs, which were…

Tales of Another Cleveland Convention

Thomas

I was working with our clippings collection the other day and came across the subject heading "Red-Headed Legion." Intrigued, I decided to explore this organization further. The trail led me all the way to the 1924 Republican National Convention which, like this year's, was held in Cleveland, Ohio. But let me start with the legion itself."Red-Headed Legion Holds Rally of Nine" announced a headline in the June 9, 1924 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The nine who attended the rally comprised "four red-headed women, four red-headed men and one man with black hair and a red mustache." (…

POTW: Ferry Terminal

Tess Colwell

[Houston Street Ferry Terminal, Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y.], 1922, V1991.106.2, Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, V1991.106; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the shuttered Houston Street Ferry Terminal, a ferry that connected Manhattan (Houston Street) and Williamsburg (Grand Street) via the East River, in 1922.In 1810, Richard Woodhull purchased 13 acres of land (later named Williamsburg) that included the ferry landing, with the intention to create a suburb of New…

POTW: Masquerade

Tess Colwell

Louis Ramus [at the Masquerade Ball], 1917, V1978.174.30, Ramus family papers and photographs, 1978.174; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Louis Ramus dressed for the annual Masquerade Ball at Brooklyn Turn Verein Hall on March 5, 1917 in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. I think this photograph is particularly charming because of Ramus’s festive clothing and proud stance for the photographer.Turn Verein halls originated in Germany, and expanded to the United States in communities with…

POTW: Sunbathers

Tess Colwell

[Brighton Beach sunbathers], circa 1975, v2008.013.32; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, v2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
With temperatures reaching the nineties last week, I think it’s safe to say that the summer heat has finally arrived in Brooklyn. Whether you’re desperately looking for ways to cool off or you enjoy soaking up the heat (like the sunbathers above), please remember to be safe. When the heat index reaches 100 degrees for any one day or 95 degrees for two or more days, the city opens cooling…

David Attie's Champions

Brooklyn Historical Society

"... at a time when you could claim notoriety for posting videos of kitten climbing out of cardboard boxes, my father and his work had all but vanished.” On July 20th, a new exhibit opens at Brooklyn Historical Society that highlights the 1950’s Brooklyn street photography of the late fine art and commercial photographer David Attie. Despite a successful and wide-ranging career – which included frequent covers and spreads for Vogue, Time, Newsweek, Playboy, and Harper’s, portraits of everyone from Bobby Fischer to Lorraine Hansberry to Leiber & Stoller, and his own book of photographs,…

POTW: Happy 4th!

Tess Colwell

Sunset, Coney Island, 1966, V1988.12.92; Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides, v1988.12; Brooklyn Historical Society.
We hope you enjoyed a relaxing, safe, and happy July 4th holiday! With that in mind, the photo of the week is a double-exposure depicting the sunset at Coney Island as well as a fireworks display taken in August of 1966. A double-exposure is when two images are exposed on a single frame, creating a layered and unique visual effect.This photograph comes from the Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides collection that…

That's A Wrap

Thomas

The school year has finally come to a close but, before students and teachers rejoice at the long summer days that lie ahead, they take the time to pause and partake in that time-honored celebration of achievement: the graduation ceremony. How have Brooklynites celebrated this singular milestone throughout the years?  We have numerous graduation programs in our collection, and by studying their content, as well as the physical program themselves, we see how the ceremonies were a reflection of their era, and how they changed with the times. The early commencement programs were elegant…

POTW: Tintype

Tess Colwell

[Portrait of two women, one man and eight children on the beach], circa 1890, V1981.283.1.63; Burton family papers and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Tintypes are hard to miss if you come across one in person. They are thin iron (not tin) plates typically with a blackish or brownish hue and crisp detail.  They were invented in 1854, and gained popularity in the 1860s as an inexpensive and accessible photographic method. Tintypes were less expensive and easier to make than their predecessor,…

Everett and Evelyn Ortner papers and photographs now open to the public!

John Zarrillo

Evelyn and Everett Ortner, circa 1980; Everett and Evelyn Ortner papers and photographs, ARC.306; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The papers of Everett and Evelyn Ortner, which date from 1873 to 2012 and consist of over 50 linear feet of manuscripts, photographs, organizational records, correspondence, posters, films, and digital files, are now open to researchers at Brooklyn Historical Society. The papers and photographs were processed with funding generously provided by the New York State Archives Documentary Heritage…

POTW: Summer

Tess Colwell

[Summer, Circa 1891, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y.], circa 1897, v1973.4.1081a,b; Postcard collection, v1973.4; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Monday marked the first official day of summer and the longest day of the year. One of my favorite ways to enjoy the long summer evenings is by visiting Prospect Park. Whether it’s jogging, hiking, reading a book, or going to a concert, there are endless ways to make the most of summer in the park.With that in mind, the photo of the week depicts people in Prospect Park, near Music…

Colonial New York Close Up: Revisiting Bernard Ratzer's Plan of the City of New York

Lisa Miller

Plan of the City of New York in North America: surveyed in the years 1766 & 1767, [1770]. Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society is excited to put two highlights of our collection on display for a limited engagement this summer in honor of the 240th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn: two versions of the "Plan of the City of New York in North America: surveyed in 1766 and 1767" by Bernard Ratzer (commonly called the Ratzer Map). Bernard Ratzer was an engineer and surveyor who served as a…

POTW: Joe's Restaurant

Tess Colwell

[Joe’s Restaurant, Fulton Street.], 1958, V1974.4.890; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Joe’s Restaurant, located at 330 Fulton Street, was a Brooklyn Heights fixture for nearly 50 years. Joe Sartori and Joseph Balzarini opened their first restaurant in Coney Island.  Due to its popularity and success, they opened the Fulton Street restaurant in 1909, and a third restaurant on Nevins Street shortly after. Joe’s Restaurant became a popular local chain, frequented and loved by many in…

Children of the Dump

Thomas

A few months back, the Brooklyn Collection provided some images and expertise to ABC News for a story about Brooklyn’s Dead Horse Bay. The story was most excellent – if you missed it you can check it out here. I used the video as a source for a note taking lesson and, during the lesson, my students kept peppering me with questions: What was life like for the people who lived and worked on the island? What was school like? How did the island's inhabitants navigate all that garbage?  I could only answer their questions in adjectives: smelly, exhausting, backbreaking, dangerous,…

POTW: Elevated Train Station

Tess Colwell

[Atlantic Avenue elevated train station], circa 1895, V1972.2.59; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the entrance to the Atlantic Avenue subway station and the elevated train station, located at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue around 1895. The elevated trains at this station operated on the Fifth Avenue Line which ran above Flatbush Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Third Avenue, beginning in the Downtown Brooklyn…

POTW: Brooklyn Bridge

Tess Colwell

Brooklyn Bridge, circa 1903, V1973.5.298; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the most iconic Brooklyn landmarks, marked its 133rd anniversary on May 24. The bridge, the first structure to physically connect Brooklyn and Manhattan, was constructed over 14 years with the labor of more than 600 workers. Connecting the two cities (Brooklyn was a separate city at the time) led to an increase in population and industry. By 1885, the population in…

POTW: Memorial Day Parade

Tess Colwell

[Emmanuel House Club 2nd and 3rd marching line in parade], circa 1910, V1981.284.6, Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, V1981.284; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn has been honoring those who have died while serving in the United States military with an annual Memorial Day parade since 1867. The parade, which begins at 78th Street and Third Avenue, marks its 149th anniversary this year and is known as the longest-running Memorial Day parade in the country. This tradition began shortly after the Civil War, a…

Goats Do Roam in Brooklyn

Thomas

This spring, one of the most hotly anticipated arrivals to Brooklyn is a herd of eight goats. The animals are here on the loan from a Rhinebeck farm for the summer months during which they will help control invasive weeds in the Prospect Park. They will be deployed in the Vale of Cashmere (between Flatbush Ave and the East Drive) to graze on poison ivy and goutweed which have been taking over the area after Hurricane Sandy damaged it. The goats are already hugely popular; the park's free “Fun on the Farm” event this weekend – with a "bleet and greet" tour every 30 minutes – is booked to…

POTW: Idle

Tess Colwell

Idle, circa 1887, V1972.1.1253; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I couldn’t help but chuckle when a colleague pointed out this photograph from our collections. I had so many questions. Who is this young woman? Why is she strumming a broom like a banjo? And why did the photographer title this work “Idle”? That’s the fun part about working in a historical archive—stumbling upon something surprising from the past and trying to make sense of it today. Whoever this…

POTW: Cherry Blossoms

Tess Colwell

[Blossoms], circa 1975, V1990.2.219; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, ARC.120; Brooklyn Historical Society.
If you missed the annual Sakura Matsuri, Brooklyn Botantic Garden’s cherry blossom festival, it’s not too late to experience the last of the blooming cherry blossoms in Brooklyn. According to the BBG website, the cherry blossoms bloom from late March or early April until mid-May. There are 26 different species of flowering cherries at the park, and there is no time where they all bloom at once. Instead, they all…

Refugees: In their own words

John Zarrillo

Our Lives scrapbook, 1947-1948; E.S. 80 Night School scrapbooks, 2008.020, Box 1; Brooklyn Historical Society
On Wednesday, May 11, BHS will be hosting a program titled Refugee Brooklyn: Stories from Brooklyn’s Refugee Communities. Hosted by Jarrett Murphy, Executive Publisher of City Limits, the program is focused on the experiences of refugees as they adapt to life here in Brooklyn. Panelist include Eileen Reilly, Director for Refugee Services and Workforce Development at CAMBA, Zeinab Eyega, Founder and Executive…

Brooklyn's Paper Trail

Thomas

We are pleased to announce that we have completed a finding aid for our collection of Brooklyn letterhead stationery. The Brooklyn Letterhead Collection spans 200 years of business in our borough, from 1802 to 2002, with the bulk of the collection representing the 1850s to the 1960s. Several thousand different businesses, institutions, and organizations are represented in the collection, including carpenters, plumbers, painters, city agencies, religious institutions, and more. The finding aid includes a complete listing of the names, addresses, and dates from the letterhead collection,…

POTW: Streetcar

Tess Colwell

Fulton Ferry in Horse Car Days, circa 1890, V1981.15.135; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Mayor Bill de Blasio recently proposed a streetcar service that would connect Queens and Brooklyn. It’s been over 60 years since Brooklyn had a streetcar service; the last streetcar line discontinued in 1956. Brooklyn operated its first light rail line in 1854. Before there was an electric-powered streetcar, there were horsecars, which were horse-drawn cars pulled over embedded tracks.…

The Story of the Little Brown Jug

Thomas

This week a guest blogger shares her story of how researching in our digital newspaper database, Brooklyn Newsstand, led her to a surprising discovery about her family history, and a new heirloom to boot! We librarians are always so happy to hear these kinds of stories, as we often don't get to learn where research in our collections leads after patrons exit our doors. Our guest blogger Joan Harrison is an artist and author. She is a Professor Emerita of Long Island University, where she taught for many years. One evening in early March as my husband was watching the PBS show "Finding Your…

POTW: Lucille Fornasieri Gold Photographs

Tess Colwell

[Prospect Park trumpeter], circa 1975, V2008.013.81; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Lucille Fornasieri Gold’s photographs are some of my favorites at Brooklyn Historical Society. Every photograph has an element of surprise, and genuine moments between photographer and subject. Gold began photographing street scenes with her Leica camera beginning in 1968 while her children were in school. She continued to photograph Brooklyn throughout her entire life. Her photographs are one of…

POTW: Traffic

Tess Colwell

[Traffic congestion], circa 1920, v1973.5.1950; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The U.S. Census Bureau revealed some not-so-surprising news recently that New York City is growing, particularly the outer boroughs. This past year alone, Brooklyn grew by 16,000 inhabitants. City planners are estimating that New York City will reach the nine million mark by 2040. This is largely due to more people moving to the city and fewer people leaving. Mayor de Blasio has said of…

Sanders for (Student Body) President!

Thomas

With the upcoming primary elections on April 19th, Brooklyn, all of New York City, and indeed all of New York State finds itself basking in the reflected glare of the white-hot spotlight that follows this season's presidential candidates. Trump, Cruz, Kasich, Clinton and Sanders are trotting all over the map this month, drumming up support for their causes and tasting some local delicacies along the way. Tomorrow Brooklyn's Navy Yard will host a debate between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, drawing even more focus onto our patch of Long Island. As is widely…

POTW: Fire on Montague Street

Tess Colwell

[Taken Friday morning May 17, 1974 day after fire at 130 Montague Street.], 1974, V1974.9.471; John D. Morrell photographs collection, v1974.9; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the damages from a fire that took place on Montague Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in the spring of 1974. In a New York Times article published the day after the fire, there were considerable damages to the 130 Montague Street brownstone. The three-alarm fire left six families homeless, and one…

POTW: A.I. Namm & Son Department Store

Tess Colwell

[Namm Store interior], 1898, V1972.1.743; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the A.I. Namm & Son department store interior, located at 450 - 458 Fulton Street in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1898. Adolph I. Namm was a Polish immigrant with an embroidery and upholstery business in Manhattan. In 1885, he moved his business in Brooklyn, and by 1891 he opened a new store at 452 Fulton. At the time, that stretch of…

POTW: Bob Adelman photographs

Tess Colwell

[Operation Clean Sweep Demonstration on Sidewalk], 1962, v1989.22.17; Bob Adelman photographs of Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) demonstrations, v1989.22; Brooklyn Historical Society.
We were sad to hear about the recent passing of photographer and activist Bob Adelman, who extensively documented the civil rights movement in Brooklyn and the southern United States, as well as pivotal historical moments like the 1963 March on Washington. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Far Rockaway, Queens, Mr. Adelman was a…

John McCrae and the Mysterious Miss Packard

Thomas

Our newest blogpost is written by a guest blogger Linda Granfield. It is published with her permission and that of the Guelph Historical Society (Guelph, Ontario, Canada). The article first appeared in Historic Guelph, vol. LIII. 2014-2015. Linda Granfield, a native of Melrose, Massachusetts, is the award-winning author of 30 history books for adults and young readers; John McCrae is the subject of two of those titles. She holds degrees from Northeastern University and the University of Toronto; Linda lives in Toronto, Canada. She invites anyone with further…

POTW: Scouts

Tess Colwell

[Scouts at Campsite], 1912, V1981.284.636; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a group of scouts at a campsite in Forest Park in Queens, during the spring of 1912. A Brooklyn Daily Eagle article printed a week before this photograph was taken describes Forest Park as the site for a scout rally, skills test, and program. “Next Saturday, the individual scouts who are ready for their firebuilding test will be examined by the scout masters on some…

POTW: Early Spring

Tess Colwell

[Brooklyn Photographs: Prospect Park-lake], ca. 1975, V1990.2.176; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, ARC.120; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Spring is my favorite season in Brooklyn, so the early spring-like temperatures lately make me excited for the warmer months ahead. What excites you about springtime in Brooklyn? Personally, I can’t wait to spend time in Prospect Park, reading and riding my bike. With that in mind, the photo of the week depicts the reservoir in Prospect Park in early spring, sometime around 1975.…

New to the Library Collection: Tauranac New York City Subway Maps

Lisa Miller

New York City Subway Map, Tauranac Maps, 2014. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
This special edition of the Map of the Month celebrates a recent donation to the library: a set of New York City transit maps designed and published by Tauranac Maps. Pictured above is a portion of the latest Tauranac New York City Subway map and guide, published in 2014. I have long wished to have a version of this map in our collection as it represents an alternate lineage of the modern New York subway map. It is a refinement of…

Real Brooklyn, a day in our lives photographs now available at BHS

John Zarrillo

Chosen for Mom, by Doris Adler, 2003; Real Brooklyn, a day in our lives photographs, 2007.041, Box 1; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This post was authored by BHS Library and Archives processing intern Melissa Aaronberg. Melissa processed the Real Brooklyn, a day in our lives photographs in December 2015, which are now open and available to the public in our library. For more information on the photographs, please see the collection's finding aid. In 2007, the former President of Positive Focus, Inc., Lorrie Palmer, donated…

POTW: Car barn

Tess Colwell

[Flatbush car barn], ca. 1885, v1972.1.830; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a car barn that once stood at Flatbush and Tilden Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, sometime around 1885. The car barn housed horse-drawn trolleys that carried passengers between Fulton Ferry, Flatbush, Coney Island, and other areas of Brooklyn. Also pictured is James Monell (the small boy with pail), who was the original owner of this…

POTW: Adrian Vanderveer Martense

Tess Colwell

[Three men and a boy standing on sidewalk in Brooklyn] 1880 ca, v1974.7.1; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Adrian Martense (center) posing with a box camera, and two gentlemen, Henry K. Sherril and HMS Sherril. Eddie Tepper (on tricycle) is pictured in the background. This photograph was taken sometime around 1880 in an unidentified location in Brooklyn.Self-portraits were surprisingly common in the early days of photography as a means of exploration…

POTW: Wood-frame Houses

Tess Colwell

[Virginia Burton as a child holding a cat] 1910 ca,V1981.283.70; Burton family papers and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Virginia Burton as a young girl around 1910, holding a cat in front of her family’s home at 436 Lafayette Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. I think this photograph is particularly charming because of the way Virginia is gently holding her cat and the addition of the children (possibly her siblings) peering out of the third floor…

POTW: Majestic Theater Follow-up

Tess Colwell

[View of Fulton Street.], 1959, V1974.9.13; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
After we posted this image of the Majestic Theater, taken in 1968, and described it’s  transformation into today’s BAM Harvey Theater, we heard another story behind the historic Brooklyn landmark. We contacted Shay Wafer, Executive Director at 651 Arts, to fill in the details about this fascinating story:In 1988, the Majestic Theater Advisory Committee, a group of community leaders in the arts and representatives…

Our Martyr President: Theodore Cuyler on Abraham Lincoln's death

Lisa Miller

Theodore Cuyler 's manuscript of his sermon on the death of Lincoln, 1865. Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church records, 2009.011; Brooklyn Historical Society.
  For President's Day, we are highlighting this manuscript of Theodore L. Cuyler's sermon on the death of Abraham Lincoln, given April 23, 1865. This manuscript is part of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church records, which has been recently processed and made available to the public. Dr. Cuyler graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1846,…

POTW: Love Lane

Tess Colwell

[View of Love Lane (south side.) #35 Love Lane (right) and #37 Love Lane (left.)], 1958, V1974.4.170; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
With the Valentine’s Day holiday right around the corner, the photo of the week depicts a view of the south side of Love Lane in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Love Lane is a one block mews that connects Henry Street to Hicks Street. Dating back to the Revolutionary War, Love Lane divided the estates of the DeBevoise and Pierrepont families…

POTW: Willow Street

Tess Colwell

[79 Willow St. east corner of Pineapple Street, Brooklyn 1922.],1922, V1974.32.98; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, V1974.32; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts 79 Willow Street, which stands on the southeast corner of Pineapple Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, around 1922. This house was torn down only a few years after the picture was taken, and by 1927, the large apartment building that still stands on that corner today had taken its place. In the 1970s,…

POTW: Majestic Theater

Tess Colwell

[View of Fulton Street.], 1959, V1974.9.13; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a view of Fulton Street, including the Majestic Theater, in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1959. The Majestic Theater opened in 1904 and was known for a variety of theatrical performances, including opera, musicals, and vaudeville. By 1942, the Majestic Theater became a first-run movie theater, and later a church. Not long after this photograph was taken (in 1968), the…

POTW: Martense Farm

Tess Colwell

[Farm field, Brooklyn], 1880, V1974.7.9; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society
It wasn’t so long ago that what is today the borough of Brooklyn was a center of agricultural production. Kings County was once one of the leading vegetable producers for over 250 years, as late as 1880. It took just twenty years for areas in outer-borough Brooklyn to shift from agricultural to entirely urban residential between 1890 and 1910. To learn more about the history of agriculture in Brooklyn, be…

POTW: Ambrotype

Tess Colwell

Mariah Ramus, circa 1860, V1978.174.37; Ramus family papers and photographs, 1978.174; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week is an example of an ambrotype, a wet collodian photographic process that produces positive images on glass that is backed with black paper or velvet. The ambrotype was introduced in the 1850s and patented by James Ambrose Cutting. This process quickly gained popularity and surpassed the daguerreotype as the preferred photographic process. Ambrotypes were less expensive, quicker, and…

Teen Thursdays at BLDG 92 Part II

Education Department

In 2014, NYC School’s Chancellor Carmen Farina announced a new program called Teen Thursdays, which pairs cultural institutions with middle schools to provide afterschool programming. Brooklyn Historical Society was proud to be a part of that pilot year, and to participate in the program’s expansion this year to our partner site at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92. They recorded their sessions on Tumblr (including a video of their final performance!). Last week, Janise Mitchell wrote about her experience with the Teens. Here, Heather Flanagan, School Programs Educator at BHS &…

Teen Thursdays at BLDG 92

Education Department

In 2014, NYC School’s Chancellor Carmen Farina announced a new program called Teen Thursdays, which pairs cultural institutions with middle schools to provide afterschool programming. Brooklyn Historical Society was proud to be a part of that pilot year, and to participate in the program’s expansion this year to our partner site at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92. They recorded their sessions on Tumblr (including a video of their final performance!) Here, Janise Mitchell, School Programs Educator at BHS & BLDG 92, reflects on the program.  …

POTW: Eberhard Faber Pencil Company collection

Tess Colwell

[Boxing and Labeling Department], circa 1915, V1988.35.8; Eberhard Faber Pencil Company collection, ARC.028; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts female workers around 1915 in the boxing and labeling department of the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. The company began as a U.S. subsidiary branch of A.W. Faber Company in 1849 and is the oldest pencil manufacturing company in the United States. The original office was located at 133 William Street in Manhattan.…

21st Century Teens at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Education Department

Since 2012, Brooklyn Historical Society has partnered with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 to lead “Teen Innovators at BLDG 92”, an afterschool program serving local high school students (Check out their Tumblr of their experiences). The students come from nearby high schools and in the fall, visit tenants in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and conduct research projects under the direction of BHS museum educators. In the spring, through a generous grant from the Pinkerton Foundation and the support of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, the Teen Innovators will be placed in paid…

Now Showing at the Fox...

Thomas

This summer, I was digging in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle “morgue” for information on one of Brooklyn’s long lost movie palaces, the Fox Theater. The morgue can be overwhelming, with thousands upon thousands of tiny clippings in equally tiny envelopes housed in rows of rather ominous looking file cabinets. That said, the multitude of clippings is exactly what makes morgue exploration so exciting. While digging for one thing you, can’t help but stumble across thousands of other things you didn’t even know you were looking for.  Like this:  Brooklyn Daily Eagle 28 Feb 1930. I found…

POTW: Happy New Year!

Tess Colwell

[Swerdlof Wedding], 1946, V1991.11.100.17; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Now that the holidays are behind us, the focus has shifted to the season of glitter, champagne, and the midnight ball drop. In Brooklyn, there are hundreds of events and parties to ring in the New Year. Whether you’re prepping for a festive night on the town or a low-key evening at home, there’s so much to celebrate. All of us at Brooklyn Historical Society wish you a very happy and healthy New Year. Cheers…

POTW: Where's the snow?

Tess Colwell

[Blizzard of 1888 postman], 1888, V1988.34.2; Carl H. Dahlstrom collection of Blizzard of 1888 photographs, V1988.034; Brooklyn Historical Society.
December is almost over, yet it hardly feels like winter has begun. Just last week, temperatures reached 60 degrees and I saw sandals and shorts on the subway. In December! According to the National Weather Service (NWS), New York City temperatures have reached record highs this month. For mid-December, the average temperature in the city was 52 degrees, which is 12.1 degrees…

Need Help With Your Holiday Shopping?

Thomas

Well, the Brooklyn Collection has got you covered. All you have to do is suit up in your best hoop dress and top hat and get yourself to downtown Brooklyn, and we promise all your holiday gift-giving woes will melt away. Okay, hang on to your bonnets, here we go! First stop: Fulton Street!  “Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 22 December 1860.  You’ve just got to get back to W.H. Cornell for those fancy boxed prunes that were such a hit with Uncle Clarence last year. Everyone in your knitting circle surely needs a box! Next, you’ve got to find the…

Our Christmas Tides from Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church

Lisa Miller

My colleague John Zarillo, processing archivist here at BHS, recently announced the good news the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church records have been processed and made available to the public. He also surprised me with what can only be described as a cataloger’s bonus: at least 8 boxes of the Church’s book collection to be cataloged and placed in a special collections area in the library. Upon opening the first box, I was immediately struck by the superb condition of the books, some more than 100 years old. At first glance, there are editions of the many books published by LAPC’s…

Mary Sandsted, a "typically American girl"

Thomas

As it often happens, one stumbles upon a story by chance. While going through a stack of old portraits of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle editorial staff, I happened upon a portrait of a young woman, Mary Sandsted Igoe, a society reporter for the newspaper. Encased in a passe-partout freckled with age, the portrait was remarkable in more than one way. To start with, it was the only portrait of a woman in the whole stack. Other images were studio portraits of venerable gentlemen in formal suits, with grave countenances and carefully groomed moustaches. Mary Sandsted Igoe seemed incapable of…

POTW: Happy Holidays!

Tess Colwell

[Holidays view 18], circa 1956, 2006.001.1.128; Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a holiday display above the Williamsburgh Savings Bank entrance at One Hanson Place, sometime around 1956. This photograph comes from the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photograph and architectural drawings collection, which consists of photographs and architectural drawings spanning the years 1888 to 2001 that document the construction…

Cyclo-what?

Thomas

If you read about a “cyclorama” in downtown Brooklyn, maybe you would think it has something to do with bicycles. Actually, a cyclorama is a form of entertainment that was highly popular in the late-nineteenth century. The word refers both to large panoramic paintings and the circular or hexagonal buildings that were custom-built to house such paintings. In an era before movies, cycloramas were considered one of the most engaging amusements on offer, and they were extremely popular. Almost every major American and European city had a cyclorama building at one point, and Brooklyn was…

POTW: Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album

Tess Colwell

[Charles Blieffert and his parents, Helene and Charles], circa 1905, 2015.010.2.2; Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Charles Blieffert (at the wheel) with his parents, Helene and Charles, posing for a portrait at a Coney Island tintype studio sometime around 1905. Charles Blieffert was the only child of German immigrant parents. He grew up at the family home located at 18th Avenue near Gravesend Avenue in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. In an effort…

POTW: Horse-drawn cart

Tess Colwell

[Horse-drawn cart], circa 1875, V1974.7.12; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Over the last several years, food trucks have been popping up all over Brooklyn, reflecting a nationwide trend. The photo of the week takes us back to around 1875, long before food truck rallies existed. In this photograph, a man is driving Flatbush Parlor Bakery’s horse-drawn food cart hawking breads, cakes and pies at Caton and Ocean Avenue in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn.The origins of today's food…

POTW: Happy Thanksgiving

Tess Colwell

[Thanksgiving dinner tables], 1910, V1981.284.53; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In light of the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, the photo of the week depicts a Thanksgiving dinner table at the Emmanuel House in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, sometime around 1910. Emmanuel House was a civic center and place of outreach run by the Young Men’s League of the Emmanuel Baptist Church. They offered Sunday school, kindergarten, and recreational classes to neighborhood…

POTW: Lundy's Restaurant

Tess Colwell

[Lundy's Restaurant], 1961, V1974.4.1678; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Lundy’s Restaurant in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn has seen its fair share of good and bad times since it opened in 1935. In its heyday, the restaurant reportedly seated over 2,000 patrons. Opened by Irving Lundy, the historic seafood restaurant operated from 1935-1977, and then again from 1997-2007. This photograph depicts the restaurant in 1961 at 1901 Emmons Avenue.Irving Lundy was born in 1895,…

POTW: Hand-colored photographs

Tess Colwell

[Girl Seated Wearing Bow-Trimmed Dress], circa 1865, V1978.174.66; Ramus family papers and photographs, 1978.174; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week is a portrait of an unknown girl, sometime around 1865. This photograph is possibly an example of hand-colored photography, which was the most popular and effective way to create color photographs until color film was introduced in the mid-20th century.Hand-colored photographs were created in an attempt to make monochromatic photographs more realistic. Johan…

POTW: Brooklyn Continuation School

Tess Colwell

[Woodworking class at the Continuation School], 1922, V1973.6.430; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This photo of the week was taken in 1922. On the back (also called the verso) is a handwritten note that reads, “Woodworking class at the continuation school, where boys and girls who have to leave school to seek employment may continue their education.”The Brooklyn Continuation School was located at Ryserson Street, near Myrtle Avenue in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of…

Our Streets, Our Stories Community Scanning Update

Thomas

The Our Streets, Our Stories introduction post found me preparing for my kick-off event at the Leonard library and putting finishing touches on the mobile digitization kit. Four months later I’m now preparing for my fifth community scanning event at the Clinton Hill library and working toward scheduling more spring events.  Our Streets, Our Stories has been well received by the library community and public interest is steadily growing. As we host more scanning events in different neighborhoods, I'm adjusting my outreach efforts to reflect what I've learned along the way.…

POTW: Washington Park

Tess Colwell

Ball in Air, [Slim] Sallee pitching, circa 1912, V1981.15.205; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, v1981.015; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s postseason for baseball and there’s a lot of buzz in New York with the Mets advancing to the World Series this year. With that in mind, the photo of the week depicts a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals around 1912 at Washington Park in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn.Before there was Ebbets Field, the Dodgers played at two separate…

Double Header -- two programs on Brooklyn's baseball history!

Thomas

All of New York is buzzing about the Mets' impressive waltz into the World Series -- their first appearance in the championship since 2000 (their last World Series win was in 1986). If you're anything like us, your glee at their success is mediated by the pangs of loss still felt from when Brooklyn's beloved Dodgers decamped for Los Angeles. As it happens, October 4th was the 60th anniversary of the Dodger's World Series win against the Yankees in Game 7 -- the only championship the team won during its tenure in Brooklyn. If that paragraph got your heart beating a bit…

POTW: Cranston Family Photographs

Tess Colwell

[Untitled], circa 1890, V1994.013; Cranston family papers and photographs; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a scene from the interior of the Cranston family home around 1890 in what is today the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. This photograph offers a glimpse into late 19th- century middle-class domestic life in Brooklyn, and it’s also an example of early flash photography.Alfred Cranston (pictured sitting) served with Engine 17 of Brooklyn’s Volunteer Fire Department as a young man,…

POTW: Foffe's

Tess Colwell

[Foffe's Restaurant, Montague Street.], 10/10/1958, V1974.4.714; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Pumpkins and other autumnal decorations are sprouting up everywhere in Brooklyn now that we are well into the fall season. Though it’s hard to pick out in this black and white photograph, the round objects are pumpkins, displayed as part of the Halloween decorations at Maison Foffe on Montague Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, on October 10, 1958.Maison Foffe was an…

What's wrong with your tongue?

Thomas

Our colleague recently left for a new gig in Staten Island. We here at the Collection wanted to give her something to remember us by. We settled on a photo of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s eagle, the one who sat perched over the main entrance to the Eagle Building in Downtown Brooklyn from 1892 until the building was demolished in 1955.   Brooklyn Daily Eagle Building, 192-?.  The eagle is special partly because the bulk of the Brooklyn Collection is comprised of holdings from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper, which folded shortly before the building came down. What’s more, the…

POTW: Shipbuilding at Brooklyn Navy Yard

Tess Colwell

[Mount Navigator and Vantage Defender ships in for minor repairs], 1978, v1988.21.348; Frank J. Trezza Seatrain Shipbuilding collection, V1988.21; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Mount Navigator and Vantage Defender ships in for minor repair at Seatrain Shipbuilding, a private company located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, in 1978.The Brooklyn Navy Yard has a long history of shipbuilding. In 1801 the United States Navy acquired the land to construct naval vessels. During World War II, the workforce…

Long Island College Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association records now open to the public

John Zarrillo

Charge nurses, circa 1930; Long Island College Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association records, 2014.006, box 16; Brooklyn Historical Society
Brooklyn Historical Society Library & Archives is pleased to announce the opening of the records of the Long Island College Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association records. The records consist of thirty-one boxes of photographs, yearbooks, newsletters, college catalogs, event-related ephemera, and memorabilia, dating from 1853 to 2013. The collection documents the…

A Whale's Tale

Thomas

Don’t you love a heartwarming animal story? You know, the ones where dogs and cats put aside their instinctual differences to find their way home or children risk it all to rescue baby pandas? Those are excellent stories. This is not one of those stories.  I found a photo of a large whale on a flatbed truck in a folder appropriately named “Animals.” The 1953 photo’s caption told of a seven year old, 75 foot, 70 ton fin whale named Mrs. Haroy. Naturally, I had some questions. "Where's Jonah?" Brooklyn Daily Eagle 30 Mar 1953. Print.  With a bit of research, I found some answers…

POTW: Cat named “Lazybones”

Tess Colwell

Cat named “Lazybones,” circa 1910, V1981.15.182; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a cat named “Lazybones,” likely in the backyard of a Park Slope home, around 1910. I often come across a similar scene in my Brooklyn neighborhood of Ditmas Park, with cats spotted on porches, fences, hidden in bushes, and peering out of windows. This photograph comes from the Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slide collection. Lloyd photographed several neighborhood cats in this…

POTW: Abraham - Straus

Tess Colwell

 [Abraham & Straus storefront.], circa 1895, v1972.1.611; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Abraham & Straus was a department store founded in 1865 by Abraham Abraham and Joseph Wechsler with a flagship location at Fulton and Hoyt Streets in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn. The photo of the week depicts the Abraham & Straus storefront around 1895, with an unknown man posing in front of the store display.Abraham & Straus was…

POTW: Ritter Painless Dental Co.

Tess Colwell

[Ritter Painless Dental Co.], circa 1908, v1973.2.186; Brooklyn Oversize, 19th century collection, v1973.002; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts the Ritter Painless Dental Co. office located at the intersection of Third Avenue, Schermerhorn Street, and Flatbush Avenue, sometime around 1908. If you look closely above the boy on the billboard, it reads “it won’t hurt a bit!” The business specialized in painless teeth extraction, as seen on the multiple advertisements displayed on the building. It…

Preservation and Progress at the Brooklyn Collection

Thomas

Brooklyn is in constant flux. Every day, it seems, someone comments that “the neighborhood is changing so quickly” or “five years ago none of this was here!” The Brooklyn Collection’s new exhibit, Preservation and Progress, explores those very statements.  Pacific and Atlantic Photos, Inc. Municipal Building Under Construction, 1925.  In conjunction with the Brooklyn Connections program, the exhibition looks at buildings that are long gone and buildings that have been landmarked by the Landmarks Preservation Commission; buildings that aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Two…

POTW: Class Portraits

Tess Colwell

[Public School Class Room with Students], 1897, V1972.1.1043; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s officially back to school season in Brooklyn, with most school-age children returning to school this week. In light of this, the photo of the week depicts an interior view of an unknown Brooklyn classroom during the fall of 1897. It features male and female students at small desks, and a teachers standing at the back of the room.Class portraits are now standard for…

POTW: Ice in Brooklyn

Tess Colwell

[Ice Delivery from the American Ice Company to Emmanuel House], ca. 1910, V1981.284.12; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a horse-drawn wagon delivering ice from the American Ice Company to the Emmanuel House in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, sometime around 1910. On the back of the photograph, “Casper, Iceman” is handwritten to describe the person in the photograph.It’s very exciting that we have a photograph documenting the ice trade in…

POTW: Harry Kalmus Photographs

Tess Colwell

[Untitled.], ca. 1950, v1991.11.17.4; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I rarely see an ice cream truck around Brooklyn that isn’t Mr. Softee, so it was a pleasant surprise to come across this photograph from the Harry Kalmus collection. In this photo of the week, children are getting ice cream from a Good Humor truck, sometime around 1950. I love the moment in this photograph—all the children lined up along the curb with ice cream in hand, and one child carefully deciding from the…

POTW: The Cyclone

Tess Colwell

Cyclone No. 2, 2005, 2005, 2008.035.2; Ron Meisel photographs, 2008.035; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s hard to believe summer is beginning to wind down—where did it go? When I look at this photograph, it speaks to my current state of wanting to get in as much summer fun as I can before fall rolls in. With that in mind, the photo of the week is a panoramic photograph of the Cyclone in Coney Island taken by Ron Meisel in 2005.The Cyclone is one of Brooklyn’s most notable landmarks. It was built in 1927 by Harry C. Baker…

POTW: Baby Prince

Tess Colwell

Baby Prince, circa 1880, v1974.7.126; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191 ; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts “Baby Prince” and an unidentified woman going on a stroll through the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn sometime around 1880. This photograph, along with many other photographs from the Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, is particularly charming and noteworthy because it truly gives us a glimpse into an earlier, less developed time in Brooklyn. This is one of my favorite…

A Civil War of Our Very Own

Thomas

General Ulysses S. Grant is an American hero. He commanded the Union forces during the Civil War and is today lauded as a military genius. What's more, he served two terms as President of the United States - that’s quite a resume. (Yes, yes, he made some mistakes during his time in office, but show me a president who hasn’t.)  Grant died in 1885 and was buried in his tomb (the aptly named Grant’s Tomb) on Manhattan’s Riverside Drive. It's big.  Thomson, Edgar S. "Grant's Tomb." 1895. Print. Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection.  Brooklyn didn't have a body to bury…

POTW: 1977 Blackout

Tess Colwell

[Children playing in fire hydrant spray], 1977, v2007.042.32; 1977 Blackout Slide collection, 2007.042; Brooklyn Historical Society.
With recent temperatures in the nineties and a heat advisory issued last week for New York City, it’s a good time to be thankful for air conditioning and city pools. The photo of the week takes us back to the summer of 1977 in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. On July 13-14, 1977, New York experienced an electricity blackout which led to looting and arson throughout the city. Bushwick had…

East New York Then, Now, and in the Future

Emily Ramirez

BHS hosted a panel discussion entitled “A Biography of East New York” on Tuesday, July 14, about how this Brooklyn neighborhood got to where it is today and where it is headed in the future. Moderated by Jarrett Murphy, the executive editor and publisher of City Limits, our panelists included Brandon Gibson, founder and CEO of Light Rock Holdings LLC, a real estate company that focuses on acquiring residential properties through NYC, Michelle Neugebauer, Executive Director of the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation (CHLDC), Winston Von Engel, Director of the Brooklyn Office of the…

Leaving Brooklyn: Fuhgeddaboudit!

Thomas

It has been an amazing five years here at the Brooklyn Collection. I will miss my job as Project Manager of Brooklyn Connections and I will certainly miss the students and teachers I have worked with. But most of all, I will miss all the friends I have made here at the Brooklyn Public Library. 2015 Brooklyn Connections Convocation I have learned so much more from the Brooklyn Connections students and teachers than I could have ever taught them—and I doubt they even know it!  From our students I’ve learned to be patient (especially with our middle schoolers) and to look at…

POTW: Brooklyn Historical Society's building

Tess Colwell

[Long Island Historical Society, Clinton and Pierrepont Streets], circa 1925, V1974.031.1; Long Island Historical Society photographs, v1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts Brooklyn Historical Society (formerly the Long Island Historical Society) around 1925. The land was purchased in 1868, but the Depression of 1873 stalled building plans until 1878 when enough money was amassed for construction. From December 1877 to February 1878, the Long Island Historical Society held a design competition…

Ginger Adams Otis and The Vulcan Society

Emily Ramirez

On Tuesday, July 7, Brooklyn Historical Society hosted a book talk with Ginger Adams Otis, author of Firefight: The Century-Long Battle to Integrate New York's Bravest, a book about the traditions and infrastructure that shape the FDNY and the impressive men and women of color who have fought for institutional change. Otis was joined by three members of the Vulcan Society, an organization focused on increasing the number of minority groups represented in the FDNY. Members of the Vulcan Society included Regina Wilson, President of the Vulcan Society, Captain Paul Washington, former president…

POTW: Cabinet Cards

Tess Colwell

[Portrait of Josie E. Burton with dog on prop balustrade], ca 1885, V1981.283.40; Burton family papers and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week is a cabinet card of Josie E. Burton and dog (possibly her pet), taken sometime around 1885. Cabinet cards are photographic prints mounted on a commercially printed cardstock, usually displaying the photographer or studio name. In a previous post, I discussed cartes de visite, which are closely related to cabinet cards. Cabinet cards were developed…

POTW: Daisies

Tess Colwell

[Children as daisies, from Sewing School Class], ca 1910, V1981.284.23; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts children as daisies from sewing school class around 1910. The Emmanuel House, located at 131 Steuben Street in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn was a civic center and place of outreach run by the Young Men’s League of the Emmanuel Baptist Church. The Emmanuel House offered Sunday school, Kindergarten, and recreational classes such as…

POTW: Sheep in Prospect Park

Tess Colwell

[Sheep in Prospect Park], ca 1880, V1974.7.107; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Can you imagine witnessing this idyllic scene in Prospect Park’s Long Meadow? In the early years of the park, New Hampshire and black-faced Southdown sheep could be seen grazing in the Long Meadow with lambs in tow. Olmstead and Vaux, the designers of the park, added the sheep for practical and design purposes. The sheep helped maintain the pasture and provided a peaceful tranquility to the park…

Crow Hill Castle

Thomas

New York's prisons have been in the news a lot recently: tragic deaths, racial bias, the promise of sweeping prison reform, and the Shawshank Redemption-like escape of two convicts from an upstate prison. It got me thinking about Brooklyn's own prison history - specifically that of the Crow Hill Penitentiary, a long since demolished landmark of Brooklyn's past.  Thomson, Edgar S. Crow Hill Penitentiary. 1896. Print. Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection. The Crow Hill Penitentiary, also known (and perhaps better known) as the Kings County Penitentiary, was an ominous…

POTW: Beach

Tess Colwell

[View of beach at Coney Island], 1958, V1974.4.528; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
There’s nothing quite like a beach day at Coney Island. Personally, I love that the proximity to Coney Island allows New Yorkers and tourists alike to experience the beach without leaving the city. This photo was taken in July 1958, but in some ways, it doesn’t look much different than a Saturday scene today---crowds, families, umbrellas, sprawled all along the coast line. This year, Coney Island is open…

The Giglio Feast

Thomas

Every July a few typically sleepy residential streets in Williamsburg erupt into a festival of lights, food, music, and parades.  This is, of course, the annual celebration sponsored by Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, also known as the Giglio Feast. Since so many of us have enjoyed the sights and sounds (and funnel cakes) of this week-long event, it is only prudent that we take a moment to look into the origin and history of this Italian-American tradition. The Giglio Feast celebrates a selfless act of bravery by Bishop Paolino, who lived in the small Italian…

Recent Changing Demographics Challenge Racial Categories in America

Emily Ramirez

On Wednesday, June 17th, we welcomed internationally recognized demographer and author of Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics are Remaking America, William Frey, to talk about how multiracial marriages and internal migration patterns are changing American demographics. The event was programmed in connection with our Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations (CBBG) program, an initiative to collect oral histories from multicultural and mixed race Brooklynites and create public programs that provide an open space for engaging conversations on the dynamics of race.  In his talk, Frey…

POTW: Brooklyn Sewers

Tess Colwell

[Boy standing on dirt mound, Flatbush sewer site], circa 1880, V1974.7.63; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week depicts a young boy standing on a dirt mound at a Flatbush sewer site, sometime around 1880. In the mid-19th century, there were no underground sewage systems in Brooklyn. The city was facing a rapidly increasing population and the outbreak of infectious diseases. To address the sewage and waste problems, the Board of Sewer Commissioners was…

Brooklyn Connections 2014-2015 Wrap-Up

Thomas

The 2014-2015 school year has proven to be yet another great year for Brooklyn Connections.  We're pleased to have served nearly 2,000 students in 76 classes from 33 schools in Queens, Manhattan and, of course, Brooklyn. Throughout the year, the Brooklyn Connections staff continued to support students by teaching 21st century learning skills and aligning our skill-based lessons with the Common Core Standards. After students learned and understood the research skills, they completed a project that had a visual, oral and written component.  Students also visited the Brooklyn…

POTW: Summer

Tess Colwell

Summer [Prospect Park West], circa 1908, V1981.15.208; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15, Brooklyn Historical Society.
Sunday is the first day of summer, so it seems appropriate to highlight a photograph in our collection titled “Summer.” This photograph is by Ralph Irving Lloyd and depicts Prospect Park West around 1908. I love the small details in this photograph that give clues to an earlier time in Brooklyn, including the clothing style, the awnings on the buildings, and the vehicles in the background. With…

The Garden of Damascus in the Heart of Brooklyn

Thomas

June is Immigrant Heritage Month and Brooklyn has long been a destination for new Americans. Shaped by historic waves of Germans, Irish, Italians, and Eastern European Jews, Brooklyn grew from a smattering of Dutch hamlets to a bustling industrial center rich in cultural heritage. Today, Brooklyn remains a hub of immigrant life; home to communities of more recent immigrants from places such as China, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. BPL is doing storytelling workshops and art discussions at the end of the month, so come see us and celebrate our collective heritage! (Oh, and we have a…

Our 4th Annual: What Are You? Sparked Dialogue on Identity and Mixed Heritage

Emily Ramirez

On Monday, June 8th, we hosted our 4th Annual: What Are You?, an event initiated by our Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations (CBBG) program. From 2011 to 2014, CBBG collected oral histories of mixed-heritage Brooklynites and created public programs that provided an open space for engaging conversations on the dynamics of race, ethnicity, identity, culture, class, and sexuality. The What Are You? public program series in particular tackles the question that so often plagues people of mixed heritage - “What are you really?” - and highlights the personal stories and voices of people of color…

Our Streets Our Stories: Community Scanning Events

Thomas

  In collaboration with the Metropolitan New York Library Council and Queens Library, the Brooklyn Collection will spend the next year hosting an exciting new project. As a recent winner of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight News Challenge, “Culture in Transit” will be working to democratize the cultural heritage of New York City. Here in Brooklyn, we will be operating under the name “Our Streets Our Stories,” working closely with Brooklyn Public Library's ongoing oral history project of the same name.  Our Streets Our Stories has a…

POTW: Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs

Tess Colwell

[Hasidic boys with cotton candy], circa 2003, V2008.013.59Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs is one of my favorite collections at Brooklyn Historical Society. I love that her photographs almost always have an element of surprise and I think they offer a unique perspective of Brooklyn. The photo of the week is from 2003. It displays young Hasidic boys eating cotton candy on a Brooklyn sidewalk. I find this photograph particularly charming…

All the World's a Stage - Even the Confederacy - for Brooklyn Soldiers Fighting in Civil War

Nicholas Bloom

On the back wall of Brooklyn Historical Society’s critically acclaimed Personal Correspondents exhibition, under the heading “Facing Death,” resides a grim and tragic quotation from the letters of James Beith, a private in the 48th regiment, New York Infantry. There is nothing thought of a poor soldier when he gets killed, only for to dig a hole and throw him into it, then sometimes hardly cover him with enough of dirt. The quotation is from a letter which Beith wrote to his brother in May of 1864, while his regiment marched north through the brutal and desperate final months of the Civil War…

POTW: House Research

Tess Colwell

[#119 Milton Street ("Blue House").], 10/19/1958, V1974.9.130; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005, Brooklyn Historical Society.
One of the best parts of living in Brooklyn is the history; every spot of property in this borough has a story. Do you know the story behind your Brooklyn home? House history research is one of the most popular research topics at Brooklyn Historical Society. The extensive resources housed in the Othmer Library will help you get familiar with the history of specific homes and neighborhoods. A…

POTW: Memorial Day Parade

Tess Colwell

E. Van Altena, Military band marching in the Brooklyn Memorial Day Parade, 1895; V1972.1.1109 , Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection , ARC.201, Brooklyn Historical Society.
Memorial Day is the official kick off of summer with beaches and barbecues, but it is also a time to honor those who served in the country’s armed forces. The earliest known celebrations of Memorial Day date back as far as 1865. New York City hosts parades in every borough to commemorate the day. Brooklyn’s annual Memorial Day Parade is…

POTW: Coffee in Brooklyn

Tess Colwell

More Coffee Drinking When National Prohibition Comes, circa 1920; V1973.5.914, Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202, Brooklyn Historical Society.
Artisanal coffee roasters in Brooklyn have been popping up everywhere in recent years, but it might come as a surprise that Brooklyn has a long history of coffee roasting that spans long before it was considered hip. The photo of the week was taken around 1920 in a warehouse at Bush Terminal (now Industry City) and features two men lifting a large bag of…

POTW: Glass Plate Negatives

Tess Colwell

[Little girl with doll and doll carriage in yard], circa 1909; V1985.4.54, William Koch glass plate negatives, V1985.004, Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week is a dry plate glass negative from the William Koch glass negatives collection. This collection includes 66 photographs from about 1890 to right around 1925. William "Billy" Koch was an amateur photographer in Brooklyn and owned a tavern named Billy Cook's Saloon in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. His photographs display houses, farms, and…

Unlocking A Civil War-era Surgeon’s Kit

Qing Cheng

In April 2015, Brooklyn Historical Society opened a new exhibition, “Personal Correspondents: Photography and Letter Writing in Civil War Brooklyn”. The exhibition uses BHS’s evocative 19th century photography and correspondence collections to reveal the personal, funny, moving, and tragic stories of wartime Brooklynites at home and on the battlefield. As a research assistant on the exhibition, I was charged with researching many of the artifacts featured in the exhibition.  The objects – from sewing kits to cannonballs to broadside posters – allowed me to experience the dramatic changes in…

POTW: Grand Army Plaza

Tess Colwell

[Traffic at Grand Army Plaza], circa 1892; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191, V1974.7.60 ; Brooklyn Historical Society.
New York City Department of Health estimates that over a half million New Yorkers ride bikes. Just this past week, I dusted off my old bike to join the other two-wheeled commuters. Brooklyn Historical Society employees participate in the Transportation Authority’s annual Bike to Work Month which is more motivation to take in some fresh air on my commute to work. Check out other bicycle…

Putting Out Fires Since 1865!

Thomas

   Our Firemen, 1887 2015 marks 150 years of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) bravely serving New York City. I am proud to say my brother-in-law is a FDNY firefighter who started out as a volunteer firefighter. For years, Brian responded to fires whenever the loud siren was rung at the Oceanic Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 in Travis, Staten Island. As Staten Island's oldest volunteer fire house, Oceanic received its charter in 1881 and is today -- out of the ten volunteer fire houses in the city (here's a bit more about that) -- one of only two…

POTW: Cherry Blossoms

Tess Colwell

[Blossoms], 1975 ca; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, ARC.120, v1990.2.214; Brooklyn Historical Society.
After a long winter, it is a welcome sight to see blooms popping up all over Brooklyn. On one particularly warm day last week, I walked to Prospect Park and sat under a blooming tree and felt so grateful for the beauty that is Brooklyn in the springtime.With that in mind, the photo of the week is a view of the Cherry Esplanade in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, taken by photographer and Brooklynite Donald L. Nowlan in…

In the Shadow of the Bridge

Thomas

 “At times...I feel an enourmous power in me - that seems almost supernatural. If this power is not too dissipated in aggravation and discouragement I may amount to something sometime. I can say this now with perfect equanimity because I am notoriously drunk and the Victrola is going with that glorious Bolero.” – Hart Crane   The poet Hart Crane may not have been born in Brooklyn (as so many of us aren’t), but his time here would radically change not only his life, but American poetics as well. Born on July 21, 1899 in Garrettsville, Ohio, Crane moved to the city when he was…

Narrows Sunday School: Religious education in 19th Century Brooklyn

John Zarrillo

The following post was authored by our Spring 2015 Library and Archives processing intern Stephanie Coy. It highlights one of several collections which she has cataloged this spring. In 1988, Brooklyn Historical Society purchased a manuscript that chronicled the weekly activities of the Narrows Sunday School during the period of 1834–1845. The Narrows Sunday School was founded by Dr. John Carpenter in the Village of Fort Hamilton in 1825. After three years of successful service to the village’s residents, the school moved to a chapel building adjacent to the Dutch Reformed Church in the Town…

A Night to Remember

Thomas

It is once again upon us; that century-old ritual of courtly grace and sequins! Prom!  Prom, short for 'promenade,' has been around since the late 19th century. Starting at colleges, the dances served as a more egalitarian version of the ever-popular debutante balls cherished by the upper classes. The dances were fancy, but usually more high tea than black tie. Because proms served as socialite training grounds, it makes sense to see them listed in Brooklyn Life's "Dances" section along with the other society happenings. The magazine, published weekly for Brooklyn's upper crust…

POTW: Personal Correspondents

Tess Colwell

[Lincoln and son], circa 1864; John B. Woodward papers, ARC.275; Brooklyn Historical Society
In April 1865, General Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. Thanks to the popularity of cartes de visite photographs, like the one pictured above, we can better understand how personal and nationalized portraits shaped the wartime experience on the battlefront and the home front. Cartes de visite first came to the United States from Paris in 1859 and because incredibly popular. They…

50? That Bridge Doesn't Look A Day Over 25!

Thomas

    Every morning the Verrazano-Narrows bridge greets me and every evening it says goodnight, the lights twinkling like the city’s own stars. It’s one of the best things about living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. (The worst thing being the very long R train ride home.) When I first moved to Bay Ridge, the bridge was an anchor of sorts. It told me, when I accidentally got off at the wrong subway station, which way was home. Walk this way, it said. Toward me. I might be biased but I think it’s a prettier than the George Washington; more elegant than the Brooklyn Bridge.…

POTW: Ebbets Field

Tess Colwell

[Ebbets field], 1914 ca; Brooklyn photographs and illustrations, ARC.202, V1973.5.1801; Brooklyn Historical Society
It’s officially spring, which also means the baseball season is underway. The photo of the week features the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Ebbets Field around 1914. On April 9th 1913, over 100 years ago, the Brooklyn Dodgers hosted an opening game against the Philadelphia Phillies at the brand new Ebbets Field. The stadium was located in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, on Sullivan Place.The Dodgers made history in…

Brooklyn Collection + Brooklyn Historical Society

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection is pleased to be joining forces with our counterparts at the Brooklyn Historical Society this spring to offer new programs exploring the fun and fanciful side of our borough's history. *Note that two of these three programs are happening at the Brooklyn Historical Society (128 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights) and some do charge an admission fee. Extreme Brooklyn Trivia: All Star EditionThursday, April 16th, 6:30pm at the Brooklyn Historical Society$10 General Admission / $5 for BHS and G-W MembersReserve tickets>>The result of an unprecedented d…

POTW: Sheepshead Bay

Tess Colwell

Crabbing,1880; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191, V1974.7.39; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Sheepshead Bay, like many other places in Brooklyn, has undergone many changes over the years. Named after a local fish once ubiquitous in the bay, the town was formerly a sleepy fishing village. With the advent of the subway and later the Belt Parkway, Sheepshead Bay was transformed by business and tourism. In recent years, recreational fishing fleets have declined, and more party boats and dinner boats have gained…

When Brooklyn Was Briney

Thomas

Brooklyn Daily Eagle 18 April 1948.  Remember when you were little and you'd put black olives on your fingers? Were you the type of kid who could only get one or two on before you'd snatch them off like a bird? Or were you like me, a ten-finger-all-or-nothing-go-big-or-go-home olive eater? I was the bane of all family dinners featuring tacos. Or maybe you hate olives? If that is the case, you can stop reading now. In 1890, Irving T. Bush built a warehouse on the banks of New York Harbor in today's Sunset Park. Within a decade what had started as a single warehouse was on the cusp of…

The Toy That Kills

Thomas

Brooklyn in the early 1950s was a borough of rising crime, and the problem was steadily getting out of control. Cab drivers were held up, grocery stores robbed, and gangs fought for bragging rights in the streets. Stories of victimized residents and business owners were a regular feature in the newspaper. Something had to be done. Various community groups met to discuss strategies that would get weapons off the streets and out of the hands of the youth.Enter the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, which along with civic leaders, business leaders, and local precincts waged a three-year campaign, one…

POTW: Pilgrim Laundry

Tess Colwell

[Female Laundry workers at Pilgrim Laundry], ca 1910, V1989.3.1; Pilgrim Laundry photographs, v1989.003; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The photo of the week comes from the newly processed Pilgrim Laundry collection. Pictured above is one of the six black and white interior photographs from the collection. In this photograph, female workers are displayed using laundry machinery around 1910.Pilgrim laundry was a laundry facility located in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood of Brooklyn and first opened its doors in 1894. The…

POTW: Hurricane Sandy

Tess Colwell

[Woman in front of a damaged home caused by Hurricane Sandy]; 2012, 2014.010.8; Michael Claro Hurricane Sandy photograph collection, 2014.010; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Where were you when Hurricane Sandy hit? The 2012 superstorm devastated homes, businesses, public transportation, and lives all throughout the region.  It’s been over two years since the storm, but the damage and memory of that event is not easily forgotten.Teacher and photographer Michael Claro documented Hurricane Sandy through his lens, and donated…

Accessing the Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations Oral History Collection through the Digital Humanities

Julia Lipkins

I'm pleased to announce that the Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations (CBBG) oral history collection is now open for research! From 2011 to 2014, a team of oral historians sponsored by BHS conducted interviews with mixed-heritage people and families in Brooklyn. CBBG narrators and interviewers explored the themes of cultural hybridity, race, ethnicity and identity formation in the United States. The complete collection of over 100 oral history interviews is available for use in the Othmer Library and a portion of the contents are accessible online at the CBBG website. An exciting feature…

POTW: Brooklyn Bridge

Tess Colwell

[Glimpses of Brooklyn], circa 1894, V1986.12.1.4; Glimpses of Brooklyn viewbooks, ARC.227; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of my favorite Brooklyn landmarks, and fortunately for me, the bridge is just a few blocks from the BHS office. Pictured above is the Brooklyn Bridge in 1894, with just a few women and one man walking along the pedestrian bridge. Today, nearly 4,000 people walk the bridge every day. Can you imagine experiencing the bridge without the crowds?When the bridge opened to the public…

Artist Talk-Jesus in Brooklyn: Four Good Fridays with Larry Racioppo

Thomas

Larry Racioppo has been photographing Good Friday on the streets of Brooklyn for over 40 years.  Join us on March 25th at 7:00 p.m. as this celebrated street photographer talks about his work documenting the public processions, and celebrations of faith of four neighobrhood churches.                            Greater Zion Shiloh Baptist Church                             St. John the…

POTW: Bickford's

Tess Colwell

[351-357 Fulton Street], ca 1940, V1974.16.0028; Edna Huntington papers and photographs, ARC.044; Brooklyn Historical Society.
What’s your go-to lunch spot in Brooklyn? Pictured above is Bickford’s, a luncheonette on Fulton Street, in 1940. The restaurant opened in 1921 with the goal of providing quick service and moderately priced fare.Bickford’s had 24 locations and extended hours, which attracted characters of all types and backgrounds. Most notably, Beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were spotted late at…

POTW: In Bloom

Tess Colwell

[Scene in Park “wild”], ca 1880, V1974.7.110; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, 1974.7, Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s officially March, which hopefully means the worst of this long winter is behind us. According to the New York Times, this frigid winter has its benefits: the snow covered ground is a great insulator, and creates the perfect environment for beautiful and lush spring foliage. As reporter Andy Newman said in the article last week, “Enjoy the hard winter that makes a good spring.” That’s something to…

POTW: City Hall on Fire

Tess Colwell

[Brooklyn City Hall Tower Fire], 1895, V1981.15.132; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, 1981.15, Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week marks the 120th anniversary of the 1895 fire at Brooklyn City Hall (today’s Borough Hall). This photograph displays a roof level view of the 1895 City Hall cupola burning.  If you look closely, you can see fire ladders propped against the building and firefighters on the roof using hoses to extinguish the fire. The fire started because of a lighted gas jet in a third floor closet. The…

Cheers!

Thomas

We hope that you'll join us next Wednesday, February 25th to hear Peter Thomas Fornatale and Chris Wertz as they present their new book, "Brooklyn Spirits and Cocktails: Craft Distilling from the World's Hippest Borough".  They'll be discussing the history of distilled spirits in Brooklyn, and the new ways that restaurants, entrepreneurs, and bars are bringing back old recipes and methods, while adding their own twist to the enjoyment of cocktails.             The talk begins at 7:00 p.m, and there will be a cocktail receiption at 6:30…

What's Up With Parkville?

Brendan

I have a confession to make. Up until this past November I wasn't a Brooklynite. I've been teaching students to love Brooklyn but, for the past six years, I've been living in Astoria, Queens. Now, don't go thinking I'm ashamed - I have tons of Queens pride. But, in the spirit of having a shorter commute and fewer (read: zero) roommates, I've moved to South Brooklyn.  I mentioned to a friend that I'd moved to Kensington and, upon telling him what my cross streets were, he retorted, "No, you live in Parkville." Naturally, I was offended. First of all, I teach kids about Brooklyn's history…

POTW: Sledding

Tess Colwell

[Brooklyn Photographs: Prospect Park], 1978, V1990.2.183; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, 1990.2, Brooklyn Historical Society.
How are you surviving this never-ending winter? With temperatures dipping into the single digits and sporadic snow and sleet showers, it feels like there’s no end in sight. The upside is there’s no better time for sledding!The Photo of the Week features a sledding scene in Prospect Park on New Year’s Day in 1978. This photograph was taken by Donald L. Nowlan, a long-time Brooklyn resident,…

Fred Snitzer collection of Kings County postal ephemera now open to the public

John Zarrillo

Steeplechase Park postcard, circa 1960. Fred Snitzer collection of Kings County postal ephemera, 2013.003, Box 4, Folder 6; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In 2013, Brooklyn Historical Society acquired a massive collection of postal ephemera (postcards, envelopes, and related items) which belonged to Fred Snitzer. Snitzer was born around 1929 to Jewish immigrant parents, and was a life-long resident of Brooklyn. He was an investment counselor by trade, but had many other passions, including playing chess (he was an expert…

POTW: Sweethearts

Tess Colwell

”Sweethearts,” Tobyhanna 09,’ 1909, v1981.283.3.53; Burton family papers and photographs, 1981.283, Brooklyn Historical Society.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, this week’s photograph is a portrait of “sweethearts” dated 1909 from the Burton family collection. The collection contains over 189 photographs, of the Burton family and others. The couple above is unidentified but possibly related to the family. It’s unclear what Tobyhanna indicates, but it likely references Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania. It’s all…

A School for Girls and One for Boys

Thomas

It's doubtful that you've heard of James W. Naughton but very likely you have walked passed one of his magnificent buildings. Naughton, an Irish immigrant, moved to Brooklyn when he was eight years old. He became an architect after apprenticing in Milwaukee at the age of fifteen and upon his return to New York, he studied at the Cooper Union. In 1879 he became Superintendent of Buildings for Brooklyn's Board of Education and designed more than one hundred buildings, including Brooklyn's first high school. Before Brooklyn had any high schools, it had grammar schools.…

POTW: Your Local Subway Station

Tess Colwell

[Beverley Road Station BMT.], 12/31/1958, V1974.4.1414; John D. Morrell photographs, 1974.4, Brooklyn Historical Society.
The New York Times reported recently that subway fares are increasing again in March. Pictured above is my local subway stop, the Beverley Road Station, in 1958. Back then, a singe ride fare would cost a mere $0.15, compared to $2.75 with the most recent increase. The Brighton Line (Q train) which serves Ditmas Park and Flatbush follows the old Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railroad. It was…

Map of the Month--February 2015

Lisa Miller

The missing link, 1939. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
February's Map of the Month, “The Missing Link” is more properly described as a broadside, for the map was published in October 1939 by the Brooklyn-Battery Bridge Coalition to support an appeal of the veto of the bridge's construction by then U.S. Secretary of War, Henry Woodring. The Brooklyn-Battery Bridge? Yes, a bridge connecting Red Hook to the Battery proposed by Robert Moses. Here is the short version: in 1938, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, low on…

POTW: Blizzard?

Tess Colwell

[People in the street after the blizzard, Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue], March 15, 1888, V1974.7.77; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191, Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn is covered in snow this week! Pictured above is from the Blizzard of 1888, which hit New York City by surprise in March, with over 21 inches of snow. The New York Times reported on Tuesday, March 13, 1888, “It had a power of slinging the snow into doorways and packing it up against the doors; of sifting it through window frames of…

Film Screening and Discussion: "Battle for Brooklyn" -- Wednesday, January 28th, 7pm

Thomas

As part of Brooklyn Transitions, a series of programs and events about neighborhood change in our borough, the Brooklyn Collection presents the film "Battle for Brooklyn". This documentary is an intensely intimate look at the very public and passionate fight waged by owners and residents facing condemnation of their property to make way for the controversial Atlantic Yards project, the development plan that created the Barclay's Center (home of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team) and the Pacific Park apartment towers that are currently under construction. Shot over seven years and…

POTW: Basketball in Brooklyn

Tess Colwell

[Emmanuel House Basketball Team], ca. 1910, V1981.284.26; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, 1981.284, Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s basketball season in Brooklyn! I recently saw my first Brooklyn Nets basketball game and was reminded how much fun watching and playing basketball can be, especially when the weather makes me want to hibernate inside. Basketball has a long history in Brooklyn. In the photo above, young men from the Emmanuel House basketball team are pictured in 1910. The Emmanuel House was located in…

The Mystery of PS 125

Thomas

Looking at Google Maps, it is plain to see that PS 125 in Brownsville has been abandoned for quite some time. When did the oldest school in the neighborhood close, and why? This researcher started this blog assuming that these would be easy questions to answer. It turns out there is no clear answer to either one. From its creation in 1900, PS 125 was ill-equipped to handle the influx of Jewish, mostly Russian and Polish, immigrants streaming over the newly opened Williamsburg Bridge from the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Four new schools opened in Brownsville between 1905 and…

POTW: Polar Bears in Brooklyn

Tess Colwell

[Polar Bear Club member at Coney Island], ca. 1978, V2008.013.3; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013, Brooklyn Historical Society.
When most people think of winter in Brooklyn, swimming at Coney Island isn’t the first thing to come to mind. Brooklyn Photographer Lucille Fornasieri Gold captured this man—a member of the Polar Bear Club—doing just that during the winter of 1978. The Polar Bear Club was founded in 1903 by Bernarr Macfadden. Macfadden was an early pioneer of “physical culture”—bodybuilding, exercise…

The Mermen of Brownsville

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection has rotating exhibits all year round showcasing gems from the Collection (including an annual exhibit of student work). Currently, we're exhibiting items relating to "The Education of Kings: A History of Brooklyn Schools!" It will be up in the collection until February 13th, so please stop by and check out the yearbooks, photos, and other rare and unique Collection items we have on display.  In honor of our current exhibition, the Brooklyn Connections team has set out to detail the history of three Brooklyn Schools over the next three weeks. With that,…

POTW: Bitterly Cold

Julie May

[Windmill in snow-covered field], ca. 1875, v1974.7.4; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s cold out there, Brooklyn.  I think this photograph illustrates the minimal amount of snow we have but how small and cold one can feel facing the windchill today.  This photograph was taken by Adrian Vanderveer Martense, an amateur photographer and member of the Brooklyn Camera Club, somewhere on the Vanderveer farm Flatbush.  The windmill also played a key role during the 1863 Draft Riots…

Teddy Bears from Brooklyn

Thomas

The teddy bear has been a perennial gift favorite for at least a century. You may be surprised to learn that the invention of teddy bears is squarely rooted in Brooklyn. The holiday season is a good time to review the story of this adorable stuffed toy with which so many of us have a deep emotional connection. An early 20th century family photograph of Brooklyn-born sculptor Frederick MacMonnies' daughters Betty and Marjorie, flanked by their governess and their good friend, the teddy bear.My research was spurred, oddly enough, by a work of fiction. Karen Hesse’s…

Uncovering Historical Maps at Brooklyn Historical Society

Lisa Miller

As I wrap up cataloging the last few maps and polishing the last blog post for this phase of Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)-funded map cataloging for BHS, the time has come to let everyone know what we have accomplished in the last 17 months. The purpose of a CLIR Hidden Collections grant is to ‘uncover’ ‘hidden’ collections, by making previously uncataloged collections available for discovery on the Web. For libraries, this goal is achieved by the creation of MARC (machine-readable catalog) records for each item in the collection for inclusion in local and international…

POTW: Merry Christmas

Julie May

Holidays View 12, ca. 1956, 2006.001.1.131; Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings, arc.216; Brooklyn Historical Society.
It’s a festive time of year all over Brooklyn and the above photograph is just one of many in our collections illustrating just how celebratory our very own Williamsburgh Savings Bank became while it functioned as a bank.  Extremely large Christmas trees, piles of gifts, highly visible decorations on the façade of the already visible building, and Christmas Shows.  You…

Brooklyn's Corporation Counsel records now open to researchers!

John Zarrillo

(left) The Corporation Counsel records in their original storage container. (right) The records after processing -- neatly organized and open to researchers.
  This is the final post in a series on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which were processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant. After seventeen months of hard work, I’m happy to report that the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel are now open to the public. The…

Free From Freakish Ideas

Thomas

Parties, man. The worst. Who do you invite? Or more specifically, how do you invite everyone except for that guy? New Year's Eve parties? The worst of the worst. A day already filled with expectations, topped with anticipation, with a dash of nostalgia and/or regret. Thank goodness there are people who are paid to tell us what to do and what not to do to avoid garish social faux pas. Marie Manning, writing under the pseudonym Beatrice Fairfax, wrote the first newspaper advice column in the New York Evening Journal in 1898. The format proved an instant success, with other…

POTW: Festival of Lights

Julie May

Brilliant Luna Park at Night, 1903, v1972.1.1031; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week’s photo is to acknowledge the Festival of Lights, Chanukkah.  The festival began on Tuesday at sundown and continues all the way to Christmas Eve!  Enjoy the chocolates, dreidl spinning, and fried food.  If you find yourself unfamiliar with this holiday, read more here.The above stereograph is of Luna Park in its heyday when electricity was still a novelty and Coney Island…

Shop Talk with Brooklyn Makers: In the Seam

Cycle Alliance

Welcome to Shop Talk, our regular series highlighting some of the fantastic Brooklyn-made products (and their makers) available in the BHS Gift Shop, open daily from 12pm to 5pm!

Ronda J. Smith of In the Seam
For people who create, inspiration can come in many forms. For Ronda J. Smith of In the Seam, it came in the form of her cat Keywan, who had a bout with illness some years back. Ronda, who makes pillows using her personal photography, started by simply snapping pics of her pet, and before she knew it a company was…

They'll Say 'Aww, Topsy!' At My Autopsy!

Thomas

Sometimes, all it takes is an episode of Bob's Burgers to ignite a historical research adventure! In the episode aptly named "Topsy," Louise devises a scheme to take revenge on an obnoxious science teacher who is obsessed with Thomas Edison. While researching for her science project at the local library, Louise and her siblings stumble across a video of an elephant being electrocuted by the Edison Electric Company. Louise cackles with delight at the idea of smearing the reputation of her teacher's beloved hero in front of the entire class, "I'm going to tell everyone the truth about Thomas…

POTW: House Research

Julie May

[House on back of parking lot at 47 McDonald Avenue], 1956, v1974.16.1423; Edna Huntington papers and photographs, ARC.044; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week’s photograph is interesting on many levels.  First, it’s a wood frame house (although in a sorry state); second, it’s on a weird shaped lot in Windsor Terrace; and third, it was taken by our own Edna Huntington.Let’s start with the first area of interest: wood frame houses.  Wood houses were common until the fear of rampant fires set in within urban environments…

December Staff Pick from the BHS Gift Shop: Park Slope Neighborhood & Architectural History Guide by Francis Morrone via Brooklyn Historical Society

Cycle Alliance

Welcome to the latest installment of Brooklyn Historical Society STAFF PICKS, a fun way to explore our awesome gift shop! The BHS Gift Shop features many items crafted right here in Brooklyn, as well as an array of fascinating books on the history and culture of New York City and our favorite borough. Once a month we feature a staff member and their favorite book from our gift shop because, let’s face it, who better than our Brooklyn-lovin’ staff to give great gift ideas? This month we chat with BHS President Deborah Schwartz, whose favorite book in the BHS Gift Shop is the Park Slope…

POTW: Repeal Day!

Julie May

[Portrait of men and women in prop automobile], 1937, v1986.283.46; Burton family papers and photographs, ARC.217; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Friday, December 5 marks the anniversary of the repeal of the 18th Amendment with the 21st Amendment in 1933.  The 21st Amendment made it legal once again for Americans to distill, distribute, and consume alcohol.  While this is a Federal law, more specific rules are set by each State regarding the sale, import, distribution, and possession of alcohol within its boundaries – for…

Manure Freely: The Floral Stylings of Julius J. Heinrich

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection's ephemera files are pretty expansive, filled with an array of amazing (and sometimes random) documents tucked away into acid-free manila folders: programs, community newsletters, membership cards, and the like. We have a fair amount of newspapers and periodicals as well, including one well-loved booklet from 1889 entitled Henirch's Floral Instructor. I was drawn to the book due to the filigree on the cover and the floral-themed typeface. It is pretty, yes? As I started to gently flip through the pages I began to get some scents (Pun! Bad pun!) of late 19th…

Map of the Month - December 2014

Lisa Miller

NYC bike map 2014. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
In celebration of the recent announcement of the expansion of the Citibike program in New York, I have selected the “NYC Bike Map 2014” for December’s map of the month. This map is remarkable in the density of information it conveys. Although I have only shown the top portion of the full-page map, you can see in the corners no less than 20 insets showing details of various bridge approaches and crossings. The map itself conveys through color protected bike…

POTW: Parades

Julie May

Bicycle Parade Passing Through Park Plaza Entrance, ca.1890, v1986.250.1.7; William Schroeder, Sr. scrapbook collection, ARC.121; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn and New York City love parades.  I wasn’t able to locate a Thanksgiving parade photograph, but hopefully a bike parade is sufficient.  This particular parade shows the entrance to Prospect Park on the right, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial arch on the left, the empty spot where the Brooklyn Public Library’s main branch now stands in the center, and a clear…

POTW: The building of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

Julie May

[Verrazano Narrows], 1963, v1984.1.137; Brooklyn slide collection, v1984.001; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.  The construction of the bridge began in 1959, the upper deck was finished and opened in November of 1964, and the lower deck was completed five years later in 1969.  It was named after the Italian explorer Giovanni de Verrazano and the body of water over which it spans, the Narrows.The MTA website describes several interesting facts about…

Brooklyn Connections Professional Developments

Thomas

We are pleased to announce the Brooklyn Connections 2014/ 2015 teacher professional development schedule. To register for any of the workshops, please email connections@bklynlibrary.org or visit our website. ------ Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson--a great topic for this year's NHD theme: Leadership and Legacy What: Creating a National History Day Project with the Brooklyn Collection and the Museum of the City of New York When: Monday, December 1, 2014 from 5pm-7pm Who should attend: Teachers and parents who have students or children participating in National History Day or those who…

November Staff Pick from the BHS Gift Shop: A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick by Meryl Meisler

Cycle Alliance

Welcome to the latest installment of Brooklyn Historical Society STAFF PICKS, a fun way to explore our awesome gift shop! The BHS Gift Shop features many items crafted right here in Brooklyn, as well as an array of fascinating books on the history and culture of New York City and our favorite borough. Once a month we feature a staff member and their favorite book from our gift shop because, let’s face it, who better than our Brooklyn-lovin’ staff to give great gift ideas? This month we chat with Lindsay Palmer Vint, BHS’s Visitor Services and Retail Manager, whose favorite book in the BHS…

POTW: In Honor of Our Veterans

Julie May

[Survivors of the Fourteenth Regiment], ca. 1890, v1991.12.7; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In honor of Veterans Day yesterday, this week’s photograph highlights Brooklyn’s veterans.  The above photograph depicts veterans of the 14th Regiment, New York State Militia (also known as the 84th New York Infantry), at the dedication of their monument on the battlefield at Gettysburg. The regiment lost a total of 217 men over the course of the three-day battle.The regiment,…

The Brooklyn Hellfighters

Thomas

The day was November 11th, 1919. At exactly 11:00am, on the one year anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting between the Allies and Germany, all school children in Brooklyn were asked to place their pencils on their desks for a ten minute silence so that they could "realize vividly the significance which that moment had for America's embattled armies."  Brooklyn Daily Eagle 11 Nov. 1919. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on the events of the newly elected day of remembrance (not a national holiday until 1938 and not called Veteran's Day until 1954): parades, dinners, and…

Golden City USA

Thomas

When New Yorkers dream of summer fun at an amusement park by the sea, most turn their thoughts to Coney Island. However, 100 years ago they might have been dreaming about Canarsie’s Golden City Park. The popular yet often forgotten amusement park opened in the summer of 1907 to a crowd of 25,000. Built on Jamaica Bay by Warner’s Canarsie Amusement Company, the park relied on the recently extended railroad system to deliver daytrippers from all over the city.

[Golden City Amusement Park], circa 1905, NEIG_0346. Brooklyn Daily Eagle…

Map of the Month--November 2014

Lisa Miller

Map showing the position of the main ground-water table on Long Island, New York, 1904. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
For the November Map of the Month, I have chosen a relative newcomer to the catalog, “Map showing the position of the main ground-water table on Long Island, New York,” published by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1904. This map landed on my desk with 2 others, “Map of Long Island, New York showing location of wells” and “Map showing the waterworks systems of Long Island, New York.” All bore…

Shop Talk with Brooklyn Makers: Brooklyn Rehab

Cycle Alliance

Welcome to Shop Talk, our regular series highlighting some of the fantastic Brooklyn-made products (and their makers) available in the BHS Gift Shop, open daily from 12pm to 5pm! Alyssa Zygmunt, the creator of Brooklyn Rehab, uses her daily observations of NYC culture to create inspired and unique products that make the perfect souvenirs for out-of-towners and seasoned New Yorkers alike. From key chains and salt and pepper shakers, to glass bottles with labels of local bodies of water, such as the Gowanus Canal (because that water must be tasty!), and 100% authentic New York City pigeon…

POTW: Food vendors at Wallabout Market

Julie May

Wallabout Market, Brooklyn, ca. 1895, v1973.5.994; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week Brooklyn Historical Society is hosting our annual fundraising party, Brooklyn Bounty!  Unlike last year, we will be holding this event at a new venue in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn.  There will be music, beverages, auctions, and food.  We expect it to be as bountiful as the Wallabout Market, pictured above.  Not too far from DUMBO, the Wallabout Market was the host for…

Brooklyn Bounty 2014 Taste Spotlight - Odd Fellows Ice Cream

Jenny Acosta

In anticipation of Brooklyn Bounty, BHS’s premier fundraiser at 26 Bridge on October 22nd, we are profiling our participating restaurants and honorees of the Food & Heritage Awards. Below is a profile of OddFellows Ice Cream Company, one of the sweet and chilled participants in our evening’s tasting menu. Ice Cream is year-round! (left to right) : The OddFellows Team - Mohan Kumar, Sam Mohan, & Holiday Kumar Right on the corner of Kent Avenue and North 3rd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is a small ice cream parlor with big flavors. OddFellows Ice Cream Co. is passionate about their…

POTW: Highland Park

Julie May

Sunday afternoon at Highland Park, Brooklyn, N.Y., ca. 1900, V1973.4.1021; Postcard collection, v1973.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For whatever random reason, I thought about posting a picture about music this week.  I came across several pavilions dotting Brooklyn’s amusement areas, parks, and waterfronts.  Highland Park’s Music Pavilion was among them, but so was the confusion about in what neighborhood it’s located.  Some of our records indicate it’s located in East New York; others Bushwick; a few Cypress Hills; and…

October Staff Pick from the BHS Gift Shop – Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

Cycle Alliance

Welcome to the latest installment of Brooklyn Historical Society STAFF PICKS, a fun way to explore our awesome gift shop! The BHS Gift Shop features many items crafted right here in Brooklyn, as well as an array of books on Brooklyn and New York City suitable for the whole family. Once a month we feature a staff member and their favorite item from our gift shop because, let’s face it, who better than our Brooklyn-lovin’ staff to give great gift ideas? This month we chat with BHS Processing Archivist John Zarrillo, whose favorite book is Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem. He recommends…

Education at BHS: CASA/Young Curators at PS 32

Shirley Brown Alleyne

The Young Curators is an after-school program led by Brooklyn Historical Society educators guiding students through a themed investigation of their school’s neighborhood using primary sources from BHS's collection and other resources. Based upon their given theme (i.e. Colonial Brooklyn or the Evolution of East New York), students create a three-panel exhibit that is eventually displayed at their school. Students write the text, recreate images through drawings, and choose images like maps and portraits to be included. They even work with a graphic designer for the colors, fonts, and design…

POTW: Autumn Harvest Season

Julie May

[Farmhouse and factory in Bergen Beach, Brooklyn], ca. 1885, V1974.28.70; Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Long Island lantern slide collection, ARC 195; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Fall happens to be my favorite season of the year.  I especially enjoy it in Brooklyn and the Northeast because of the Autumnal colors after a sun-bleached summer and before a dishwater grey winter.  As you roam around Brooklyn this week, you might also notice the many sukkahs on the balconies of Jewish families in neighborhoods like Williamsburg,…

Map of the Month--October 2014

Lisa Miller

Railroad terminal map of New York Harbor, 1933. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
October’s Map of the Month, "Railroad terminal map of New York Harbor" created by the Port of New York Authority in 1933, shows New York Harbor in all its early 20th century might. According to The Encyclopedia of New York, New York Harbor became the busiest port in the world around 1912 and remained so for the next 50 years. This map is large at 44” x 37”, too large to include a reasonably good snapshot of the entire map online.…

Brooklyn Bounty 2014 Taste Spotlight - Brooklyn Winery

Jenny Acosta

In anticipation of Brooklyn Bounty, BHS’s premier fundraiser at 26 Bridge on October 22nd, we are profiling our participating restaurants and honorees of the Food & Heritage Awards. Below is a profile of Brooklyn Winery, one of the delicious participants in our evening’s tasting menu. Photo by Rina Brindamour “Our job is to make people happy.” _____ Co-founders and wine entrepreneurs Brian Leventhal and John Stires have been working with grapes since 2010, when they opened one of the first hybrid winery and event spaces in Brooklyn, NY. Their interest in wine- making bloomed when John and…

POTW: Transformation & Discovery

Julie May

Cortelyou Road and Flatbush Avenue, 1916, v1973.2.106; Brooklyn oversize 19th century collection, v1973.002; Brooklyn Historical Society.
As we should expect of our climate these days, the weather has been all over the place.  While I’m not one to complain about warm weather, sunny skies, and a gentle breeze, I have to admit I’m eager to don a cozy sweater, perhaps some light gloves, and to reacquaint myself with my tights collection.  I’ve always looked forward to Fall for the fashion magazines, new school supplies, any…

Education at BHS: CASA/Young Curators at P.S. 276

Shirley Brown Alleyne

The Young Curators is an after-school program led by Brooklyn Historical Society educators guiding students through a themed investigation of their school’s neighborhood using primary sources from BHS's collection and other resources. Based upon their given theme, (i.e. Colonial Brooklyn or the Evolution of East New York), students create a three-panel exhibit that is eventually displayed at their school. Students write the text, recreate images through drawings, and choose images like maps and portraits to be included. They even work with a graphic designer for the colors, fonts, and design…

Shop Talk with Brooklyn Makers: Build Your Block

Cycle Alliance

Welcome to Shop Talk, our regular series highlighting some of the fantastic Brooklyn-made products (and their makers) available in the BHS Gift Shop, open daily from 12pm to 5pm! Brooklyn is an ever-changing borough, and whether you've been here your whole life or are just now calling it home, I think everyone can agree that it is a very special and exciting place to be. While new buildings are sprouting up around every corner, it is important that we take the time to appreciate and preserve the essence of classic Brooklyn. Our maker for this month, Patrick Chirico, found a unique way to…

Dirt for Dirt's Sake: the trials of Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer"

Thomas

In observance of Banned Books Week, the Brooklyn Collection offers this tale taken straight from the institutional archives of Brooklyn Public Library. On July 11, 1963 a stern memo was distributed to every library throughout the borough of Brooklyn: "TO:  ALL SERVICE AGENCIES FROM:  THE ASSISTANT CHIEF LIBRARIAN RE: MILLER, HENRY - TROPIC OF CANCER  The New York State Court of Appeals ruled on July 10, 1963 that TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller is obscene under the New York State obscenity law.  The following action must be taken immediately: No copy is to be loaned to…

POTW: Ready or Not . . .

Julie May

[Leaves changing in Prospect Park], 1977, V1990.49.26; Donald L. Nowlan collection, ARC 120; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Labor Day is behind us.  Schools in New York City are well underway.  The Jewish High Holidays are around the corner.  This can mean nothing else (at least to me) except that Autumn is also upon us.  Chilly nights and cool mornings only lead to moderately warm middays.  People have begun to wear jackets in Prospect Park or a scarf to ward off the goosebumps.  I even felt the need for a light pair of…

September Staff Pick from the BHS Gift Shop – The New York Nobody Knows by William B. Helmreich

Cycle Alliance

Welcome to the latest installment of Brooklyn Historical Society STAFF PICKS, a fun way to explore our awesome gift shop! The BHS Gift Shop features many items crafted right here in Brooklyn, as well as an array of books on Brooklyn and New York City suitable for the whole family. Once a month we feature a staff member and their favorite item from our gift shop because, let’s face it, who better than our Brooklyn-lovin’ staff to give great gift ideas? This month we chat with the wonderful Lead Visitors Services and Events Associate, Kate Ludwig, whose favorite book is The New York Nobody…

Brooklyn Bounty '14: French Louie

Avi Scher

In anticipation of Brooklyn Bounty, BHS’s premier fundraiser at 26 Bridge on October 22nd, we are profiling our participating restaurants and honorees of the Food & Heritage Awards. Below is a profile of French Louie, one of the delicious participants in our evening’s tasting menu. French Louie: All Things French, American and Brooklyn

Chef Ryan Angulo of French Louie
Chef Ryan Angulo, of the recently opened French Louie in Ft. Greene, is at the stage of his career where he has some impressive laurels on which to rest.…

The Great Trolley Strike of 1895 - Part 2

John Zarrillo

Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 19 January 1895
This is part two of a two part series on the Great Trolley Strike of 1895.  This is also the latest in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant. Finally, if you would like to hear more about the trolley strike and other forgotten events from Brooklyn's past, please join me next Tuesday, September 9th, for the latest…

Map of the Month – September 2014

Lisa Miller

Colorgraph map of New York, 1954. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
For September’s map of the month, we’ll take one last nostalgic look at leisure pursuits in the “Colorgraph Map of New York”, published in 1954.  As the cover proclaims, it is a “souvenir picture map of New York with 380 full color pictures” and it is a delightfully askew description of New York attractions circa 1954. To see what I mean, you will find in the index seven store locations for Barton’s Bonbonniere throughout Midtown Manhattan, but…

Brooklyn Bounty '14: Mast Brothers Chocolate

Avi Scher

In anticipation of Brooklyn Bounty, BHS’s premier fundraiser at 26 Bridge on October 22nd, we are profiling our participating restaurants and honorees of the Food & Heritage Awards. Below is a profile of Mast Brothers Chocolate, one of the delicious participants in our evening’s tasting menu. Mast Brothers Chocolate: Honoring Brooklyn and the Cocoa Nib

Mast Brothers Chocolate Bars, displayed at their Williamsburg store.
Chocolate is probably the world’s best loved treat, but most people are having too much fun savoring…

Williamsburg: Then & Now

Thomas

Our collection of photographs by Anders Goldfarb are some of the most contemporary images in our holdings aside from those taken by Jamel Shabazz. However, unlike Shabazz who captures the personalities of Brooklynites, Goldfarb mostly captures the personalities of the borough's dilapidated buildings. In a 2012 interview with Goldfarb, Peter Mattei asked: "What emotion do you feel when you see these buildings? What makes you want to photograph them?" "It's a form of compassion I think I have for the building," Goldfarb replied, "because they're old and the old as a rule tend to perish and…

POTW: Walking with Eugene Armbruster

Halley Choiniere

It’s shocking how fast July and August have slipped by, but at least the weather is still good. One of my favorite ways to enjoy both this weather and this city is to wander around with a camera. Based on the images in the Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks collection, that appears to have also been one of Armbruster’s favorite pastimes. Flipping through Armbruster’s photographs, it is easy to imagine him wandering around different neighborhoods in Brooklyn in the 1920s, taking pictures of whatever seemed interesting or beautiful in the moment. The four images above appear to…

Shop Talk with Brooklyn Makers: The Dynamic Duo of Boundless Brooklyn

Geraldine Leibot

Welcome to Shop Talk, our regular series highlighting some of the fantastic Brooklyn-made products (and their makers) available in the BHS Gift Shop, open daily from 12pm to 5pm! When it comes to handmade crafts, Brooklyn takes the gold medal. You can find almost anything made by hand, from soaps, to earrings, to cutting boards. Today, we get to know David Shulman and Terence Arjo, Brooklyn makers who specialize in DIY water tower models, magnets, coasters, t-shirts, and key chains. Much of their success is attributed to their ability to provide a product that is historic and beautiful, but…

The Great Trolley Strike of 1895 - Part 1

John Zarrillo

Brooklyn City Railroad Company – Third Ave. trolley, 1898. Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection.
This is part one of a two part series on the Great Trolley Strike of 1895. Part two will be posted next Wednesday, September 3rd. This is also the latest in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant. On a brisk January day in 1895 a young man named…

A Look at the Year Ahead: Brooklyn Connections

Thomas

We at Brooklyn Connections are gearing up for our 8th year reaching out to local schools, teaching research skills and learning about local history.  With an exciting two-year, $400,000 grant from the New York Life Foundation and additional generous funding from The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, David and Paula Weiner Memorial Grant, The Hearst Foundation, Inc., Tiger Baron Foundation, and Epstein Teicher Philanthropies, we can continue our efforts of teaching authentic historical research to students around Brooklyn! Students at PS/ IS 163 learned about transit history.  They…

POTW: The Feast of San Gennaro

Halley Choiniere

[Feast of San Gennaro], circa 1978, v2008.013.17; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society
If you missed this year’s Giglio Feast in Williamsburg as I did, there’s still the promise of the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy, pictured in the image above, circa 1978. There seems to be a certain amount of rivalry between these two Italian-American New York City street festivals, echoing the rivalry between Manhattan and Brooklyn. People loyal to the Giglio Feast are proud that it has a longer…

Brooklyn Bounty 2014: ReConnect Café

Avi Scher

In anticipation of Brooklyn Bounty, BHS’s premier fundraiser at 26 Bridge on October 22nd, we are profiling our participating restaurants and honorees of the Food & Heritage Awards. Below is a profile of ReConnect Café, recipient of our Pioneer Award, and part of our tasting menu. ReConnect Café: Coffee to Buzz the Neighborhood

Patrons show their love for ReConenct Café
When I went to ReConnect Café to interview Associate Director Efrain Hernandez, I was a little nervous I’d be found out: I am not a coffee drinker. When…

POTW: Electrification of the Long Island Railroad in Brooklyn

Halley Choiniere

[Electrification of Long Island Rail Road at Washington Avenue], 1903, v1984.1463.3; Long Island Rail Road construction photographs, v1984.1463; Brooklyn Historical Society
For this post, I want to share an interesting image that I scanned last week. The image above shows construction by the Long Island Rail Road near Atlantic Terminal in 1903.The Long Island Rail Road was incorporated in 1834, and used steam-powered trains until 1905, when they switched to an electric system. As part of the switch to electricity, the LIRR…

POTW: The Brooklyn Postal Service

Halley Choiniere

Post Office Scene, 1926, v1973.5.629; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society
I selected today’s image for purely aesthetic reasons. I love the color of this print. I love the long, whimsical, almost Alice-in-Wonderland hanging glass lamps with equally long pull ropes hanging from each one. I also love the perfectly tailored clothing and glossy, pomaded hair of the man in the center of the picture (see detail below of hair and tailoring). It’s one of those images that becomes…

A Digest of a Different Sort

Thomas

Last week I was looking for a piece of ephemera for a project packet I was creating on Brownsville when I stumbled across something different: a digest, if you will. This digest then went on to change the entire course of my day. How did one small magazine change the entire course of my day, you ask? Well, I immediately stopped looking for information on Brownsville, that's how. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading about sports, history, restaurants, and women in "The Magazine For Brooklyn, About Brooklyn, In Brooklyn." Brooklyn Digest Magazine was a small monthly magazine…

Brooklyn Bounty 2014: Brooklyn Oenology

Avi Scher

BHS’s premier fundraiser, Brooklyn Bounty, is fast approaching. Held at 26 Bridge on October 22nd, it will feature an exciting array of Brooklyn chefs providing tastings of some of the best offerings from their menus! Purchase your ticket here. To whet your appetite, we are featuring the food and drink of several of our participating chefs and restaurants in the months leading up to #BKBounty14 on the BHS Blog. Enjoy! Brooklyn Oenology: Celebrating Creativity with Wine

BOE Wines adorned in Brooklyn-made art.
The definition…

Map of the Month - August 2014

Lisa Miller

Map showing how to reach Ebbets Field, Brooklyn. [1919]. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
The August Map of the Month conjures a bit of summertime nostalgia: “Map Showing How to Reach Ebbets Field, Brooklyn.”   The flip side of the map, shown below, has a full team photo and roster. A quick consultation with The Complete Dodgers Record Book (Facts on File, 1984) confirms this team as the 1919 Brooklyn Robins. They finished in fifth place that year, with a 69-71 record. The next year however, the Robins made the…

Shop Talk with Brooklyn Makers: Tina, the fearless lady behind TATTLY

Geraldine Leibot

If you think temporary tattoos are just for kids, then you haven't discovered Tattly yet, the Brooklyn-grown company that specializes in creating temporary tattoos even adults want to wear - everyone from Brooklyn hipsters to hip grandmas. And in addition to being a Brooklyn company, Tattly also supports artists! They employ artists from all over the globe to design tattoos which ranging from vegetables to comic book characters. Today we catch up with Tina, the fearless lady behind Tattly who took a design challenge and made it into over 100 amazing temporary solutions. What's the story…

Brooklyn Bounty 2014: Delaware and Hudson

Avi Scher

Excitement is in the air for Brooklyn Bounty, Brooklyn Historical Society’s premier tasting benefit this fall! On October 22, at the impressive 26 Bridge Street in DUMBO, guests will treat their palates to tastings from Brooklyn’s finest chefs and restaurants. With this year’s theme, “Kings County Agricultural Fair,” we celebrate Brooklyn’s vibrant sustainability movement with delicious and exciting samples from all across the borough. In the next few months leading up to the event, to whet our appetites for what’s to come we will profile several of the participating restaurants, as well as…

On Vaccinations and the Small Pox epidemic of 1894

John Zarrillo

Brooklyn Life, 1894
This is the latest in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant. The U. S. Supreme Court recently upheld New York City’s policy of preventing unvaccinated students from attending public schools while another student has a vaccine-preventable disease. This is just the latest in long line of judicial decisions which addresses the limits of…

The Quiet, Colorful Moments of Irving Herzberg

Thomas

Irving Herzberg (1915-1991) is perhaps best known for capturing personal, candid moments. The Brooklyn Collection houses Herzberg's life's work; over 2,300 images of day-to-day Brooklynites: a woman with her tired baby, a man looking at totem poles, and children stuffing their faces with cotton candy. The Brooklyn Collection also has some amazingly terrifying photos of the plane crash that shook up Park Slope in the winter of 1960 and a wealth of photos that he took of Brooklyn's traditionally closed Hasidic community. Herzberg spent 10 years, Sunday after Sunday,…

Before "organic" was even a notion...

Thomas

In an unusual confluence of the World War I centennial observation and the height of harvesting season, a small, curious cache of photographic images found its way to the Brooklyn Collection. Twenty six lantern slides and seven photographic prints, presumably from 1919, depict a group of Brooklyn youngsters and their teachers tending vegetable plots. A couple of them feature the Park Commissioner John N. Harman as well. It was not only a tree that grew in Brooklyn, apparently, but also carrots, kohlrabi, beans, beets, radishes and corn. The pictures were taken at the Betsy Park…

Map of the Month--July 2014

Lisa Miller

New York City Subway Guide, 1974. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
For July’s Map of the Month, I have chosen a 1974 copy of the “New York City Subway Guide,” to commemorate the work of Massimo Vignelli, who died in New York on May 27. This map was issued by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from 1972 to 1979, when it was superseded by the map created by Michael Hertz Associates, which is still in use after several updates and revisions. Vignelli’s map is now a design landmark, but when it was issued,…

June Staff Pick from the BHS Gift Shop - Rats by Robert Sullivan

Geraldine Leibot

Introducing Brooklyn Historical Society STAFF PICKS, a new way to explore our awesome gift shop! Our gift shop has been open for a little over a year, featuring many items crafted right here in Brooklyn, as well as an array of books on Brooklyn and New York City suitable for the whole family. Once a month we will feature a staff member and their favorite item from our gift store because, let’s face it, who better than our Brooklyn lovin’ staff to give great gift ideas? This month is all about Andy McCarthy, BHS Reference Librarian, and his favorite book from our gift shop: Rats: Observations…

Mapping the first Red Scare: Ohman's map of 'racial colonies'

Lisa Miller

Map of the Borough of Brooklyn : Showing Location and Extent of Racial Colonies. Ohman Map Co. Inc. ca. 1920. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection
This “Map of the Borough of Brooklyn : Showing Location and Extent of Racial Colonies” (featured on the blog in March 2012) published by A. R. Ohman in the early 20th century has always piqued the interest of researchers and visitors here at Brooklyn Historical Society. There is in fact a pair of maps showing what the map terms ‘racial colonies’ in New York City: one…

POTW: She said, She said exhibition

Julie May

It’s with great pleasure that I announce the opening of the exhibition She said, She said: Art and inspiration in the work of Nell Painter and Lucille Fornasieri Gold.  If you weren’t already aware, Lucille Gold generously donated a set of 93 photographs to Brooklyn Historical Society in 2008.  They are all available for your viewing pleasure here.  She has been a favorite of ours for some time: we’ve offered her pictures as enhancements to fundraising events and gift prints to BHS staff; we’ve connected her to the documentarian of New York Street Games who used her photos in the film and to…

Summing Up a School Year with Brooklyn Connections

Thomas

The 2013-2014 school year has proven to be a truly banner year for Brooklyn Connections.  We're pleased to have partnered with over 2,000 students in 70 classes from 30 schools in Queens, Manhattan and of course, Brooklyn. Students from PS 131 before their visit to the Brooklyn Collection in January Throughout the year, Connections staff supported students by teaching Common Core-aligned research skills, including note-taking, text and photographic analysis, outlining, and writing a research question or thesis statement.  All partner schools visited the Brooklyn…

Borough Park's P.S. 131, a trove of school history

Thomas

Last fall the Brooklyn Connections staff was approached by two enthusiastic educators from P.S. 131 who had recently discovered fascinating artifacts at their Borough Park school. They hoped to use the artifacts to inform a school history research project with a select group of 5th grade students in collaboration with Brooklyn Connections. Given our love of school history (see To Number a School, We Don't Need No Education, Brooklyn Schools: A Look at Ephemera and More, Welcome to M.S. 57), it should come as no surprise to our faithful readers that we jumped at the…

POTW: Roller Skating

Halley Choiniere

[New Utrecht Reformed Church, 16th Avenue and 84th Street, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn], 1925, v1992.49.216; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, v1992.49; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Roller skating has experienced waves of popularity in New York City from its beginnings in the 1860s through the present day.In 1863, James Plimpton patented a new roller skate design that allowed for a smoother motion while skating, making the sport something that people actually wanted to do. In the same year, Plimpton also opened…

A Case of Mistaken Identity

John Zarrillo

Irving Underhill (American, 1872-1960). Garfield Building, Court and Remsen Streets, Brooklyn, ca. 1896-1950. Gelatin silver glass dry plate negative Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum/Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection, 1996.164.8-B16611 (105)
This is the latest in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant. Please join us this Thursday at 6 p.m.…

POTW: Paul Leicester Ford (1865-1902)

Andy McCarthy

[Paul Leicester Ford], circa 1890, V1984.1.597; Brooklyn slide collection, Brooklyn Historical Society.
Paul Leicester Ford was a journalist, writer, and noted bibliographer of Revolutionary War America, whose works included a seminal collection of Thomas Jefferson's papers, and a Check-list of American Magazines Printed in the 18th Century (1889).  The Brooklyn Historical Society library stacks hold several of Ford’s novels and biographies, like Tattle-Tales of Cupid (1898) and Who Was the Mother of Franklin's Son? An…

POTW: Marianne Moore

Andy McCarthy

[Reception at Gage and Tollner], 1967, V1973.5.1589; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC 202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
On November 28, 1967, a book release party for Brooklyn writer Clay Lancaster was thrown at Gage and Tollner, the hallowed and hoary “oyster and chop house” at 372 Fulton Street.  Brooklyn poetess Marianne Moore wrote the introduction for Lancaster’s publication, Prospect Park Handbook, and is shown in the above photo wearing her trademark tri-cornered hat and presenting the lauded…

Everybody Loves a Parade

Thomas

Born in 1846, William Cody, better known by his stage name Buffalo Bill, was a jack-of-all-trades when it came to the American West. He rode for the Pony Express, scouted for the Union during the Civil War, and rode against various Native American tribes during the period of westward expansion. His stories would eventually find their way to the big top when, in 1882, Cody began his 45-year career as an entertainer and showman by creating a small show that would eventually morph into an extravaganza entitled Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. He wooed audiences…

Map of the Month - June 2014

Lisa Miller

New York World’s Fair with a new transit map of Greater New York, [1939]. Brooklyn Historical Society Map collection.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 1939-1940 World’s Fair held in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, I have selected for this month’s map a beautiful bird’s eye view map, "New York World’s Fair with a new transit map of Greater New York," published by the C.S. Hammond & Company for the Franklin Fire Insurance Company. The beautiful color and the stunning view hardly need the further embellishment…

POTW: Memorial Day

Andy McCarthy

[Dartmoor, Prisoners of 1812]; 1853, v1972.1.1254; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
“It was my fortune,” begins the memoir of Lewis P. Clover, the former New York seaman holding the flagstaff in the above group portrait, “to be taken prisoner in India during the War of 1812.”  The portrait shows Clover reunited in 1853 with former inmates of Dartmoor, a “stark, mist-enshrouded” prison located on the southern moors of England where British forces incarcerated…

Knish Knosh

Thomas

     Join us this Wednesday evening May 28th, when the "world's leading knish expert and author" Laura Silver will be with us to talk about her new book, "Knish, In Search of Jewish Soul Food".  Ms. Silver will share with us her travels and research through various countries and communities, as she traces the origins and contemporary expressions of this ubiquitous culinary icon that once reigned from Brownsville to the Lower East Side. We'll have a knish reception at 6:30, with the talk beginning at 7:00 p.m.   

Twin Track Stars Break Barriers

Suzanne Lipkin

[Photograph of the DeSaussure sisters], ca. 1940; Mary DeSaussure Sobers collection, 2005.053; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Mary DeSaussure Sobers made history by accident. One morning in late August, 1945, she and her twin sister Martha were sent to buy groceries and were distracted by a bus bringing kids to the nearby 13th Regiment Armory. The sisters peeked inside and were told that there was a track meet being held—and did they want to run? Martha was too overwhelmed to say yes, but Mary agreed, and convinced the…

POTW: Ice Delivery in the City

Halley Choiniere

[Ice Delivery from the American Ice Company to Emmanuel House], circa 1910, v1981.284.12; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
We recently had our first taste of pleasantly warm spring weather. It was lovely, but it also means that in about a month we will be heading into the moist, syrupy heat of summer in the city. I love summers in Brooklyn…but I have a refrigerator, and a constant supply of iced tea, iced coffee, and ice cream. Can you imagine facing the Brooklyn summer armed…

A Magnolia Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Diana Bowers-Smith

"Save Our Magnolia" flyer, ca. 1960s; Robert Vadheim Brooklyn Neighborhood Renewal and Development collection, 1962-1987, box 1, folder 3, 1987.002; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Note: The events described in this post took place in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant during the 1960s and 70s, and were part of a larger story of civil rights activism across Brooklyn. For more resources on the history of this era in Brooklyn, see the references at the end of this post. This is the story of how a magnolia tree in…

The Brooklyn Cycling Tradition

John Zarrillo

[Traffic at Grand Army Plaza], 1880 ca., V1974.7.60; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection. ARC.191; Brooklyn Historical Society
May is Bike Month, so I would be remiss not to devote my latest blog post to the history of cycling in Brooklyn.  Luckily, the bulk of the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel are from the 1890s, which just so happens to coincide with American’s first “bike boom.” The boom was the result of the invention of the modern “safety bicycle” in the 1880s, which replaced the penny-farthing (or big-…

Researching Reinhardt

Thomas

If reports are to be believed, Brooklyn has been undergoing some kind of ground-shaking cultural renaissance for the past ten or twenty years. The borough -- once sleepy, then neglected -- is now a ballyhooed land barnacled with oft-parodied "artisanal" this-and-that shops, awash in alternative art-spaces, and peppered with the black and white "gear" of our recently dispatched cagers. Brooklyn is it! Brooklyn is cool! Brooklyn is a global brand, a baby's name! But if you Google "Brooklyn is" you will also see the gloomy auto-fill death of this shangrila not too far…

POTW: Bensonhurst, 1976

Halley Choiniere

[Youth Group, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn], 1976, v1991.110.301.26; Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service records, ARC.129; Brooklyn Historical Society
[Youth Group, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn], 1976, v1991.110.301.30; Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service records, ARC.129; Brooklyn Historical Society
It is certainly possible to enjoy and appreciate an image without knowing its context. I enjoy the clothes and the clear camaraderie of the people in the two pictures…

A Library for Children -- the Stone Avenue Branch

Thomas

The Stone Avenue Library Branch has stood at 581 Mother Gaston Boulevard for 100 years, and has recently celebrated that fact with a renovation and re-opening party. Of course, the street wasn't called Mother Gaston when the branch was built -- that came later, after local activist Rosetta "Mother" Gaston opened the Heritage House as an education and community center in this very library.  Another name change worth noting is that of the branch itself. Now known as the Stone Avenue Library, it first opened its doors in 1914 as the Brownsville Children's Library --…

POTW: Forgotten Professions

Halley Choiniere

[Young man with a pig], circa 1900, v1985.4.36; William Koch glass plate negatives, 1985.4; Brooklyn Historical Society
Recent Brooklyn Historical Society blog posts have highlighted police matrons and horseshoers in Brooklyn, and I would like to continue the theme of jobs that are now obsolete in the city. The image above is one of many images of rural and farm life from the William Koch glass plate negatives collection (also highlighted in a blog post from April 2013). This particular image shows a farmer with his pig…

Map of the Month - May 2014

Lisa Miller

Proposed Beecher Park on the Heights from Clark Street to Joralemon Street, February 1903. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
May’s map of the month, “Proposed Beecher Park on the Heights from Clark Street to Joralemon Street,” is an illustration that stretches across the inside of a four page circular advocating the advantages of this proposal to the citizens of Brooklyn and urging their support.  At first glance, I took it to be an early proposal for the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, but the date of the cover…

POTW: Horses in Brooklyn

Halley Choiniere

[Horseshoeing and Jobbing Shop, New Lots Road, Brooklyn, N.Y.], circa 1900, v1974.32.293; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, 1974.032; Brooklyn Historical Society
This week, we have yet another pastoral image of Brooklyn circa 1900, complete with a dirt road, a picket fence and a well in the yard beside the wooden clapboard house. It is not news that many of the outer neighborhoods in Brooklyn were rural and even agricultural in the late-19th and into the 20th century. What piqued my interest in this image was…

Author Talk: The History of Pizza, Wednesday, April 30th 7pm

Thomas

“The History of Pizza in New York” with Scott WienerWednesday, April 30th 2014, 7:00pm Brooklyn Collection, Second Floor, Central Library Everyone loves pizza. Scott Wiener, however, loves pizza more than most people. In fact, he transitioned from a pizza enthusiast who dragged his friends on pizza adventures to a nationally-known “pizza expert.” He runs multiple highly-rated tours of pizzerias in NYC, writes a column for a pizza trade magazine, holds a Guinness World Record for the largest collection of pizza boxes, and even wrote a book titled Viva La Pizza! The art…

POTW: April Snow Showers

Halley Choiniere

Sunrise on Brighton Beach, 2009, 2010.008.2; Jacob Mann photographs, 2010.008; Brooklyn Historical Society
The weather was so perfect two weekends ago. It was warm. I wore sandals. I bought some plants and planted them in pots on my roof. I was in the best mood, and the city seemed like the best place in the world to be – and then it snowed. My potted plants are dead. Suddenly, the city seems like a cold, harsh place. For me, the image above encapsulates all of my April-in-the-city emotions. If the weather is warm and…

Come see Doin' It In the Park

Thomas

Come to the Brooklyn Public Central Library on Thursday, April 24, 2014 to see Doin’ It In the Park! The movie will play at the Dweck Center (follow arrows to the basement level). Showtime is at 7pm. Directed by Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau, this independent documentary explores the history, culture, and social influence of New York City’s summer basketball scene. As we all know, pick-up baseball is a way of life in New York City – according to the filmmakers, there are 700+outdoor courts and an estimated 500,000 players. And despite the summer heat, there’s…

POTW: The Changing City

Halley Choiniere

I recently visited my brother in Paris, and in preparation for this trip, I went to see an exhibit of historical photographs at the Metropolitan Museum – Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris. Beginning in the mid-19th century, a city planner named Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann master-minded a program for the improvement and beautification of Paris, razing entire streets and neighborhoods in Paris with the same zeal that Robert Moses would adopt in New York City in the next century. The city of Paris hired photographer Charles Marville to chronicle the city’s transformation during this…

The Fight of the (Nineteenth) Century

John Zarrillo

Handwritten notation reads: "Take it for granted they will. We are going to aid police." Seaside Athletic Club boxing program, 1895. Brooklyn, N.Y., Department of Law, Corporation Counsel records, 2013.015; Brooklyn Historical Society
In the last decade of the 19th century boxing was one of the most popular sporting events in Brooklyn. Ironically, it was practically illegal in the State of the New York. Brooklynites, especially those who gravitated to the seedier sections of Coney Island, tended not to let little things…

Kingsborough Golden Anniversary

Thomas

Brooklynology is happy to present a guest blogger this week, historian John Manbeck. After 32 years teaching English at Kingsborough Community College and eight years as Brooklyn Borough Historian, Manbeck continued to write a column for The Brooklyn Daily Eagle for another eight years. He has authored/edited nine books on Brooklyn history and is now writing fiction. Back in 1967, I was looking for a job. I had just returned from a two year grant as a Fulbright professor at Helsinki University in Finland and applied for a professorial position at Kingsborough Community College in Manhattan…

The Eagle has Landed!

Thomas

Yes, the long wait is over!  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper is available in its entirety (or as near as we can hope to get to its entirety) as a free, searchable database online.  Those who have used our Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online database, which offered the Eagle from 1841 to 1902, will be pleased to learn that the second half of the Eagle, 1903 to 1955, is finally open for research online.  You can search the database, browse specific dates of the paper, print or save articles, and share them through the social media outlet of your choice through our new historic…

20 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Brooklyn

Thomas

We've become a monoculture of list readers. With the advent of Buzzfeed and the like, we've grown accustomed to sifting though these monotonous lists to identify if we saw that movie or had that toy as a child. Admit it, you totally read these articles. Did you see the one about the 58 worst things that happen on social media? Or the 19 questions people with moustaches are tired of hearing? And don't get me started on all the quizzes.  Recently, while scrolling through my newsfeed, I came across a Buzzfeed article about the 60 things you probably didn't know about New…

Map of the Month - April 2014

Lisa Miller

Map of the property of heirs of Jane Smith, deceased, situate[d] at the Narrows in the town of New Utrecht, [1858?]. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
This month’s map, Map of the property of heirs of Jane Smith, deceased, situate[d] at the Narrows in the town of New Utrecht, is taken from a collection of manuscript maps from the Teunis G. Bergen and Bergen family papers held by BHS. Teunis G. Bergen (1806-1881) was an eminent member of this eminent Brooklyn family. He served as Town Supervisor of New Utrecht…

POTW: Red Hook Library

Andy McCarthy

Brooklyn Public Library, Red Hook Branch, Richards Street and Visitation Place; circa 1915, v1973.6.210; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Red Hook branch of the Brooklyn Public Library was built in 1915 and designed in the “Mediterranean Revival Style,” which in the early 20th century commonly characterized architecture in the sun-bathed cities of Miami and Los Angeles.  In 1915, the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook was home to numerous immigrant communities, including first…

More Than Just a Name: Overton Tremper

Thomas

As an undergraduate studing history, I've enjoyed spending my past semester interning at the Brooklyn Collection. Because of my love for all things sports, I jumped at the opportunity to help create an exhibit focused on the history of sports in Brooklyn. I quickly realized that there's so much more to Brooklyn's sports history than the Brooklyn Dodgers! I sorted through hundreds of old photographs, newspaper clippings, and even yearbooks to create a diverse representation of sports in Brooklyn. Come check out the display in the Brooklyn Collection (on the 2nd floor balcony…

Brooklyn Connections Educators Take on ABQ for NCHE Conference

Thomas

Earlier this month, Brooklyn Connections educators – Christine, Kaitlin and Brendan – descended on Albuquerque, New Mexico for the annual National Council for History Education (NCHE) Conference. Christine Kaitlin Brendan Excitement over this conference was twofold; well maybe three if you count the added bonus of temporarily escaping winter’s reach for a few glorious days …   Santa Clara, NM … ok, twofold: 1) it offered the opportunity to replace our educator hats with those of students eager to soak up historical antidotes and best practices…

POTW: Portraits with Dogs

Halley Choiniere

[Woman with Dog], circa 1910, v1990.61.20; Victorina Hayes collection, ARC.037; Brooklyn Historical Society.[Child with Dog], circa 1870, v1992.17.34; Secor, Flint and Cousins Families collection, ARC.192; Brooklyn Historical Society.[Man and Dog], circa 1975, v2008.013.40; Lucille Fornasieri-Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society. 
Within the genre of portraiture there is a sub-genre of portraits of people posing with their dogs. The Brooklyn Historical Society happens to have an impressive body of images…

Brooklyn Bounce: book presentation and meeting with the author, Jake Appleman

Thomas

The book "Brooklyn Bounce: The Highs and Lows of Nets Basketball's Historic First Season in the Borough" documents the first year of the Brooklyn Nets. The arrival of the team and the rise of the Barclays Center was accompanied by much public discussion, heated at times. The sports writer Jake Appleman shadowed the team for the first year in Brooklyn and chronicled its many (sometimes unexpected) highs and lows. To prepare yourself for the conversation, please take a look at the interview with Jake Appleman. Join us this Wednesday evening, March 26, at 7:00p.m. in the Brooklyn…

Prospect Park, Two by Two - Part Two

Thomas

This is the second part of a two-part blog post on the Prospect Park Zoo, read the first part here. End radio silence. "The good ship West Point has been heard from. All fears that the prowling warships of the European combatants had intercepted it and carried off the animals, perhaps to provide amusement for the Kaiser's grandsons or the young Russian Grand Dukes, have been laid to rest" (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 7, 1914). A few days later the animals arrived safely but, on the day of the grand parade and exhibition, it rained. A lot. Commissioner Ingersoll postponed the opening…

POTW: Brooklyn Women

Halley Choiniere

[Rose: 82 Years Old], 1977, v1992.43.13; Marcia Bricker photograph collection, v1992.043; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week’s photo of the week is in honor of Women’s History Month (also known as March, if you are not in the loop). While a wonderful idea, when I sat down to write about women, I was at a loss as to where to begin. It suddenly seemed like a daunting, and potentially dangerous topic, guaranteed to offend or stereotype somebody. So, I did a search of our image collections to get some ideas, and to see what…

Brooklyn's Police Matrons

John Zarrillo

New York Police Department Police Matron Annie Boylan, 1909. 2008.33.4. Collection of the National Law Enforcement Museum, Washington, DC.
This is the sixth in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant. Of all the cases found in the records of the Corporation Counsel, the most common may be for unpaid salaries owed from the city. The majority of these claims…

Prospect Park, Two by Two - Part One

Thomas

I have always had a fondness for zoos. I used to work with a zoological park in Washington State and volunteered with one here in New York City. I love that even though we live in an urban jungle we can travel to a jungle in Asia or South America for the price of a subway ride (and general admission). Zoos were not always magical places. Many of the early menageries and zoos collected animals by trapping them in the wild and placing them in cramped cages that looked nothing like their native environment. Today, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the zoos and the aquarium here in…

POTW: The Rooftops of Brooklyn

Halley Choiniere

What do you see from your rooftop? Chances are, if you have lived in Brooklyn at any point in the last century, you have spent at least some time on the roof of your building. I have many fond memories of climbing through my window and scaling my fire escape to get to the sunlight and calm of my roof. The rooftops give you space to breathe, and at least the illusion of solitude. Most of the time I am completely alone – a rare and amazing feeling to have in the city – but I also sometimes see people on other rooftops sunbathing, or sitting with a friend, or barbequing, or doing yoga, or simply…

POTW: The Streets of Brooklyn Heights

Halley Choiniere

[Street Scene, Brookyn Heights, Brooklyn, N.Y.], circa 1890, v1974.29.6; Brooklyn street scenes glass plate negatives, v1974.029; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I was initially attracted to this photograph, taken somewhere in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights circa 1890, because it is aesthetically pleasing and because I have a soft spot for bowler hats. While I am not certain of the street – perhaps a reader will be able to provide a more exact location for this image – the neighborhood in the photograph seems similar to…

Map of the Month - March 2014

Lisa Miller

New York State Parks. Albany, N.Y. : New York State Council on Parks, ca. 1952. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
I selected this month’s map, New York State Parks, in a lull between February snowstorms. The illustrator, C. Kroetzer, was clearly counting on exciting viewers’ imaginations with tableaus of outdoor leisure: the map is strewn with pictures of people sunbathing, horseback riding, swinging golf clubs, picnicking, and fishing. (Yes, there are skiers and tobogganers as well, but let’s not linger on them…

Spring Teacher Professional Developments

Thomas

We here at the Brooklyn Collection are pleased to announce two FREE professional development opportunities for teachers in spring 2014.  The professional developments are open to all English Language Arts and Social Studies teachers who teach grades 4 - 12.  Brooklyn and the Civil Rights Movement on May 15, 2014, 9:00am-3:00pm with special guest speaker Dr. Brian Purnell.  Explore the Brooklyn Collection's original Civil Rights materials.  Learn about the efforts of Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which included protests, community clean-ups, marches,…

Brooklyn's Carnegie Libraries

Thomas

This blog post looks at Andrew Carnegie's library legacy in the microcosm of one borough, but those interested in a wider-angle view of the philanthropist and industrialist are encouraged to attend a lecture by Carnegie biographer David Nasaw in the Dweck Center at Brooklyn's Central Library this Sunday, March 2nd, at 1:00pm. RSVP for free tickets here: http://brooklynpubliclibrary.brownpapertickets.com/. An eager line outside the Brownsville Branch library, 1908. In the Brooklyn Collection we have a few boxes of photographs documenting that special, revered category of library --…

The Emancipation Proclamation: Copperheads Respond

Julie Golia

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. The American political landscape was marked by many different and complicated factions during the Civil War. One group, often dubbed "Copperheads," remain the most misunderstood. Copperheads were Unionists affiliated with the Democratic party who opposed the Civil War. For reasons including a fear that emancipated slaves entering the labor force would threaten the livelihoods of northern white workers,…

Science Fiction and Multiraciality: CBBG Event Recap

Nayantara Sen

Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations (CBBG), a project of Brooklyn Historical Society, is an oral history project and public programming series that examines the history and experiences of mixed-heritage people and families, cultural hybridity, race, ethnicity, and identity in the historically diverse borough of Brooklyn.       On December 14th, 2013, BHS’ Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations program hosted a fantastic, creative and well-received event titled Science Fiction and Multiraciality: From Octavia Butler to Harry Potter. This event allowed New Yorkers to critically engage with…

Coney Island Aflame

John Zarrillo

Coney Island's Biggest Fire Disaster, 1907, v1973.4.707; Postcard Collection, v1973.004; Brooklyn Historical Collection
This is the fifth in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant. One of the greatest threats to public safety in 19th century Brooklyn was fire.  The vast majority of buildings were wood framed, and very few had fire escapes.  Coney Island,…

Author Talk: "Come Out Swinging: the Changing World of Boxing in Gleason's Gym" with Lucia Trimbur -

Thomas

Please join us this Wednesday, February 26th, for an evening with Lucia Trimbur, author of Come Out Swinging: the changing world of boxing in Gleason's Gym.  Founded in the Bronx in 1937, Gleason's Gym moved to Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood in the 1980s and remains there to this day, even as redevelopment and an influx of wealth transformed the waterfront area.  A holdover from the "golden age" of boxing, Gleason's itself has transformed through the years; the changing demographic of its clientele reflects broader trends beyond the roped boundaries of the boxing ring. …

And the Medal Goes To...

Thomas

After watching the Winter Olympic games in Sochi for the last two weeks, I got to wondering, how many individuals from Brooklyn had participated in the winter spectacular?  I mean, let's face it: Kings County and Alpine skiing don't really go hand in hand.  Where would people practice?  I know, I know, there is Prospect Park, and I have seen people on cross-country skis there.  But one slide down Mt. Prospect and a mogul skier is headed straight for Eastern Parkway, or over Copley Plaza.  I suppose with all the snow and ice lately, officials could turn Flatbush Avenue…

POTW: Portrait of Mrs. Henry T. Fleitman

Halley Choiniere

[Mrs. Henry T. Fleitman], circa 1930; Portrait collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Sometimes a single image is all that you need to imagine the entire story of somebody’s life. That is how I felt when I happened upon this beautiful image of Mrs. Henry T. Fleitman while rifling through Brooklyn Historical Society’s portrait collection. Her face pointing away from everybody else in the photograph, and the contrast of her light clothing with the clothing of the people around her, give an impression of sadness and…

The Emancipation Proclamation: Black Soldiers Respond

Ariana Wiener

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. As I discussed a few weeks ago, the promotion of black military service was among the Emancipation Proclamation’s most controversial and significant provisions. Black men were eager to join the Union military from the start of the Civil War. Freedmen penned letters to President Lincoln and other officials calling for black recruitment as early as 1861. Rarely did officials respond to these poignant letters (…

Closing Reception for Artist-in-Residence Elizabeth Felicella, Wednesday, February 19th, 6:30pm

Thomas

Please join us this coming Wednesday, February 19th, at 6:30pm for a special closing reception.  We've had the deep pleasure of working with photographer Elizabeth Felicella during her residency at the Brooklyn Public Library and we invite the public to meet the artist and view some of the images she's captured in her months-long exploration of Brooklyn's Central Library building.  The Brooklyn Collection is located on the 2nd floor balcony level of the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza.  Wine and cheese will be served.

POTW: Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln

John Zarrillo

Abraham Lincoln statue at Abraham Lincoln High School, circa 1939, V1974.16.812; Edna Huntington papers and photographs, ARC.044; Brooklyn Historical Society
Today marks the 205th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.  When I think of Honest Abe and Brooklyn, I think of the Lincoln statue which currently resides in Prospect Park’s Concert Grove, near the newly renovated LeFrak Center ice skating rink.  Of course I should have realized that the Prospect Park Lincoln statue was already the subject of a Photo of the Week…

The Emancipation Proclamation - Abraham Lincoln Responds

Julie Golia

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. For 150 years, historians have debated Abraham Lincoln's motivations, feelings, and beliefs about slavery and emancipation. What motivated him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation? Did he free slaves in rebel states for political expediency, or for moral reasons? What did Lincoln think or say in the moments before he signed the document that declared "forever free" over 3,000,000 enslaved men, women, and…

A School Grows in Brooklyn

Sady Sullivan

Fifth Graders in a discussion with science teacher Syndra Mallery.
Brooklyn Historical Society's oral history collections contain wonderful childhood memories of street games like stoop ball and skully, and trips to Prospect Park and Coney Island. It's amazing the details that people remember from 60 to 80 years ago, such as the sound of a Dodger's game on the radio while the Myrtle Avenue Elevated rumbles nearby... To add to these fond reflections, BHS thought a collection of oral history interviews with kids today, who…

I'll See Your Polar Vortex and Raise You a Blizzard

Thomas

Over the past few weeks, it seems as though every other day a mess of snow, sleet, and rain has fallen on our fair city, only to become a sheet of treacherous ice in the days following. New Yorkers have been running to the local supermarkets to buy the necessities ('necessities' being an incredibly subjective term: milk and bottled water for one person might be chips and a bottle of wine for another) and stopping at the hardware store to purchase the last remaining bag of salt and a leftover garden trowel, the only shovel to be found in a twenty block radius.  Even though we've been…

POTW: Constructing the Brooklyn Sewers

Halley Choiniere

A selection of images from the Brooklyn sewers construction photograph collection, ARC.209; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society has multiple text-based collections that highlight the pressing need for a better sewer system in Brooklyn in the nineteenth century, and describe the construction of the Brooklyn sewers.In addition to the Records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Council (a collection that has not yet been processed, but that has its own blog series), there is also the Brooklyn Bureau of Sewers…

Map of the Month - February 2014

Lisa Miller

Hooker’s New Pocket Plan of the Village of Brooklyn. New York : William Hooker, 1827. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
For February’s map of the month, I have selected the 1827 of Hooker’s New Pocket Plan of the Village of Brooklyn. This map may look familiar to readers of the Brooklyn Historical Society blog, as an 1861 reprint of this map, published as Hooker’s Map of the Village of Brooklyn in the Year 1827, was featured in December 2012. Both maps depict in exquisite detail the layout of the intimate village…

Documenting Sandy: Photographer Highlight - Robin Michals

Julie May

Our Documenting Sandy exhibition is up in our 3rd floor gallery, featuring photographs by professionals and amateurs during the devastating aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. This is the third installment of our photographer highlight series. In it, we tell you more about the photographers who contributed to the exhibition. Robin Michals is a professional photographer who has been chronicling views of the de-industrialization of the waterfront in New York City.  For several years she has also been working on the series Castles Made of Sand that illustrates the locations around New York City that…

POTW: Vamping Horns

Andy McCarthy

Brooklyn firemen, ca.1870, v1989.27.50.10; Brooklyn Firefighting Collection, 1989.006; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The library reference desk often answers questions about Brooklyn firefighting history.  Last year, a researcher was interested in 1850s badge rolls for the old Eastern District, which was comprised of the consolidated areas of Williamsburgh and Bushwick. Firefighting was a volunteer service, and members of each Engine, Hook & Ladder, Hose, or Bucket Company was issued a badge number.  The badge rolls are large ledgers…

The Emancipation Proclamation: White Minnesotans Respond

Ariana Wiener

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. The Civil War obscures a concurrent war fought by the Union, also on American soil: the Dakota War of 1862. What sparked the violent outbreak between the Dakota (also known as the Eastern Sioux) and white Minnesotans? Increasing numbers of white settlers encroached on Dakota territories, especially after Minnesota gained statehood in 1859. Additionally, the Union’s failure to promptly submit the annuity…

Brooklyn Film Night -- Wednesday, January 29th, 7pm

Thomas

After a brief holiday hiatus, the Brooklyn Collection is happy to kick off another year of public programming next Wednesday, January 29th.  On this evening we will take an audiovisual tour through some previously unscreened gems from our 16mm film collection as well as introduce new content from a collection of Umatic videos created by Brooklyn Public Library staff in the 1980s.  All fans of vintage Brooklyn are welcome!  Come by at 6:30 to pick up free tickets and mingle during our wine and cheese reception.  Screening starts at 7:00pm. All programs are held in the…

POTW: Building the Manhattan Bridge

Halley Choiniere

[Manhattan Bridge Under Construction], circa 1905, v1988.41.6; Brooklyn sewers construction photograph collection, ARC.209; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Of the three bridges connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge certainly gets the most attention. The Brooklyn Bridge is iconic. It is the first bridge that springs to mind when you think of Brooklyn, and it is the bridge that you always stroll across with your friends when they visit the city.Brooklyn Historical Society has a number of collections related to…

The Emancipation Proclamation: A Kentucky Soldier Responds

Julie Golia

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. Most Americans think about the Civil War in terms of the Union north and the secessionist south. But perhaps no states played as decisive a role in the war as Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky, the "border states." These were slave states that fought for the Union. For strategic and political reasons, the loyalty of these states proved essential to a Union victory. Kentucky, with its abundant…

It Came From the Sewers

John Zarrillo

Brooklyn sewers construction, circa 1915. Arthur Weindorf glass plate negatives, V1974.24; Brooklyn Historical Society
This is the fourth in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant. One of the many modern amenities that we take for granted, along with paved roads, hot running water, and free public wi-fi, is the sewer system. In Brooklyn, the foundations of…

Documenting Sandy: Photographer Highlight - Nick Lakiotes

Julie May

Our Documenting Sandy exhibition is up in our 3rd floor gallery, featuring photographs by professionals and amateurs during the devastating aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.  This is the second installment of our photographer highlight series. In it, we tell you more about the photographers who contributed to the exhibition. Nick Lakiotes is a graphic designer who lives in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn with his wife, 6-year old daughter, and infant soon.  Nick’s story of his Hurricane Sandy experience is vivid, and scary.  Nick and his family didn’t think their residence would sustain much damage or…

POTW: Ansonia Clock Company

Julie May

Ansonia Clock Company, ca.1910, v1973.4.411; Postcard Collection, v1973.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week’s Photo of the Week is inspired by a researcher visit.  A Brooklyn resident and his parents stopped by the library with a story about their grandmother clock.  It lived in various homes throughout the United Kingdom before he brought this Ansonia Clock back to Park Slope where they thought it was manufactured and purchased.What we discovered was the Ansonia Clock Company originated in Ansonia, CT.  After a…

The Emancipation Proclamation: Junius C. Morel Responds

Julie Golia

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. This week, BHS opens a major long-term exhibition, "Brooklyn Abolitionists/In Pursuit of Freedom." The exhibition, part of a public history partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center and Irondale Ensemble Project, explores the unsung heroes of Brooklyn’s anti-slavery movement. Among those unsung heroes was a man named Junius C. Morel. Born in North Carolina, Morel lived and worked in Philadelphia before…

POTW: Pining for Warm Weather

Halley Choiniere

[Summer, Circa 1897, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y.], ca. 1897, v1973.4.1081; Postcard collection, v1973.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In the last Photo of the Week blog post, one of my colleagues wished for a “healthy, normal dumping of snow,” and she certainly got her wish! I visited Prospect Park last Friday afternoon and watched people sledding and enjoying the snow, but any delight I felt in the snowy landscape has given way to bitterness towards the bitter cold. I, personally, am ready for a summer picnic in…

The Emancipation Proclamation: Jefferson Davis Responds

Julie Golia

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. It should not surprise readers that the President of the Confederate States of America did not respond positively to the Emancipation Proclamation. In a long and florid speech to the Confederate Congress on January 13, 1863, President Jefferson Davis portrayed the proclamation as a crime against humanity that would be decried and reviled throughout history. “We may well leave it to the instincts of that…

A Brief History of a Blonde Bombshell

Thomas

While researching the Queen of Tots pageant at the Infants Home of Brooklyn, I stumbled upon a photo of Hollywood icon Carole Landis crowning one of the young queens.   Queen Crowns Queen, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1954. I could have Googled her and gotten an immediate summary of her life and work, but that's not how we roll at the Brooklyn Collection. I went downstairs into our archive to see if I could find a small envelope with her name on it amidst the myriad of file cabinets. Lo and behold, I am not the only person who has taken an interest in Ms. Landis. I found a whole mess…

Map of the Month - January 2014

Lisa Miller

Travellers Map of Long Island, New York : J.H. Colton, 1850. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
This month’s map selection is the Travellers Map of Long Island, published by J.H. Colton, New York in 1850. This is a little gem of a map, only 7 3/8 inches in tall and 20 inches long, but it is packed with fine detail. The map is drawn on a small scale (ca. 1:14,000), but how delicate the engraving is. The Omnigraph Machine produced steel plates, which allowed for sharper and harder lines, and created a plate that…

POTW: Happy New Year

Julie May

[German Evangelical Home.], 1925, v1974.1.184; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks , v1974.001; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Perhaps some of you are enjoying the quiet wee hours before the partiers shake themselves from heavy sleep.  As I write this, I’m thinking about how odd this holiday season has been in terms of weather.  The snow covering the street and piled up on the curb in this photograph makes me wish for a healthy, normal dumping of snow -- the kind that crunches into a tightly packed mass beneath my…

POTW: Merry Christmas

Andy McCarthy

[Xmas gift drive for children.] 1973, v1989.2.2.6; Hispanic Communities Documentation Project records and oral histories, ARC.032; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This photo was taken during a 1973 Christmas party at 22 Cambridge Place, a brownstone in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, and donated to BHS as part of a collection of photographs by Sarah Anesta Samuel, the woman standing on the very far left.Ms. Anesta Samuel was born in Panama and in the early 1950s settled in Brooklyn, where she founded Las Servidoras, later The Dedicators…

The Emancipation Proclamation: The New York Times and Martin Delany Respond

Ariana Wiener

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. The Emancipation Proclamation was considered the most radical of the Union’s war initiatives, not in the least because it publicized the legalization of black men’s military recruitment--publicized, not legalized. The Militia Act of 1862, issued weeks before Lincoln's September 1862 preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, first sanctioned black military service in the form of armed combat and manual labor.…

BHS December Staff Pick: Left Field Cards

Meredith Duncan

Name: Lindsay Palmer Vint Role at BHS: Retail Coordinator Pick of the month: ANYTHING by Left Field Cards! This week we started carrying a line of hip, playful baseball inspired cards and gifts by Greenpoint, BK designer Amelie Mancini. Each card is handcrafted using linoleum block printing and a traditional letterpress. Humorous, well-crafted, and beautiful colored, these unique cards make great gifts! They also have a unique story: Mancini is a French-born painter and printmaker who moved to New York in 2006. When she arrived in the States, she didn't know what a curveball was until a…

Stocking Stuffers from the BHS Museum Store!

Meredith Duncan

Set of 4 Seasons Tea Towels: $52
We've got your stocking stuffers: whimsical products from Brooklyn artist and illustrator, Claudia Pearson!  Celebrate Brooklyn culture with this unique line of tea towels, calendars, aprons and notecards that feature iconic images, locations, people and foods of Brooklyn.  The 2014 NYC Calendar illustrates springtime in the Botanic Gardens, summer BBQ’s by the Brooklyn Bridge, and even ice skating at the Rockefeller Center.  Our “Brooklyn Brownstone” and “Brooklyn Dogs” tea towels are…

Great Gift Ideas from the BHS Museum Store!

Meredith Duncan

Still looking for a unique holiday gift for HIM? We have the perfect gift.  Come by and shop our unique selection of products made by the Brooklyn Brewery! We carry The Beer Soap Shaving Kit, made with Chocolate Stout ($18), a Brooklyn Brewery Bar Mat to complete your home bar ($16),  and even a Beer Making Kit, the perfect gift for that Do-It-Yourself type of guy ($55). Need an environmentally friendly stocking stuffer? We even carry Brooklyn Brewery notebooks made with recycled packaging from your favorite beer. Carry your Brooklyn Brewery pride with you every day! Stop by our store this…

POTW: The Healthcare Dilemma

Halley Choiniere

[Waiting Room, Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital], ca. 1890, v1972.1.801; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
As the initial application deadline for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approaches, I would imagine that healthcare is on the minds of many. I recently spent a couple of hours online shopping for healthcare and filling out an application. The application process was slightly bothersome, and I experienced a high blood pressure moment when I first saw…

The Emancipation Proclamation: Frederick Douglass responds

Julie Golia

In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. A month after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass reflected on the moral impact of emancipation on all Americans. “We are all liberated by this proclamation. Everybody is liberated. The white man is liberated, the black man is liberated, the brave men now fighting the battles of their country against rebels and traitors are now liberated… I…

Toddlers in Tiaras of Yesteryear

Thomas

Brooklyn has crowned many a beauty queen in its day. The Queen of Beer? Yes. The most beautiful grandmother? Of course! It turns out Brooklyn was crowning beauties of all ages. The Infants Home of Brooklyn, originally located in a private home at 1356 56th Street which was later demolished to make room for a new, more permanent building, hosted an annual beauty pageant to crown the Queen of Tots. The Infants Home opened in 1919 as an emergency shelter for five children left homeless by a fire in Borough Park. It was specifically a home for Jewish children until a 1947 plea by the Welfare…

Williamsburg Cattle Rustlin'

John Zarrillo

[Jersey Bull, Flatbush], circa 1880. Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, V1974.7.128; Brooklyn Historical Society
This is the third in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant.  Brooklynites today seem to have a closer relationship to their food than ever before.  We’re all familiar with the green markets, organic wholesalers, farm-to-table eateries, and…

The Emancipation Proclamation: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle responds

Julie Golia

In conjunction with a current exhibition, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. Two days after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle took a dim view of Republican Abraham Lincoln’s leadership and of the impact that emancipation would have on the reunion of north and south. “The truth is, the proclamation tends only to embitter the strife, and to render all but impossible a restoration of the Union. The chances of Union were remote enough without this…

POTW: Repeal Day is Here!

Halley Choiniere

[Inebriate’s Home, Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn], May 24, 1894, v1973.5.2440; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
If you are wondering what to do this evening, you should plan to celebrate Repeal Day!  On December 5, 1933 Prohibition ended and the nation was given permission to legally distill, distribute, and consume alcohol. For a more detailed history, see the Photo of the Week blog posts from December 2010 and December 2012.The stately building pictured in May of 1894 is the…

The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond

Julie Golia

In October, BHS opened an exhibition featuring a rare edition of the Emancipation Proclamation. The document, which includes the signature of President Abraham Lincoln, has offered many visitors to our institution an opportunity to reflect on the remarkable events that took place in the United States during the 1860s. Lincoln did not sign the Emancipation Proclamation in a vacuum. Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs influenced the President's decision and responded to the proclamation with a range of emotions, from jubilation to outright horror.  BHS's exhibition captures the cacophony…

Map of the Month - December 2013

Lisa Miller

Map of property situated in the Village of Williamsburgh and the Town of Bushwick, compiled June 18th, 1842,
This month’s Map of the Month is a map accompanying an auction announcement for lots situated in the Village of Williamsburgh and the Town of Bushwick, as surveyed in 1842. It is a very good snapshot of how past and future existed side by side in the development of what would become Brooklyn. As can be seen immediately, the block and lot divisions of the future city—previewed in the standardized rectangular lots of…

POTW: Happy Thanksgiving

Andy McCarthy

[Thanksgiving dinner tables], ca. 1910, v1981.284.53; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, v1981.284; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The tables are set for the Mother's Club Thanksgiving luncheon in the banquet hall of Emmanuel House, a community church organization associated with the nearby Emmanuel Baptist Church. Soon the mothers of girls in the Young Ladies Club and boys on the bowling team will sit postured and bequipped over plates of turkey, gravy, stuffing, and of course the mashed potatoes...Located on old Steuben…

The Dreaded Banana Peel

John Zarrillo

Corporation Counsel's report regarding Robert Bell, 1894; Brooklyn, N.Y., Department of Law, Corporation Counsel records, 2013.015; Brooklyn Historical Society
This is the second in a series of posts on the records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, which are currently being processed with funding provided by a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant.  The records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Counsel, who was the head of the Law Department of the City of Brooklyn and the city’s chief…

Documenting Sandy: Photographer Highlight - Nathan Kensinger

Julie May

In case you missed it, our Documenting Sandy exhibition is up in our 3rd floor gallery, exhibiting photographs taken by professionals and amateurs in the devastating aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.  A couple times a month, we’re going to tell you more about the photographers who contributed to the exhibition, and what their experience was like as both an observer and a participant. Nathan Kensinger is a professional photographer and filmmaker who hails from San Francisco and now resides in Brooklyn.  I first saw some of Nathan’s work at a Brooklyn Public Library exhibition showing a side of…

Speakeasies Abound in Prohibition Era Brooklyn

Thomas

Prohibition has always held a certain level of fascination in my mind and, dare I say, I'm not the only one. Long has the era been immortalized by Hollywood through movies, TV shows and the fashion trends they inspire. However, living in the current day and age that we do one might find it difficult to navigate what's real from what's merely a romantic reinterpretation of a profound, if not completely befuddling, time in our nation's history.    Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 6, 1928. The Morgue hosts not one, but three drawers stuffed with newspaper clippings from the prohibition era…

That green branch cut down

Thomas

When the Brooklyn Daily Eagle shut its doors in 1955 the borough lost an important conduit for receiving news of the world and for investigating and editorializing on community developments. After the paper's short-lived revival finally sputtered out in June of 1963 -- just a few months before John F Kennedy was killed in Dallas -- Brooklynites had to turn to smaller neighborhood newspapers for reports on the assassination and to see their grief reflected back to them in stunned print encomiums for the recently dead president. In addition to the entirety of the Eagle, we also have…

Storewide Sale on November 30th!

Meredith Duncan

Exhibits are not the only curated space at Brooklyn Historical Society! Last month we unveiled our brand new store: a space dedicated to all things for and about the city’s most famous (and maybe even infamous) borough, Brooklyn! Explore our artfully chosen mix of uniquely Brooklyn-centric gifts, books, souvenirs, toys and artisan goods. You’ll find the serious, silly, irresistible, charming and of course, tasty, all brimming with Brooklyn history and character. This month we offer a brief introduction to some of the artists and designers. MEET OUR MAKERS: Brooklyn Owl business owner Annie…

Brooklyn's Plymouth Church in the Civil War Era - Wednesday Evening Author Talk

Thomas

Statue of Reverend Henry Ward Beecher with Mrs. Rose Ward in flowered hat (1927). Mrs. Ward's freedom had been purchased by the congregation of Plymouth Church during one of Beecher's sermons in 1860.    During the years leading up to the Civil War, Brooklyn had the distinction of being one of the strongest abolitionist cities in the nation.  And led by the fiery and passionate preacher Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Church became a central site in the abolitionist movement.  From electrifying sermons and fund-raising concerts, to harboring escaped slaves, Plymouth Church…

Map of the Month - November 2013

Lisa Miller

Bird's eye view of New York Harbor, 1907. Brooklyn Historical Society.
This month’s map of the month post is a sheet entitled “Bird’s Eye View of New York Harbor,” published by Geo. H. Walker of Boston in 1907. At first glance, it is a wonderful, sweeping view of a busy harbor as the eye follows the path of the ferries pouring from the mouth of the Hudson out into Upper New York Bay, through the Narrows past Coney Island to the Lower Bay. Beyond lies Sandy Hook and the Atlantic Ocean with tiny ships dotting the horizon on…

Researching Your Family Tree: Monthly Genealogy Workshop

Thomas

  When our doors swing open here at the Brooklyn Collection they are likely being pushed apart by the determined hands of a genealogist. Whether looking for the Williamsburg address of a great aunt or hunting down the high school yearbook photo of Dad, the Brooklyn Collection is where many an ancestor sleuth starts her journey. In order to better assist these researchers, and to introduce a whole new phalanx of patrons to the genealogy trade, we are teaming up with historian and genealogist Wilhelmena Kelly to offer monthly genealogy workshops in Central Library's ground floor…

POTW: It’s November!

Julie May

November, 1898, v1986.1.7; Dwight B. Demeritt, Jr. collection of 19th century photographs, v1986.001; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The subject of this week’s Photo of the Week  may be identifiable by some as Prospect Park.  For others who may not live in New York City, allow me to tell you that it’s getting cold out there -- especially cruising through the park on a bicycle.  I’ll just say it: it’s downright bitterly cold.  As much as I cherish the change of seasons, I think this photograph, entitled “November,” accurately…

POTW: An Old Saloon

Julie May

Old saloon remodeled, 1923, v1974.1.182; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, v1974.001; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I am returning to a more arbitrary choice for photo of the week.  This one I came across because it was taken in November.  It piqued my interest because it is a photograph that would interest many of our researchers.  Since the current renaissance of the cocktail started in the 2000s (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/fashion/17shake.html?_r=0) and NY State Law began to allow distilling in 2002 (…

Brooklyn's Ice Palace

Thomas

It's not often we take patrons to the "Morgue," but during our recent Educator Open House, we took a group of teachers down to the basement of the library to see the old clippings and photographs of the Brooklyn Eagle. Close-up of Celia Mallon and Connie Richichi working in file room or library at Brooklyn Eagle in Downtown Brooklyn. 1953. While we were down there, I pulled a folder to show the teachers some of the remarkable photographs we have. I pulled, "Klopfer, Sonya*Ice Skater," and as the teachers made comments about the photo, I was more interested in learning about…

A Conversation with Brooklyn Public Library's First Artist-in-Residence, Elizabeth Felicella -- Wedn

Thomas

Elizabeth Felicella will discuss her work as an architectural photographer with Brooklyn Collection archivists Ben Gocker and Ivy Marvel, with special attention to how it relates to her photographs of the library archive that are included in the current exhibition, Brooklyn Public Library: An Open Book. An archive is typically deemed a repository of the past, compiled for the sake of posterity, the future; this public conversation, which is grounded in the collaborative relationship between photographer and archivist that has developed during Felicella’s time as Artist-in-Residence…

Brooklyn Opens a Street (Through Your Backyard)

John Zarrillo

Etna St. opening document; Brooklyn, N.Y., Department of Law, Corporation Counsel records, 2013.015; Brooklyn Historical Society
A few years ago BHS was awarded a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Hidden Collections” grant to make hundreds of our maps, manuscripts, and photograph collections available to researchers.  Earlier this year we were once again awarded this grant to make even more of our historical materials accessible to our patrons.  But before I get into the details of one of our exciting new…

Map of the Month — October 2013

Lisa Miller

Map of the city of Brooklyn (as consolidated January 1st, 1855), incorporated as a village 1816, as a city 1834, popln. abt. 200,000, ca. 1855. Brooklyn Historical Society.
This month’s map is likely a printer’s proof of a Map of the City of Brooklyn, consolidated as of January 1st, 1855. It marks an important stage in the transformation of Brooklyn from rural village to the city comprising Kings County, for it shows the first expansion of the City that occurred when Brooklyn annexed the City of Williamsburgh and the Town…

High School Newspapers Make Headlines

Thomas

Some people would rather die than have their high school experiences splashed across the (blog) pages of one of the world's most widely read newspapers, but we imagine that Janet Yellen, who was recently nominated to head the Federal Reserve, has more important things on her mind.  The Brooklyn Collection, however, is not above basking for a moment in her reflected glory, as we've recently made news because we hold not just Ms. Yellen's Fort Hamilton High School yearbook, but also her high school newspaper, the Pilot, of which she was an editor.  These heretofore unregarded…

POTW: Food!

Julie May

Workers buying lunch from a food truck, ca.1965, v1988.37.39; Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard collection, ARC.023; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Anyone who has spent even a little bit of time in Brooklyn knows you can eat pretty well around here without much effort.  I saw this through fresh eyes while cycling around the borough with my brother this past weekend.  If we hadn’t eaten such a big brunch, he might have been able to succumb to the unbelievable smells emanating from the donut truck on Bergen Street.  Alas – and…

Open House and Tour of the Brooklyn Collection

Thomas

Every year the Archivists Round Table of Metrpolitan New York organizes a week of lectures, tours, workshops and open houses at cultural institutions around the city and calls it, fittingly, Archives Week.  The Brooklyn Collection will be participating in the festivities this year, with an open house and exhibit tour on Monday, October 7th, from 6 - 8pm.  The event will include an introduction to our collections and programs, including the school outreach initiative, Brooklyn Connections. Visitors will also tour the exhibition "Brooklyn Public Library: An Open Book", which is on…

Brooklyn Public Library: an Open Book

Thomas

As we've recorded in the webpages of this blog before, the Brooklyn Collection serves as the defacto institutional archive for the Brooklyn Public Library.  We keep the annual reports, the retired library cards, the book plates, the program flyers, and all the other flotsam and jetsam one would expect to be generated by the fifth-largest library system in the United States, serving a population of over 2.5 million Brooklynites.  It is not often that these materials see the light of day, so we are very pleased to announce a new building-wide exhibit at the Central Library…

POTW: Science stuff

Julie May

[Demonstrating a geiger counter.], ca. 1950, v1991.11.13.1; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Over the weekend, I went to the Maker Faire on the grounds of the New York Hall of Science in Corona, Queens.  I was overwhelmed by the many booths manned by techy scientists, but also pleasantly reminded of the experimenting and discovering I experienced in science classes in junior high and high school.  My discoveries are rarely scientific these days, yet the connections between the science…

POTW: Autumn Avenue

Julie May

[East side of Autumn Avenue.], 1963, v1974.4.2009; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
By now, it should come as no surprise that while it was in the balmy 90s last week, it has now dropped to the frigid 50s as we exit our apartments in the morning and barely into the mild 70s by midday.  As someone who is clearly affected by the change of seasons, I am therefore thinking about the coming of Autumn; my favorite season due to the rich colors and foods which it accompanies.When I went looking…

Fall Educator Programs

Thomas

We are pleased to announce two FREE educator programs for the fall.  The events are open to all teachers and educators from across the city and offer a unique opportunity to tour and explore the Brooklyn Collection.  Both events will take place in the Brooklyn Collection, 2nd Floor, Central Library. Please join us for our Open Educator House on October 2, 4pm-6pm.  Tour our facilities, including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle "morgue" and other restricted areas.  View thousands of primary sources that are available to you and your students.  Access our…

Brooklyn's Vitagraph Studios: an author talk with Trav S.D., Wednesday, September 25th, 7pm

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection will kick off its fall season of lectures with a look at Brooklyn's contribution to film history.  In the early years of cinema, Brooklyn (Midwood, to be specific) was one of America’s great film production centers thanks to the early establishment there of Vitagraph Studios by J. Stuart Blackton in 1907. Above, a 1913 image of a fashion shoot at Vitagraph Studios. Brooklyn writer Trav S.D. (Travis Stewart), author of the new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, will talk about the central role the studio played…

POTW: Sustained thoughts about swimming

Julie May

[Diving Lessons], ca. 1960, v1973.5.545; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I know I said the summer was over and Labor Day weekend was the last chance to enjoy the pleasures of summertime activities.  However, with news of Diana Nyad successfully swimming from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida, I feel a renewed inclination to dunk myself in the nearest body of water.  The gnarly details involving jellyfish stings,  swallowing salt water, and the shock of not using a shark…

The March

Ben

With the country's eyes turned toward the past today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington we thought it only appropriate to turn our own eyes to a few items from the Collection dealing with this historic event. Below you will see scans of an Organizing Manual, a Bus Captain's name tag, and pages from the Lincoln Memorial Program. All of these materials come from the Civil Rights in Brooklyn Collection donated by the recently departed, and sorely missed, Rioghan Kirchner. Because of people like her history was not only made, but also preserved for future…

Brooklyn Connections Continues to Connect Students to Local History

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection is pleased to announce that it has received funding to continue the Brooklyn Connections program.  Our generous funders, the David and Paula Weiner Memorial Grant, the Morris & Alma Schapiro Fund, and the Tiger Baron Foundation have ensured the program will go on!  The program will continue to be available at no cost to Brooklyn classrooms for the 2013-2014 school year.  We are proud to be in our seventh year of operation.  Thanks to our generous funders, Brooklyn Connections will be able to expand in several important ways: *Additional…

Celebrating the March on Washington from Brooklyn

Julie Golia

Next week, America celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  On August 28, 1963, between 200,000 and 300,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to rally for black civil and economic equality.  Present at the historic event were several Brooklynites who, as members of the Brooklyn branch of the Congress of Racial Equality (Brooklyn CORE), walked from the County of Kings to Washington, D.C.

Brooklyn CORE members departing for the March on Washington in August 1963. “Night photo of Brooklyn CORE…

Rioghan Kirchner

Thomas; Brooklynology Editorial Staff

We at the Brooklyn Collection are very sad to announce the passing of a great friend to the library, Rioghan Kirchner. Visitors to the collection may recall seeing Rioghan at her volunteer post in our reserve room, where she spent every Tuesday afternoon indexing the Black News newsletter (a resource that she donated) with her faithful dachsund Teddy waiting patiently at her feet. Her warmth and humor will be missed by all who knew her. In addition to her work with us in preserving the history of the civil rights movement in Brooklyn, Rioghan was herself an activist in that…

Brooklyn Schools: A Look at Ephemera and More

Thomas

At the Brooklyn Collection, we have a large assortment of Brooklyn school ephemera, newspaper clippings, photos, yearbooks and even school newspapers.  I've written a few entries about schools the Brooklyn Connections program has partnered with: Erasmus Hall (STAR Early College), MS 57 and PS 26 (Brooklyn Excelsior). Recently as I was doing some research for yet another Brooklyn Connections partner school, I came across this:   School Diary, Primary School 3, 1878.  The flip side of the Diary states, "New and improved series of school records adapted for public of private…

Shaking Up the History of Canarsie with the Young Curators of P.S. 276!

Adam Rubin

Gabriella Kula served as an Educator for the Young Curators program at P.S. 276 in the Spring of 2013.  As an educator for the Young Curators program, my goal was for the students of P.S. 276 to gain new insights into their local heritage and Canarsie’s past.  We began our time together by coming up with a list of questions, and we looked at artifacts, images, and primary sources to discover historical and cultural content that has left the students more connected and committed to their neighborhood than ever before.

The Young…

The Young Curators of P.S. 133 Uncover the History of Revolutionary Brooklyn

Adam Rubin

Kayla Goodson served as an Educator for the Young Curators program at P.S. 133 in the Spring of 2013.  She is a four-year veteran of the Brooklyn Historical Society's team of museum educators. This past spring, I had the pleasure to work with an incredible class of 4th and 5th graders from P.S. 133 for the “Young Curators” program in order to design a professional history exhibit in their school. Each week, we worked together as historians to piece together the events and experiences of the Revolutionary War in Brooklyn. While much of the class was acquainted with the American Revolution,…

The Young Curators at PS 32 Take a Walk Around the Block

Adam Rubin

Erin Boyle served as an Educator for the Young Curators program at P.S. 32 in the Spring of 2013. On a very cold afternoon all the way back in February, I led a joyful crew of 4th and 5th graders from PS 32 in Gowanus on a walk around the block. When we set off for the walk, The Young Curators had spent two class sessions scouring photocopies of an historic map from the BHS collection and had planned out a route—a simple square path that would take them from their school on Hoyt Street, across the Union Street Bridge and back across the Carroll Street Bridge to complete the square. Together…

POTW: Floyd Bennett Field

Julie May

Floyd Bennett Airport, Brooklyn, 1937, v1973.5.175; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Today being the last day of July, I am pondering the brevity of summer.  Though the extreme heat waves we experience make minutes seem like days, I still feel that the summer is just flying by.  Since moving to South Brooklyn, I habitually and addictively ride my bicycle to the Rockaway Beaches in Queens via a zigzaggy route that delivers me safely to the part of Flatbush Avenue south of…

Death in the Air

Thomas

Accurate or not, it's fair to say that in the popular imagination the Brooklyn Dodgers are remembered as a rag tag bunch of lovable lunks, both object of their zany fanbase's opprobrium as well as affection. What other sports team wore so sour an epithet (dem Bums!) as proudly as the Dodgers? Yet, for all of the organization's sweet buffoonishness, there have been times when an ill-starred pop-up has darkened the outfield. One such instance, and one which is perhaps little known to all but those who bleed blue, occurred in 1935 -- in a private plane, in the skies above Toronto.…

POTW: Cemeteries can be fun

Julie May

View from Altar of Liberty, Green-wood Cemetery, ca. 1915, v1973.5.1515; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Taken from a hill in Green-wood Cemetery, this photograph isn’t necessarily the quintessential photograph of a cemetery we are accustomed to seeing.  That may be because Green-wood Cemetery isn’t a typical cemetery.  Located in the present-day Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park, it was founded in 1838. One of the cemetery’s most famous sites, Battle Hill,  is the…

Map of the Month - July 2013

Elizabeth Call

"Map showing the Brooklyn Rapid Transit System," ca. 1918, NYC - [191--]. FL; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This month's Map of the Month features the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT) System circa 1918. The BRT was formed in 1896, dissolved in 1919, and reorganized as the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) in 1923.  However, that is about as much on train history that this piece will convey!  What I want to focus on is the publisher of this map, Ohman Map Company.  In an earlier MOTM we highlighted another obscure and…

Writings from Racial Realities

Sady Sullivan

Racial Realities writing workshop meeting in the Othmer Library at BHS; Photo by Willie Davis for BHS, 2013
BHS is pleased to announce the publishing of Writings from Racial Realities - seven personal stories written by students who participated in a workshop lead by Svetlana Kitto: This collection includes stories about Blackness; Americanness; international identities; sexism and dating; memories and memorials of war; going back home; 9/11; changing Brooklyn neighborhoods; Barack Obama; middle school dances and…

New Collection: The Linewaiters' Gazette

Thomas

It is always exciting to accession a big new collection, as it brings the promise of new researchers, new information, and because it's just fun to dig around in new stuff.  Our latest big new collection is the Linewaiters' Gazette, the official bi-weekly newspaper of what is likely the world's most famous grocery store, the Park Slope Food Coop.  Perhaps you've heard of it? The Park Slope Food Coop was established as a members-only, collectively-run buying club in 1973, housed in the Mongoose Community Center at 782 Union Street (where the Coop continues to operate). …

POTW: Summer Camp

Julie May

[Christmas Seals Camp of the Brooklyn Tuberculosis and Health Association], ca. 1925, v1973.5.494, v1973.5.497, v1973.5.499, v1973.5.500, v1973.5.504; Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service records ARC.129; Brooklyn Historical Society.
After spending four glorious days away from work in honor of our country’s Independence Day, I feel as though my independence has been shockingly cut off – especially by the air conditioning in the climate-controlled library, (we keep the temperature in the Othmer Library at a frosty 65 degrees…

July Program -- Mailer╙│ Brooklyn -- Wednesday, July 31, 2013 7:00pm

Thomas

Brooklyn Public Library and the Norman Mailer Center present a discussion of American writer Norman Mailer and his impact on the literary culture of Brooklyn. Having spent 40 years of his career living and writing in his Brooklyn Heights home, Mailer’s rich history of iconic literature contributed over 30 pieces of fiction, non-fiction, and plays to the American canon, including his second novel, Barbary Shore, which was written during this time in Brooklyn. Brooklyn author, Evan Hughes, Literary Brooklyn: The Writers of Brooklyn and the Story of American City Life, will lead this…

Teacher Workshop with Green-Wood Cemetery

Thomas

In early June, Brooklyn Connections had the pleasure of welcoming 24 educators from throughout the city for a teacher workshop on local history in partnership with Green-Wood Cemetery. Green-Wood Cemetery gates in an 1894 photograph taken by Edgar S. Thompson. The day started with an introduction to the Brooklyn Collection and the resources it can offer to teachers who are interested in creating lessons and units about Brooklyn. We developed a set of worksheets, lesson plans and examples of primary sources that teachers could use to help them devise a unit about any neighborhood they might…

Happy Fourth of July!

Jacob Nadal

Hooker, William. 1861. Hooker's map of the village of Brooklyn in the year 1827. Brooklyn Historical Society: B A-1827 (1861?).Fl
Americans celebrate July 4th as the day that the American colonies declared independence from the British. Here at BHS, we also celebrate July 4, 1827 as Emancipation Day — the day that slavery was finally abolished in New York State. Eight days later, on July 12, 1827, black Brooklynites took to the streets of Brooklyn village in a solemn procession to celebrate Emancipation Day. The map pictured…

Adieu!

Joy Holland

After twenty years under sail as a Brooklyn Public Library crew member, your blog editor will be jumping ship on Friday 28th June, leaving in her wake a trail of 92--count 'em--92 blog posts on everything from Pigtown to alcoholic turtles. With an eye to the future, yet, as befits a local history librarian, with feet firmly anchored in fine examples from the past, let me now look forward to life beyond the library. For an old special collections dame, collecting is going to be an attractive pastime.

…

Selections from the 16mm Film Collection -- Wednesday, June 26th, 7pm

Thomas

You are by now most likely aware of the phenomenon that is Hot Bagels, a lovely little vintage film that pays copious homage to the king of all round baked goods (in my opinion).  We've featured it on this blog before, and on the strength of its charm alone it has racked up more than 100,000 views on YouTube.  So perhaps Hot Bagels is old news, but, much like a day-old bagel itself, it is no less delicious for being a bit stale: What you may not know is that Hot Bagels is just one of 42 vintage Brooklyn films we've had transferred from the original 16mm film format to…

Graduations Galore

Thomas

The graduation ceremonies, at every step from kindergarten to elementary school, to middle school, to high school, to college and on--have come and gone.  Enshrined here in our collection are many celebratory moments from graduations past--so here are a few of them.  Probably never before have the public schools of Brooklyn made so fine a showing in their graduating classes as the records for the term just closed present~ Brooklyn Daily  Eagle, July 6, 1899             Kindergarten graduate of Public School 133 in 1953…

POTW: Happy Summer!

Julie May

Astroland Park with Happyface and bottom half of Wonder wheel (panoramic), 2006, 2008.035.1; Ron Meisel photographs, 2008.035; Brooklyn Historical Society.
After a couple weeks of blazing hot sun and melting humidity, it seems appropriate to highlight one of the many photographs of Coney Island in our holdings. Just as there are endless things to look at while strolling down the boardwalk or Surf Avenue, the photograph above provides endless surprises each time I look at it.  Taken as a panorama photograph (with a Hasselblad…

Let's Get Trivial! Part II

Thomas

In April we hosted a trivia night at one of our favorite (not to mention most convenient, as it is just steps from the Central Library) watering holes, Bar Sepia.  It was a memorable evening; along with the usual fine beers and smooth wines contestants tasted the salty brine of competition, the bitter tears of defeat, and, for the victors, the robust, thirst-slaking flavor of a free bar tab!  A good time was had by all who sought to disprove the notion that only the dead know Brooklyn.  No boxing allowed.  No children, either, as this will be at a bar…

A Reflection on Brooklyn Businesses

Elizabeth Call

Post written by Mark Daly, Reference Intern, May 2013 My reference internship at the Othmer Library has been a highlight of my library school education. I have enjoyed the opportunity to pick up new skills, meet researchers of all types, and -- not least -- learn more about my home borough.  One subject I wish I'd spent more time investigating is the history of commercial enterprise in Brooklyn. When I see stories in the news about the borough's funky tech start-ups and co-working spaces, I begin to wonder what the library's collections can tell us about the businesses of yesteryear. As part…

We Don't Need No Education

Thomas

Summer is just around the corner, with its balmy breezes and skin-licking sunshine, prompting among Brooklyn youth the understandable urge to break free from the confines of a drab schoolday and spend the afternoon lolling in the park, strolling down the avenue, or staging a massive protest at City Hall.  At least that was one way of reading the events of late April 1950, when thousands of students all over the city spilled out of their schools and into the streets, disrupting the school day, traffic, and life in the city in general.  An estimated 1,000…

Finding Answers to the Impossible at the Brooklyn Historical Society

Elizabeth Call

Post written by Jeff Edelstein, Reference Intern, May 2013 As my internship at the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library approaches its end, I have been looking over the dozens of queries that I have responded to since my arrival at the beginning of the academic school year in September, and I am struck by the number of times when at least some information to seemingly impossible questions was available using resources readily available in the library. Two such resources that I consulted frequently are the Brooklyn & Long Island Scrapbooks collection of newspaper clippings and the…

Ridgewhat?

Thomas

Early last year we received a generous donation of some 650 postcards depicting all manner of the visually mundane so typical of that epistolary medium: a statue of U.S. Grant attended by a shadow and a cloud; the empty interior of Johnny Johnston's steakhouse on Church Avenue; and this one from 1908 -- a few kids, black dog in tow, palling around on the street. There's nothing much remarkable about this postcard, at least from the standpoint of this non-deltiologist, but what did catch my eye is the location of this particular street scene: That's: Woodward Avenue West from Gates.…

Loosely collected thoughts: Digital Cultural Heritage and User Experience

Jacob Nadal

"You can't back up the Internet." That was from Aaron Straup Cope, and he was talking about digital preservation, but it could have been the subtitle for the whole day last Friday, at the Digital Cultural Heritage and User Experience symposium. You can't back up the internet: it is a forward moving thing, a live performance. This year is Brooklyn Historical Society's 150th anniversary, and it’s a point of pride that we could play a role as a host, stakeholder, and instigator in this symposium. Brooklyn Historical Society is an urban history center in a landmark building. It has made a…

Matthew Lewandowski: Design Drawings and Die-sets

Jacob Nadal

BHS actively collects documents, artworks, and artifacts that support our mission ad collection development goals. In librarian and museum parlance, we call this acquisition and accessioning. Accessioning has its etymological roots in Latin, as a concept in property law (think “accessory”, as in the property added to an estate) but for libraries, archives, and museums, it’s just as useful to think of accessioning as providing access, the act of making something usable by researchers. In the months ahead, we’ll be featuring a few of our recent acquisitions, and pulling back the curtain to give…

Shore Acres--inside a Shore Road Mansion

Thomas

A recent article on the discovery of a Paris apartment left untouched since the beginning of World War II reminded me of how rare and precious are our images of nineteenth- and early twentieth century interiors.  While our collection contains hundreds of photographs of exteriors of that period,  The Peet Residence and the Pope Mansion are two among only a handful of houses whose interiors are preserved for us today through the magic of photography.  So it was particularly delightful to come across an album containing exterior and interior shots of a grand house…

Capstones and Cornerstones

Jacob Nadal

It's quiet in the library for a few more minutes. The staff will start to arrive around 9, the first school tour will flow in around 10 am, soon enough the doors will open for researchers, and then at 5, we'll strike the set and prepare for tomorrow's symposium, "Digital Cultural Heritage and User Experience". There are all sorts of reasons to be excited for this event. It's a great lineup of our smartest friends, digging into the way we work now. There will be notes and remarks to follow on the website and live responses all day on Twitter and Facebook. The symposium marks the culmination of…

LICH: following the paper trail

Thomas

     The Long Island College Hospital is safe, for now.  Last week SUNY Downstate withdrew its plan to close  the historic beloved cash-strapped hospital. LICH will still need to find a suitable partner, but for now because of the alliance between the community and staff, LICH can continue serving the Red Hook, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights neighborhoods as it has since 1858.  Emerging from the Brooklyn German General Dispensary, LICH’s founders were the first to bring the concept of a teaching hospital to the U.S., training …

Map of the Month - May 2013

Elizabeth Call

The detail that I chose to be the focus of May's Map of the Month comes from "Map of New-York and Its Vicinity. Drawn by D.H. Burr for New York as it is in 1835" -- "Ft. Lafayette."

Map of New-York and its vicinity. D.H. Burr. ca. 1835. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
When I first started at BHS in 2006 I resided in the wonderful south Brooklyn neighborhood, Bay Ridge.  Naturally I looked up the early history of the area, and I learned that there used to be two forts, Fort Hamilton (which still exists) and Fort LaFayette (…

May Day vs. Loyalty Day

Thomas

May 1st is a day that means different things to different people.  For some, it is a day to celebrate the glory of spring with a dance around the maypole.  For many, it is known variously as International Workers' Day, Labour Day, or simply May Day -- a commemoration of the Haymarket Riot of 1886 and an acknowledgement of the strides made by the labor rights movement since then.  For a smaller subset, May 1st is Loyalty Day, a day to pledge allegiance to the flag and reassert one's "love and devotion to the nation."  It is of course no coincidence that the latter…

Listen!

Joy Holland

The Listening Project: Midwood is a collection of gripping oral history interviews collected by documentary film maker Dempsey Rice during a residency at the Council Center for Senior Citizens in Midwood. If you think of oral history as long-winded wallowing in nostalgia, think again--these interviews are riveting stories distilled from long lives and told with grace, humor and panache. There are so many wonderful interviews to choose from that I urge you to explore the site. Here to whet your appetite is Harriet Solomon recounting the story of how she almost died on…

The Merchant Marine, Sheepshead Bay, and Richard Avedon

Thomas

Just a year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Brooklyn saw the opening of the largest United States Maritime Service training station at Sheepshead Bay. Built for $8,500,000 on old beach, bath, and amusement grounds once owned by John P. Day,  the station was equipped to pump out 30,000 trained merchant seamen a year. At the opening ceremonies on December 12, 1942 more than 10,000 men, officers, and guests assembled to hear Telfair Knight, director of the Division of Training of the War Shipping Administration, read a laudatory message on behalf…

The History of Brooklyn's Waterfront with John Manbeck, Wednesday April 24th 7pm, Central Library's

Thomas

Please join us this coming Wednesday, April 24th, for our latest author talk with former borough historian John Manbeck.  He'll discuss the Brooklyn waterfront's rich history and how its use influenced the development of Brooklyn's industries and communities, from ship-building to ferries, factories, and beaches.  The city continues to look for new ways of utilizing the waterfront today with plans under way for new housing, parks, and business projects.  Manbeck has written several books on various aspects of Brooklyn history, many of which are available in the…

Emily Warren Roebling in the Press

Thomas

There is a tired cliche that "behind every great man is a great woman". This has always seemed to me to be a way to shoehorn women into the mostly-male narrative of history as we learn it. The wives of presidents and inventors are rarely given their own space in history, and are usually seen as appendages of the men they married. When researching prominent women in history, it is very likely that you will at first find more information about their husbands. The same is not true for Emily Warren Roebling. I was first drawn to her when researching news coverage of her husband's illness,…

Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 Championship Banner Displayed for 100th Anniversary of Ebbets Field at Barclays Center

Sara Casten

On April 9, 2013 the Brooklyn Nets home game vs. the Philadelphia 76ers began with a rare treat: a presentation of the one and only Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 Championship Banner. This special display of the banner was all part of the centennial celebration of Ebbets Field, which opened its doors one hundred years ago on this same date in 1913. The Banner itself has quite an interesting history! When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957 the banner went with the team. In 1959, during a press conference a group of New York journalists decided that the banner belonged in New York, and not out on…

Let's Get Trivial!

Thomas

Two trivia contestants battling for the crown of Brooklyn's Smartest Nerd   Very rarely here at the Brooklyn Collection are we able to combine three of our most indefatigable passions: showcasing our broad knowledge of Brooklyn's past; partnering with local businesses to bring fun and free events to the public; and enjoying a drink or two with friends. But now, thanks to a new partnership with Sepia, a local bar just steps from Central library's door, we can pursue all three passions simultaneously in the form of a... Trivia Night! So here's what you need to…

POTW: Two hunters in a field of haystacks

Julie May

[Two hunters in a field of haystacks] ca. 1900 v1985.4.1; William Koch glass plate negatives, William Koch, V1985.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I love the casual, kick-back feel of this photo.  I also like the old style of haystacks, and the style of these two hunters.  The William Koch glass plate negatives collection contains at least three other photographs of these two hunters {object id numbers v1985.4.17, v1985.4.28, and v1985.4.30) that show, among other things, their successful hunt expeditions.William “Billy”…

Map of the Month - April 2013

Elizabeth Call

Sometimes it is the small details that spark research missions for me; or at least this happened when I looked at this tiny map that is jam-packed with details.

The village of Brooklyn in 1816. Jeremiah Lott. ca. 1800s. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.
(Click on the image to see more detail) Focusing in on the lower-right hand side of the map, I searched to see if I could find more information on the distillery that caught my eye.  I grabbed the library's trusty reprint copy of Stiles' A History of the City of Brooklyn and found that the…

Secret and long suppressed records of the Froebel Society.

Thomas

This blog post comes with an audio accompaniment. Please put in your ear-buds or ensure that your speakers are turned on, click here, skip the obnoxious ad, and press start before reading on. All will become clear as we go on. Slowly but surely the manuscripts and archives housed in the Brooklyn Collection are rising out years of obscurity complete with finding aids and arranged into sparkling new acid-free folders. The records of the Froebel Society are the latest to be dusted off and brought into the light of day. It was in 1957 that the ageing members of the…

POTW: The Long Island Historical Society in 1964

Julie May

[Taken at LIHS December 1960.], 1960, v1974.31.230; Long Island Historical Society photographs, v1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Here is a peek at what the interior of the library looked like in 1960.  You might notice a linoleum-type floor, the interior filled with display cases and desks, and some unfortunate light bulbs.  Today, our library is a very different place.  Designated an interior landmark in 1991, the floor has been uncovered to reveal the original hard wood, the room has been fully renovated, exhibits…

Pinball Gets Blackballed

Ivy

Call it morbid fascination, call it a sadistic thrill, or call it plain old curiosity, but for better or worse our eyes are often drawn toward scenes of discord and mayhem like moths to a flame.  For evidence one need only note the traffic jams that build up around gory car accidents as passers-by slow down to gawk or the tabloid tales of misfortunes fallen on the otherwise rich and famous that fly off supermarket shelves.  I can only speak for myself here, but I will admit to taking some small pleasure from a moment of glorious, utter destruction.…

Map of the Month - March 2013

Elizabeth Call

This month's featured map was published by the German publishers Wagner & Debes circa 1900.  It likely reflects the high volume of German-Americans residing in Brooklyn at the time.  According to Montrose Morris of Brownstoner, by the end of the 19th century, German Americans were the most successful ethnic group in New York City.  In trying to date this particular map, we looked at the various clubs that are listed in the key at the bottom left, one being the Germania Club.  As Morris notes, the Germania Club was founded in 1859 and was originally located on Atlantic and Court Streets. …

POTW: Women’s Motor Corps in Flatbush

Julie May

The Women’s Motor Corps on a drill in Flatbush, 1918, v1973.6.701; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In honor of Women’s History Month, I thought I would recognize our local Brooklyn heroines with the above photograph.  It was only with the first World War that women became part of the war effort beyond domestic duties.  The Motor Corps was established by the National League of Women’s Services in conjunction with the Red Cross.  It was entirely voluntary and appealed to…

Mapping Brooklyn's Baseball Heritage

Thomas

For the past couple of days I've been laying the groundwork for a map of Brooklyn's baseball past. It's a daunting task, our borough being so rich in baseball lore, but with the help of many terrific books in our collection, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and our directories I've managed to come up with quite a few points of interest. Thanks to Google maps I've been able to overlay these historic baseball sites with the locations of our branch libraries, with the hope that the wandering baseball scholar will find herself -- if in need of reference materials or a restroom --…

Barclay's Center - Where Brooklyn At: BHS

Sara Casten

Brooklyn Connections Teacher Workshop

Thomas

On Monday, 3/11/13, Brooklyn Connections had the pleasure of welcoming 28 educators from throughout the City for a teacher workshop on the Civil Rights Movement in Brooklyn. The day started with a lecture from Dr. Brian Purnell, an Assistant Professor at Bowdoin College who has just published Fighting Jim Crow in the County of Kings, a book examining the impact of the Brooklyn Chapter of Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE). The Brooklyn Collection has been fortunate enough to have had Dr. Purnell come and speak at similar events several times before, and it is always a pleasure to hear him. As…

POTW: Ruby’s Bar

Julie May

[Pasqualle at Ruby's Bar watching the 1985 World Series], 1985, v1992.48.9; Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island, v1992.48; Brooklyn Historical Society.
A number of things in this photograph are compelling.  As a photographer, it’s the blinding light streaming in over Pasqualle’s head and the way it makes the shadows a contrasting comfort.  For the sports fans it must be the exciting play going on in the most important game of the season.  For mermaids, it’s a sober peek into the long-standing bar in Coney Island.Rubin…

11,713 Photos of the Week: Brooklyn Visual Heritage has Launched!

Leah

We are happy to announce the Brooklyn Visual Heritage (BVH) website, http://www.brooklynvisualheritage.org. The website was created through Project CHART, a 3-year collaborative project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) that began in 2010 between the Pratt School of Information and Library Science (Pratt-SILS), Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS), Brooklyn Museum (BM), and Brooklyn Public Library (BPL). Project CHART supports a diverse group of Pratt-SILS students who take series of courses focusing on digital libraries and work with the staff of these distinguished…

Brooklyn Visual Heritage

Thomas

Brooklyn Visual Heritage is here! A collaborative digitization project that aims to make historic images of Brooklyn more accessible, Brooklyn Visual Heritage was created as part of Project CHART, which you can read more about here.  Brooklyn Visual Heritage includes digital images from the archival collections of Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Museum.  While it does not include all of the digital images available at each insitution, it does bring together over 10,000 images of Brooklyn culture, landscape and history.  With free text…

POTW: Spring Training

Leah

Boys Club, ca. 1910, V1981.284.51; Emmanuel House lantern slides, V1981.284; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Here are a group of young boys from the Emmanuel House, circa 1910.  This image titled “Boys Club” comes from the Emmanuel House lantern slides collection. The Emmanuel House was located at 131 Steuben Street in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. As a civic center and place of outreach run by the Young Men's League of the Emmanuel Baptist Church, the Emmanuel House offered Sunday school, Kindergarten, and…

Nazism in 1930s Brooklyn

Joy Holland

We have grown accustomed--too accustomed perhaps--to thinking of Brooklyn as the borough that integrated baseball, a borough dominated politically by Democrats, in which liberal and left-wing politics historically have flourished. But a recent acquisition brought home the fact that other points of view--including some many of us would now find repugnant--have gained a foothold here in the not so distant past. The drumbeat of Fascism in the 1930s could be heard all over Europe. It should come as no surprise that Brooklyn in that era also had its share of Fascist sympathisers. On…

Faces on the Path with Photographer Jamel Shabazz, Wednesday, Feb. 27th, 7pm

Thomas

We are pleased to welcome one of our most popular speakers back to the Brooklyn Collection this Wednesday, February 27th, for the latest installment of our monthly lecture series.  Join photographer Jamel Shabazz as he talks about his experience coming of age in Brooklyn as a young photographer. Through his images he will share stories about his growth into manhood and his desire to document the lives of the people who impacted his life.  Shabazz's photography is currently on display throughout the Central Library building and in the Brooklyn Collection.  You can also see…

POTW: Old Woodpoint Road

Leah

Where the Old Woodpoint Boulevard stops, ca. 1905, V1981.15.115; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This photograph depicts the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn around 1905.  The photographer titled it “Where the Old Woodpoint Boulevard stops.” But in researching more, I realize it is actually Woodpoint Road!  The photographer, Dr. Ralph Irving Lloyd, mistakenly labeled it Boulevard, but in fact it has been referred to as “Old Woodpoint Road” or simply Woodpoint Road in several places (…

POTW: Who’s your Valentine?

Julie May

[Ann and Stan Moel, twin cantors], 1954, v1991.11.160.1; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In case you forgot, Valentine’s Day is once again upon us.  This week’s photograph is just your pleasant reminder to run out for the last box of chocolates or diamond delicacy because tomorrow might be as hectic as Tax Day, Black Friday, or Christmas Eve.  It’s also a reminder of this institution’s love for the photographs of Harry Kalmus, photographer of Jewish Flatbush in the 1950s.  Here is a…

New Digital Exhibits at the Brooklyn Collection

Thomas

I'm happy to announce a new addition to the Brooklyn Collection's roster of online exhibits -- the Generation Preservation Project. The project was created by Philip Bond in 2009 during his time at the Macon Library in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is also home to the African-American Heritage Center. Using that historic Carnegie library as a backdrop, Bond invited the neighborhood in to have "family" portraits taken. Participants were given a copy of their portrait and, with permission, the portraits were also donated to the Brooklyn Collection to serve as a lasting documentation of the…

Map of the Month - February 2013

Carolyn

This month's featured map shows Long Island ca. 1860s. It was "sold for" Charles Magnus, a New York City-based lithographer, publisher, mapmaker, bookseller, and stationer active from 1850-1899. The map illustrates Long Island's industrial and commercial development, from the railroad lines connecting towns to the water stations pumping fresh water into Brooklyn. Interestingly, the map provides quite a bit of detail about Brooklyn. If you look closely, you will see the following Brooklyn-based names: Bushwick, Williamsburg, Bedford, Gowanus, Flatbush, New Utrecht, Flatlands, Gravensend,…

Intro to Buildings Research Workshop, Feb. 20th, 7-9pm in the InfoCommons

Thomas

As you may have heard, the library has opened a beautiful new workspace and learning center in our Central location -- the Shelby White and Leon Levy InfoCommons.  The InfoCommons offers much-needed space for laptop users as well as computer workstations with specialized software like Photoshop and Dreamweaver.  More exciting to us is the Lab adjacent to the InfoCommons.  This classroom space comes equipped with laptops and A/V equipment, and affords us the new opportunity to lead workshops in topics relating to Brooklyn history. Our next workshop is coming soon! …

The Library Rap is Here

Thomas

Let's take a moment for ourselves, shall we, Brooklyn Public Library? Rather than blowing the dust off yet another Eagle story or manuscript collection -- holdings which, don't get me wrong, we are proud to preserve and promote here at the Brooklyn Collection -- let's navel gaze a bit to see what archival lint we've been storing up ourselves. So... to the morgue we go where, a few months ago, we found this. This thing here (never mind that this is a scan of the thing) is a 3/4" Umatic S video cassette, one of the earliest video cassette formats. Unfortunately for us, when we found it in the…

POTW: Self Portrait

Julie May

Untitled, January 11, 1899, 2010.023.30; 141 Quincy Street photograph album, 2010.023; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This charming photograph comes from a photo album discovered and donated to the Brooklyn Historical Society by the current owner of 141 Quincy Street.  The album contains interior photographs of the home, this young lady’s family members including a sister, both parents, and a baby, in addition to a parade and a few outings.  141 Quincy Street is located between Bedford and Franklin Avenues in the neighborhood…

Urban Exploration as a Tool for Teaching & Learning with Stephanie Krom

Emily Potter-Ndiaye

I'm pleased to introduce returning guest blogger, Stephanie Krom, who worked with BHS's education department as a graduate student intern in the fall of 2012.  In her post below, she describes her experience with two of BHS's urban exploration programs: One of the aspects of Museum Education that initially drove me to become a museum educator was the hands-on teaching and learning that takes place when kids engage with history through material culture. As a student, I find that I connect with history best when I feel physically close to it - when I am standing on the ground on which history…

POTW: Where is our snow?

Julie May

Henry Street & Love Lane, 1888, v1974.40.1.22; Brooklyn Academy of Photography Blizzard of 1888 photograph album, v1974.040; Brooklyn Historical Society.
While I am not hoping for a blizzard to hit Brooklyn, I am crossing my fingers for a little more snow than the dusting we received in the past week or so.  This photograph was taken in 1888 by an unidentified member of the Brooklyn Academy of Photography soon after the Great Blizzard of 1888.  The storm took place on March 12 and 13, affected a large part of the East…

Renovation Report - Behind the Scenes

Janice

Welcome to Renovation Report, the first installment in a monthly series of blog posts to provide progress reports on Brooklyn Historical Society’s (BHS) current renovation and to highlight the fascinating features of our landmark building. Designed by architect George Post and opened in 1881, Brooklyn Historical Society’s building was ahead of its time, and will be once again.

BHS trustees and staff view the ceiling restoration of the ground floor event space
BHS is midway through construction to renovate the first floor and…

The right to bare arms

Thomas

W hrd tht sm f y r hvng prblm wth r spllng f th wrd Bklyn n r nw lg. Lt m jst sy, chll! Pprntly y hv nvr trd t lrn Hbrw. If by chance you are thinking that the title above confirms your suspicion that some people--I might even say, some libraries--cannot be trusted to follow generally accepted rules of spelling--you would be wrong!  We have people here who are walking dictionaries, nay, ambulant lexicons! And we can run spellcheck! Nor, I might add, are are we foolish enough to embroil ourselves here in an argument over gun control.   No, our subject…

POTW: Volunteerism

Julie May

Reading aloud to the Tuesday group (blind women), ca. 1935, v1991.110.160; Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service records, ARC.129; Brooklyn Historical Society.
As we celebrate Martin Luther King Day and the President calls us to a National Day of Service (http://mlkday.gov/), I turned to the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service records to find a photo of Brooklyn volunteers, and remind us of the little things one can do for the benefit of the larger community. The Bureau of Community Service was an organization that led a…

Go, logo, go!

Thomas

If you've used the library website in the last few days, you may have noticed that Brooklyn Public Library sports a snazzy new logo and color scheme on its homepage. Gone is the sad little black box that for so long meekly defined our presence in the digital realm. There's something invigorating about the facelift that comes with rebranding -- it seems to signify a fresh start, a new direction. The library has gone through several such reincarnations over the years, and today's blog post concerns itself with the various iterations of the our logo, from classic to retro to ultramodern.…

Map of the Month - January 2013

Carolyn

This month's featured map shows a plan for the Parade Ground, laid out just south of Prospect Park.   Parade grounds served a significant purpose in the 19th century by providing large expanses of land where the military could conduct drills and exercises. Originally, the park's designers Frederick Law Olmsted  and Calvert Vaux proposed that the park's parade ground be located in East New York, but they later settled on an area south of the park. Completed in 1869, about two years after the park opened to the public, the Parade Ground served the military's needs while protecting the grasses…

POTW: Food Trucks

Leah

Workers Buying Lunch From a Food Truck, ca. 1965, v1988.37.39; The Anthony M. Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard collection, ARC.023; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Today gourmet food trucks can be found in every major U.S. city, but the initial concept of the food truck and “mobile kitchens” have been around since the 1860s. It came as a part of the westward migration which helped in defining the U.S. as a pioneering country. The first transportable meals came from the American West and chuck wagons. The invention of the chuck wagon…

Mail on the Mind

Thomas

Mail is on my mind. Perhaps it's because of the holiday season, or perhaps it is because every day I walk by this: This beautiful mail slot next to the Brooklyn Collection's offices always makes me wonder about the story of Brooklyn's mail service. Has sending and receiving mail changed through the years?  It is commonly said  that we live in a culture of instant gratification, from texting to emailing to tweeting; we want an answer and we want it now. We look fondly on the "olden days" when, we imagine, life was slower and more relaxed. But was it really? Perhaps a look…

POTW: Skiing in Prospect Park

Julie May

Brooklyn Photographs: Prospect Park, 1978, v1990.2.182; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, ARC. 120; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I am drawn to the photograph above for two reasons: I am writing from my perch in the gallery level of the Brooklyn Historical Society Othmer Library where I can see a section of Clinton Street from my window. Unfortunately, there is not a snowflake to be seen and for that, I am disappointed in December. However, I hear snow is coming to NYC over the weekend while friends in Vermont and family…

Happy New Year from the Brooklyn Collection

Thomas

Meet our new mascot CheeChee the Chihuahua, who charmed readers in the December 31, 1954 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. We added the noisemaker ourselves.

POTW: Holiday Carolers

Taina

Carolers at Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building, ca. 1956, V2006.001.1.129; Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings, ARC.116; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The children pictured above are carolers from PS 9, located in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, singing around a piano and office desk in the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building in 1956. Some of our staff members have recently joined the ranks of Christmas Carolers, singing at Albee Square in partnership with the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance…

Last Minute Holiday GIF!

Thomas

Like our holiday GIF? You can make your own! Just browse our catalog for the photograph of your choice, do some fancy editing, and then upload the files to a GIF-making website like makeagif.com or picasion.com We'd love to see what you come up with! Happy holidays from your friends at the Brooklyn Collection!

To Number a School

Thomas

The New York City school system has over 1,700 schools and while numbering them may seem simple, it is actually fraught with difficulties.   Because there are so very many schools, sometimes school numbers are doubled or even tripled.  The repeating numbers are partly due to the fact that before the Department of Education was consolidated, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan had their own school systems.  To alleviate the confusion after consolidation, letters which represented each borough were added to the end of all public school…

POTW: Fulton Ferry Landing

Julie May

Manhattan skyline as seen from Brooklyn Fulton Ferry landing area, ca. 1975, v1989.18.56; DUMBO, Brooklyn waterfront photographs and slides, Joseph Maraio, V1989.018; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week's post comes from our CHART intern, Twila Rios, who is currently digitizing and cataloging the DUMBO, Brooklyn waterfront photographs and slides by Joseph Maraio.What a difference a few decades make.  This is a picture of a new park deck circa 1975 in the Fulton Ferry area of DUMBO. The two people strolling on the deck are…

The hundred dollar handkerchief.

Thomas

Perhaps you are like me. As you approach the season of giving, the cold hard fact dawns that you have done nothing to prepare. No tree adorns your living room, no lights brighten your window, your child's only presents were sent by family members more thoughtful than you, and it is too late now to mix a Christmas cake with a sixpence in it for luck--even if you had a sixpence, which you don't.  So now that all is pretty much lost, why not procrastinate a few moments more--or, if you prefer, consider it a creative form of gift research, inspired by items available a century ago--by…

Progress on Documenting Sandy, from the Director of Library and Archives

Jacob Nadal

The history of Brooklyn contains many stories of resilience and reinvention and Hurricane Sandy adds another chapter to that account. Brooklyn has come out in force to help this recovery and Brooklyn Historical Society is committed to doing its part by making sure there is a thorough and publicly available collection of material that will document the preparations, response, and recovery efforts. Soon after Sandy made landfall, Brooklyn History began using email and social media to collect photographs. Our November Photo of the Week series featured “before and after” photo essays about areas…

On View Now: Jamel Shabazz

Thomas

  Last September it was our great pleasure to host Brooklyn-born photographer, Jamel Shabazz, at our monthly lecture series. He spoke at length about his personal history, his work, and the passions that drive him to document life, not only in Brooklyn, but all around the world. After his appearance here at the Brooklyn Collection we began working with Mr. Shabazz to bring his photographs into the Collection with the aim of preserving them for future generations while giving the Brooklynites of today a chance to access his tremendous archive. As part of our job to make Mr…

POTW: Happy Chanukkah Hanukkah Channuka?

Julie May

Grandmother at Hanukah Party in Brighton Beach, ca. 1980, v1992.43.29; Marcia Bricker photographs, v1992.43; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Happy Chanukkah* Brooklyn!  Wednesday, December 12 is the fourth day and the fifth night of Chanukkah.  So, gamble away your chocolate gelt over a crazy game of dreidl, catch a glimpse of the bike-drawn menorah in Williamsburg, or attend any number of menorah lightings around town, and definitely overdo it on the latkes – Chanukkah comes but 8 days a year!One more thing: call your Bubby and…

Map of the Month - December 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map is a reproduction of Hooker's Map of the Village of Brooklyn in the Year 1827. The reproduction was made in 1861 for Brooklyn reporter Henry McCloskey's Manual of the Corporation. Hooker's map is one of the earliest detailed maps of Brooklyn, showing wards, churches, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the marshlands of Gowanus, and even Andre Parmentier's Garden, one of Brooklyn's earliest botanical gardens.

Hooker's map of the village of Brooklyn in the year 1827. William Hooker. 1861. Brooklyn Historical Society…

POTW: Repeal Day Celebrations

Julie May

Charles Schindler standing behind his busy bar, ca. 1905, v1972.1.1064; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
For those of you who are unaware, today is Repeal Day!  It’s the anniversary of the day that the National Prohibition Act was repealed in 1933.  For 11 unfortunate years, the United States banned the production, sale, and transport of alcohol much to the delight of teetotalers across the country.  You can read more about the history of Prohibition in Brooklyn in my…

Out with the old, in with the... old?

Thomas

Note: This post is from 2012. Please use the current catalog on the Brooklyn Public Library website for the most up to date information.If you've visited our library catalog recently, you may have been surprised to see that a quiet revolution has taken place.  In place of the clunky old catalog homepage there is a slick new interface that more closely resembles an online shopping hub or social networking site than the physical card catalog of yore.  New features allow for more interactivity -- you can tag books with keywords and rate your favorites -- and a robust, behind-…

POTW: A Sandy Plumb

Julie May

Though I have lived in New York City for 12 years, it took me a while to realize that this city is not exclusively a dominant fortress of pavement and hi-rise buildings.  I knew as most others do about Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Staten Island – the biggies – and rightfully so.  But there are little swathes of land that a lot of people speed by on the way to JFK that have a long and often lovely history that get lost. Plumb Island, now known as Plumb Beach, is one such place.This past summer, I took a staycation in Brooklyn that included a bike ride to the beaches of Fort Tilden every other…

Teacher Professional Developments

Thomas

This winter, Brooklyn Connections is pleased to provide two FREE professional development workshops for NYC teachers and educators.  The workshops are open to all teachers if the five boroughs and offer a unique opportunity to tour and explore the Brooklyn Collection in a small group with our dedicated staff and special guest historians. ***************************************************** Photography and Archives: An Interdisciplinary Approach Thursday, December 13, 2012, 9:00am - 3:00pm Learn how to use photography and primary sources to uncover the history of Brooklyn.  Joined…

Author Talk: Henrik Krogius on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Wednesday November 28th, 6:30pm

Thomas

Please join us tomorrow night, Wednesday November 28th, for the latest installment of our lecture series.  Brooklyn Heights Press editor Henrik Krogius discusses his book The Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Krogius' latest book takes us on an intimate look at the history and beauty of the promenade and the role it played in the ambitions of Robert Moses.  A wine and cheese reception commences at 6:30pm, with the lecture starting at 7pm. Seating is limited to 40 people. Tickets will be given out 30 minutes before the lecture.  While you're enjoying refreshments, we welcome you to…

Handmade in Brooklyn

Thomas

Handwoven rugs in festive stripes, meticulously crafted straw brooms, and faux-rustic woven baskets attractively arranged in a narrow storefront under an ornate tin ceiling... the photo above looks like it could be a modern-day Instagram of any number of home decor boutiques or Brooklyn Flea stalls that have popped up in our borough's recent artisinal renaissance.  And it certainly does fit into that tradition, as the items were all made in Brooklyn by skilled craftsmen and -women.  But this photo, undated but most likely from the 1930s, shows the handiwork not of…

POTW: Sunset Park Pays it Forward

Julie May

While Hurricane Sandy’s gale forces downed trees and wreaked havoc on power and internet lines, the neighborhood did not see the extensive water damage that Red Hook, DUMBO, and the Rockaways did.

@udosero Photos were taken in the areas between 4th & 10th Ave and between 54th and 68th St. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=437824276279897
@udosero Photos were taken in the areas between 4th & 10th Ave and between 54th and 68th St. https://www.facebook.com/…

Stranger than Turkey

Thomas

It's part of my job to recommend books to patrons -- something on Native American walking trails in New York City? Try this; flora of Prospect Park? This should do it; a judo how-to by the president of Russia? No problem -- but today I'd like to stretch my advisory wings and offer some more timely recommendations: recipes from our collection that will be sure to spice up your Thanksgiving feast! Let's begin with the Victory Memorial Cookbook which, as you can see from the title page above, was published by the Women's Auxiliary of the Victory Memorial Hospital at 7th avenue and 92nd…

Teens Explore History & Innovation at the Navy Yard

Samantha Gibson

Once again, I'm pleased to introduce a guest post by Fall Education Intern, Stephanie Krom.  Stephanie is a student in the NYU Archives and Public History MA program.  This semester in the Education Department, Stephanie has worked with K-12 students on school tours here at BHS and she has helped facilitate our brand new after school program that debuted at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 this fall, "Teen Innovators."  The teen innovators will show off their work at the culminating event tonight at BLDG 92, so check out Stephanie's inside look at the work they have done along the way…

An all too familiar sight

Thomas

  This engraving from Harper's Weekly dated February 28, 1885, comes from our collection of 19th century engravings. These images form a vital link in the visual record of 19th century Brooklyn. You can see the full list of our prints here.  Also, did you know that finding aids to many of our collections are now online? Check them out here. The list is growing, so check back from time to time to see what's new.  

POTW: Red Hook beating Sandy back

Julie May

Well, Red Hook was slammed by Hurricane Sandy.  There are several photographs on our Storify page documenting the high water line that submerged many businesses and homes along the waterfront.

@ginjula This is the collapsing waterfront by the Barge Museum. #RedHook #BrooklynPhotos @brooklynhistory pic.twitter.com/13Q77pAN
 
@leahloscut Still pumping water from 543 union street, the third day pumping #gowanus #sandy #brooklynphotos twitgoo.com/68xwdd
As…

Documenting Sandy, From the Director of Library & Archives

Jacob Nadal

I moved back to Brooklyn in April to join the staff of the Brooklyn Historical Society as the Director of Library and Archives. Over the last few months, I have met many people with a stake in Brooklyn and the work that Brooklyn Historical Society does for the borough, supporters who have asked me a lot of insightful questions about our plans for the Othmer Library. In the last few weeks, the question of what we do as a library and archives has taken on an added urgency. One of the essential jobs of libraries, archives, and museums is to help communities remember, and disasters are important…

Making the Stars Shine

Thomas

Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Marlene Dietrich, Kim Novak and Judy Garland were stage and screen stars whose names evoke a glamour and mystique that has never been duplicated. Central to projecting that mega-watt star power through their clothing, was a young fashion designer from Brooklyn by the name of El Gee (or Elgee) Bove. Bove, who grew up on Kings Highway, began designing clothes at the tender age of 12. Five years later in 1951, while still a senior at Samuel Tilden High school, he was working as an usher at the famed R.K.O.…

POTW: Carroll Park after Hurricane Sandy

Julie May

Our public historian, Julie Golia, tweeted a downed tree just outside of Carroll Park caused by Hurricane Sandy.

@JulieThePH One of many old, large trees down near Carroll Park. @brooklynhistory #brooklynphotos #carrollgardens pic.twitter.com/ZdFKSTzn
As many of you can probably guess, Carroll Park is in Carroll Gardens and takes up the block between Smith and Court Streets and Carroll and President Streets.  NYC Parks Department identifies it as the 3rd oldest park in Brooklyn – it was established in the 1840s, around the…

POTW: It’s the Great Pumpkin!

Julie May

Two trick-or-treaters, ca. 1965, v1991.11.2.42; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Happy Halloween, Brooklyn!  Another great photograph from one of our favorites, Harry Kalmus.  This color slide is from his series of personal and family photographs and likely captures his children about to venture out in search of candy from the neighbors.  The photograph is also a charming reminder of simple, homemade costumes in a world where store-bought ones are increasingly the norm.   Anyway, be…

A Hen Goes to Brownsville

Thomas

In the early years of the 20th century, the building of the Williamsburgh Bridge encouraged garment workers and other Lower East Side residents to move to Williamsburg and Brownsville. In the interwar years, Brownsville, its population about 75% Jewish, was thrumming with cultural activity; not only theaters but newspapers, the labor movement, the Hebrew Educational Society, schools and synagogues all provided cultural enrichment in hard economic times.  For many of these Brownsville residents, Yiddish would have been the language spoken at home, a fact that is reflected in print…

POTW: One of the many photography studios in Brooklyn

Julie May

North side of DeKalb Avenue between Carlton Avenue and Adelphi Street, 1958, v1974.4.53; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.
While we have highlighted the photographs of John D. Morrell more than a couple times on this blog, I can’t help but do it once more.  Near and dear to my heart is the evidence of the photography industry and its professionals and amateurs throughout Brooklyn.Many may be aware that there were studios galore on Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn during the early years of…

POTW: Pug Love

Michael Satalof

Ernestine Aschner’s pug-dog “Toby”, ca. 1895, v1992.40.6; Fred Hoyt family research collection, ARC.043; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Though this cabinet card dates back to the late 19th century, the image possesses a timeless quirkiness. From the Fred Hoyt family research collection, the photograph shows the pet “pug-dog” of Ernestine Aschner (a German immigrant to Brooklyn and aunt of Fred Hoyt), poised in a decorative chair with a doll companion. Even today, pugs--and their owners--seem to have a certain precocious quality…

Clubbed to death

Thomas

  Club officers and rules, 1900-1901 As I leaf through the gilt-edged pages of the the twenty-pound tome, The Eagle and Brooklyn edited by Henry W.B. Howard in the 1890s, I am struck first by an almost total absence of images of women (whereas portraits of men--all white of course--abound.) And secondly, by the prominent role played by clubs in the social life of the community. The Hamilton, the Germania, the Brooklyn, the Union League, the Lincoln, the Oxford, the Montauk, the Carleton, the Eckford, the Midwood, the Laurence, the Constitution--for years these clubs were a…

New Exhibition at Brooklyn Collection: "Brooklyn, Then and Now" Photography Project

Thomas

This year we’ve had the pleasure of once again working with two high school interns through the Multicultural Internship Program (MIP). Emal and Erfana spent the months of July and August shadowing our reference staff, learning about our collections, and conducting their own research into Brooklyn history. As in the past two years, the culmination of the interns’ time with us is the Brooklyn, Then and Now photography project. In this endeavor, interns choose old images from our photograph collection and then visit those sites to take a contemporary snapshot of the same location.…

POTW: A Kennedy at the Navy Yard!

Leah

In  October of 1964 Robert F. Kennedy visited  Brooklyn Navy Yard. Earlier that year Kennedy had resigned from his position as U.S. Attorney General to pursue a seat in the Senate. During this time, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara proposed to cut $1 billion from the Navy yards system nationwide, stating before the Appropriations Committee that he was…

Brooklyn Navy Yard at War

Sady Sullivan

We are very pleased to see Brooklynites Carmela Zuza and Clarence Irving featured in this great video as part of New-York Historical Society's new exhibition WWII & NYC: You can see more from this exhibition on The New York Home Front here. And you can hear full interviews with Clarence Irving and Carmela Zuza and over forty other people who worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard at BHS in the Othmer Library: Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History, 2006 - 2011. Teachers: Bring your students to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG92 and check out the new Ingenious Inventions at the Brooklyn Navy Yard…

Map of the Month - October 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map shows the Gravesend and Coney Island areas in 1787. Hand-copied by Teunis G. Bergen in 1861 "from an old map" that was "probably used in a suit ... in relation to fishing rights," the map features property, names of landowners, and landscape features. A prolific map maker and surveyor, Teunis G. Bergen made hundreds of maps during his lifetime, many of which can be viewed in the BHS Map Collection and the Teunis G. Bergen and Bergen Family Collection.  Bergen was also an active historian and genealogist, and served as a U.S. Representative in Congress during the…

POTW: The Beeches in Bay Ridge

Susan Gamble

“The Beeches” 2nd Avenue and 72nd Street, Bay Ridge, ca. 1910, v1981.15.66; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, v1981.015; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week’s photo brings us once again to the work of Ralph Irving Lloyd. Lloyd’s lantern slides of Brooklyn give us a real sense of how  much the borough has changed in the last one hundred years. With a quick search using Google Maps Street View one can see that the Bay Ridge neighborhood of the photograph is no longer the palatial hideaway it once was.Today, Bay Ridge is a…

The Little Fugitives Part II

Thomas

When we last left our little 1950's runaways, Eugene Hart was returned happily to his Bushwick home with his Mama, never to roam so far, at least by accident, again. But, there are more tales of childhood derring-do, escape, and adventure that have woven their way through the streets of the city.                          I'll Take Manhattan                …

"Hey Down in Front"

Andy McCarthy

Last week they cut the ribbon on the new arena on Flatbush and Atlantic.  Phone booths around town have been promoting today's opening date.

I have tickets for the venue’s premiere college basketball two-header, featuring the Kentucky Wildcats v. the Maryland Terrapins. I’ll be rooting for Kentucky, which was also the home state of Brooklyn historian Clay Lancaster, who penned the first landmark designation report for the LPC, on Brooklyn Heights, one of…

Welcome to MS 57

Thomas

Now that the new school year has started, Brooklyn Connections is in full swing again.  To prepare for the scores of middle and high school students we work with, over the summer I went through some of the most interesting lessons I taught last year--including one that was particularly exciting to a group of middle schoolers in Bedford-Stuyvesant.  After a lesson using primary sources including a rendering of their school, students from Middle School 57 became engrossed in the history of the building.  Thankfully, I had come prepared, and…

My Brooklyn, documentary screening and talk with Director Kelly Anderson, Wednesday, Sept. 19th, 7pm

Thomas

Our monthly programming series is back!  Please join us this coming Wednesday, September 19th for our first event of the fall, a screening of the new documentary film directed by Kelly Anderson and produced by Allison Lirish Dean, "My Brooklyn".  MB trailer 2012 from Kelly Anderson on Vimeo. "My Brooklyn" is a documentary examining Director Kelly Anderson’s personal journey as a Brooklyn “gentrifier,” and her efforts to understand the forces reshaping her neighborhood along lines of race and class. At the heart of the film is the Fulton Mall and the…

All Wet

Thomas

From the windows in the Howard Golden Reserve Room here in the Brooklyn Collection you can see a wall. The wall, running behind the library from Flatbush Avenue to Eastern Parkway, features, along its topmost portion, a pattern of waves done in shallow relief.  As much as someone can wonder about a wall, I've wondered about this wall. Why a watery motif? Does it mean anything? Whether or not directly related to it, I had a hunch that this design had something to do with what once stood on the grounds now occupied by Mount Prospect Park: the Mount Prospect reservoir.   Here you…

Brooklynites at the 1948 National Republican Convention

Thomas

  While reviewing some photographs for the new Project CHART website I came across this photograph of Brooklynites at the Republican National Convention in 1948.  The most enduring image from this election shows Truman holding a newspaper that announces, erroneously, “Dewey Defeats Truman.” But I had never given much thought to events in the election prior to that misstep.  One of the things that interested me specifically about the picture below was that these people were clearly campaigning for Governor Dewey--the convention did not begin with a presumptive…

Map of the Month - September 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map is the oldest item in the BHS Map Collection, dating from approximately 1562. It was created by the Italian cartographer Girolaneo Ruscelli, based on an 1548 map by Giacomo Gastaldi. The map shows the eastern coast of the United States and Canada, from Florida to Labrador. Its main focus is what we know today as the Mid-Atlantic, New England, and Nova Scotia. "Angoulesme" is likely New York Harbor, "Flora" is likely the southern coast of Long Island, and "Brisa" is probably Block Island. It is interesting to note that the map does not show the coasts of either modern…

Expanded Hours

Thomas

Around here, we think there's nothing quite so discouraging as a pair of closed library doors.  Especially when, as in our case, those closed doors are glass, allowing you to see, from afar, all the wonderful books, maps, prints, and photographs that you can't get to!  We try to put as many of our materials as is possible online, so that you can look up your ancestors in city directories, search for old pictures of your neighborhood, or read through 19th century newspapers from the comfort of your home at all hours of the day.  Still, nothing beats a visit to…

Edwin Roberts: Photographer, Tennis Enthusiast, Man of Mystery

Thomas

By my latest reckoning, the Brooklyn Collection has so far uploaded more than 15,000 photograph records to our catalog. It's a sliver of the more than 200,000 images in our holdings, to be sure, but it is nonetheless no small feat, especially when you consider that the meticulous description of these images (in numerous MARC fields including title, author, date, physical description, summary, notes, subject headings, etc) is handled by just two catalogers, Ron and Stephen. Whenever I've prepared a new collection for the catalog, I hand it over to either of them and a few weeks later, like…

Make that a double...

Thomas

Some pictures cry out to be shared, and this is one of them: TRIPLE PLAYERS--The Yerves triplets, Tommy, Denny and Gerry, age 2 1/2...Brooklyn Eagle, Mar 9, 1953  The Yerves triplets were born in the Bronx, but we do notice a Dodgers banner on young Denny's chest (or is that Gerry, or Tommy?) The fact that they are all wearing pinstripes might indicate a subtle preference for  the Bronx Bombers. In any event, this photograph got me thinking about our Brooklyn multiples, of whom we see more and more--and more. Twins, triplets and the rare quadruplets have always drawn…

Philip's of Coney Island

Thomas

Ask any long-time resident of Coney Island about Philip's Candy Store and you're bound to hear pleasant stories of the shop with red and white awnings, that welcomed visitors to the park's amusements.  You'll also hear about the homemade salt water taffy, peanut brittle, cotton candy, and friendly staff welcoming customers year-round. Photo: Irving I. Herzberg, 1974  Philip's candy store started as a small stand on Coney Island's boardwalk in 1916, owned and operated by Philip Calamaris.  It remained a stand until 1930 when it reached its new home under the Stillwell…

Map of the Month - August 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map of Brooklyn's Prospect Park was first posted on our blog by Allison back in May 2010 - but it is so beautiful that we wanted to showcase it again. An 1871 design from Olmsted, Vaux & Co, Landscape Architects, the map was made while the park was both open and still under construction. Today the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library and Mount Prospect Park sit on what was the reservoir’s land. Also of interest is the land for sale around the reservoir -- part of which makes up today’s Brooklyn Botanic Garden.…

Brooklyn Hero : Burton Turkus and the Murder Inc. Trials by Guest Blogger Abby Rubin

Thomas

If you didn't know better, you might think that names like "Dimples" Wolinsky, "Bugsey" Goldstein, "Trigger Mike" Cupola or "Kid Twist" Reles belonged to characters in a gangster movie with all of the usual trappings--a crime syndicate, a murder ring, hard-faced New York gangsters and the city's D.A. going after them with a mission to convict. But before the movies dramatized the fight against organized crime, the prosecution of Murder Inc., one of Brooklyn's most famed crime syndicates in the late 1930's-40's,  provided a model for these epic legal battles.…

Brooklyn Olympians

Thomas

The Olympic Games start this weekend and Brooklynites will no doubt be rooting for hometown star Lia Neal, the most recent Brooklynite to join the elite list of Olympians.  17-year-old Neal is only the second African-American female swimmer from the United States to make Team USA.  Neal will swim the 4x100-meter freestyle competition on Saturday, July 28. With the announcement of Neal making the team, I wondered about other Brooklynites who were selected for the Olympic Games.  Brooklyn has had its share of Olympians including basketball stars Michael Jordan and …

A Freeman is Hard to Find

Thomas

  Who is your favorite Brooklyn architect of the past? Raymond Almirall? W.B. Tubby? Montrose Morris? The Parfitt Brothers? Frank Freeman? Or do you have simpler, ancient tastes, eschewing the renowned builders of yesterday for some long-gone anonymous practitioner of the Walloon vernacular, perhaps? If you were Norval White (and I presume you are not) -- architect, architectural historian, and co-author of the oft-consulted, exhaustively comprehensive, brick-thick AIA Guide to New York City -- you'd probably say Frank Freeman. White, after all, thought him to be Brooklyn's greatest…

The Little Fugitives Part I

Thomas

                           Running away from home at a young age is hardly ever a good thing, especially now, in a world in which evil waits on every corner to prey on the young and vulnerable.  An illusion it may be, but from our perspective the fifties seem a simpler, more innocent time, when wandering children for the most part made it back home again, safe and sound.  While looking through…

The Photography of Anders Goldfarb: A Form of Compassion

Joy Holland

Anders Goldfarb: Buildings as Buildings (cut 9) from pm on Vimeo.   Peter Mattei's short interview with our old friend Anders Goldfarb captures his wry humor and provides insight into the genesis of his stark worldview. The son of Holocaust survivors, Anders has spent most of his career photographing Brooklyn's neighborhoods, particularly Greenpoint, in black and white, with his Rolleiflex and Leica cameras. Some of his photographs can be seen here in Brooklyn Public Library's Brooklyn Collection. Look for more on Anders here soon!

The Laura C. Holloway Letters

Thomas

Laura Carter Holloway (also known as Laura Holloway Langford) has appeared before in the pages of Brooklynology, as a founder of the Seidl Society, provider of the Brighton Beach Concert series of the 1880s, and as a correspondent of Susan B. Anthony.  Now at last the full finding aid to the Laura C. Holloway Letters is available online. As well as the Susan B. Anthony letters, the collection contains an extensive file of letters relating to Holloway's book, The Ladies of the White House,  several letters from poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox, one from Harriet Beecher Stowe, and…

Map of the Month - July 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map is attributed to Matthaeus Seutter and Augustine Herrman and dates from approximately 1740. It is the 3rd state (or edition) of the map, and is part of the Jansson-Visscher series of maps (for comparison, look at Nicholas Visscher's Novi Belgii Novaeque Angliae nec non partis Virginiae tabula, which was featured on Map of the Month in March 2011). For more information on early maps of the eastern United States (including the Jansson-Visscher series), please see this description from Fordham University Libraries. The map includes a decorative cartouche, illustrations…

Sing (and dance) The Body Electric!

Thomas

Walt Whitman is quite literally one of Brooklyn's most celebrated (former) residents.  We continually name buildings to honor him, including a middle school, a library branch, and a housing project, along with commemorating him annually with marathon readings of his epic poem, Leaves of Grass.  Some suggest we take the adoration even further and rechristen our new NBA basketball team in homage to this pioneer of free verse.  That seems unlikely to happen, but just as unlikely, perhaps, was the tribute mounted by Brooklyn College…

There's No Place Like Home

Thomas

Brooklyn has a long and storied relationship with the homing pigeon. Who can forget Marlon Brando's portrayal of Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront"?   At once strong and nurturing, Terry mirrored the care and passion of hundreds of pigeon racers throughout the borough.     Homing pigeons are not to be confused with the gad-about slackers that have long held the top spot on the nuisance list of most New Yorkers.  These are avian athletes, bred for speed and endurance, who with their remarkable…

Kings Castle

Thomas

   Ocean Parkway. Photograph by Irving I.Herzberg, c.1970s. Brooklyn Public Library--Brooklyn Collection As a child I looked forward to weekends at my grandparents' house, not only for grandma's homemade lasagna, but also for the chance to watch people playing chess along Ocean Parkway's promenade,  across the street from their apartment.  As I watched, I often became engrossed in the games, paying close attention to the carefully formulated moves.  On the call of "Checkmate!" the players would usually smile and promptly start a new game. Brooklynites have…

Semipro

Thomas

The Zambonis and skates have all been packed away, basketballs are only around to get dribbled and dunked for another week or so, and the summer Olympics have yet to begin. With this doldrums in the sports calendar, what's a fan to do? Oh yeah...I almost forgot...our national pastime, baseball! And on the train this morning baseball seemed to be all around me. I had my head buried in The Natural, which I was just reading for the first time, and as Roy Hobbs was stuffing his gut with lobster salad, milk, corned beef, anchovies and hamburgers, and Judge Banner was putting his shady…

Whotypes? Albertypes!

Thomas

How many early photographic printing processes can you name? I'll bet Daguerreotypes would be on the list, maybe tintypes, and enthusiasts will name ambrotypes, collodion prints, albumen prints, cyanotypes. A small collection of ours consists of 21 Albertypes showing Brooklyn scenes from 1904. They seem to have been published in an album, from which the pages have now been detached, by A. Wittemann, Publisher of American Views, 250 Adams St, Brooklyn NY. What, you may ask, is an Albertype? According to Beaumont Newhall's History of Photography, it is a process that depends on bichromated…

Class of 2012

Thomas

Every May, we celebrate the accomplishments of Brooklyn Connections students with a Recognition Ceremony and Celebration in the Dweck Auditorium located in the Central Library, and this year was no different. We also hold on to some outstanding work and put it on display inside the Brooklyn Collection during the summer.  Although our beloved Program Coordinator, Leslie Shope has moved on, the exhibition is in place, ready for your viewing pleasure. This year's projects comprised the most eclectic topics and intricate displays to date. The projects ranged from exhibit…

Map of the Month - June 2012

Carolyn

Titled "Panorama of the Great Metropolis," this month's featured map actually consists of three maps and two bird's-eye views. The maps shows the city of New York, the city of Brooklyn, and the Hudson River, while the views and illustrations provide images of New York City, including tourist attractions such as Union Square and the Latting Conservatory. Although this piece isn't dated, it's likely that it was used to promote  the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, a World’s Fair held in New York City in 1853.…

The Peet Residence

Thomas

It is not often that one comes across a group of 19th century photographs that show both the exterior and the interior of a private residence.  The Pope Mansion photographs are one such collection, but charming as it may be to see the white peacock that once woke the residents of Bushwick with its screeches, those images lack one significant element--there are no pictures of the residents of the house. What would we not give to see the profligate George Pope and his sensible sister, who wished to live within her modest means? Now another small collection has crossed our…

Tragedy at Sea: The Sea Witch and Esso Brussels crash in 1973

Leah

While going through the Frank J. Trezza Seatrain Shipbuilding collection, I got intrigued by one of the images of a very damaged container ship named the Sea Witch.  This led me to find out more about the ship and what happened. On June 2, 1973, just after midnight, the SS C.V. Sea Witch, built by Bath Iron Works was leaving New York harbor when the ship lost steering control and collided into the fully loaded tanker SS Esso Brussels, right under the Verrazano Bridge.  The 31,000 barrels of crude oil released from three ruptured tanks ignited and the resulting fire engulfed both ships.  A…

Spread Love, It's the Brooklyn Way

Thomas

At the end of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, just before she clicks her heels three times, Dorothy takes a moment to say goodbye to those who helped her on her journey.  Each one played a unique role in her success, and she shares a brief moment with each.  But to the Scarecrow, whom she saves for last, she whispers just one short sentence, "I think I'll miss you most of all." Ok.... maybe it's a little harsh for the other characters.  But we all know that feeling when we're saying goodbye.  There are many, many things we miss when we leave a job, move away or…

Holidays, Observed and Otherwise

Thomas

I've recently had the great pleasure of preparing for cataloging our Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs documenting local celebrations and holidays.  With Memorial Day just around the corner, I'd like to share some images of Memorial Days past in Brooklyn.  Children barely contain their excitement as the 1941 Memorial Day Parade marches down Eastern Parkway. The holiday traces back to the years after the close of the Civil War.  An Eagle article from May 20, 1870 describes the meeting of a group of citizens who were then considering observing Decoration Day, a holiday created…

Byrd's Eye View

Thomas

Admiral Richard E. Byrd, October 17, 1932 Much has been written about Richard Evelyn Byrd, the scientist and explorer who led courageous voyages to Antarctica and daring flights over the Poles.  Although he was not a Brooklynite, he was no stranger to the borough and his travels were well documented in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle over the course of two decades. Floyd Bennett, 1928 Prior to his noteworthy southbound trips, Byrd was a Naval Aviator.  In 1926, he went on leave from the Navy, and with Brooklyn resident and aviator Floyd Bennett at his side, took off to attempt…

Ex Lab 2012: Get Ready to Say Cheese!

Samantha Gibson

I'm pleased to introduce a guest post by new-bloggers, David Estevez and Crystal Lau.  David and Crystal are both students at Brooklyn Technical High School and part of BHS's Exhibition Laboratory (or "Ex Lab") after-school museum studies program.  The Ex Lab students have been meeting twice a week since February to create the newest exhibit for Brooklyn Historical Society, Say Cheese! Portraits to Pics.  Here's a sneak peek from David and Crystal about what they've been working on and what you can expect to see in the exhibit (opening June 6th)!  Connect to the Ex Lab-ers on twitter @…

The Glory of Brooklyn's Gowanus

Thomas

Tomorrow evening Wednesday May 23rd, the Brooklyn Collection will host photographer Leslie-Arlette Boyce and numerous other artists as they talk about the  Gowanus Canal and the influence this historic waterway has on their work.  This event starts at 7:00, with a wine and cheese reception as well as distribution of tickets at 6:30. Seating is limited to 40.           

The Rainone Family Papers: Italian Americans in Brooklyn

Thomas

How do people decide what to keep for posterity? Why hang onto the 1932 guidelines for Civil Service exams, a letter from an Italian gentleman you never even met, a dinner invitation, a letter congratulating you on a job well done? These questions came to mind forcibly as I worked briefly this week with a small collection donated to us by the Archives at Queens Borough Public Library a couple of years ago.  This small collection of papers belonging to several members of the Rainone family, and their brother-in-law Ernest Morra, throws light on the immigrant journey of…

I Hear A Song Comin' On

Thomas

If you should ever decide to delve into the Brooklyn Sheet Music Collection,  you will be amazed at the variety of styles and genres that songwriters have used to celebrate the borough of Brooklyn. We've got Marches, Waltzes, Cake-walks, Rags and Two-Steps, celebrating everything from Coney Island to Bushwick High School; and quite possibly the first song ever written about a logjam of people crossing a bridge:The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Bridge Crush March.   The music in our collection dates from 1869 with Crossing on the Ferry all the way to 1987 with No Sleep…

Brooklyn's Artful Dodgers

Thomas

Brooklyn used to be lousy with dips. They were everywhere filching anything they could get their filthy paws on, these dips were. The Eagle ran one story back in the 1930s about a gang of dips posing as a bunch of grieving mourners so they could snatch some easy loot away from the unsuspecting weepy-eyed bereaved at a Jewish funeral. Dips were the lowest of the low. At least a hold-up goon had the decency to plug you with a gat. Not the dip. The dip was a sneak. The dip was a rat. But wait...what's a dip you might ask? Well -- you know -- a fobber, a jostler, a sometime lushworker…

Brooklyn Documentaries

Keara Duggan

To help celebrate their one year anniversary DocumentaryStorm, a New York City-based website for documentary lovers, hand picked and organized a selection of documentaries focusing on Brooklyn and its community. BHS is proud to share this selection of documentaries with you. The Brooklyn Bridge: This documentary gives a contemporary twist to the story of the legendary Brooklyn Bridge. Completed in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the entire world for the rest of the century. An excellent documentary about one of the wonders of modern architecture, the Brooklyn…

A Black Church in Williamsburgh

Joy Holland

Leslie's recent post on the Italian marionette theater reminds me that research can be rewarding--a useful reminder, because sometimes one's best efforts bring only moderate success, or worse. I discovered this anew while investigating the next stop on our continuing tour of the Center for Brooklyn History's manuscripts, the A.M.E. Zion Church Collection. This unassuming handful of mortgages and receipts, while superficially uninteresting, actually provides us with rare evidence of the activities of one of the earliest black churches in Williamsburgh. But finding further…

Map of the Month - May 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map is from the Gazzettiere Americano, an atlas published in Livorno, Italy in 1763. The map shows New York Harbor and surrounding areas, and includes a number of Brooklyn references. If you look closely, you will see the following names on the Brooklyn area of the map: Bushwick, Brockland, Redhook, Flatland, Flatbush, Gravesend, Utrecht, and Coney Isola. The small numbers on the map are called soundings and they represent water depths. Soundings were commonly featured on early nautical charts and maps and are still used today in navigation.…

The Mystery of Dennet Place in Carroll Gardens

Leah

When I first walked down Dennet Place to visit a friend, I immediately felt like I was in a magical place.  This hidden alley street in Carroll Gardens is a rare gem, made more distinguished by the basement level apartments with half-size doors which give it an almost fairy-tale like quality.   Lucky for me I managed to find and rent one of these basement apartments!  My friends jokingly call my place the "hobbit home."  After moving in I've become more and more interested in the history of the little street, and also perplexed by the name of the street itself. …

Searching for a lost art...

Thomas

Late last year, I had the pleasure of watching the documentary, Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy at BAM, which was shown as part of the "Puppets on Film" festival.  The film followed actor and Brooklynite John Turturro as he visited his ancestral homeland of Sicily to study the traditions of Sicilian puppetry with puppeteer Mimmo Cuticchio.  It was an interesting film that included great scenes of a master "puppa" at work. I found the art of Sicilian puppetry, or Opera dei Pupi, fascinating.  The art form, passed down from generation…

Baseball in Brooklyn: Author talk with Andrew Mele

Thomas

Andy Mele, author of The Boys of Brooklyn:The Parade Grounds-Brooklyn's Field of Dreams, and The Brooklyn Dodgers Reader will be with us tomorrow evening, Wednesday, April 25th at 6:30 p.m, for our monthly series. He'll talk about the many players - famous and not so famous that played at the Parade Grounds, and of course those Brooklyn Dodgers.  Please join us.  The Brooklyn Collection is on the 2nd floor mezzanine of Brooklyn Public Library's Central branch, at Grand Army Plaza.  A wine and cheese reception, as well as distribution of tickets is…

No Alligators or Ninja Turtles 'Round Here

Larry Weimer

I had the opportunity over the past months to help process a major collection at BHS: the records of the Brooklyn Bureau of Sewers (ARC.235). Sure, it does not sound especially appealing, but the collection has lots of useful documents, perhaps especially maps. The bulk of the collection consists of the documents compiled by the Bureau of Sewers principally for the purpose of establishing the tax levy to be assessed on those connecting to newly-laid sewer lines from the late 19th century to about 1960. So in addition to information about the expanding sewerage infrastructure in Brooklyn, the…

The Letters of James W. Vanderhoef

Thomas

Avid followers of the Brooklyn Collection's activities over the last several years --we know you are out there--may be familiar with a web site by the name of Brooklyn in the Civil War, funded by an LSTA grant and created by Brooklyn Public Library staff. This week I'd like to dust off one of the collections at the core of that site, the Letters of James W. Vanderhoef. A new finding aid for the letters, containing a few nuggets of information recently mined from online sources, can now be accessed via our web site, and the biographical note is reproduced for you here:   "Sources…

Not my family's story

Thomas

A beginner in genealogy, I recently set out to explore my family's history. Knowing they have lived in Brooklyn for generations, my first idea was to head downstairs to "the morgue," the dead files of the old Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper that closed its doors in 1955. (Library staff will do similar searches for anyone who wants them. Just call the Brooklyn Collection during our open hours 718 230 2762.) When the trip led me to a clipping titled "Dahl, Theodore--Dead," I thought I had found information on my great-grandfather, Theodore Dahl.  But it turned out instead to…

Digitized City Directories

Thomas

I'm writing today to introduce you to one of the underappreciated workhorses in our collection -- the city directories.  These are the ancestors of the big, cumbersome yellow page directories that land on your doorstep and often linger there, unused, until you finally carry them to the trash bin.  These days the print directory may seem an outdated relic of the past, what with geolocating, dynamic, user-specific directory services like Yelp and GoogleMaps just a few clicks or finger flicks away.  And who lists their telephone number in the white pages anymore?…

Who are you?

Thomas

Sometimes you just can't say no. Having recently suffered this kind of aphasia here at the Brooklyn Collection, we are now the custodians of a mysterious trove of photographs. Last month we received an email from a photo archivist at a well-known New York newspaper, with the subject "accession query." The email went on to describe a small collection of photos discovered in a Brighton Beach dumpster, just outside of the Trump Village apartments, by a filmmaker who teaches at a New England College. Knowing that Irving Herzberg lived in that same Trump…

CBBG Sneak Peek!

Sady Sullivan

Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations (CBBG) is BHS's oral history project and public programming series examining the history and experiences of mixed-heritage people and families, cultural hybridity, race, ethnicity, and identity. We are very excited to give you a sneak peek at the project's website-in-progress: cbbg.brooklynhistory.org  You can learn more about CBBG, upcoming Events, Project News, Who's Involved, and we're continually adding new oral histories you can Listen to via the online archive. Also check out the first digital exhibit on the site: Interracial Brooklyn by…

Brooklyn City Directories Online!

Thomas

We'll tell you all about it later, but for now, here are digitized directories for 1856-1967. Spread the word!

Map of the Month - March 2013

Carolyn

This month's featured map was published by the German publishers Wagner & Debes circa 1900.  It likely reflects the high volume of German-Americans residing in Brooklyn at the time.  According to Montrose Morris of Brownstoner, by the end of the 19th century, German Americans were the most successful ethnic group in New York City.  In trying to date this particular map, we looked at the various clubs that are listed in the key at the bottom left, one being the Germania Club.  As Morris notes, the Germania Club was founded in 1859 and was originally located on Atlantic and Court Streets. …

Brooklyn's Congressman for half a century, Emanuel Celler

Joy Holland

It has recently been my pleasure to arrange and describe a small collection of photographs and papers that belonged to Brooklyn's longtime congressman, Emanuel Celler. These items--principally photographs and laws written by Celler and framed along with the Presidential pen used to sign them--as far as we know came from his apartment just across the road from the library, on Prospect Park West. For those unfamiliar with Celler and his work, allow me to plagiarize from my own finding aid: Sumner Ave, Brooklyn "Emanuel Celler was born on May 6, 1888 in a frame house on Sumner Avenue…

Map of the Month - April 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map dates from 1828 and features the "country thirty miles round the city of New York," including all five boroughs as well as portions of New Jersey, Long Island, and Connecticut. Drawn by J.H. Eddy of New York, this map is a new edition with edits by William Hooker and E. Blunt. While the map shows traditional elements such as roads, topography, and names of landowners (including the Lefferts, Cortelyou, and Vanderveer families in Brooklyn), it also shows more unusual things like taverns. The map appears to have been dedicated to Dewitt Clinton, Governor of New York,…

All Fools' Day

Thomas

March has gone out more like a lamb than a lion--and another April Fool's Day has come and gone.  On no other day are you allowed to play pranks on your loved ones, friends and co-workers and have a built-in excuse. While the origins of the tradition are unclear, some have theorized that it is a remnant of the Roman festival of Hilaria or "Roman Laughing Day," which celebrates the resurrection of the god Attis.  Others have hypothesized that the holiday relates to the Holi, an old Hindu festival celebrated to welcome the new season.  However, the prank-…

Map of the Month - January 2013

Carolyn

This month's featured map shows a plan for the Parade Ground, laid out just south of Prospect Park. Parade grounds served a significant purpose in the 19th century by providing large expanses of land where the military could conduct drills and exercises. Originally, the park's designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux proposed that the park's parade ground be located in East New York, but they later settled on an area south of the park. Completed in 1869, about two years after the park opened to the public, the Parade Ground served the military's needs while protecting the grasses of…

Hair

Thomas

Brooklyn ladies have always taken pride in their hair. Whether they wear it             long and wavy             short and curly Brooklyn women take full advantage of all the hair options available. And now since the weather has turned relatively warm, we can look forward to not dealing with  the dreaded "hat hair" and can release our locks from their prisons of winter hats. Each new season of course brings with it a fresh …

She's Mad Real: Author Talk with Oneka LaBennett Wednesday, March 28th, 6:30pm

Thomas

  Please join us for our monthly author talk series this Wednesday, March 28th, at 6:30pm.  Our guest this month is Professor Oneka LaBennett, who, in her book She's Mad Real, discusses the ways in which teenage girls in Flatbush and Crown Heights successfully carve out and create their own individuality in a world dominated by popular culture. The Brooklyn Collection is on the 2nd floor mezzanine of Brooklyn Public Library's Central branch, at Grand Army Plaza.  A wine and cheese reception, as well as distribution of tickets is at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited…

A Vanished Vista: the Changing Landscape of Prospect Park's Vale of Cashmere

Thomas

Brooklynology is pleased to welcome guest blogger Garry R. Osgood. Garry is a software developer and web designer, who potters as a recreational historian of things Brooklyn. In March 1893, Frederick Law Olmsted's friend and colleague Daniel Burnham said of him, "An artist, he paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest covered hills; with mountain sides and ocean views." And what better example of this artistry could one find than the vista in the northern reaches of Prospect Park overlooking a glacial kettle, not more than a few minutes' walk from the…

From the children's book shelf

Thomas

Writers abound in Brooklyn: you trip over them in the park, bump into them in the street, stand beside them on the subway. And among them, writers and illustrators of children's books form an honorable sub set.  There are also those writers who draw on memories of Brooklyn but have abandoned their native borough for reasons I cannot fathom. This week the children's bookshelf of the Brooklyn Collection has received two new additions--which reminded me that there are some fine older titles resting on it too. When a harried parent with a toddler must finish an assignment,…

In Memory of Elsie Richardson

Sady Sullivan

Elsie Richardson and Shirley Chisholm
Elsie Richardson (1922-2012) was a Brooklyn leader, community organizer, and activist who lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She was co-founder of the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council and was essential in the creation of the first nonprofit community development corporation in the country, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration, which became a national model. You can learn more about the history and present of Restoration from this video. Brooklyn Historical Society interviewed Elsie…

Research, Writing, and Art: P.S. 312's Fourth Graders Curate a History of Bergen Beach

Samantha Gibson

Along with Educator Emily Gallagher, BHS Educator Alex Tronolone is working closely with a team of “young curators” at P.S. 312 to uncover the history of their Bergen Beach neighborhood this spring.  The work the students create will ultimately go into three professionally-designed museum panels to be displayed at the school.  BHS’s after-school program “Young Curators” is made possible by a Cultural After-School Adventures (CASA) grant from City Council Member Lewis Fidler.  I’m happy to introduce today’s guest blogger, Alex, and his insights on getting students engaged with history.…

Mapping Weeksville

Carolyn

Recently, BHS staff had the privilege of touring the historic Hunterfly Road Houses at the Weeksville Heritage Center (WHC) in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The houses are original structures dating from the 1840s to the 1880s, and offer an intimate look into the lives of African Americans in Brooklyn. Founded by James Weeks in 1838, Weeksville was a free African American community with an independent infrastructure, including schools, an orphanage, churches, and newspapers. Below are some images that I took during our visit to WHC:…

Return of a Native

Thomas

Before leaving us for Australia about a year and a half ago, one of our former Research Assistants, Tara Cuthbert, livened up the pages of this blog with charming posts about little-known Brooklynites: birthday dancers, parrot fanciers, a legendary cyclist, and a homemade submarine builder, to name just a few. Living in the morgue during her days here at the Brooklyn Collection, Tara was able to discover these and other stories from the Borough's past by combing through the extensive photo collection housed down there in row upon row of filing cabinets. And now, having put a copy online of…

New Online Home for Brooklyn Connections!

Thomas

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our brand new Brooklyn Connections website: Our new site is a hub of information where students and educators can learn more about our program and access the wealth of materials we have developed over the past five years.  On the Teacher Page, you will find information about our signature research project program; announcements for upcoming teacher workshops; and downloadable lesson plans, project outlines and more.   And for those schools interested in becoming a partner, our new online…

The Longest List

Thomas

Tommy Senko, 4, of 1622 New York Ave.,...in yesterday's summer heat and humidity, cooling off under a shower. June 26, 1949 It is well known among people who care about these things, that the Brooklyn Collection is Brooklyn's premier center for historic photographs of the borough, with over 20,000 of them digitized, catalogued and available for reproduction and use.  Less well known are our photographs of everywhere else--and everyone else--deposited in the library's basement in 1957 after the auction of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle's assets.  Al Schacht, "Clown…

Map of the Month - March 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map was created by the Ohman Map Co., a New York-based map company located at 258 Broadway,  in the early 1900s. One of only a handful of maps in the BHS Collection to show ethnic communities in Brooklyn, it features various groups, from Europeans to African Americans to people of mixed heritage. It is clear from this map that early 20th century Brooklyn was a diverse community of people, just as it is today.…

Manhunt!

Thomas

On the morning of January 3, 1947, groggy Brooklynites rolled out of bed, brewed their morning cup of coffee, and settled down at their kitchen tables to be greeted by the hard stares of nine men glaring out from above the masthead of the Brooklyn Eagle with this warning: "Keep your eyes peeled for these escaped felons.  Call the police immediately if you spot them."   The nine fugitives had broken out from Brooklyn's decrepit Raymond Street Jail the day before, January 2nd, and by the time the Eagle's morning edition came out the next day, news of their escape had…

"Young Curators" at P.S. 276 Dig Into Canarsie's History

Samantha Gibson

This spring, students from P.S. 276 are working with Educator Emily Gallagher to uncover the history of their neighborhood, Canarsie, through BHS’s after-school program “Young Curators.” This program is made possible by a Cultural After-School Adventures (CASA) grant from City Council Member Lewis Fidler.  I’m very pleased to introduce our guest blogger, Emily, and her experience working with her great team of “young curators.” 

BHS educator Emily Gallagher
As a Brooklyn Historical Society educator, I'm honored…

Greenpoint Iwo Jima

Thomas

Working six days a week for three years, seven men in Greenpoint constructed what was reportedly the world's largest bronze sculpture. And though it's difficult to determine what exactly qualifies a sculpture as being the largest of its kind -- is it how tall it is, how long, how wide, how heavy -- this sculpture was no doubt huge: 78 feet high and over 100 tons of huge. Or, in human terms, that's about as tall as 10 Shaquille O'Neals and about as heavy as 615 of those same Shaquille O'Neals. But this was not a work of art dedicated to that…

Brooklyn's secret garden?

Carolyn

I love learning about Brooklyn through the BHS Map Collection. Looking at early 19th century maps reveals a very different landscape from our modern Brooklyn, one filled with farms and streets that have long since disappeared. My favorite discovery from this period is Brooklyn's first botanic garden, which was located at the junction of the Jamaica and Flatbush Turnpikes,  in what is now the Fort Greene/Prospect Heights area. The garden was created by Andre Parmentier in 1825 and consisted of twenty-four acres, featuring fruit trees and bushes, flowers, and other plants. The following map…

Most Beautiful Grandmother

Thomas

  Nowadays you can enter a contest for practically anything--funniest comedian, best essay, most original song, and the ever popular eating competitions.  The Nathans Annual Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, in which participants race to consume more hotdogs than their competitors in ten minutes, is nearing its centennial--though not without controversy.    In 2010, former Nathan's champion Takeru Kobayashi was arrested on a number of charges including trespassing, for storming the stage and engaging in a tussle with police officers…

Beyond Weeksville: An Evening with Genealogist and Author Wilhelmina Kelly, Weds. February 29th, 6:

Thomas

Please join us on Wednesday, February 29th, for an evening with genealogist and author Wilhelmina Kelly, who will explore the early history of Black Brooklyn through its burial grounds, organizations, and neighborhoods.  Kelly will also show participants how to research their own New York roots using resources found at the library. The wine and cheese reception begins at 6:30. Seating is limited to 40 people, with tickets being given out at 6:30. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Emma Toedteberg Bookplate Collection, 1701-1982 (2012.004)

Andy McCarthy

To view the Emma Toedteberg Bookplate collection finding aid click here.  If you would like to view any materials from this collection please email library reference to schedule an appointment. "I'm stingy grown What's mine's my own" -motto, unknown bookplate. A bookplate is a label pasted to the inside cover of a book that indicates ownership in a personal or institutional library collection.…

Famous Brooklyn Alumni -- Revealed!

Ivy

Earlier this week I presented a Brooklyn Collection puzzler for our readers to solve.  I presented four blurred-out high school yearbook photographs of now-prominent former Brooklynites, along with a clue to their identity.  Hundreds, no, thousands, no, a small number of you responded with your guesses, and now is the moment of truth.  Prepare to be amazed! Alumna #1 Clue: This petite, plucky actress was a singer at Lafayette High School, and after graduating in 1964 went on to gain fame not for singing sweet melodies, but for cracking wise on a popular TV sitcom. Answer:…

Storytime

Thomas

As you mount the granite steps to enter the Central Library, your gaze may be drawn to two imposing columns sculpted by C. Paul Jennewein on each side of the doorway. Look up, and you will see above this entrance an enormous grille that rises some fifty feet, adorned with fifteen panels in black and gold, created by another sculptor, Thomas Hudson, depicting some of the great characters of American literature. The columns  and gilded bas-relief panels announce to the visitor that the library is a special…

Famous Brooklyn Alumni

Thomas

I've been working steadily for the past few weeks to prepare a guide to our Brooklyn yearbook collection, which, as faithful readers will recall, has been mentioned before in the pages of this blog.  Knowing that Brooklyn has been home to so many famous people throughout the years, I couldn't help but wonder if we were perhaps sitting on a goldmine of before-they-were-famous photographs of Brooklyn-bred geniuses.  Could Woody Allen's (that is, Allen Konigsberg's) senior picture from Midwood High be tucked away in our stacks?  How about candid shots of Neils Diamond and Sedaka…

Postscript: the Coney Island House Register

Thomas

For those of you fascinated by the idea that Poe, Melville and friends might have met at Coney Island, and for those certain they could not possibly have done so, here is a scan of the full page of the hotel register for Wednesday September 5th, 1849.

Map of the Month - February 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map was created by the prolific Brooklyn surveyor Teunis G. Bergen, who copied it from an "ancient map." According to Bergen, there was no date or surveyor's name on the "ancient map," but it was probably made before 1750. The map roughly covers modern-day Brooklyn Heights south to the Gowanus and shows buildings and names of landowners. Please note that any writing on the map with an asterisk was added by Bergen and not found on the original map. If you're interested in learning more about Bergen, the BHS archive has an amazing collection of his writings and maps.…

Happy Groundhog Day!

Thomas

Although it has been a bizarrely mild winter thus far, we would be remiss if we failed to seek the wisdom of nature's own weatherman, the groundhog.  The news is already out that Staten Island Chuck didn't see his shadow, which ensures we will glide comfortably into spring.  Unless you subscribe to the Punxsutawney Phil forecast, which claims we're in for six weeks of real winter weather, the likes of which we have yet to see this year.  No need to worry, groundhogs have disagreed before. Dissension among the rodent ranks, 1931. It seems that the general logic behind the…

The Coney Island House Register: a literary mystery

Thomas

The register of Coney Island's first hotel, Coney Island House, is a hefty volume. Its morocco leather trim, raised bands, gold-leaf detailing and marbled endpapers proclaim it as the record of an establishment that is unpretentious yet of solid worth. Coney Island House was built by the Gravesend and Coney Island Road and Bridge Company on land procured from Court Van Sicklen in the 1820s. Those who know the area today may find it hard to imagine the shore as it must have been then--a wild beach with a single road leading up to it, frequented…

POTW: Boys at Fort Hamilton

Keara Duggan

This photograph features boys from Emmanuel House on a visit to Fort Hamilton. Fort Hamilton is located in Bay Ridge, in the southwestern corner of Brooklyn. American soldiers had used the site as a garrison since the Revolutionary War, but the structure that stands today was not erected until the nineteenth century. The Army commenced building Fort Hamilton on June 11, 1825, completing it…

It's still full of cats in there.

Thomas

Details from a photograph of Red Hook's greased-up toughs battling cops with pop guns? Little Dodger fans unhappy to find a heap of Preacher Roe's stinky socks?  A dare-devil pilot heading towards his experimental plane at Floyd Bennet Field? Or none of those things? Well, if you said none of those things you'd be right. All of these details come from the same photo, and one which, when I happened upon it, struck me as deeply mysterious. The last detail, below, which occasioned the convergence of all these Brooklynites doesn't help to clear up the riddle either,…

The New Brooklyn Cookbook: Author Talk with Melissa Vaughan and Michael Harlan Turkell, Wednesday, J

Thomas

Please join us next Wednesday, January 25th, for this latest (and most certainly delicious) installment of our monthly lecture talk series.  Author Melissa Vaughan and photographer Michael Harlan Turkell take you on an exciting culinary tour of some of Brooklyn’s most vibrant restaurants, by way of their celebrated collaboration, The New Brooklyn Cookbook. They’ll introduce you to the restaurants, recipes, and entrepreneurs that make Brooklyn dining fit for a King. As an additional treat for this food-centric event, we are happy to have the support of several local…

The Changing Shape of Coney Island

Carolyn

Even with the best of technology and intentions, early mapmakers didn't always get it right. Browsing through the map collection a few weeks ago, I noticed that the shape of one of Brooklyn's most iconic features, Coney Island, appears drastically different from one map to another.  While it's easy to think of maps as authoritative, scientific representations of geographic space, looking at these helps me to remember that maps are also interpretative. As such, they are affected by the historical context in which they were created and may reflect biases or contain inaccuracies. Either that, or…

POTW: Furman Street

Julie May

From the desk of Julie May, Photo Archivist: The first noticeable and great thing about this photograph is the cars, I think. While the new Fiat is sweetly round and compact, I personally don’t think it compares to the curvy lines of the cars above. I imagine they were pretty utilitarian, but I find them romantically stylish. This picture depicts Furman Street – a Furman Street that is…

The Flying Dutchman

Thomas

When I learned the Brooklyn Connections program had partnered with the Erasmus Campus, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work in the historic Flatbush institution that boasts an impressive list of alumni, including Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Joseph Barbera (of Hannah-Barbera), chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer, actress Mae West--just to name a few. On a personal note, it is the school my father attended  from 1971 to 1975. Erasmus Hall exterior. Photo by Irving Herzberg, 1957 From outside, the building on Flatbush Avenue resembles a medieval college building in…

POTW: Horse-drawn Carriage

Carolina Garcia

From the desk of Carolina Garcia, project intern: When I first started working on digitizing the Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection of lantern slides, one of the things I was most amused by was the fact that the labels on the slides were stamped “A.V. Martense, Amateur”. Martense hailed from one of Brooklyn’s oldest and…

Subway Art

Thomas

There are transit buffs and then there are transit buffs...and then there is Philip Ashforth Coppola. Coppola's beautifully illustrated and obsessively compiled multi-volume masterpiece, Silver Connections: A Fresh Perspective on the New York Area Subway Systems, is probably my favorite set of books in our collection. And for anyone interested in the history and aesthetics of our city's transit system, they are essential reading, covering as they do the design and artwork of numerous city subway stations. There really are no other books like these.  Cover of Volume 1 Cover of Volume 2…

Map of the Month - January 2012

Carolyn

This month's featured map dates from approximately 1776 and shows the routes of American and British troops throughout the New York area before, during, and after the "Engagement on the Heights" of August 27th, 1776. Known alternately as the Battle of Long Island, the Battle of Brooklyn, and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, this event was a significant moment in the Revolutionary War. Some historical sites relevant to the battle can still be visited today, including Battle Pass in Prospect Park, the Prison Ships Martyrs Monument, and the Old Stone House. Enjoy!…

Birth Records for the Enslaved: 1799-1801

June

To find the birth records for Kings County during the 19th century, we usually refer people to the Municipal Archives.  There you will find the names of people born in Brooklyn from 1866 to 1909.  But here we are fortunate to have some earlier records as well.  Donated by St. Francis College some years ago, these microfilmed records span the years 1799 - 1801 and they chronicle births in Flatbush, which at the time was its own municipality.  The records are written in meticulous, precise calligraphic handwriting.…

Happy New Year!

Leah

As the year comes to an end the staff at Brooklyn Historical Society would like to wish you a very Happy New Year!  In honor of New Year’s celebrations this weekend, here is a sample of festive images from Brooklyn’s past.

…

New Year's Resolution: Take the Plunge

Thomas

Every New Year's Day morning, when most people are nursing hangovers (or still imbibing the drink that will ensure a hangover, later) dozens upon dozens of hardy souls converge on Coney Island to observe a ritual more than one hundred years in the making -- the annual Coney Island Polar Bears' New Year's Day swim.  As Polar Bear Club members will attest, there's nothing like a dip in frigid Atlantic waters on a cold winter's day to get the blood pumping, and as I can personally attest, there's no better way to kick off a new year than an invigorating brush with hypothermia.  …

Three Brooklyn Memoirs

Thomas

The sub-genre of the Brooklyn memoir--often inexpensively self-published in paperback, with little editing--can be a valuable source of information on folk ways, street games and customs, while at the same time fleshing out the bare bones of the borough's history with narrative life. Titles on our shelves that dip into memories of childhood and youth include Michael Gordon's Brooklyn Beginnings. A Geriatrician's Odyssey; Gerald Chatanow and Bernard Schwartz's Another Time Another Place; Mike Getz's Brooklyn Boy: A Memoir; and Estelle Breines Brooklyn Roots. A tale of pickles and egg…

You better watch out, you better not cry...

Thomas

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  And apparently he's been to Brooklyn on many occasions.  Early evidence of Santa's presence in Brooklyn can be seen in this 1878 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  That year, Santa and his reindeer set up his HEADQUARTERS at Rogers, Peet & Co on Fulton Street.  Although he was probably quite busy getting ready for his big night, the advertisement goes on to point out that all children were welcome to come visit him. Santa seems to have had similar relationships with several department stores over the years.  In…

Can you solve the map mystery?

Carolyn

When I catalog historical maps, I always try to figure out the modern geographic area that they cover, ideally down to the neighborhood level. Usually, I can find the answer, but the following map has me stumped. It likely covers some part of Brooklyn, but that's about as much as I can figure out. So I'm sending this out to all you map sleuths with the hopes that you can solve the mystery. Thanks for your help!

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And some detail shots…

Susan B. Anthony to Laura C. Holloway

Thomas

In its general look and feel the library's web site may not appear to have changed much in the past week,  but under that smooth surface design, a small revolution has taken place: a new content management system will allow Brooklyn Collection staff to effect changes to our web page instead of having it done at one remove. So, here is our first photo of the week--just in case you missed our article on Brooklyn's one and only full matador.  And even more exciting, here are the finding aids we have deemed good enough to share. And now that we have a simple way to share them, more…

Literary Brooklyn: Author Talk with Evan Hughes, Weds. December 14th, 6:30pm

Thomas

Please join us this Wednesday, December 14th, for the latest installment of our monthly series of author talks.  This month we are pleased to welcome Evan Hughes, author of Literary Brooklyn.  Please note that the program is on the second Wednesday of the month, as opposed to the usual fourth Wednesday, due to the busy holiday season. Literary Brooklyn uncovers the borough's -- and a nation's -- history through the minds of its greatest writers.  In it, Hughes not only traces the origins of Brooklyn's contemporary literary scene but illuminates a revealing slice of…

The Lefferts family goes digital

Julie Golia

In 2010, the Lefferts historic house donated a rich collection of Lefferts family papers to Brooklyn Historical Society. Included were genealogies, bibles, recipe books, financial papers, personal recollections, and many other documents that offer an intimate glimpse into the lives and labors of one Brooklyn family over four centuries. Thanks to a generous grant from the Leon Levy Foundation, BHS spent much of 2010 and 2011 conserving, organizing, and processing these materials. The goal: to make these unique artifacts available to researchers, students, and museumgoers, and to preserve their…

Walk the Walk

Thomas

  We have a number of prints here in the Collection, most of which come from old issues of Harper's or Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, covering all manner of Brooklyn life. Some of my favorite images come from the Sports folder, showing as they do the great diversity of early sporting activity in the borough. Here we can find young men playing handball in stripped-down handball togs, polo dandies in candy-striped jerseys wrangling their horses around the desired ball, and women in feather-caked hats drawing their bows in Prospect Park archery tournaments. But…

Map of the Month - December 2011

Carolyn

This month's featured map depicts the New York City subway system in 1955.  Published by the Union Dime Savings Bank, the map shows various subway lines, stations, and sites of free transfer. Another interesting feature of the map is that it advertises banking by mail, calling it "the quickest and easiest way to open an account." Enjoy!

(View this map as a PDF file to show more detail) Interested in seeing more maps? You can…

It's what's for dinner

Thomas

"Amid wild scenes of face-slapping and hair-pulling, police today quelled a stampede among 3,000 women fighting for places in line... The line had formed as early as 1:30 a.m... some women brought their lunches, their knitting, and their babies." It may sound like the standard consumer zealotry we're accustomed to hearing about this time of the year, as usually sane citizens spend their Thanksgiving vacation camped out for hours, or days, in front of retail stores in hopes of snagging deals on big-screen TVs, videogame systems, and other toys... the kinds of products they'…

Adrian Vanderveer Martense's Lantern Slides

Carolina Garcia

As an intern for the IMLS CHART project, I have been working on scanning and cataloging lantern slides from the Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection. Containing some 130 slides, it is a popular collection at Brooklyn Historical Society, since the photographs depict A.V. Martense (1852-1898), other family members, and extends far beyond the lantern slides. As early Dutch settlers, the Martense family established a homestead and farm in Flatbush, part of which now is Greenwood Cemetery.…

What It Means to Be Hapa

Sady Sullivan

Today's guest post is by Ken Tanabe, founder of Loving Day, a global movement for a new holiday to celebrate the anniversary of Loving v. Virginia.  Loving Day's mission is to fight racial prejudice through education and to build multicultural community.  Ken will lead a conversation about what it means to be hapa with artist Kip Fulbeck on Thursday, December 8, 6:30p.m. at the Museum of Chinese in America.  This event is part of the Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations series,…

To Brooklyn and Back

Thomas

Join us this evening as Aziz Rahman of the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival presents the film, "To Brooklyn and Back - A Mohawk Story"  In this hour-long documentary filmmaker Reaghan Tarbell traces her roots from the close-knit community of Kahnawake in Quebec to the bustling community of Mohawk steel workers in Boerum Hill Brooklyn.                                    …

More Brooklyn Navy Yard!

Carolyn

Courtesy of John Cloud and NOAA Central Library, below is an image of the Navy Yard and Wallabout Bay in 1845. According to Cloud, "The gap between 1827 and 1900 was a time when the U.S. Coast Survey was most active in mapping New York Bay and Harbor and the Environs, as they put it." Below "is a crop from the Survey's first published charts of New York, Sheets 1 through 4 in 1844, and Sheets 5 and 6 in 1845. We particularly like how the Survey was attempting to differentiate agriculture in Brooklyn down to symbolizing different crops and farming row techniques in different ways."…

Calling all Teachers!

Thomas

This winter, our Brooklyn Connections program is proud to present two professional development workshops for NYC teachers.  These events are the first in a new series of teacher workshops to be held at the Brooklyn Colleciton during the academic year.  Our workshops are open to all teachers in the five boroughs and offer the unqiue opportunity to explore the Brooklyn Colleciton in a small group with our dedicated staff and favorite guest historians. ****************************************************** Local History 101:  Brooklyn's Past (and Present) in the Classroom…

Shirley Chisholm Day!

Sady Sullivan

Celebrate Shirley Chisholm Day 11/30/11 by checking out The Shirley Chisholm Project's online collection of oral history interviews with people who knew her well, including Richard Green, founder of the Crown Heights Youth Collective, who worked on Chisholm's campaign; and feminist and journalist Gloria Steinem, who ran as a Chisholm delegate to the 1972 democratic convention. January 25, 2012 will mark the 40th anniversary of Shirley Chisholm's historic run for president, and launch a year-long, borough-wide celebration of this important Brooklynite  - stay tuned! Intrepid political leader,…

New Exhibit Opening and Film Program, Weds. November 30th at 6:30pm

Ivy

Please join us on the evening of Wednesday, November 30th for the opening of a new exhibit in our display space and a screening of the documentary To Brooklyn and Back: A Mohawk Journey. The exhibit, Brooklyn, Then and Now, is the culmination of the efforts of our summer interns, Kristi and Anastasiya, who worked with us through the Multicultural Internship Program (MIP) for Brooklyn teenagers.  After gaining familiarity with our photograph collections, Kristi and Anastasiya picked historic images depicting their own neighborhoods as they were thirty, fifty, or even a hundred years…

Thanksgiving at Emmanuel House

Keara Duggan

This image showing a Thanksgiving spread at Emmanuel House is one of eighty-seven lantern slides in BHS’s Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, circa 1910-1914. Emmanuel House was located at 131 Steuben Street, near Pratt Institute in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. According to the 1897 Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac, “it was maintained by the Young Men's League of…

Wallabout Bay and the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Carolyn

Earlier this week, BHS staff toured BLDG 92, the newly opened history center and museum at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. BLDG 92 explores the fascinating and changing history of the Yard, from the Revolutionary War to the present day. In honor of BLDG 92, this post will showcase maps from the BHS collection that feature Wallabout Bay and the Yard. The first map is a reproduction of a portion of Bernard Ratzer's "Plan of the city of New York..." (the Ratzer Map), which was surveyed in 1766 and 1767. This 20th century reproduction was created as an advertisement for the East Brooklyn Savings Bank,…

A Day to Give Thanks

Thomas

Ronald Klepner, 1950 Thanksgiving, a favorite holiday among the Collection staff, is this week.  Thanksgiving dates back to colonial times as a day for religious observance and celebration of the season's harvest.  In 1817, it became a legal New York holiday and in 1863, it was proclaimed "a day for national thanksgiving praise and prayer" by President Lincoln.  While Thanksgiving was typically observed in November, there were some years in the 19th century where it was held in December. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 28, 1883 Since FDR's presidency, it has…

Welcome Home, Soldier.

Thomas

As World War II came to an end, the Eagle pointed out that "war is not ended with the defeat of the enemy's arms."  Life in Brooklyn would continue, but it had to adjust to the return of its brave soldiers.  326,000 men had served in the war, 12% of Brooklyn's total population and, more staggeringly, 58% of Brooklyn's males between the ages of 18 and 37.  While Brooklynites were thrilled to have their boys back home, there was a question as to where all of these returning citizens were going to live.   Demand for housing was high across…

Otto C. Dreschmeyer's Brooklyn, 1965-1968

Cassie Mey

Coney Island Beach, ca. 1968, v1988.12.41; Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn Slides Collection, V1988.012; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Through his camera lens, Otto C. Dreschmeyer (1896-1983) documented the iconic neighborhood of Coney Island, and other Brooklyn scenes during the late 1960s. An amateur photographer, (likely using a Hasselblad camera), Otto Dreschmeyer’s style captured moments of everyday reality within Brooklyn’s public spaces. The Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn Slides (v1988.12) include the unveiling day at the JFK…

The bullfighter from Brooklyn

Thomas

   Among the strange and impressive stories of self-invention that stream out of the streets of Brooklyn, that of Sidney Franklin, a student of Brooklyn's Commerical High School, must be one of the strangest. Franklin was born in 1903 just down the road from here, at 14 Jackson Place, one of those cozy little blocks that run parallel to the numbered avenues, between 16th St and Prospect Avenue. His father, Abram Frumkin, came from Minsk and put in 25 years as a patrolman in the area now known as the 78th precinct--a trajectory perhaps less unusual than his son's, but one that took…

Jungle Fever

Sady Sullivan

https://youtu.be/kZ64smS4Lyk We're getting ready for the 20th anniversary screening of Jungle Fever (1991) at BAM next Tuesday 11/15 7PM. People who haven't seen the film an awhile remember that awesome Stevie Wonder song and that it was Halle Berry's first film role: We're interested in talking about how gender, race, and interracial romance play out in this film and we're curious about how people will receive the film 20 years later - especially a Brooklyn audience who will know why it's particularly relevant that Angie Tucci (Annabella Sciorra) is not only white, "H-bomb," says Cyrus (…

Veteran's Day: Oral Histories from Brooklyn Soldiers

Thomas

Last year at this time I posted a story on our blog about Private Justin Grishman. He was serving in the Korean War and stationed in Japan, where he worked as a radio operator. Sifting through Eagle clippings and photos from our collection, I tried to piece together the story of a most unique and sentimental request made by the young soldier: he wanted Borough President Cashmore to send him a street sign from the corner of Flatbush and Church Avenues, so that, though half-a-world-away, he could still feel at home. If you watched our new video introducing the Brooklyn Collection this will…

Meet the Brooklyn Collection

Thomas

 

Down with washtubs!

Thomas

Located on the corner of Fourth Avenue and President Street, Public Bathhouse no. 7 opened in 1910.  The structure was designed by Brooklyn resident Raymond F. Almirall, whose works include the Emigrant Savings Bank and four branches of the Brooklyn Public Library; Bushwick, Eastern Parkway, Pacific, and Park Slope. The bath boasted the largest indoor pool in the City and showers for up to two hundred people.  Before the days where in-home showers were common and deodorant was a hygienic necessity, bathhouses were used year round as public washing facilities and during the summer,…

Museums and the Common Core: What's Your Role?

Todd Florio

Last Tuesday, Brooklyn Historical Society hosted the New York Museum Educators Roundtable (NYCMER) in an event dubbed “Museums and the Common Core: What’s Your Role?” The event was open to NYCMER members and the public and the audience wound up being museum educators from across New York and beyond. Common Core refers to the new Common Core Learning Standards which are being rolled out by the State of New York and the NYCDOE.

The night began with an…

Map of the Month - November 2011

Carolyn

This month's featured map dates from 1946 and shows Native American communities in Kings County. It was created by James A. Kelly, who served as the Borough of Brooklyn Historian from 1944 to 1971. If you are interested in learning more about Kelly, his papers are available in the BHS Archives. Enjoy! (View this map as a PDF file to show more detail) Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library's open hours, Wed.-Fri., from 1-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary to view most maps. Our cataloged maps can be searched through BobCat and our map…

Mr. Death

Thomas

Now is the time when skeletons walk hand-in-hand with Super Marios and candy-hungry princesses trailed by zombie retinues are as regular a sight as dollar vans barreling down Flatbush. October is for lovers of the weird and morbid, and there is perhaps no better setting for our darker speculations than the bone tenanted grounds of a cemetery. In the course of doing research for a patron I came across the story of a lesser-known Brooklyn cemetery, the long-gone Union Cemetery in the Eastern District. It embodies a timely bit of ghoulish history which should serve…

Haunted Brooklyn

Thomas

During this time of year, with darkness falling earlier and earlier every night, with cold winds whispering under collars and up shirtsleeves, with miniature ghouls and goblins trolling the streets and demanding candy sacrifices, a person's mind quite understandably entertains superstitions of ghosts and hauntings.  In a city as aged as New York, it does not take a stretch of the imagination to start seeing ethereal appartitions in the dimmed windows of brownstones, to start hearing centuries-old horse hooves clapping against cobblestones, or to start smelling the decaying rot of…

A response to the Goos Map ...

Carolyn

October's Map of the Month ("The Goos Map") has started many conversations among scholars at BHS. At first glance, it may appear as just a pretty nautical chart, but as a historical document, it also provides a glimpse into the politics of cartography. Maps can be used as instruments of propaganda, tools with which a nation declares: This land is ours. Even today,…

Bushwick Avenue: A Preservation Plan. Weds Oct 26 at 6:30 P.M.

Thomas

Students from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Preservation Planning talk about their research uncovering the rich architectural history of Bushwick Avenue, and the preservation plan they produced as a result. Illustrated talk begins at 7 p.m. Wine and cheese reception precedes the talk at 6:30 p.m. in the Brooklyn Collection Reserve Room, 2nd floor, Central Library, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11238.  Seating is limited to 40 people. Tickets will be handed out at 6:30.  

The Philanthropist, His Oil, His Institute, and a Library

Thomas

On October 6, 1887, a humble little advertisement ran in the classifieds column of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "Applications for enrollment in classes in mechanical and freehand drawing, designing and modeling, will be received on and after October 10.  Class work will begin October 17.  Circulars giving general information furnished on request.  Personal interviews at office of Institute 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. and 7:30 to 9 P.M." A little over a week later, on October 17, 1887, twelve intrigued students attended the aforementioned drawing class, and thus Pratt Institute was born…

The Double Life of Don Francione

Patricia Glowinski

I didn't mean to imply anything sinister by the title of this post about Don Francione. I'm just pointing out that he was able to do something in life that many of us only dream about--to spend our lives doing the things that we love to do.  We all know how hard it is to work a full time job and pursue other interests. In New York, it's even more of a challenge because there's always so much to do here; your own creative energy often gets stymied by merely going-out-on-the-town-- 'cause this is one "helluva town." Photographer Don Francione figured out how to do it. Through the small but…

From the 16mm Film Collection: the Library, a Family Affair

Thomas

In the webpages of this blog, we have never missed an opportunity to praise the efforts of our mother institution, the Brooklyn Public Library.  Be it by cheering the library's legacy of bookmobile visits to underserved communities, by drawing attention to the efforts of our staff in difficult economic times, or by noting our various initiatives and collaborations with the Multicultural Internship Program, Project CHART, and Brooklyn Connections, we are unfailingly willing to toot our own horn.  Today's post is no exception.  From the 16mm film collection, we present…

Digging Deep Into Brooklyn's Past

Matthew Gorham

When I was a child, I was convinced for awhile that I would one day grow up to become an archaeologist. That is of course until I came to the cruel realization that archaeological work tends to involve a lot less of this, and a whole lot more of this. Unlike me, Terry Lymon was deterred neither by the tedium of some archaeological work, nor by a lack of professional training and education in the field, and his papers are one of my favorite collections that we’ve uncovered over the course of the hidden collections project. Little is known about Terry Lymon, a New Jersey native, Brooklyn…

Map of the Month - October 2011

Carolyn

This month's featured map dates from 1666 and covers New Netherland and the English Virginias from Cape Cod to Cape Canrick [i.e. Hatteras]. Attributed to Pieter Goos, this beautiful nautical chart is an excellent example of early cartography and map printing. Enjoy!

(View this map as a PDF file to show more detail) Interested in seeing more maps? You can…

Blowing our horn

Thomas

Today's New York Times article about Rabbi Levi Meisner, master of the shofar and  teacher to aspiring shofar blowers of the world, inspired us to seek out shofar experts recorded in our Brooklyn Daily Eagle files. The shofar, a horn trumpet blown to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, has been seen and heard more than once on the library's plaza. And we have, it turns out, an embarras de richesse of shofar photographs; in fact if proof were ever needed that the art of blowing the shofar has deep roots in Brooklyn, it is right here in the Eagle files. Here…

Farm maps

Carolyn

On Wednesday, Sept. 21st, BHS held its annual fundraiser Brooklyn Bounty, which is a wonderful event celebrating the borough's food culture and sustainability movements. This year we also displayed historic maps illustrating Brooklyn's farming history and pre-industrial landscape. In this post, I will be highlighting one my favorite maps showcased at Brooklyn Bounty. Titled "Plan of large & small gardens at the Pierrepont Homestead, Brooklyn," this manuscript map was created by William C. Pierrepont in 1821. First, an image of the map in its entirety. Although it may be underwhelming at…

Back in the Days: Author Talk with photographer Jamel Shabazz, Wednesday Sept. 28, 6:30pm

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection's lecture series is back from summer hiatus!  Please join us for our first author talk of the season, with Jamel Shabazz.  This legendary Brooklyn photographer talks about his life and career as he celebrates the 10th anniversary of his book Back in the Days, a photographic look at New York's hip-hop culture during the late seventies and eighties. Wednesday, September 28th, Brooklyn Collection, 2nd Floor, Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11238 Wine and cheese at 6:30. The talk starts promptly at 7:00. Seating is limited…

Gotta go to Mo's

Thomas

With nine branches scattered throughout the borough, Modell's sporting goods stores are a familiar sight to most Brooklyn residents. Although the chain's first store opened on Cortlandt Street in Manhattan, Brooklyn played an important role in the company's development. Henry Modell, November 12, 1946 Morris A. Modell founded the company in 1889 as a discount clothing shop.  Morris's son Henry inherited the business after his return from World War I, and renamed it Henry Modell & Company.  He purchased spare World War I army clothing from the Federal Government at a huge…

Annals of a Brooklyn Cop

Thomas

Those who read this blog regularly or follow our Twitter feed religiously are no doubt familiar with the diary of public transit enthusiast, Brooklyn Dodger fan, and assiduous scribe of the everday, Arthur Lonto.  His daily observations, scrawled in minute cursive or blocky capital letters, range from the mundane to the monumental -- the news that Jackie Robinson debuted as the "FIRST NEGRO to PLAY ON A MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM" shares a page with the less historically important note that Lonto spent the day polishing his family's car.  This is the value of diaries as…

What Are You?

Sady Sullivan

Today's guest post is by Jen Chau, founder of Swirl, a multi-ethnic, anti-racist organization that promotes cross-cultural dialogue.  "What are you?" is one of those questions like "Where are you from, I mean from from?" that people pose (sometimes ungracefully) when they are curious about someone's racial/ethnic identity. What Are You? is also the title of an upcoming event (Monday, September 26th at 7pm), part of the Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations series, hosted here at the Brooklyn Historical Society and co-sponsored by Loving Day.  BHS is learning more about Brooklyn's overlapping…

The Chewing Gum King

Thomas

  1885-1886 Brooklyn Directory In the late 1860s, Thomas Adams carried out a series of experiments with chicle,  which is extracted from Mexican Sapota trees, hoping he could make the rubber-like substance into toys, boots or bicycle tires. The trials were a failure. He was just about to throw the chicle into the East River when he remembered that his boss, who was the ex-dictator of Mexico, regularly chewed it.  Experimenting by adding sugar, he created a better tasting gum than any other available at that time. How Chewing Gum is Made.  Brooklyn Daily…

Map of the Month - September 2011

Carolyn

This month's featured map dates from 1933 and shows the Brooklyn Heights area. Published by the Garden Place Association, this charming map is indexed to show places of interest. Enjoy!

(View this map as a PDF file to show more detail) Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library's open hours, Wed.-Fri., from 1-5 p.m. No…

Cropsey's Cap: Discovering Brooklyn's Civil War History

Samantha Gibson

Each semester, the BHS Education Department asks our interns to research at least one object on display and present their findings.  I'm very pleased to introduce the following post by guest blogger, Chelsea Trembly, and her excellent research on "Cropsey's Cap," now on display in Inventing Brooklyn.  Thanks, Chelsea! Cropsey's Cap: Discovering Brooklyn's Civil War History

Sometimes a hat is just a hat – this is…

Teen Genius

Thomas

Last summer Cecilia put together a great post on the yearbooks of Manual Training High School (once John Jay and now the Secondary School for Law, Journalism, and Research) and, due to a patron request, I had cause to retrieve the boxes housing these books from the morgue once again. I'm happy I did. Along with the Prospect yearbooks, Manual Training also produced a "Literary-Art Issue" of the Prospect, and therein I found a number of striking drawings which serve to illustrate stories, poems, and scripts. Without too much commentary, I figured I'd post some of my favorites along with the…

New Funding Promises a Bright Future for Brooklyn Connections!

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection is thrilled to announce that it has received an exciting two-year, $200,000 grant from the New York Life Foundation for the Brooklyn Connections program!  With additional generous support from the Morris & Alma Schapiro Fund, the Tiger Baron Foundation and Epstein Teicher Philanthropies, the program will continue to be available at no cost to Brooklyn classrooms through the 2012-13 school year.  We are especially pleased to acknowledge this renewed support from New York Life Foundation, whose initial funding made it possible to pilot the program in 2007…

A Lump of the Old Jersey

Thomas

That infamous hulk, the Old Jersey prison ship, in which upwards of 11,000 American prisoners lost their lives during the Revolution, lay rotting in the Wallabout mud for over a century. And well it deserved to rot. Crowded between airless decks, starved or compelled to eat raw meat and drink filthy water, infected with smallpox, yellow fever and dysentery, the prisoners died by the dozen. Their bodies, hastily thrown into trenches on the shore, were often washed out by the waves at high tide, so that the whole Wallabout beach became a bone-littered charnel house. Among the keys,…

The Eagle Cookbook and the Brooklyn Diet

Thomas

I first picked up The Eagle Cookbook from 1922 with every intention of writing a blog entry on recipes from the early 1920s.  But as I carefully flipped through the pages, I found myself distracted from the recipes by the countless advertisements for pre-packaged, pre-processed and unexpectedly modern grocery items. While the editors proudly present a collection of recipes that were "handed down from generation to generation" in families across the United States and Europe, the advertisements tell a slightly different story about the 1920s Brooklyn diet. For example, you could…

Brooklyn's Imagined Communities

Carolyn

I have always been interested in America's 19th century social reform movements. Maybe it's my Quaker heritage, but I find the history of Utopian communities fascinating and moving. In a century of great change and upheaval, many 19th century Americans sought comfort and stability through community.  Whether these groups expressed their identities through conservative or radical ideas, they shared similar desires to live humanely, raise families, and care for each other. To my great surprise, I have found reform groups represented in the BHS map collection. From temperance groups to housing…

Luna Parks Galore

Thomas

Brooklynology readers will not be fooled by this picture of an ersatz Luna Park culled from my latest holiday snaps. This one is not in Brooklyn, of course, but in Scarborough, an attractive windswept seaside town in North Yorkshire, UK.  Our own grand original opened in 1903 and burned down in 1944, but in the interim "Luna Park" became synonymous with "amusement park" across the nation and even further afield. Just as Brooklyn itself has spawned other Brooklyns across the globe, the name Luna Park has become a proxy for places providing imaginative amusement, off-the-…

BHS's New Blog for Brooklyn Bounty

Keara Duggan

Want to know all of the latest news regarding chefs, food and guests attending this year's Brooklyn Bounty Cocktail Party? Check out BHS's newest blog, Brooklyn Bounty. This year's cocktail party will include tastings of food and drink from Brooklyn growers, chefs and purveyors; historic cocktails in our beautiful library; storytelling by local people from neighborhoods far and wide across Brooklyn; viewings of historical and new maps and materials related to local food and agriculture; a creative silent auction of unique Brooklyn prizes and experiences; and music by The Blue…

Crossing Borders this Fall

Sady Sullivan

Does your family, relationship, or identity cross borders of race, ethnicity, or culture? We're learning more about Brooklyn’s overlapping, interweaving communities. Join the conversation at these upcoming events, on Twitter using #cbbg, and at brooklynhistory.org/cbbg.       What Are You? a discussion about mixed heritage Monday, September 26, 2011 7 p.m. Othmer Library, Brooklyn Historical Society 128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights Free Participate in this discussion about mixed heritage co-sponsored by Loving Day, a global network fighting racial…

For Those Who Would A-Wheeling Go

Thomas

Such hyperbole could only come from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, which printed this notice on June 26, 1896, the eve of the grand opening of a new bicycling path connecting Prospect Park to Coney Island.  Twenty-thousand cyclists were expected to ride in a parade down Eastern Parkway to the path's head in Prospect Park, with thousands more spectators cheering from the sidelines.  Leading the pack was the distinguished Brooklyn Park Commissioner Timothy L. Woodruff, who would later serve as lieutenant governor under Theodore Roosevelt. This photograph by …

Peter Cooper and his Glue

Thomas

By 1899 Newtown Creek had become so gummed up with pollutants that men could walk atop the water as if it were earth. The odors themselves that hung in the air were so substantial that children could perch upon them as though sitting on the wooden ostriches and horses of a carousel, to circle above the copper smelters, oil tanks, and tallow shops of the creek. And in order to sink pylons for new docks, laborers had to use handsaws to cut holes in the grime-thick water, the gelatinous bricks they extracted being sent off to the candle makers who carved their wares from the…

The Frank J. Trezza Brooklyn Navy Yard Collection

Kenyetta Dean

A SIGN PAINTED ON A WALL AT THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD, CA. 1978, V1988.21.293; FRANK J.TREZZA BROOKLYN NAVY YARD COLLECTION, ARMS 1988.016; BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The origins of the Brooklyn Navy Yard (officially known as the New York Naval Shipyard) date back to 1801, when the United States Navy acquired what had previously been a small, privately owned shipyard in order to construct naval vessels. By the time the Defense Department ceased shipbuilding activities at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1966, 88 vessels had been…

Brooklyn takes to the Skies Part II

Thomas

    When one thinks of Brooklyn, airline travel usually isn't the first thing that comes to mind.  But in the late 1940's Brooklyn's business leaders and the Brooklyn Eagle wanted to change all that, and after years of campaigning, the lease was signed to open the first ever Brooklyn Airlines Terminal in the lobby of the Hotel St. George. The new terminal would provide information, ticket and limousine service to Brooklyn executives and vacationers alike. Eight airlines in all were represented in the attractive newly designed…

On the Road with the Eagle

Thomas

Summer is in full swing and hopefully for many of our readers the word VACATION is coming to mind.  While daydreaming of my own escape from the daily grind, I came across a scrapbook in excellent condition that chronicles a journey taken by a group of Brooklynites exactly 92 years ago today. The National Parks Tour, organized by the Eagle, was open to the public and advertised in the paper during the early months of 1919.  Headlines such as "Western Cities Rival in Offers of Hospitality to Eagle Tour; Unique Drives Programmed," attempted to lure all of…

Map of the Month - August 2011

Carolyn

This month's featured map shows the village of Williamsburg as it was laid out in 1827, though the map itself was published in 1833. Surveyed by D. Ewen, this map shows names of property owners. Please note that the map is oriented with north to the lower left. Enjoy!

…

"We Live in Brooklyn, Baby"

Patricia Glowinski

Several weeks ago I attended the Roy Ayers concert at SummerStage (here's the live performance) in Central Park. It was a gorgeous evening, with a crowd that probably represented six of the seven continents. When Ayers played Harry Whitaker's song, We Live in Brooklyn, Baby (originally recorded on Ayers' 1971 album, He's Coming), everyone knew it. The entire audience sang in unison "We live in Brooklyn, baby. We're trying to make it, baby. We wanna make it, baby. We're gonna make it, baby." (link to the 1971 version) It was an amazing feeling when we--people from Brooklyn, Manhattan, the…

The Excellent Acoustic Properties of a Sewer; or, Mayor Low's Wild Ride

Thomas

Raw sewage weighs heavily on the minds of many Brooklynites these days, ever since a massive load of the stuff (about 200 million gallons) was flushed into the Hudson River last week.  Four of the city's beaches have been closed due to unsafe levels of bacteria and icky things, including Brooklyn's own Sea Gate Beach.  It's unpleasant enough to think about all that voided matter clogging up our river and carrying that awful offal to the ocean, but it's more unbearable still for such a thing to happen during one of the hottest weekends on record.  In the…

Beat the Heat! Visit the Brooklyn Collection's New Exhibit!

Thomas

Looking for an excuse to utilize BPL's air conditioning for a little while longer this week?  Why not stop by the Brooklyn Collection to view our latest exhibit from the Brooklyn Connections program: This year, our exhibit focuses on the ways in which our Brooklyn Connections participants became historians while completing research projects on their favorite Brooklyn topics.  Each case is dedicated to a step in the research process, from developing an initial question to reflecting on what they learned.    Included in this year's exhibit, you will see glimpses of projects…

Road maps

Carolyn

As a little girl, I went on many summer road trips with my family. I distinctly remember my dad plotting our courses with the help of a battered old atlas and a collection of road maps, all of which he kept in the glove compartment of our car. I loved looking at these maps with my dad, who would patiently explain to me the basics of reading a map, from what the legend was to how you could tell where the Appalachian Mountains were by looking at relief. This type of map is one of my favorites, not only for nostalgic reasons, but because it can provide a surprising wealth of information. In this…

HEAT WAVE!

Thomas

Brooklyn is no stranger to that sadistic summer visitor, the heat wave. But we're tough. We can take it. We know how to cope. And because the Central Library is a designated cooling center here in the borough, and since just visualizing something cold can help ease the pain, I figured I'd share some photos from our collection of Brooklynites taking summer's worst in stride. Who cares about the heat? Not this quintet of Coney Island bathers; dashing into the surf are, left to right, Frances Friedenthal, Lee Krush, Maureen Haver, Nettie Thomas, and Bea Resnikoff. Small fry…

Gardens of Brooklyn Part II: Victory Gardens

Thomas

In the 1930s, Relief Gardens, also called Subsistence Gardens, run by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped hundreds of Brooklyn Families put food on the table in the depths of the Great Depression. In 1944, President Roosevelt called on all Americans to grow gardens to help compensate for the increased food requirements of forces at the fronts during World War II.  The Civilian Defense Volunteer Office (CDVO) encouraged people to plant vegetable gardens, facilitating the use of vacant land, and educating gardeners into the mysteries of crop rotations and…

Historypin in Brooklyn

Thomas

Our talented and hardworking intern from the Multicultural Internship Program has been pinning at a great rate. Check out what's up there already. And for those not yet familiar with Historypin, five minutes of exploration will unlock most of the mysteries of the site. The little icon that looks like an eyeball with a line through it is the key to seeing then and now images. Just move the little red dot up and down. It's magic!

No Ancestry.com in Reserve Room July 25-29 due to Storycorps interviews

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection will be partnering with Storycorps for Brooklyn Week from Monday July 25 to Friday July 29. Interviews will be held in the Reserve Room of the Brooklyn Collection on the Second floor of the Central Library. If you are interested in participating, or would like to learn more about the project, please contact StoryCorps at: 646-723-7020 ext. 27 or at: nyc+brooklynweek@storycorps.org Interviews can be scheduled for anytime during the hours listed below. Monday, July 25th: 12pm - 6pm Tuesday, July 26th: 10am - 4pm Wednesday, July 27th: 10am - 4pm Thursday,…

Gardens of Brooklyn Part I: 1930s WPA Subsistence Gardens.

Thomas

Long gone are the days when, according to Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, "The head of every family in Flatbush, with few exceptions, was a farmer...they cultivated their land in the most careful manner, and were among the best farmers in the state." Still, even in the 1880s, market gardeners of Kings County  sent considerable amounts of food to the tables of New York City. But by 1900 a precipitous rise in development entailed a corresponding decline in the amount of available farmland.  By 1924 there were 24 farms left in Brooklyn, by 1930 only 11, but the depression and World War…

Rumble on the Docks: teen warfare hits Brooklyn

Thomas

The Nits, the Jolly Stompers, the Brewery Rats, the Tigers, the Presidents, the Shamrocks, the Beavers, the Midtowners, the Robins, the Majesties, the Garfield Gang, the South Brooklyn Boys, the Socialistic Gents, the Midget Socialistic Gents, the Bishops, and the Hawks; ranging from intimidating to clever to unexpectedly silly, these names struck dread in the hearts of policeman, civic leaders, teachers, and Brooklynites of every stripe.  These were the names of just a few of the gangs of adolescent boys and girls who turned the borough into their battleground in the 1950s. …

Information for Busy People: The Brooklyn Eagle Library

Thomas

The Proposed Constitution of the State of New York; Full Report of the Proceedings of the 80th Annual Meeting of the American Board; The New Primary Law; Brooklyn Church Semi Centennial; Directory of Educational Institutions; Mortgage Tax Law; Life Insurance; The War Revenue Bill. Not exactly beach reading, is it? And yet I can see him now, our anthropomorphized Brooklyn eagle, from whose library these titles come, under a parasol on Jones Beach, zinc on his beak, poring over the new Sanitary Code of the Board of Health, totally absorbed, waves lapping his talons, a cold soda wrapped in his…

The 1977 Blackout

Katie Hut

On July 13, 1977 at 9:34 pm, the lights went out in New York. This wasn’t the first blackout in New York City—the “where were you when the lights went out?” blackout of 1965 was a fairly recent memory—and it wouldn’t be the last, but it did leave an indelible mark. Caused by a series of lightning strikes to various components of the city’s electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system, the blackout left parts of New York without electricity for up to 24 hours. Per an article by Victor K. McElheny from the July 16, 1977 edition of The New York Times, “one factor in the slowness…

July 11th-July 14th 1977: The Week a Little Girl was Born in Flatbush, Brooklyn and the Lights Went Out Across NYC

Katie Hut

This post was written by Chantal Valencia Lawrence, a recent volunteer at BHS and a Brooklyn native.  When I think of the 1977 Blackout that took place in New York City from July 13th-14th, I reminisce about a ritual that my mother would perform annually on July 11th. On this day in 1977, my mother, grandmother and the maternity staff of Brooklyn Jewish Hospital and Medical Center welcomed a baby girl named Chantal into the world at 4:05pm. From my birth in 1977 till her death in 1993, my mother would pull out an old photo album that contained an article from The Star newspaper and read to…

StoryCorps at the Brooklyn Collection: July 25th - July 29th

Thomas

  We are very happy to announce a new partnership with StoryCorps, a national nonprofit oral history organization. During Brooklyn Week, which runs from July 25th to the 29th, we will team up to record the stories and experiences of everyday people who live and work in the borough. If you are interested in participating, or would like to learn more about the project, please contact StoryCorps at: 646-723-7020 ext. 27 or at: nyc%2Bbrooklynweek@storycorps.org Interviews can be scheduled for anytime during the hours listed below. Monday, July 25th: 12pm - 6pm Tuesday,…

Map of the Month - July 2011

Carolyn

This month's featured map dates from 1889 and shows Long Island, including political divisions and railroads. It was published by the prolific firm of G.W. & C.B. Colton, who were located at 172 William Street in Manhattan. Enjoy!

(View this map as a PDF file to show more detail) Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library's open hours, Wed.-Fri.,…

Taking it to the Streets: Bookmobiles and Brooklyn

Thomas

It is a happy day for public libraries across the city!  Another nerve-wracking round of budget negotiations has come to a close, with the city of New York restoring record amounts of funding to the New York Public Library, Queens Public Library, and our very own Brooklyn Public Library.  After months of tireless advocacy efforts by library staff and supporters, this celebratory moment seems an opportune time to put our feet up, munch on some popcorn, and think back on the good work we do here.  Roll the clip! This film, Who Grows in Brooklyn, is part of the Brooklyn…

Introducing College Students to the Joys of Archival Research

Julie Golia

This past week, Brooklyn Historical Society hosted a week-long institute for eighteen college professors participating in the Students and Faculty in the Archives project (SAFA). As regular readers may remember, this spring BHS commenced the SAFA project, thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). For the next five semesters, SAFA partner faculty from St.…

Mapping the Heights

Carolyn

For the last two weeks, I've been cataloging 19th century manuscript maps of Brooklyn Heights. These maps represent our collection's earliest detailed views of the area; they show property ownership, street and waterfront development, businesses and more. I am very excited to be sharing one of these beautiful maps. The following map was hand-drawn by William C. Pierrepont in 1825. It covers the area north from Joralemon St. to Waring St. and east from the East River to Fulton St. Although the map mainly shows Hezekiah B. Pierrepont's property, it also shows sold lots, S. Jackson's Wharf,…

Brooklyn takes to the Skies. Part I

Thomas

            Mrs. Virginia Mullen - Miss Brooklyn Aviation 1947 By 1945 the World War II was winding down, and the population of Brooklyn had swelled to nearly 3 million residents, many of whom were eager to travel.  In this atmosphere the business and civic community decided to gauge the public's feelings about travel, especially air travel, and to see if the time was right for a new centrally-located state-of-the art Air-Rail-Bus Terminal, that would whisk…

Chris Webber talks about James W.C. Pennington, Fugitive Slave and Black Abolitionist. Tonight!

Thomas

Tonight, Wednesday June 22, 2011 in the Brooklyn Collection, second floor Central Library. Only the first 40 attendees will be seated. Tickets will be handed out at 6:30 P.M. and only people with tickets will be allowed in. This is a new method of preventing overcrowding in our small Reserve Room location. Refreshments will be served between 6:30 and 7 P.M.

New Eagle Online tutorial narrated by resident Brit

Thomas

How weird is that? A Brit showing people how to navigate the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online! I detect a northern twang. But do look for more Youtube tutorials coming soon on all aspects of the Brooklyn Collection's web offerings--to be narrated in a rich variety of voices.

19th Century Kitchen Tools: Lecture by Harry Rosenblum

cgarza

This past Thursday, BHS hosted a lecture by Brooklyn Kitchen owner Harry Rosenblum on 19th Century Kitchen Tools. Rosenblum is passionate collector of rare, antique, and even ridiculous kitchen tools. All of the tools in Rosenblum’s collection, whether corky or obsolete, provide an insight into the life of past Brooklynites. One of the oddest objects Rosenblum presented on was an antique meat juicer. In the 19th Century, it was believed that all of the meat’s…

From the annals of Brooklyn's musical history: BAM in the early 1930s

Thomas

Stars of the musical firmament blazed over Brooklyn during the concert seasons from 1930 to 1934 in concerts arranged under the auspices of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, which at that time included the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Sergei Rachmaninoff, Fritz Kreisler, Paul Robeson, tenor Roland Hayes, The Fisk Jubilee Singers, and pianists Walter Gieseking, Robert Goldsand and Jose Iturbi all performed at BAM, as did Australian pianist and composer Percy Grainger, by then a naturalized American living in White Plains. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle files hold…

Anthony Fiala: Soldier, Explorer, Artist

Thomas

If the three piece suit and rifle don't make you a believer, maybe a few headlines will convince you that Anthony Fiala, in his own time and in his own way, was one bad dude.  New York Times May 6, 1928  Brooklyn Daily Eagle October 13, 1922 Brooklyn Daily Eagle February 8, 1928 Brooklyn Daily Eagle August 29, 1927 Ok, maybe racing canoes is a stretch, but the following clipping, which appears beneath the page-long and inch-high headline: "Fiala Plans Hunt for Live Mammoths in Siberia" from a 1927 Eagle may just provide the best glimpse of this man's character.…

BHS Celebrates Loving Day All Year

Sady Sullivan

Sunday, June 12th is Loving Day, a celebration commemorating the landmark Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia (1967) that legalized interracial marriage in the United States. BHS will be celebrating mixed-heritage families all year with Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations (CBBG) a public programming series and oral history project about mixed-heritage families, race, ethnicity, culture, and…

It's #AskArchivists Day!

Thomas

Were you aware that today is International Archives Day?  On this day in 1948, the International Council on Archives was created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), charged with the mission to "promote the management and use of records and archives, and the preservation of the archival heritage of humanity around the world."  Today is a day when archives all over the world can toot their respective horns to raise awareness of the myriad of collections they have to offer.  With enough of us tooting, we hope to raise a veritable…

A Season to Forget: 1951 Scandal Mars LIU Basketball Program, by Nora Almeida

Thomas

Our guest blogger this week is Nora Almeida, whom we're happy to have working with us through the Project CHART grant.  Nora recently digitized the crime photographs collection from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle files, and turned up this story in the process. People love a scandal—particularly a public scandal involving the rich and famous.  A few weeks ago, the front page of the Sunday New York Times ran a story called “The Gossip Machine,” which exposed just how lucrative the gossip industry has become thanks to our ever growing “appetite for dirt.…

Map of the Month - June 2011

Carolyn

This month's featured map dates from 1892 and shows a design for Bushwick Park, now called Maria Hernandez Park. The BHS collection has similar maps of Carroll Park, City Park (now Commodore Barry Park), Winthrop Park (now Msgr. Mcgolrick Park), and Tompkins Park (now Herbert Von King Park). Enjoy!

(View this map as a PDF file to show more detail) Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map…

The Brooklyn Shore

Patricia Glowinski

Once described as the "nation's playground,"  (well, at least in the image above) the Brooklyn shore used to be the hot place to holiday. Except, back then, it was less Snooki, and more on par with a holiday Monsieur Hulot would take. As the BHS archives and photograph collection survey project enters its second summer, we've uncovered much in our collections, as well as uncovered so much Brooklyn history. The photograph collection tells volumes about Brooklyn. For example, beginning in the 1820s, but largely from the 1880s to the 1930s, people vacationed in Brooklyn--and not just tourists.…

Ex Lab Preps Students for College

Todd Florio

As the Ex Lab students put the finishing touches on their exhibit, Christina Valdez took a moment to share some of the ways working on Ex Lab has helped her prepare for the challenges of college. Thanks, Christina! Open to the Ideas of Others Working on Ex Lab

My name is Christina Valdez I am a senior at Cobble Hill School of American Studies. This is my third year in Exhibition Laboratory (“Ex Lab”) and this year’s exhibit, Inventing…

The Brooklyn Bridge Centennial: Party like it's 1983!

Thomas

  May 24th, 1883 is a date that looms large in Brooklyn history; it is the birthdate of this borough's beloved icon, the Brooklyn Bridge.  Over the past 128 years, the bridge has been immortalized dozens of times over, in countless studied histories and gorgeous photography books that aim to capture both its cultural impact and its architectural grace.  The bridge's popularity extends far beyond this borough, as well.  On any weekend the bridge is glutted with tourists from all over the globe snapping pictures, and we've heard that even aliens like…

Raising Brooklyn: An Illustrated Talk by Tamara Mose Brown, Wednesday May 25th, 7pm

Thomas

Tamara Mose Brown discusses her new book Raising Brooklyn which offers an in-depth look at the daily lives of women of Caribbean descent who provide childcare for white middle- and upper-middleclass families, examining the roles they play in the families whose children they help to raise. Though at first glance these childcare providers appear isolated and exploited -- and this is the case for many -- Mose Brown shows that their daily interactions in the social spaces they create allow their collective lives and cultural identities to flourish. Research for the book was largely…

Racing across Brooklyn

Emily Reynolds

In honor of the Brooklyn Half Marathon, we've uploaded a portion of a film from the BHS collections, entitled Walking Race: Heel and Toe Artists Hoof it to Coney Island. It shows a group of men race walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as the arrival of the winner in Coney Island. The silent film is from a 16mm reel that was made around 1930 and found at a garage sale in the 1990s. The reel also contains a series of similar (but not Brooklyn-related) newsreel-style clips, all of which were recently conserved and digitized with a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.…

Brooklyn by any other name ...

Carolyn

Recently, I was speaking with Julie Golia, our public historian, who wanted to know if we had early maps that showed different spellings of the name Brooklyn. As I was looking through the collection to identify the most interesting spellings, I was surprised by the variations in nomenclature for our area. But I think I speak for most Brooklynites when I say that whether it's the Dutch "Breuckelen" or the anglicized "Brookland," we just call it home.…

From Records to Data: Seeing and sharing digital cultural heritage collections differently with Reco

Thomas

Recollection  is a free and open source web application for generating and customizing views, allowing scholars, librarians and curators to explore digital collections in novel and intuitive ways. This demonstration by Trevor Owens, Digital Archivist at the Library of Congress, will show how content can be ingested from spreadsheets, sets of MODS records, or RSS and Atom feeds, and then used to generate a range of interactive visualizations. Funded by the IMLS CHART Project Thursday May 19, 2011, 3:00 P.M.-4:30 P.M. Dweck Center, Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11238

Out in the Cold: Part II

Thomas

Before turning the page on Brooklyn's own polar explorer, I figured we might as well give the good doctor his full due and take a look at a few other items in our collection related to his life and work. In going through the materials related to Frederick A. Cook one photograph jumped out at me immediately. Having lived in Bushwick and having worked at the DeKalb branch for 2 years, I was more than a little excited to find this: Though the area surrounding it today looks different, there was no mistaking that this was the same three-story red brick mansion still standing in the shadows…

Defying Fate: the macabre antics of Brooklyn's Thirteen Club

Thomas

"It never before looked as it did last night.  It never will again.  The blinds were drawn, the only light being from a dozen candles, which flickered in burnished holders, placed around a big coffin in the center of the room.  The walls were draped in black.  Grinning skulls beamed down upon the bones which were strewn along the coffin top, and the figure of a skeleton dangled from an invisible wire..."   Thirteen gentlemen in long black robes solemnly marched into the chamber and seated themselves around the immense coffin; their leader seated at the head, and a…

Green Spaces and Moody Places

Weatherly

This week I worked on the Praeger Department of Parks survey and photographs, and it has definitely found its way onto my list of favorite collections. In 1934, Mayor LaGuardia created a new city-wide Department of Parks, bringing the boroughs' independent parks departments together under one agency directed by Robert Moses. One of the first tasks of the new Department of Parks was a survey of…

Out in the Cold: Part I

Thomas

A portion of the Leslie's page -- a little hard to see. I couldn't get a good scan of the September 30, 1909 page from Leslie's Weekly which I wanted to show you, so I'll try to describe it: in the upper left hand corner there is a photo taken from the back row of a fairground bandstand looking out at a string of promenading milk cows; beside it, in the upper right hand corner of the page, is a photo of a tubby U.S. President tomahawking the air with his right hand as he delivers a speech on the postal service from a bunting-swathed stage; beneath that photo, center-right of the page, is a…

Bicycling in Brooklyn

Julie May

As you may know, it's bike month in the U.S. and Brooklyn cyclists and our streets tend to be big participants.  Once again, I'd like to highlight more of the photographs from our historic collection that depict the bikes of our past.  As you'll see, not much has changed.  People still take their bikes to picnic in Prospect Park, lounge by the beach, and trek over our  many bridges. Happy Bike Month everyone -- be sure to check out the many activities going on: http://bikemonthnyc.org/events

How sweet it was...

Thomas

Let us consider for a moment that fount of dietary evil, refined sugar. A cursory search today brings up hundreds of web sites decrying the noxious effects of sugar upon health. One site lists 146 different ways the seductive crystals can make your life a misery, from causing arthritis and asthma to bringing on toxemia and eczema. The industry's apologists back in 1916 thought otherwise. One unnamed English "expert" is quoted as saying, "There have been few more important additions to our dietary, or which have done more to promote the health of the rising generation, than our…

The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: An Illustrated Talk by Suleiman Osman, Weds May 11, 7 P.M.

Thomas

Considered among the city's most notorious slums in the 1940s and 1950s, brownstone Brooklyn by the 1980s  had become a post-industrial landscape of hip bars, yoga studios and beautifully renovated town houses. Author Suleiman Osman, Assistant Professor of American Studies at George Washington University, discusses his new book, offering a groundbreaking history of this transformation. Brooklyn Collection, 2nd floor, Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11238 Wine and cheese at 6:30 P.M. The talk starts promptly at 7 P.M.  

Map of the Month - May 2011

Carolyn

This month's featured map dates from 1896 and shows the Bay Ridge Channel, Red Hook Channel, Buttermilk Channel, Gowanus Canal, and Gowanus Creek Channel. Created to accompany the annual report of H.M. Adams of the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the map documents the Corps' planned improvements to the area. Enjoy!

Bay Ridge and Red Hook Channels, Buttermilk Channel, Gowanus Canal and Gowanus Creek Channel, New York, showing condition of improvements in charge of Major H.M. Adams, Corps of Engineers, U.S.A., June 30, 1896. Brooklyn…

The Answer to All of Life's Problems

Thomas

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle was, for its entire run of over 100 years, a fount of crucial information for Brooklynites.  Covering news both local and global, it was a busy newspaper serving a busy metropolis.  But the Eagle was not content to merely report on the outer world; it wanted to tackle the thorny issues of the inner world as well.  Or so we can assume, once this headline began appearing in 1933. Although these are questions many people struggle over for several years, if not an entire lifetime, the Eagle sought to solve these conundrums for its readers once and for…

Tearin' It Up

Thomas

This past summer I had the opportunity to teach a collage class. This four week workshop sponsored by the Brooklyn Collection and AMMS (the Arts, Media, Music and Sports Division) was open to anybody of any age and skill level, from accomplished artists to absolute beginners. The overarching theme was "What I like about Brooklyn."  To get things started we looked at the wonderful collage panels of Romare Bearden called "The Block," his homage to Harlem.  Following in Bearden's footsteps, our intrepid  group, which ranged from ages 8…

Inventing This Year’s Ex Lab Exhibit: People, Stages, Progress

Todd Florio

This spring, BHS's fifth annual Exhibition Laboratory after-school museum studies program is underway. The fourteen participating high school students are hard at work co-curating BHS's newest exhibit. A few of the students wanted to give you the inside scoop on what it's been like to work on the project. It's my pleasure to introduce guest blogger, Brooklyn Technical High School junior Neil Alacha. Thanks, Neil! Inventing This Year’s Ex Lab Exhibit: People, Stages, Progress…

Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York to present on April 27th

Thomas

Charlie Fourquet of the Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York will give a free illustrated talk on how to explore your Hispanic roots here in the Brooklyn Collection, second floor, Central Library, on  Wednesday April 27, 2011 from 7-8 p.m. Wine and cheese will be served from 6:30 to 7.

Guide to African-American Archival Materials at Othmer Library

Larry Weimer

In February, I first posted a new document to Emma, Brooklyn Historical Society’s catablog: the Guide to African-American History Archival Material at the Othmer Library. You might be interested in knowing a little of the context for this Guide. The Guide is an early outcome of the In Pursuit of Freedom project. Those readers who keep up on BHS’s many doings are already aware of the project. For those unfamiliar with it, In Pursuit is a multi-faceted public history project memorializing the history of abolitionism, anti-slavery and the Underground Railroad in Brooklyn. It aims to provide new…

Gertrude Hoffman, Outlaw Dancer

Thomas

I wrapped up last week's introduction to the early 20th century dancer, Gertrude Hoffman, with a promise of more tales of scandal and glamour to come.  As usual, a trip to "the morgue" unearthed several gems from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  Gertrude Hoffman made her first major impression on New York audiences in 1908, when a debacle erupted over her interpretation of the "Salome" dance at Oscar Hammerstein's Roof Garden in Manhattan.  The dance was based on the biblical story of the execution of John the Baptist; more to the dismay of prudish audiences, it…

Kosher for Passover

Thomas

During the 1960s and 70s, amateur photographer Irving I. Herzberg spent his Sundays among the Hasidim of Williamsburg becoming a familiar and trusted figure in the community. While his interests were varied, ranging from subway scenes to the Coney Island boardwalk, Herzberg's Williamsburg photographs are among the most cherished in our collection, attracting ongoing interest among the descendants and friends of many of the subjects. To celebrate the season, here is a selection of Herzberg's Passover photographs. To see almost all the Herzbergs in the Brooklyn Collection, click…

Are You Related to Royals?

Sady Sullivan

I'm totally excited for the Royal Wedding.  And despite being a Revolutionary War buff, I plan to be among the 1-2 billion people across the globe who will happily tune in to watch on April 29th. To prepare for the wedding, I'm excited to attend a talk given by Pearl Duncan here at the Brooklyn Historical Society on Wednesday, April 27th at 7pm.  Pearl Duncan will describe how she used family nicknames and oral history to begin tracing her ancestry from the U.S. and Jamaica to the Akan people of…

House Hunting, 1800s Style

Carolyn

When I first moved to NYC, I was fascinated by the real estate ads posted in shop windows. Whenever I passed by one, I was compelled to stop and gawk at where I could be living. Of course,  I knew I couldn't afford a $2 million townhouse in Park Slope, but it was nice to dream of having 3 bedrooms and room for a dog! As I've discovered from working with the map collection at BHS, posting real estate advertisements around the city is not a new phenomenon. Our collection has a substantial amount of 19th century auction maps that show property for sale throughout Brooklyn. These maps demonstrate…

Introducing Gertrude Hoffman

Thomas

Ladies and gentleman, we are pleased to present to you, appearing for the first time on this stage, with athletic abilities that will amaze you and natural grace that will charm you, the internationally famous, world renowned and much beloved... ...Gertrude Hoffman! Here at the Brooklyn Collection, we are fortunate to house the personal papers, photographs and scrapbooks of the early 20th-century dancer, Gertrude Hoffman.  Her name may not roll as readily off the tongue as that of Ruth St. Denis or Isadora Duncan in a discussion of modern dance pioneers, but she was…

Happy National Bookmobile Day!

Matthew Gorham

Though we're a little late to the party on this one, the BHS library and archives staff would like to wish everyone a very happy National Bookmobile Day! Designated as the Wednesday of the American Library Association's (ALA) annual National Library Week, National Bookmobile Day celebrates the vital role that bookmobiles and other direct-delivery outreach services play in providing underserved communities with access to valuable library and information resources. Here's an image from our postcard collection of some young residents of the Glenwood Houses checking out books from the Brooklyn…

From the annals of Brooklyn's musical history: The Tollefsens.

Thomas

Carl Tollefsen and his wife, Augusta Schnabel-Tollefsen residing at 946 President Street, stood at the center of Brooklyn's musical life for upwards of four decades in the first half of the 20th century. Tollefsen was born--to my utmost surprise-- in my home town of Hull, UK, in 1882, immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 6. Founder of the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, an active music school and the Tollefsen Trio, Carl Tollefsen was also a storied collector of musical instruments and manuscripts. His manuscript finds included early versions of one of Schumann's best-known…

In Like a Lion, and Out Like a Lamb?

Patricia Glowinski

Judging from the collective grumblings of fellow New Yorkers, we've had it with winter. March has indeed shown very lion-like characteristics and so far April has been nothing but a copycat. Enough. I'm just waiting for that one spring day that will have every New Yorker and tourist alike flocking to the parks, hanging out on stoops, in backyards or patios (if you're one…

Summers of Fear

Thomas

Summertime--the name alone conjures up images of days filled with fun and freedom.  Warm lazy days spent at the beach, or by the pool eating ice cream, going to the amusement park, or catching fireflies.  The daily pace slows down just a little and childhood takes on a more carefree feeling.  But as a new decade began, summertime in the 1950's was anything but carefree for Brooklyn families.  Something had stolen the "joie de vivre." It was the continuing threat of infantile paralysis, or polio. Polio slowly…

Map of the Month - April 2011

Carolyn

This month marks the Civil War Sesquicentennial. In honor of this event, I would like to showcase one of our Civil War maps. Published in 1961 for the Centennial Celebrations, it shows major troop movements, battle sites, and portraits of important figures. It also features historical commentary and illustrations of flags, artillery, and uniforms. If you’d like to view more Civil War-related items, you can search the BHS collections or preview the National Archives’ upcoming exhibit Discovering the Civil War.…

The Reverend Obadiah Holmes Clock at the Brooklyn Historical Society

Julie May

I received an email some three years ago about a clock that was rumored to be standing in the main floor of the library at the Brooklyn Historical Society. The person asking happened to be a descendent of the original owner of this clock (which was given to the Long Island Historical Society (now known as the Brooklyn Historical Society) in May of 1869. I looked downstairs and saw no clock and could not recall ever having seen a clock (except for the plastic one on the ref desk) in my tenure at BHS. After a bit more head scratching, card catalog searching, and widespread questioning I located…

A VERY QUIET FURY

Thomas

Very few photos exist of the little-known anarchist, vegetarian, and amateur photographer Heinrich Bollinger. Unlike his more celebrated comrades -- Johann Most, Alexander Berkman, and Emma Goldman, who all lived in Manhattan and with whom he consorted -- Bollinger spent his entire Brooklyn life living in an old stone house near Coney Island. His life, oddly enough for a self-professed anarchist, was a quiet one: he earned his daily bread selling sand worms and renting boats. Bollinger collected the stones for his house just off the shores of Coney Island, enlisting the help of local…

A Few of my Favorite Maps

Alli

This past year I’ve had my hands on many different maps. As one of the map catalogers for our CLIR Hidden Collections grant I’ve gone through and closely examined much of our collection. Every map is interesting and historically valuable, but some have stuck in my mind more than others. Yes, I have favorites. These are not necessarily the rarest or most valuable pieces in our collection – they’re just maps I’ve had fun poring over. I hope you enjoy them too.…

The Loneliness of the Skyscraper Window-Washer

Thomas

"He was strapped to a window frame just a few feet under the huge clock.  The cold of a November morning swept away from the gilded dome of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank above him.  He shifted his weight.  The wind snapped at the chamois strung around his neck. Below, toy-like cars and tiny figures wove a crazy pattern in front of the Long Island Rail Road station." This vivid, poetic storyline from the November 16, 1952 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle describes not the antics of some real-life Spiderman, but rather the daily grind of one humble 34-year-old…

Is it un-American for mothers to work?

Thomas

There is no question that World War II had a major impact on the role of women in the work place.  Brooklyn's female task force was no exception to this trend--particularly given the amount of labor needed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard "to make the weapons to beat the Axis." For many, the choice to seek employment meant sacrifice--particularly when children were involved.  Enter the Mayor's Committee on Wartime Care of Children.  It was the duty of the committee to provide support, advice and childcare options for "temporary widows" (i.e. wives of soldiers)…

Gentrifiers and Nannies: two new books, two upcoming author talks

Thomas

The intermittent stream of new books with significant content relating to Brooklyn has recently delivered to our desks two substantial volumes that will be of interest to our readers. Suleiman Osman's The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) offers a history of Brownstone Brooklyn's transformation from the run-down slums of the 1940s and 1950s to the current landscape of beautifully renovated houses and apartments selling for millions of dollars. The "…

Worth 1,000 words and sometimes a smile

Weatherly

I always enjoy working with the photography collection, and finding an unusual or unexpected image tends to make my day. The sentiment of the majority of portraits from the late 19th and early 20th centuries could lead you to believe that very few people had fun in those days. With scant smiles and rigid posture, how could they? So, here are some examples from the BHS photo collection to prove that notion wrong. Take this portrait of an alumni association known as the Old First Class of Wilson Street School (now P.S. 16 in Williamsburg). At quick glance, it's just a group of middle-aged men…

Una Furtiva Lagrima

Thomas

Enrico Caruso's golden chord, which kept the world so enthralled, first began to fade at the Academy of Music in Brooklyn on December 11th 1920. There, in the first act of Donizetti's opera, L'Elisir d'Amore, leaning on the shoulder of whichever chorus member happened to be closest to him, Caruso filled handkerchief after handkerchief with blood as he struggled to sing through the pain of a hemorrhaged vessel in his throat. During a prolonged 45 minute intermission Caruso was examined by his physician and forbidden from continuing with his performance. As the intermission dragged on, the…

High Iron

Andy McCarthy

Last December, the Landmark Preservation Commission proposed to designate a section of Downtown Brooklyn as the “Borough Hall Skyscraper District.” The buildings in the district, described here, were mostly built between 1901 and 1927, when Brooklyn was believed to have a future as a financial hub, but the district also includes landmark status for Borough Hall, where at one time the old Mayor of Brooklyn held office -  so if it is a strange mis-characterization to refer to any part of Brooklyn as a "Skyscraper District" - as if Brooklyn ever cared for skyscrapers  - at least the district…

Brooklyn's Vitaphone Studios

Thomas

Jack Benny about 1930. The woman on the right may be Mary Livingstone, Jack Benny's wife and comedy partner. The photograph collections of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle are stored in two locations in the library: the 30,000 or so showing Brooklyn scenes are maintained for convenience in file cabinets in a small room close to the Brooklyn Collection reading room. These are the images that are most in demand with our patrons, and it is these that we have made available online where copyright issues permitted. At some time in the distant past these photographs must have been separated…

The Joy of Processing: a peek into the Bernard Green Collection

Thomas

  Composer, writer, and fan of mothers everywhere, Bernard Green (bottom, with telephone) and associate.    In our Brooklynology articles, we often draw from several sources to flesh out each story about Brooklyn history, including our prints collection, our ephemera files, reference books, and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs and clippings.  These are the same materials that we are most often serving to the researching public that visits the Brooklyn Collection.  A feedback loop begins to emerge -- a researcher requests Eagle photographs, for…

Map of the Month - March 2011

Carolyn

I'm very excited to introduce "Map of the Month," a new feature on the BHS Blog. Every month, we will showcase a different map from our collection, from subway maps of the 1940s to property maps of the 1820s. Look for our featured maps on the 1st Monday of every month. For March, I'm starting with a personal favorite. This map dates from approximately 1684 and shows New Netherland and New England. It is attributed to Nicholas Visscher and is lavishly illustrated, containing drawings of wildlife and Native American villages, as well as a view of New Amsterdam. Enjoy!…

Students and Faculty in the Archives

Robin M. Katz

Connecting to Universities The Brooklyn Historical Society has officially kicked off our Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA) project.  The BHS has long been committed to introducing students of all ages and backgrounds to our remarkable facilities and collections. SAFA is a three-year, US Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant that will create a replicable pedagogical model for collaboration between museums like BHS and institutions of higher learning. In the first year, we will be working with local partners from New York…

Handsome Devils, or, Whiskers and the Men Who Wore Them

Nick

As we on the CLIR survey team have discovered in the hundreds of photographs we have encountered since beginning our work last April, the gentlemen and ladies who strolled the streets of 19th-century Brooklyn took great care to stay up on the hottest fashions of the day.  For the gents, this often involved the sporting of some truly impressive and daring facial hair styles.  I thought I might take this opportunity to share but a modest sampling of the mustaches, beards, and sideburns that have evoked our admiration and/or bewilderment.  Let these photographs be a testament to the hidden power…

How photos get from the archives to the web site by Micah Vandegrift

Thomas

  The Brooklyn Collection is a goldmine of resources for teaching and learning the history of our borough. As you probably know, we have extensive collections of documents, ephemera and photographs that are housed here at the Central Library and made available for research. What you may not know is that there are ongoing efforts to digitize our materials in order to make them more widely accessible through our website and across the internet. So how does it all happen?   Previous digitization projects--using LSTA funds to digitize 18,000 photographs, or the IMLS project to scan…

The Duke

Thomas

The Yankees had Mickey Mantle, the Giants had Willie Mays, and dem Bums had the Duke. From 1947 to 1957 New York City experienced a golden age of baseball, and the play of these three centerfielders made for some of the headiest rivalries the sport has ever seen. For ten out of those eleven years, at least one New York team made the World Series, with the Yankees and Dodgers meeting six times. On each of those Dodgers teams, Duke Snider was as valuable as his cross-river counterparts, usually leading the club in base hits, runs, home runs, and RBIs. On Sunday February 27th, this titan of…

Of Equal Rights and Legal Forms

Larry Weimer

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal....  Even before the ink used to write the Declaration of Independence dried on the paper, it was clear that these stirring words reflected both the promise and the paradox of America: that while the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness might form the very foundation of our nation, many Americans would also be systematically denied their equality and their rights. The promise has often been realized: the abolition of slavery, the extension of the vote to women, the elimination of restrictions…

Presidents Don't Use Rain Delays

Thomas

On October 21, 1944, as heavy rain and autumn winds pelted the five boroughs, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, approaching an election for an historic fourth term, toured through fifty-one miles of New York City streets in a large motorcade.  With his wife Eleanor at his side, the aging President defied terrible weather to greet his fellow Americans from an open car (and sometimes without a hat). "There was no doubt," the Times wrote, "that he wanted to be seen by as many New Yorkers as possible."   For Brooklyn, considered one of FDR's…

Memories of MetroTech

Sady Sullivan

  We were sad to learn that George Bugliarello, president emeritus of Polytechnic Institute of NYU, passed away last week.  BHS interviewed Dr. Bugliarello (1927-2011) in 2007 for the oral history archives.  The interview is available for listening in the Othmer Libary (accession #2008.031.5).  You can read his obituary in The New York Times (2/22/2011). In his oral history interview, Dr. Bugliarello talks about his role in conceiving the redevelopment of Downtown Brooklyn (near…

Days of Wine and Onions: Garrett & Co and Virginia Dare

Thomas

Original Virginia Dare Extract Company invoice for flavorings dated Apr 15, 1936. Brooklyn Public Library--Brooklyn Collection. One of the more interesting companies to have occupied premises in Bush Terminal is Garrett & Co, makers of Virginia Dare wine and flavoring extracts. Long-time readers of Brooklynology may remember a post called the Grapes of Brooklyn in which I drew attention to early efforts at viticulture and wine-making in Brooklyn. Garrett & Co kept the flag of Kings County oenology flying  for 45 years, from its quarters in Building 10 in the…

A Taste of The Lefferts Collection

Craig P. Savino

One of the most fun aspects of working with the Lefferts family papers for me was getting to see some of the cookbooks the collection contained. In particular, the handmade and handwritten cookbook that likely belonged to Maria Lott Lefferts (1786-1865) with some possible contribution from her daughter Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt (1824-1902).

The hearth and kitchen was an important part of the Lefferts…

Dodger Babies

Thomas

Here at the Brooklyn Collection, we have a large collection of photographs of Brooklyn's much-missed local baseball team, the Dodgers.  These are mostly images snapped by Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographers, depicting the players on the field, at training camps, and in locker rooms -- their faces flushed and euphoric with victory, or grim with defeat.  Though these images are fascinating -- especially for a Brooklyn transplant like me, who never knew the borough's glory days of hometeam baseball -- I've become more engrossed by the photographs of the players'…

Black News

Ben

I floated a Twitter balloon the other week looking for feedback from our followers regarding topics they might like to see us cover here on Brooklynology. Of our 754 devotees (and I use that word loosely) only three responded; but their suggestions were all excellent and deserving of our attention. Of the three which you can see above I decided to address @brooklynhistory's request for more 20th century posts first -- and not merely because we are kindred cultural institutions (@brooklynhistory is the Twitter account for the Brooklyn Historical Society)…

The Battle of Long Island in Maps

Alli

I was in Greenwood Cemetery a couple months ago and spent some time lounging in my favorite spot: Battle Hill. Doesn’t it have the greatest view? I could sit there for hours. The history of Battle Hill is just as interesting as the view. It was here that Maryland troops kept the British forces distracted while Washington evacuated the rest of his army to Manhattan. We have a few maps in our collection that cover this battle, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to post a couple now.…

From the Ephemera Files: an Imperfect Paradise in Brooklyn

Thomas

Walking into work today, I overheard the plaintive cry of a cabin-fevered fellow Brooklynite, "Ah, why can't it be just be warm outside?!"  Grimly, inwardly, I had to agree with her helpless complaint.  Facing the icy depths of February, the mind can't help but wonder if there's a happier place.  A warm, welcoming place, with bright sunshine, sandy beaches, luxury accommodations, and maybe even world-class entertainment to round out a glorious day in paradise.  A place like... Manhattan Beach! Browsing through our ephemera files, I found this…

The Blizzard of 1888

Julie May

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS' collection? Visit our online image gallery. Use this database to search for individual photographs. Currently a small number of our images are available online, but we regularly add new photographs. You can also visit BHS' Othmer Library Wed-Fri, 1-5pm to search through our entire collection of images.

The Many Faces of Henry Ward Beecher

Thomas

In the pages of the nineteenth century illustrated magazines, certain Brooklyn-related subjects seem to have been of perennial interest. One was the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a huge source of prestige and employment for the city (as it was until consolidation with New York City 1898.) Another was the controversial figure of Henry Ward Beecher. A thoroughly respectful engraving depicting the young HWB. From the Drawing Room Gallery of Eminent Personages, [c.1860] From his early days as a slim young preacher, to his more corpulent middle-aged presence as a master of oratory and Pastor of Plymouth…

Archives and Religion

Fred Folmer

As anyone who’s spent an afternoon looking through one of the archival collections at the Brooklyn Historical Society undoubtedly knows, archival research is an imaginative exercise. Scrapbooks, ledgers, letters, pamphlets, record books, collectibles, photos – such things work primarily to provoke the imagination, pointing to the human activity that may have produced them. And if one is willing to take the time to look carefully through them, archives can show us important things about a particular historical social world: what was important to the people in that world, where some of their…

White Wings and Dream Stuff

Thomas

In the summer of 1951 New York City was a marijuana jungle. From underpasses in the Bronx to empty lots on Avenue X, the razor-toothed fronds of 10 foot tall Cannabis sativa plants could be seen all around the city happily waving in the wind like any other innocuous and legal weed. But for all their persistence in invading the city's forgotten horticultural corners, these plants were likely waving farewell: New York was no friend to pot. Over the course of the summer about 41,000 pounds of marijuana were uprooted and destroyed during a campaign to eradicate the psychotropic stuff from…

The Demon Barber of Brooklyn

Thomas

He struck without warning, descending quickly upon unsuspecting adolescent girls and committing his dastardly deed with one efficient stroke.  Before the victims even had a chance to cry out, his evil work was finished, and the bandit disappeared deftly into the bustling Brooklyn street crowds with his prize in hand... a fistful of hair.  In the late 19th century, the man who would be known as "Jack the Snipper" allegedly lopped off the braids and pigtails of nearly a dozen young girls in Brooklyn and Manhattan.  His bizarre crimes sparked a minor hysteria among the teenagers…

Pfizer Family Products--a Window Into The 1950s, by guest blogger Christine Modica.

Thomas

Recently a friend of the family, who was something of a collector, passed away. Among the items he had accumulated over the years, my mother found a box of Pfizer medicines in near perfect condition,  labeled “Family Products.” The contents include: • Visine eye drops • Viterra vitamins and minerals. “A smaller capsule for your convenience’ • Terramucin Ointment for minor burns, wounds or abrasions • Candettes cough syrup • Candettes cold tablets • Candettes cough-jel • ACM “New Improved” •…

The Ratzer Map 1770

Sady Sullivan

Listen to historian Barnet Schecter, author of The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution, and conservator Jon Derow discuss the historical importance of this rare and recently conserved map of New York City made by Bernard Ratzer in the late 1760s. You can read more about the Ratzer map in this recent article in The New  York Times (1/16/2011).

Image by Kirsten Luce for The New York Times
And here's more from BHS Map Cataloguer Carolyn Hanson (Brooklyn Heights Blog):

The Tale of January 1871

David Randall

The Brooklyn Historical Society has a largely complete run of the Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen of the City of Brooklyn—bound volumes for much of the late nineteenth-century that detail the week-by-week proceedings of the Brooklyn city government. The Tale of January 1871 So what can the Proceedings provide for the researcher?—I thought it would be fun to find out. I decided to look at just one month, January 1871, in the volume that covers proceedings From January 2 to June 26, 1871. I found a bunch of entertaining incidents that illustrate Brooklyn in 1871 -- the Street Commissioner…

More than just a pretty map

Carolyn

Recently, I was speaking to a woman about what I do. After I told her that I work with maps, she responded, I love maps! They're so beautiful. I'd love to get a framed one for my living room. To me, this comment highlights a shift in the way that we view maps. Now that we live in the era of GPS and Google Maps, the printed map has become more valued for its aesthetics than its functional capabilities. This is not necessarily a bad thing,  but it made me want to highlight some of the maps in our collection that I think are interesting because of the data that they impart, as opposed to the way…

Fort Greene / Clinton Hill Audio Tour

Sady Sullivan

To complement the Fort Greene / Clinton Hill Neighborhood & Architectural History Guide by Francis Morrone, the Brooklyn Historical Society presents a new audio tour of Fort Greene / Clinton Hill. The tour is hosted by author, filmmaker, and longtime Fort Greene resident Nelson George.  It features excerpts from oral history interviews from the Brooklyn Historical Society’s collections: artists, community activists, and longtime residents both past and present including professional…

Strange as it May Seem

Thomas

Long before "The Tonight Show" started featuring "Headlines", (the segment of the show running humorous advertisements and signs sent in from around the country), the Brooklyn Daily Eagle had a similar column.  "Strange as it May Seem" highlighted images the Eagle photographers had taken of amusing and peculiar signs around Brooklyn. Here are a few from the Fall of 1933.                               …

When the Boro's Milk Vanished

Thomas

In the early 1950s, with post-war families booming across the United States, no single food item may have been as important as milk.  This was certainly the case in Brooklyn, where milk was needed to feed infants and supply children with necessary nutrients.  Milk was even a key ingredient in many housewives' favorite recipes--everything from meatloaf to tuna casserole to chicken pot pies to pound cake needed milk! Demand for milk was so high that dairies had production and distribution plants right here in the borough.  Borden's, Sheffield's and other familiar names were…

Engineering Love

Patricia Glowinski

As the Archives Survey Team enters into our ninth month on the CLIR survey project, we've had our share of surveying interesting archival collections, be they large or small. Recently we've come across a surprisingly fantastic little collection, the Brooklyn Engineer's Club publications (ARC.156). As you may have realized by now, we here at BHS love our Brooklyn architecture. But this collection reminds us that behind every great building, structure, or city infrastructure project, stands an engineer. Forever in the shadows of architects who get all the love and adoration (especially today),…

E.W. Bliss Co: Torpedoes and Telegraph Codes

Thomas

Among the much-appreciated gifts that have found their way to my desk in recent weeks, is one from Michael D. Barber of Leeds, U.K.  Mr Barber's parcel contained  a 1901 catalogue of the products made by Brooklyn's E.W. Bliss Co, bearing  a bookplate from the "Projectile Co. (1902) Ltd, of New Road, Wandsworth, S.W., sole agents for E.W. Bliss Co, , Brooklyn, NY, Presses, Dies and Special Machinery." There must have been a ready market for Bliss products in industrial West Yorkshire, and so it is in no way strange that the 534 page catalogue of heavy machinery should have…

Hit Parade, January 4, 1947

Thomas

It's been a while since we dipped into the Diary of Arthur Lonto. Mr Lonto wasn't one for expressing on paper his innermost thoughts. His entries are all comings and goings, working and mending and studying and paying bills and going to mass and taking the subway for the fun of it.  And then, now and again, he gives us the hit parade. In case it's hard to read his handwriting, here is what we might have been listening to at this time back in 1947. 1-Buttermilk Sky 2-Old Lamplighter 3- For Sentimental Reasons 4-Gal in Calico 5 Zippity Doo da 6- Whole World's Singing My Songs 7-…

Big Appetites, Little Pizzas

Thomas

Brooklyn is justifiably world famous as a hot spot for delicious pizza, so much so that we even have our own style of pizza--thin-crusted slices cut so big you can fold them in half while you eat them.  The borough is peppered, or, perhaps, "pepperonied", with beloved neighborhood pizza joints serving quality slices to loyal fans, who debate endlessly over which excellent pizza place is the best pizza place.  And if you haven't yet known the pleasures of a coal-fired Totonno's slice, a fresh-from-the-oven DiFara's pie, or a delightfully doughy L & B…

Happy New Year from BHS!

Leah

In honor of upcoming New Year's celebrations, here is a sample of "celebratory" images from Brooklyn's past.  Happy New Year everyone!   

…

Happy Holidays

Thomas

    Card Design by June Koffi, Brooklyn Public Library--Brooklyn Collection.  

A Class Sister Act

Thomas

                    During the period between the 1930's and 1950's the entertainment field was filled with many talented sister vocal groups. There were the McGuire Sisters from Ohio, the King Sisters from Utah, the DeCastro Sisters all the way from Havana, Cuba, and the Andrew Sisters from Minnesota.  Not to be outdone, the borough of Kings was represented in song by the Five DeMarco Sisters who began their career in the 1940's as teenagers. The sisters got their start when their father…

Celebrate Forefathers Day!

Nick

My favorite holiday of the year is nearly upon us, and I think the time is right for a celebratory BHS blog post!  Sure, while there are many holidays populating the month of December, I think we can all agree that there is one that obviously outshines all the others.  That day, of course, comes on December 22nd, when we unite in celebration of Forefathers Day, the anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620!

Ok…

Irving Herzberg and the Plane Crash of 1960

Thomas

New York City accomodates all juxtapositions. Spend enough time here and no two things paired together, however odd, will seem unusual. This is the city where nothing can be out of place however willy-nilly the arrangement may be: from the gently surreal sight of a coyote cowering beneath a SUV in Manhattan, to the more terrible and spectral image of ash covered workers wandering the daytime streets of the Financial District. Whether it is welcome or not, the city will make room for it. But for all this open-armed receptiveness -- allowing this or that to suddenly and irrevocably appear and…

A Brooklyn Child's Christmas List, 1953

Thomas

In November 1953, Abraham & Straus Department Store opened its annual holiday Toyland with a party for children from the Brooklyn School Settlement.  Activities included visits with Santa, music by an accordion quartet, a doll fashion show, and an appearance by local child "movie star" Richie Andrusco at a "Coke-Tail" party in the store's restaurant.  But the biggest moment of the day was when the children took a first look at Toyland intself.  As the Eagle reported, the children from the Settlement "lost themselves."  Even a movie star like…

Brooklyn Air Disaster, December 16, 1960

Elizabeth Call

I remember first coming across a box with the label "Brooklyn Air Disaster, December 16, 1960, Scrapbook" a couple of years ago.  Of course with a title like that I had to open and view the contents.  I was shocked then to learn that there had been a plane crash on Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place, right in the middle of Park Slope Brooklyn.  Since then we have from time to time gotten reference questions asking about the exact location of the crash.  Now that the 50th anniversary is approaching this Thursday, the questions have increased.…

A Movement Grows In Brooklyn. The Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Wed Dec 15 2010, 7:00 p.m.

Thomas

Brooklyn was the location of one of the most important northern urban civil rights movements of the 1960s. Brian Purnell will describe the activities and impact of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) in Brooklyn, where protesters and activists demanded jobs, improved schools, clean neighborhoods and citizenship rights. Brian Purnell is Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Bowdoin College. Refreshments will be served from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Brooklyn Collection, 2nd floor, Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11238.  

Gimme Coffee!

Thomas

Listed in the 1900 Trow Business Directory for Brooklyn and Queens between Coal Miners & Shippers and Coffin Dealers (which listing precedes the now-connotatively-complicated Coke Dealers) you'll find listings for the cleaners, polishers, purveyors, importers, and roasters of coffee. At this time in Brooklyn there were 6 Coffee Cleaners and Polishers; 2 dealers in or makers of Essence of Coffee; 7 Coffee Importers; 9 Coffee Roasters; and 1 dealer in Coffee Pots, Tea Pots & Urns. Not yet listed among these caffeinated capitalists was the name of Edward Dannemiller, a Canton, Ohio…

Church of the Saviour

Craig P. Savino

Patricia had a great post recently discussing Brooklyn architecture and architects materials among the Historical Society’s collections. Brooklyn was once characterized as “the city of homes and churches” and while Patricia’s post certainly pointed out some examples of homes and commercial buildings exemplifying a portion of the range of Brooklyn’s architecture, I wanted to focus on a specific instance of the latter half of that characterization with a great example of Brooklyn’s church architecture in our collections. While working on the records of the First Unitarian Congregational Society…

The Night the Lights Went Out in Brooklyn

Thomas

It was February of 1946.  Brooklynites were recovering from years of privation and separation brought on by the only recently ended World War II.  Servicemen and women were readjusting to civilian life in the warm bosom of their families just as winter was seizing the borough in its usual icy grip.  And then, on February 7th, Mayor William O'Dwyer declared a state of emergency in the city, ordering strict rationing of coal and fuel oil.  Four days later, another proclamation from O'Dwyer ordered all "motion picture houses, theaters, night clubs, bars and grills,…

Calling Fort Greene / Clinton Hill

Sady Sullivan

You know that part in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989) where Buggin Out tells the guy in a Larry Bird jersey to move back to Massachusetts?  That's one of those highly charged interactions we've all had at some point with our neighbors, to both positive and negative effect.  Our neighborly confrontations may not be as heated as Buggin Out's or directly address big topics like gentrification and race, as his does, but they still stick in our minds for a long time, replaying over and…

In Search of the Brooklyn Gridiron

Thomas

Having watched a lot of football in my formative years, particularly as a college student, I am always in search of local football stories.  Yes, we have two professional teams to root for here in New York.  Yet, sometimes the distance to New Jersey takes away that "hometown" feel - hence my desire to search for traces of actual Brooklyn ball in our collection.  (I should take a moment to note that not everyone feels as I do.  For my neighbors who honor every Giants game with a party and backyard BBQ, the NJ/NY divide is no such hurdle.)  The early…

Repeal Day is this Sunday!

Julie May

For those of you who are unaware, let me tell you that Sunday is an important date in United States history.  Sunday is Repeal Day.  77 years ago on December 7, 1933 the 21st Amendment reversed the 18th Amendment enforced by the Volstead Act and referred to as the Noble Experiment, the Great Illusion, and possibly some other names I should not list here.  The 21st Amendment ended 13 years of illegal activity related to the sale, distribution, and public consumption of alcohol.  If the culture of New York City was anything like it is today, how could our pickled residents of yore have…

Apple Pie

Thomas

                                       Of all the wonderful foods that are made for Thanksgiving, apple pie is my favorite.  New York State produces about 29 million bushels annually, and some of that harvest winds up at the Green Market here at Grand Army Plaza.  At other markets too, New York's farmers proudly advertise mouth-watering varieties such as…

152 Henry Street

Andy McCarthy

152 Henry Street, a four story red-bricked Greek Revival multiple dwelling, could be the last Single Room Occupancy in Brooklyn Heights from the 19th century.

152 Henry Street, Brooklyn Heights, 2010
Landmarked in 1965, the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood served as the city's inaugural landmark designation. The subsequent designation report is brief and scantly detailed, but preservationist and Kentucky-native Clay Lancaster wrote a definitive history of the neighborhood, Old Brooklyn Heights, which is commonly perceived as the surrogate…

Floyd, the Tippling Turtle at the Toddy Inn

Thomas

In 1954 when this photograph was taken, Floyd the turtle had been making annual springtime visits to the Toddy Inn at 7913 Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge for over twenty years, since 1933. The turtle migrated annually from his hibernation spot in a nearby back yard to the floor under a particular booth in the tavern, where he stayed for a week, taking naps and short walks around the bar. Then out he went, not to be seen again until the next year.  According to tavern legend, it all began when a customer brought Floyd into the bar in 1933 along with two other pet turtles.  At…

Other Brooklyns--a Postscript

Thomas

Brooklynology readers may not remember a post about other Brooklyns written in September 2009 that has so far drawn zero comments except for the daily computer-generated  spamming from a  shoe company I will not name, because that is what they want. "Cheers for sharing these helpful content material! Hope that you simply just just will carry on accomplishing advantageous file this type of as this."  Or, more thought-provokingly: "We've got loved searching the content material." The end of that post described the "Brooklyn Adopts Breuckelen Project" which…

Artist and Artifact exhibit - artists interpret Brooklyn's history

Janice

BHS is really excited about our new exhibit, Artist & Artifact: Re|Visioning Brooklyn's Past, presented in partnership with our neighbor BRIC Rotunda Gallery, the contemporary art space of BRIC Arts|Media|Bklyn.

Over the past two years, 10 artists (7 visual artists, 2 writers, and a musician) were invited to delve into the BHS collections and create new works inspired by what they…

Of Hair Pins and Independents: Brooklyn's Lady Bowlers

Thomas

As the days grow colder in autumn's inexorable march toward winter, a lady's fancy turns to... bowling.  Or mine does, anyway, because my bowling league's season is winding down, and I'll have just a few more chances to hurl my trusty ten pound ball before we adjourn for the holidays.  Ours is a co-ed league, and every week I'm impressed at the grace and skill of my fellow female pin-toppers.  It leads me to wonder: How long have women been bowling?  A trip to our Brooklyn Daily Eagle clippings files turned up some interesting answers.  Lady of the lanes -- …

Tourist maps

Carolyn

First off, let me admit that I am new to New York. I've been in the city for almost a year, and while I've learned to navigate the streets pretty well, sometimes I still turn a corner and find myself hopelessly lost. So I am very sympathetic to all the tourists wandering around BHS and Brooklyn Heights, struggling to find their way. Unfortunately for tourists, Brooklyn Heights does not have a great deal of signage to help them find the neighborhood's landmarks, or even the way to the Promenade or the Brooklyn Bridge. In response to this, a professor from Parsons the New School of Design gave…

VETERANS DAY: BROOKLYN IN KOREA

Thomas

From the Battle of Brooklyn to the building of battleships at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklynites are no strangers to the demands of war. And as any soldier deployed abroad can surely attest, one of the most familiar feelings brought on by military service is one of homesickness. Looking for some sign of home while stationed in Japan in 1951, one Brooklyn-bred soldier, Private Justin Grishman, took it upon himself to write a letter to the Eagle requesting just that -- a sign -- a street sign to be exact. Says Pvt. Justin Grishman, 45 Martense St., who is now in Korea, 'I would like a street…

Brooklyn Life Magazine, 1890-1931

Thomas

= WHAT DID SHE MEAN? -- MR DE BOER: Miss Emma, perhaps I ought not to call during Lent, for I understand you deny yourself all amusement.  MISS E: Yes, I do Mr. de Boer. Come as often as you like. Genealogists and others who come to the Brooklyn Collection are often familiar with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in its various forms--online, microfilm, morgue. But the Brooklyn Collection carries many other serials on microfilm, including 63 local newspapers. Lacking an index, these are of little use unless researchers know the date of the article they are seeking. But Brooklyn Life…

Emma Toedteberg, Librarian Extraordinaire

Weatherly

Part of what I love about working as an archivist is getting to peek in at lives of the past, and getting to know the Brooklynites who walked the streets decades, and centuries, before us. What’s even better (and yes, even nerdier) is learning about a woman who helped build the collections at BHS that we use today. A few months ago, my teammate Patricia and I surveyed a collection from BHS’s third librarian, Emma Toedteberg. If you’re a regular patron of the archives, then you may have already heard of Emma—she’s the namesake of our catablog. Her collection is slim, but it gives us some…

Wild About Maison Foffe

Thomas

Venison, anyone?  How about some wild pheasant? No, this ghastly tableau doesn't depict a horrible roadkill incident but, rather, an invitation to dinner.  Decades ahead of the current trends of locally-sourced food and organic meats, Alfred Foffe was serving wild game in his tony Brooklyn Heights restaurant, Maison Foffe.  These suspended carcasses signal to those in the know that Foffe is back from his annual hunting trip with a menu of fresh-from-the-wild animals to serve his customers.  The story of the Foffe family's establishment as Brooklyn restaurant…

Everything Bagel

Thomas

When I began to write this post, it was going to be just about bagels.  It will still be about bagels, dear reader, however, I've added something very special to the end. It's worth the wait, I promise! The Brooklyn Collection must be thinking about food lately -- specifically round breads with a hole in the middle.  Tara wrote a fantastic post about the doughnut and now I'm writing about the bagel.   While the bagel was not an original Brooklyn creation, we're close enough to the Lower East Side to practically have a mirrored history.  Immigrants who moved…

So Long, Brooklyn.....Hello, Brooklyn. A Farewell post from Tara.

Thomas

It feels bittersweet that my time in Brooklyn is coming to an end, as I am moving to Australia with my husband to have a child and begin a new life chapter. I will certainly miss my job as the Research Assistant in the Brooklyn Collection, and the pleasures of discovering fascinating Little-Known Brooklyn Residents in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Morgue. My days of unearthing photos of cats dressed up in princess outfits, pipe-organs in apartments, and youthful treasure hunters are behind me, and I will remember these days fondly.  Happy days working in the morgue  Although there is…

Tonight! October 27th at 6:30pm BUSHWICK FARMS: Imagined Genealogies and Conceptual History.

Thomas

   What happens when art meets history and genealogy? Tara Cuthbert and Stuart Solzberg, creators of the Bushwick Farms project, will describe their ongoing art project as it nears the end of one phase and enters another, in an illustrated talk at 7 p.m. on Wednesday October 27th in the Brooklyn Collection, Central Library. Click here to learn more and prepare to be surprised and delighted. As usual, we will ply you with astonishingly good cheese and wine starting at 6:30 p.m. before you take your seat.

And They're Off! - Part 2

Thomas

In this second part of And They're Off we look at the role that the racing industry played in establishing the Sheepshead Bay African-American community and the First Baptist Church of Sheepshead Bay.                                                                  …

Brooklyn Architecture and Architects

Patricia Glowinski

As part of the CLIR team surveying the archival, manuscript, and photography collections at BHS, we’ve come across several collections that document either iconic Brooklyn architecture or local Brooklyn architects. With the recent conclusion of the 8th annual Open House New York, I’ve been thinking about architecture, the multitude of buildings I encounter everyday, and my relationship with them. From the Hotel St. George where the subway lets me out in the morning, to the George B. Post landmarked building I work in at BHS, to the sprawling Concord Village I walk past everyday on my way to…

Project CHART - Digitizing Brooklyn History

Thomas

Brooklynology is pleased to welcome Micah Vandegrift for this guest post. Micah is the Coordinator for Project CHART (Cultural Heritage Access Research and Technology) at Brooklyn Public Library where he will be supervising interns in the digitization of historic photographs, and co-managing CHART's development as a cultural heritage curriculum. Looks like Bedford these days too! View this image in our catalog.  It is not difficult to imagine what Brooklyn would have looked like in the recent past. Many of the buildings, landmarks and neighborhoods retain the characteristics of…

Centenarian Faity Tuttle!

Sady Sullivan

BHS is happy to see Brooklynite Esther Leeming "Faity" Tuttle celebrated in The New York Times among fellow centenarians! Hear Faity talk about John's Group, a playgroup for children in Prospect Park, Brooklyn accents, and how John narrowly avoided being struck by the 1960 plane crash in Park Slope: Faity was born in 1911 and she grew up in Brooklyn Heights, on Henry Street.  She became a professional actress, appearing on Broadway with Humphrey Bogart, among others.  In 1944, she moved to Park Slope with her husband, Ben, and their three children.  She's a longtime supporter of the Brooklyn…

Pictorial Maps

Alli

I love a good pictorial map. When maps use pictures, rather than symbols or text, to show points of interest, it always adds a little something for me. Sometimes the "something" is humor, sometimes it's a better sense of the map's time and place. Below, a few examples from our collection.

The above map, for example, shows the village of Gravesend as it appeared in 1870. Seeing it for the…

Drama on the High Seas

Nick

A colleague here at BHS recently informed me that the National Archives of the UK has made its collection of Royal Navy surgeons' journals entirely accessible online.  This immediately reminded me of a small collection of nautical journals that the CLIR team recently uncovered, in which a ship's surgeon is also featured, only not quite in the way you'd think.  The journals were kept by Henry W. Dodge, a New Yorker who served on a number of highly-publicized expeditions to explore the Arctic before passing away suddenly in a saloon on Fulton Street in 1874.  His journal kept aboard the…

Move over Costco

Thomas

Stores like BJ's and Costco have brought to many present-day Brooklynites an irresistible combination of consumer emotions, making us feel simultaneously rich and frugal by allowing us to cram our tiny New York City dwellings with discounted consumer goods.  For maybe seventy percent of the regular price, plus the price of your annual membership, you can lay up industrial quantities of frozen cod fillets, kitchen towels, and bottles of detergent so large you can barely lift them. You can buy two dozen eggs at once and watch them ageing in the…

Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Birthday Dancers Joseph Notarfrancesco and Laura Louise Ottomanelli

Thomas

On October 12, 1951, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that the family of 89 year-old Joseph Notarfrancesco caught him climbing onto his garage roof with the intent of making repairs with a hammer. His family urged him down in a hurry, concerned that he should not be doing such activities at his age. "Pop can't stand still," his granddaughter said, "...he always has a hammer in his hand." The Eagle reported "...for a nonagenarian the elderly man is indeed active. He reads avidly, writes letters, goes to church every Sunday, and even dances the rhumba." Just two days later on his 90th birthday…

Map Scam?

Carolyn

Here at BHS, my job is to catalog maps. We have a wonderful collection of Brooklyn maps from the 1700s to the present; however, when I first started looking at the collection, I noticed that some of the maps were very similar to each other. So similar, in fact, that if you were just casually glancing at them, you'd think they were duplicates. In particular, I became interested in a group of maps of Brooklyn published by A. Brown in the 1860s and 1870s; 3 maps, with virtually identical content...what was going on? Turns out, producing maps in the 1800s was very expensive, and map publishers…

Found in the Morgue: Efforts to Elevate the Humble Doughnut

Thomas

The humble doughnut is often considered lowly food in the landscape of American snacks. During the 1940s and 1950s several efforts were made to elevate the status of the doughnut, and the Morgue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle records these efforts well. Following are three examples found in the Morgue photo files. In 1955, Miss America's Wanda Jennings was the spokesperson for a nationwide campaign to "encourage housewives to serve families more nutritious snacks." Doughnuts and milk were promoted as "Wholesome Pals" -- "a good nutritious food and all important mid-morning or…

Delicious: The Event

Alli

Last night BHS' trivia event whipped more than 120 trivia buffs into a frenzy. We covered the gamut from Biggie Smalls to shuttle stops and team "Culver Express" proved unstoppable. Congrats to our winners and thanks to everyone who came. Perhaps you'll all want to swing by BPL tonight for an encore? From trivia to delectable local food,  BHS isn't stopping anytime soon. If you are a fan of the borough's amazing fare, you'll want to join us this coming Thursday, October 7  for Brooklyn Bounty, our fall fundraiser that celebrates local food makers.  Red Hook Winery, Brooklyn Brewery,  Madiba…

Vanquish your neighbors, win prizes: The Brooklyn Trivia Challenge

Thomas

 TONIGHT! Wednesday, September 29th 7:00 p.m., 6:30 for wine and cheese Something must be in the air, some twin wind blowing and doubling everything up; in another instance of eerie coincidence, it looks like we have, unbeknownst to us, planned a trivia night the evening after a similar event is slated to be held at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Oh well. I guess good things come in pairs, especially if you love rattling your brain trying to answer questions about Brooklyn history. And besides, anyone who knows Brooklyn knows that one trivia night could never get at all of the strange…

The Atlantic Antic

Emily Reynolds

The Atlantic Antic, Brooklyn's largest street fair, stretches along Atlantic Avenue from Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue. This Sunday (the 26th) will be the 36th year of the event. Some photos in our collection show the table that BHS had at the Antic in 1977 - the fourth year of the fair. BHS was still called the Long Island Historical Society, because we didn't change our name until the mid-1980s. Our display that year was in front of the old Independence Savings Bank building, which is now Trader Joe's. These days, the event draws crowds of more than a million people, with all kinds of food…

Little-Known Brooklyn Businesses. S. Gumpert & Co.

Thomas

  When first I pulled  this recipe booklet from S. Gumpert & Co. out of its file, the synthetic orange and pink sherbert colors of the cover illustration suggested a company that manufactured cheap water ices.  But to open the booklet at any page was to realize that in this instance, Gumpert's  interest was less in the ices themselves but in their ingredients. A glance at a recipe shows that this sorbet is destined for no puny domestic freezer. The secret to fine water ices, it turns out, is a substance produced by the Gumpert Company called "Textor."…

Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Parrot Fanciers Jeremiah O'Shea and William Musella

Thomas

Jeremiah O'Shea, a 1950 Red Hook resident, owned a parrot with a special talent -- the ability to swear in four languages. When Jeremiah made a trip to the pet store for birdseed one morning, he returned to find his front door open and his parrot Polly missing from her cage. He searched the neighborhood and the police investigated too, with no success. Almost a month later two teens were pulled up for causing a disturbance and after police questioning, the teens admitted that they had broken into Jeremiah's home and sold Polly to another local bird fancier. To O'Shea's delight Polly was…

School days of Brooklyn's past

Weatherly

The passing of Labor Day is always a sign that fall is near and school is back in session. All of the excited students—and the not-so-excited students—I’ve seen with backpacks and books this week got me thinking about school items the CLIR team has found during the survey of archival, manuscript, and photography collections. While you can browse yearbooks from Brooklyn schools in the Othmer Library, family papers and manuscript collections also have photographs, homework, and ephemera that give us an idea of what school was like in Brooklyn way-back-when. The James Atkins Noyes collection…

Ephemera #2: All hail the fastener, that master of combination and order.

Thomas

Not being a part of the things which it binds, a fastener is neither here nor there. Unless it's not there but needs to be, or it's breaking down and shouldn't be, a fastener usually goes unnoticed. It's an entirely forgettable little piece of hardware in this world, but not in the least is a fastener inconsequential. On the contrary, it can be the very thing upon which consequence depends. After all, if it weren't for those two staples punched into the 12 months of your wall calendar, would October really follow September? We should pause to thank those puny, bendable wickets for they…

Four Must-See Exhibits

Sady Sullivan

Time Out New York has named BHS' exhibit Painting Brooklyn Stories of Immigration & Survival as one of Four Must-See Exhibits this Fall! Opening Reception: Thursday, September 16. 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Exhibit dates: September 17 – February 27, 2011

Mystery surrounds Society's second librarian...

Elizabeth Call

Reading Brooklynology's great post on our first librarian, Henry R. Stiles, inspired us to post about our second librarian, George Hannah.  From 1863 to 1889 George served as head librarian of the Society.

There is a bit of mystery surrounding George, who went missing for three days in January 1889. In an article that appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on January 15, 1889 it is stated that George…

Brooklyn Weddings

Thomas

   Sometimes you can't ignore a good coincidence. Around the time that I was planning my own wedding, I opened a drawer in the Eagle morgue labeled "unsorted."  Inside I found lovely ladies smiling up at me, some in wedding gowns and some who looked as if they were posing for school photos.  Reading through them, I found that they were all wedding and engagement photos! We have since rehoused the images in folders and will be listing them so that anyone wanting to add to their family photo album may be able to find an image or two here at the Brooklyn…

Seen from Brooklyn, September 11, 2001. Photographs by Anders Goldfarb.

Thomas

From 1072 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, 9:10 a.m. Near Flatbush Ave, crowds walking home. Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Bedford Ave northside Corner of Calyer St and Manhattan Ave, Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Un-hiding our Collections

Chela

I am beyond thrilled to be writing a post to tell you about a grant the BHS library received a few months back from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant, awarded as a part of the CLIR Hidden Collections program and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will make possible a project called Uncovering the Secrets of Brooklyn's 19th Century Past: Creation to Consolidation. It is a big and exciting project for us to undertake. Over the next two years, we will be working to catalog many, many maps and survey and catalog a huge array of materials in our archival,…

Little-Known Brooklyn Businesses. The Bilnor Corporation

Thomas

In the 1950’s the Bilnor Corporation was a leading manufacturer of swimming pools and water toys. From their location at 300 Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg, they turned out summertime recreational products made from plastic. In 1954 they expanded upon their seasonal merchandise by creating portable ice rinks. Made of Krene, (a popular plastic developed in the 1940's) these winter weather contraptions required only water and freezing temperatures.    "Ice Rink In a Package -- A new portable ice…

Ephemera #1: Locks, Olives, and Hats

Thomas

We have filing cabinets full of ephemera -- campaign materials, menus, ticket stubs, old library cards, beer coasters -- all the typical daily detritus which, through our careful selection and preservation, we have saved from the trash bin. But a filing cabinet is no place for what are, more often than not, strikingly designed historical materials. So in an attempt to air out these easily overlooked treasures, we here at the Brooklyn Collection will start posting images of our favorite flotsam and jetsam every week to offer an unglossed peek at some of the surviving bits…

Gentrification in Fort Greene

Sady Sullivan

Check out Story #1 on this City of Memory tour! You'll find a painting by Nina Talbot and oral history interview from the Weeksville Heritage Center's collections which are both featured in BHS' upcoming exhibit Painting Brooklyn Stories of Immigration and Survival which opens here Thursday, September 16. Curated by Nina Talbot, painter, in collaboration with Rachel Bernstein, public historian at New York University, the exhibit presents striking stories of Brooklyn residents through paintings, oral histories, poetry and personal effects. These different modes of expression offer multiple…

Brooklyn, Then and Now Exhibit....curated by teen interns.

Thomas

Stop by the Brooklyn Collection to view our new exhibit, "Brooklyn, Then and Now."  This new exhibit was curated by our teen interns, Arelis and Eva, who joined us this summer through the Multicultural Internship Program.   We were very lucky to have two eager interns help us with tasks throughout the collection. Their primary project was to create a series of "Then and Now" pairs, which match a historic image from our collection with a photograph taken from the exact same spot today.  From day one, Arelis and Eva helped us with this project by…

Leprosy on Kingston Avenue

Thomas

 Although many have heard of Kings County Hospital, the huge medical center that sits right in the middle of Brooklyn between New York and Utica Avenues, few now remember the name of the Kingston Avenue Hospital, which occupied a site bounded by Kingston and Albany Avenues to the west and east, and Rutland Road and Winthrop Street to the north and south. And the reason we have heard of it here in the Brooklyn Collection, is that a doctor by the name of Boris Schleifer photographed the hospital and some of its inmates and staff during the 1930s. The resultant collection of over…

Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Charles M. Murphy

Thomas

Charles M. Murphy was one of the greatest riders in bicycle history. On June 30th, 1899, he completed a famous bicycle ride behind a Long Island Railroad train, covering an entire mile in the record-breaking time of 57 4/5 seconds. This record earned him the nickname of "Mile-a-Minute Murphy." Mile-a-Minute Murphy The event took place at Maywood, Long Island, where board track was placed over the railroad tracks, and visitors piled in by the hundreds to watch the event. On the following day, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported "the ride was thrilling and…

Found in the Morgue: Seven Special Cats

Thomas

We have a great folder of vintage cat photographs in the collection of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Morgue; below are some of my favorites. Barbara Baiena's Brooklyn kitten had a special talent -- sipping her milk through a straw in tandem with her owner. These three kittens were found inside a furniture crate shipped from Los Angeles to Brooklyn, discovered at the end of their transcontinental trip. Susie, who lived on a wharf at 57th St., chased a rat that dove into the water and Susie went in after it. Workmen tried to rescue her for more than six hours after she scrambled onto a crossbeam…

Was it standard to have gun racks in libraries in 1959?

Todd Florio

Ever since Chela mentioned offhand at lunch the other day that the BHS library had once had gun racks, my imagination was captured. I once helped move insanely heavy boxes of muskets in our storage and wondered where and when they'd been on exhibit. Well, thanks to the "Random Images" button in our online photo search of the John D. Morrell collection, an image popped up which quelled my curiosity.

I highly recommend searching around in those…

Dr. Bob (In Memory of Bob Vadheim)

Janice

I also felt compelled to write upon the news of Dr. Bob Vadheim's passing. Dr. Bob was a fascinating, witty and generous man. I enjoyed visits with him at his magnificent home on Willow St. Dr. Bob was very proud – and BHS is very grateful – that he provided funding to install the clock mechanism on our clock tower so that it would be a properly working timepiece. He also printed letterpress napkins with a Brooklyn design on them – each by hand – which he…

You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby

Thomas

On a recent beach vacation I discovered that many towns along the Jersey shore hold a 'baby parade' each summer.  I was intrigued by the idea of a parade of babies, but I chose an afternoon of lounging over further investigation -- bloggers get vacations too! After returning home, a thought occurred to me: "If baby parades existed in New Jersey, maybe there was one in Brooklyn too."  It's not that I think everything ties back to Brooklyn.  It's just that through my posts I have become familiar with Brooklyn's tendency towards the…

Bob Vadheim, 1920-2010

Sady Sullivan

Dr. Robert H. Vadheim, preservationist, music lover, and longtime friend of BHS passed away on July 16 at 90 years old.  I interviewed Bob at his home in Brooklyn Heights in 2008 for the BHS Oral History collection and remember feeling so inspired as he talked about Robert Johnson, his partner of 43 years, and the wonderful music salons they would hold in their home.  Over tea after the interview, Bob and I got to talking about all kinds of things, favorite songs (Someone to Watch Over Me), movies (I had just discovered William Powell) and what life was like for a gay man in the 1950s.  He…

Peacock in Bushwick: The Pope Mansion

Thomas

  Some years ago we purchased a small collection of photographs of an opulent house known as the "Pope Mansion" at 871 Bushwick Ave.  Mostly interior shots showing crushing amounts of Victorian clutter, the photographs are credited to H.G. Borgfeldt and dated c. 1909. A search for information on the house and the family revealed a fascinating story of tobacco wealth and family feuds right in the heart of Brooklyn.  The Pope parents immigrated to the U.S. from Bavaria. It was their son John, born around 1857, who was the founder of the family fortunes.…

Bundle of Fun

Thomas

If you make regular use of our collection it is likely that the name Henry Reed Stiles rings a bell -- a very small, rusty, cracked, nearly inaudible bell -- but a bell nonetheless. At the time of his death in 1909, Stiles was widely recognized as the first historian of the city of Brooklyn; his three volume History of the City of Brooklyn was published between 1867 and 1870 and covers everything from Hudson's first Manhattan visit to the consolidation of the cities of Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, and the township of Bushwick. He was this borough's Herodotus -- and though a photograph is an…

Whitney Museum: History Plays at BHS

Sady Sullivan

This summer, Whitney Museum Artist-in-Residence, Colin Gee, filmed a series of History Plays in response to works in the Whitney's permanent collection.  Three pieces, In Transit, What, and Lobby, were filmed here at BHS. Here's Lobby, which is a response to Eva Hesse's Untitled (Rope Piece), 1969–70:

Collage Workshop: Picturing Your Neighborhood

Thomas

A summer art workshop jointly sponsored by the Brooklyn Collection and the Art, Music Media and Sports Division (AMMS), with Artist and Librarian June Koffi. Central Library, 2nd floor meeting room, 11:00-12:30. Registration required. 718-230-2708 Week One, Wed. August 4. What makes a Collage? What makes a neighborhood? In this session participants will brainstorm about what makes their neighborhood unique. We'll also go over collage techniques and the various materials that will be used. Week Two, Wed. August 11. Looking for Images. Week two will be spent gathering and selecting images from…

The National League of Women's Services, 1918

Thomas

In 1970, 80 year-old Dorothy L. Betts of Park Slope (in 1918 at the right), donated a set of eleven photographs featuring the National League of Woman's Service.  From the census, I learned that Miss Betts was an only child who grew up in a stately brownstone on 8th Avenue between 1st Street and Garfield (the same residence she occupied at the time of her donation).  Miss Betts was born in 1890.  In 1918, she would have been 28 years old and an ideal candidate for joining the National League of Woman's Services.  The National League of Woman's Services was a…

Vegetarians vs Meat Eaters

Thomas

One of our readers some time ago suggested we explore the subject of vegetarianism, and so Brooklynology eagerly takes up the challenge.  In its early years the Brooklyn Daily Eagle treated vegetarianism as a joke, summing up vegetarians as inauthentic and bloodless bores. One of the first references to vegetarianism appears in 1851 in an article on angling, in which those objecting to the sport on grounds of cruelty are termed "canting vegetarians," a phrase that sets the tone for the next fifty years. An 1853 article suggest that a vegetarian diet is all very well in the…

Home Base on NY1

Sady Sullivan

Check out this NY1 video feature about Ebbets Field and the BHS exhibition Home Base - plus interviews with two Ex Lab students: Borough reporter Jeanine Ramirez visits the former site of Ebbets Field where its legacy continues to make its presence known: The housing complex on Bedford Avenue in Crown Heights looks similar to others in the city. But it's no ordinary location. It's the former site of Ebbets Field -- the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers until 1957, the place where Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier and the site of numerous World Series showdowns. Brooklyn…

Little Known Brooklyn Residents: eden ahbez

Thomas

Although not exactly "little known", and a California resident for much of his life, songwriter eden ahbez was Brooklyn born and bred. You may not immediately recognize his name (spelt in lower case as he believed the only words that deserved capitals were Nature, God, Happiness and Life) -- but you will certainly be familiar with a song he wrote, made famous by Nat King Cole. Nature Boy was a major hit when it was released in 1947, and has since been performed by scores of recording artists. Portrait of eden ahbez The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that eden ahbez was born in Brownsville,…

What's in the Cards?

Thomas

On the surface, trade cards -- those little slips of card stock intended to advertise a business--send a simple message. "Come here and buy my wares," they say in various tones from respectable to louche. Today, the subject matter of trade card imagery tends to be connected to the trade being promoted. A card for a paint store might show a can of paint; a pet food purveyor might show a cute cat or dog. So much seems self-evident. But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, merchants would sometimes choose stock images for their cards that had no apparent connection to…

Check out our 2010 Student Projects slideshow...

Thomas

To further celebrate the accomplishments of our Brooklyn Connections students, we've posted some of their best projects and quotes to share online.  We're still hoping that all you Brooklynites out there will stop by the Collection to see our exhibit of student work this summer.  But for our long-distance fans, we hope this little slideshow will provide you with a nice summary.  We are proud of all of our students and are already planning for 2010-2011.  And if you're a teacher, administrator or parent who would like to get your class involved in Brooklyn…

Brooklyn and the New York City Draft Riots

Thomas

This month marks the 147th anniversary of the New York City Draft riots. For three days in July of 1863, rioters turned Manhattan upside down in protest against the Civil War Draft. How did Brooklyn residents react to orders to fight for the Union forces in the Civil War? In the early months of 1863 the National Conscription Act was passed and enforcement was planned for Brooklyn and New York City in July of 1863. The Conscription Act stated that all single men aged 20-45 and married men up to 35 would be enrolled in the draft lottery. The act also contained language for drafted men to…

Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Dorothy and Richard Minnich

Thomas

Living in New York, we are accustomed to living in very close proximity with our neighbors, sometimes hearing more than we'd like to from the people living around us. I've been known to complain about my noisy upstairs neighbors, but after discovering Mr. and Mrs. Minnich's pastime, perhaps I have little to complain about. The Minnich's rescued organ, complete with built in bar In 1953, Dorothy and Richard Minnich rescued a 1,500 pound pipe organ from a mortuary chapel in Manhattan, and reinstalled it within the living room of their 3 1/2 room apartment in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The organ --…

Brooklyn Dog and Horse Parade

Thomas

I recently came across some photographs that were newly uploaded to the Brooklyn Public Library catalog,  and since they are pictures of animals, I had to write about them.  On a lovely day in late June of 1935, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and the ASPCA of Brooklyn hosted the Dog and Horse Parade.  But before I go into all the fascinating details about the parade, I must give a brief account of the history of the ASPCA in Brooklyn. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals began as a small group of concerned citizens in New York City.  In 1866, the American…

And They're Off! - Part 1

Thomas

              At this time of year thoroughbred horses and their jockeys race around the storied tracks throughout the country--Hialeah Park, Churchill Downs, Belmont Park, Saratoga--names that conjure up the mystique, tradition, and excitement of horse racing.  But there are names that are all but forgotten in racing lore. For during the late 1800's to the early 1900's  the County of Kings was also home to the "Sport of Kings". With …

Remembering First Grade

Sady Sullivan

BHS partnered with the Brooklyn School of Inquiry (BSI), a citywide gifted and talented school located in Bensonhurst, to conduct oral history interviews with all of the students in the school's first First Grade class.  Although these narrators are only 6 or 7 years old, their interviews add much to BHS's Oral History collection, documenting important things about life in Brooklyn in 2010, including details that can only be captured by youthful candor.  Students will receive copies of their interviews when they graduate from 8th Grade in 2017. Check out this video from BSI's series A School…

Brewed in Brooklyn: A History of Fermenting Barley in New York's Favorite Borough

Thomas

  Did you know that Brooklyn was once home to 48 breweries or that 10 percent of the nation's beer was made in the borough? Join David Naczycz and Cindy VandenBosch of Urban Oyster for an entertaining, in-depth look at how beer has played a pivotal role in the history of Brooklyn. A beer and cheese reception precedes the event at 6:30 PM. ***Please note that all 45 seats have already been reserved for this program*** If you'd like to place your name on a waiting list please call: 718.230.2723 The program will take place in the Brooklyn Collection's Reserve Room.

How fun is this?

Sady Sullivan

Check out this awesome illustration of the Brooklyn Historical Society by Sarah Lippett in this week's issue of Time Out New York!  Our exhibit Home Base: Memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Ebbets Field is featured among other great New  York Water Taxi destinations.  Click here to see the full image.

How the Architectural Walking Tour Built the Preservation Movement

Sady Sullivan

Learn how walking tours helped pave the way for the Landmarks Law of 1965. Historian and journalist Francis Morrone, author of The Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn, discusses the history of the walking tour. Learn how the first walking tours in the 1950s sponsored by The Municipal Art Society, the Museum of the City of New York, and the Brooklyn Heights Association made the public aware of the city’s historic architecture. Mr. Morrone discusses the European background…

The Borough of Homes and... Oysters?

Thomas

As the school year comes to a close, I find myself weeding through the many notes I have accrued while planning student projects this year.  Most projects were based on topics that were familiar to me.  But in some cases I had to become an "expert" on a new field.  Such was the case with what become known as "the oyster project."  IS 14 in Sheepshead Bay received a special grant this year that required them to create a multi-disciplinary curriculum focused on the local marine environment.  So when I came to them in the fall, they were desperate to connect the…

The Loyal Order of the Moose

Thomas

Like the Shriners mentioned some time ago in Brooklynology, the Loyal Order of the Moose has long had a presence in Brooklyn, raising money for good causes while promoting pleasant social intercourse among its members. Founded in 1888 by Dr John Henry Wilson, who admired the way the moose protected the young and old of its species, the Order was originally nothing more than a social club. But according to its web site, it soon began using membership dues to offer benefits to members in need, providing "security and protection for a largely working class membership."…

Card Parties and Lunching Ladies

Thomas

Flipping through our Eagle photograph collection, you see a lot of patterns:  children looking cute, attractive women at Coney Island, enthusiastic Dodger fans, exteriors of churches and schools and so on.  But my favorite "genre" is the party planning committee shots.  There's no shortage of pictures in our collection that look like this: Or this: Or this: (Don't they seem to be having fun together?) At first glance, these images seem trivial, if not humorous.  Just exactly how many hat-wearing party planners lived in this borough?  I …

Brooklyn Beatmakers

Sady Sullivan

The Brooklyn Historical Society is proud to announce Brooklyn Beatmakers, a showcase with headliner The New School Sun Ra Arkestra, led by 22-year Sun Ra arkestra musician, master jazz trumpeter, and music director of Sistas' Place, Ahmed Abdullah! Joining the Arkestraʼs “21st century, interplanetary sound and philosophy” made famous by the legendary composer-bandleader Sun Ra, will be emerging songwriter and emcee Imani Kairee, the dub diva Honeychild Coleman, and the Bushwick teen hip-hop collective Nine 11 Thesaurus. The New School Sun Ra Arkestra “represent[s] a milestone in the…

Found in the Morgue: Five Local Snake Stories

Thomas

While searching in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle morgue, I came across the following photo, which spurred a hunt for local snake stories. Reverend Dr. Hugo E. Meyer Reverend Dr. Hugo E. Meyer, Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Woodhaven, Queens, had a long-standing pastime of hunting snakes. He collected snakes for his personal specimen collection, which he housed in hundreds of jars in the cellar of his Ozone Park home. His capture method involved throwing himself at the snake and "just about smothering it", using his stomach to field the blow, making sure to have a "hypodermic needle and…

Empty Shelves, Empty Reference Desks

Thomas

  I'm sure, good readers, that you have all been watching the New York State and New York City budgets closely.  Many of us in the Brooklyn Collection, and at Brooklyn Public Library as a whole, have been watching the budget negotiations compulsively. Budget mania is nothing new to the libraries in New York City and I write that with a sigh because libraries are easy targets over and over again.  As archivist of the Brooklyn Collection, my work allows me to sort through photo folders and photocopied newspaper clippings and pieces of ephemera.  I'm glad to say…

Crown Heights Oral History Exhibit

Sady Sullivan

There are two streams of collecting oral history: the private reflections of public figures (see The Clinton Tapes by Taylor Branch), and the memories and experiences of regular folks whose stories are passed on through family and friends but who often don't see their lives reflected in history books. Before anything was written, community history was passed down through the generations with stories, poems, and songs (see the griot tradition in West Africa).  In our…

Library Layoffs May Hit Brooklynology.

Thomas

Many of you may know that New York City's three library systems are currently under threat of crippling budget cuts--so crippling, in fact, that about a third of the library's workforce received provisional pink slips last week, pending the finalization of budget negotiations.  Three of the Brooklyn Collection's staff are under the gun, and two of them -- Olivia and Ben--are Brooklynology bloggers. So here today are three of the actual faces of the budget cuts.  They represent 50% of the Collection's librarian staff and 33% of our overall staff. Olivia, who has two masters…

Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Dr. Ida Mellen

Thomas

In the first half of the 20th century, Brooklyn was home to one of the world's most respected authorities on the ailments of fish. Dr. Ida Mellen, lived most of her life in the borough of Brooklyn, working for many years as chief aquarist and ichthyologist at the New York Aquarium. Dr. Ida Mellen The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that during Dr. Mellen's time at the New York Aquarium, she "nursed penguins with bronchitis, turtles with tumors, and alligators with fungused snouts." Her scientific research caused intense excitement within the marine science world, when she discovered a rare type…

Reflections on Times Past: High School Yearbooks

Thomas

June is upon us and it brings with it a most important milestone in teenage life: "HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION"! Thinking about my own graduation and all of the people I graduated with led me to the Brooklyn collection morgue and our collection of High School yearbooks.  We have yearbooks from a few Brooklyn high schools, for example the Flying Dutchman from Erasmus Hall, The Blue & Gold from Girls High and an almost full run (1901-2006) of the Polyglot from Poly Prep.  The Prospect, the yearbook of  Manual Training High School, is the one that whetted my appetite…

Early Views of Prospect Park

Alli

Tupper Thomas announced her retirement as administrator of Prospect Park just as we were beginning a project to catalog our 19th Century map collection. The collection includes a number of maps covering the progress of Prospect Park from early proposals to today. In honor of both Ms Thomas and the beautiful park she has worked to preserve, here are a few interesting pieces: An early plan by Egbert Viele. Note Flatbush Avenue cutting directly through the middle of the park. Land was purchased based on Viele's plan, but plans changed as time passed and the park ended up looking very different…

Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field

Sady Sullivan

Through archives, photos and oral histories, Home Base: Memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field explores the connection between Ebbets Field, the Dodgers and the Brooklyn community. This exhibition is curated by high school students from Brooklyn Technical High School, Cobble Hill School of American Studies, The Packer Collegiate Institute and Saint Ann’s School as part of the Brooklyn Historical Society's Exhibition Laboratory (Ex Lab) after-school museum studies program. Ex Lab introduces high school students to the art of exhibition development: conducting…

Little-Known Brooklyn Businesses: The Meyer Saddlery Corporation

Thomas

Thanks to Tara, we've been having fun learning about "Little Known Brooklyn Residents" lately.  So why not a spin-off series about the businesses that kept these residents employed?  For example, if it weren't for the Meyer Saddlery Corporation, where would Al Sharp (below) have cultivated his years of experience in the bridle making trade?  The Meyer Saddlery Corporation, like so many Brooklyn businesses, was a family affair.  It was founded around 1852 by German immigrant George Meyer near Kings Highway.  Mr. Meyer had a unique angle that separated …

New Luna Park opening in Coney Island on May 29th

Elizabeth Call

With the grand opening of the new Luna Park in Coney Island this Saturday, May 29th, we thought it would be cool to post of some of the great photographs of the original Luna Park from our collections. The original Luna Park opened up in Coney Island on May 16, 1903 (and closed in 1944).  A New York Times article that covered the opening stated that 45,000 individuals showed up to the park's first day. Many of the park's attractions seemed to have surrounded around performance.  For a mere 5 cents visitors could witness something titled "The Fatal Wedding": There was also a daily fire,…

Celebrating another year of Connections!

Thomas

This morning, 150 students, teachers and parents filled the Library's Dweck Auditorium for our annual Brooklyn Connections Recognition Ceremony and Celebration.  On stage, outstanding students presented their final Brooklyn History projects and received certificates of achievement from the Library.  In our lobby, students and their guests enjoyed a catered reception while viewing presentation boards and other materials representing the hard work of students from 10 middle schools across the borough. Although the event has quickly come and gone (without…

Hard Times Revisited by Guest Blogger Rich Reyes-Gavilan

Thomas

It's been one year since the appearance of the blog post detailing the sorrowful history of budget cuts to Brooklyn Public Library. Sadly, the recurring theme has become a recurring nightmare as we once again find ourselves threatened with deep cuts that will devastate our ability to provide service. This year's proposed budget could result in a $20 million reduction to BPL, meaning the closure of 16 branch libraries, fewer books, fewer programs, fewer computer sessions, and massive layoffs. We continue to ask our supporters to write their elected officials and advocate on behalf of the…

The Brooklyn ???

Thomas

When the Dodgers left Brooklyn 53 years ago they not only ripped out our hearts and guts they also took away the borough's only major league sports franchise. We all know this sad story, so let's not dwell on it here; better for Brooklyn sports fans to turn their attentions to the hardwood machinations of a spindly Russian billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov, majority owner of the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets. Or, I should say, the Brooklyn Somethingelses. At a recent press conference Prokhorov hinted that the nickname Nets might stay behind in Newark when the team moves to the Barclays Center…

Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Elizabeth Hughes

Thomas

On October 31, 1950, the front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran an article including a startling action photograph of 65 year-old Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes. "I just went swoooosh!" - Elizabeth Hughes Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes, a B.M.T. subway ticket agent, "scared the daylights out of a husky six-foot-tall bandit who thrust an automatic pistol in her face and sent him packing", the Eagle reported. She re-enacted her quick response for the Eagle photographer, illustrating how she swooshed a nearby pan of water on the would-be-bandit and chased him away from her ticket booth. Elizabeth…

Lost children and leeches.

Thomas

The recent announcement by Verizon that they will no longer be distributing telephone directories in print form made me think about how the directory has evolved or--some might say--regressed--over the course of the last 200 years. We recently acquired a group of four Brooklyn City Directories, all in wonderful condition, from 1839-1840, 1840-41, 1842-43 and 1844-45. Yes, they all exist on microfilm, but the convenience of a print directory is equaled only by its ability to conjure the atmosphere of an era. Aside from the listed occupations that no longer exist, the addresses that…

Don't Know Why There's No Sun Up In The Sky

Thomas

   This past Sunday, May 9th, legendary singer, actress and activist Lena Horne, passed away.  She was born in Brooklyn and as a child lived at 189 Chauncey Street in Bedford Stuyvesant.  Lena attended P.S. 35 and then Girls High School on Nostrand Avenue.              She only stayed there for a few years, leaving to work at the renowned Cotton Club in Manhattan. She made it into the chorus line there, and the rest, as they say, is history.  Hollywood and the world…

Genealogy Group Tonight Wed May 5, 6 p.m.

Thomas

Come and join our genealogy group with Wilhelmena Kelly tonight at 6 p.m. in the Brooklyn Collection. All welcome.

The Diary of Arthur Lonto Pt 2

Thomas

At the end of April and the beginning of May, Arthur Lonto repeated rituals taking place all over Brooklyn--he planted his garden, and he enjoyed the beginning of the baseball season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was never idle. Here are a few more extracts from the busy realtor's journal. "Wednesday, April 30, 1947 Dodgers lose 1st game at Ebbets Field to Chicago. Jerome & I took Jitterbug lesson at 6 p.m.--Miss Young. Thursday, May 1, 1947 New family moves into 1431 E. 7th St from Park Slope. Called Rickerman, man, wife and young daughter Saturday, May 3, 1947 Father & I…

May Queens and Cherry Blossoms

Thomas

The delicate cherry blossom is so ephemeral! This poor blossom wilted as I walked from the park to my office, and the trees bloom for just a few short weeks in early spring. In my previous post, I wrote about Brooklyn's official flower, the Forsythia.  I like to think that the cherry blossom is one of Brooklyn's unofficial flowers because Brooklynites have celebrated this symbol of spring for many, many years. The cherry trees of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden have been celebrated since their planting, some as early as 1912.  The garden boasts around 42 varieties of…

Horsecars and trolleys and plank roads, oh my

Chela

One of my favorite things about being an archivist at BHS is all the different people I get to meet in the library. Researchers and their work are fascinating, and with each new person I work with, I get to learn something new. When I first started working as an archivist, I was amused to make the connection that libraries and archives have regulars-- folks that come in often enough that you know their names (and sometimes their stories and their quirks)-- just like the bars and coffee shops and restaurants I'd worked at in the past. At BHS we have some great regulars, either because they…

Brooklyn Goes to the Movies. A talk by Theater Historian Cezar Del Valle. Wednesday, April 28, 7 PM,

Thomas

During the Golden Age of cinema, Brooklyn had over 200 movie houses. Many of these theaters, originally used for vaudeville acts, found new lives with the advent of moving pictures.  Theater historian Cezar Del Valle willl host a lively lecture about these movie houses of yesteryear. Please come early as seating is limited. Wine and cheese social from 6:30-7:00 and the talk begins promptly at 7:00. The Brooklyn Collection is located at the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza on the second floor. Come and join us for this free and fascinating program! In addition to the program,…

Little Known Brooklyn Residents: Emil Kulik

Thomas

From his workshop at 240 Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Emil Kulik spent more than three years and a decade worth of savings to realize his dream -- inventing a diving apparatus like no other, seen in this image below. His invention, completed in 1932, resulted in a 3 1/2 ton device -- a cross between a diving bell and a solo submarine. The chief feature of his invention was that the diving apparatus operator would be able to work inside the diving bell for long periods of time, at normal air pressure with little or no help from the surface. The robot arms protruding from the front…

Julius Wilcox Cyanotypes: Exhibit in the Brooklyn Collection

Thomas

Readers of this blog will be familiar with the name of Julius Wilcox, one of several late 19th century photographers in our collection.  Wilcox was interested in architecture, engineering and celebrations as well as the seamier side of New York Life--the world of Mulberry Bend, the Tombs, and Silver Dollar Smith's Saloon. In this exhibit we have chosen to focus on the compelling social commentary that makes Wilcox's work a worthy counterpoint to that of his better known contemporary, Jacob Riis.  These new digital prints from the original cyanotypes will be on display in the…

Stories from Puerto Rico

Sady Sullivan

Writing in 1975, Angelo Falcón, founder of the National Institute for Latino Policy and currently a professor at Columbia University, said: The more than century-old presence of a politically active Puerto Rican community in New York City has been curiously obscured, afflicted by what Russell Jacoby calls 'social amnesia’ and with serious consequences.  (Puerto Rican Politics in Urban America, 1984) 35 years later, last Friday, BHS celebrated the newly accessible Puerto Rican Oral History, 1973-1975.  This oral history project, initiated in 1973 by John D. Vasquez, then Director of Puerto…

Found in the Morgue: Six Special Canines

Thomas

There are many wonderful photographs and stories hiding in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle clippings and photographs morgue, silently waiting to be rediscovered. I've been keeping an eye out for interesting photos and stories on dogs, as a follow up to Olivia's charming post on cats in the Long Island Cat Club. We have two folders filled with images of Dogs at War, from which these first two images were found. Below is an image of Mike, guarding the weapons of Marine Corps recruits in training at Parris Island, S.C. recruit depot. Sinbad, a Coast Guard pup, sailed more than one million miles…

You may not quite recall my name, but certainly you ought to...

Thomas

On Sundays, beginning sometime around 1895, there began to appear in the pages of the Eagle a column called Tricks and Puzzles. Unlike Sam Loyd's eponymous puzzle column which first appeared in 1896, Tricks and Puzzles was not the work of one riddling mastermind, but rather a column created by Eagle readers for Eagle readers. However, don't think that this column was proof of some conundrum-loving community of puzzle-heads bound by the mysteries of five-letter double diamonds and scriptural enigmas; the motivating factor here was rather simple: cold hard cash. For the contributor offering the…

The Things They Carried

Sady Sullivan

BHS and Queensborough Community College hosted a reading and discussion last Saturday of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, a collection of short stories about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War.  This event was part of The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to encourage reading and cultural conversation. Joseph Giannini, Joan Furey, and Anthony Wallace, three veterans featured in BHS's exhibit In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans, read from their own writings and generously shared stories about their…

Brooklyn's Flower

Thomas

Is there anything better than walking through Grand Army Plaza, around Prospect Park, or down Eastern Parkway in the spring?  Our eyes are so ready for some color, and at last the delicate daffodils appear, and tiny buds  on the trees float in a green haze above us.  And then too there are the skinny branches shooting from the ground covered with  buttery flowers swarming the stalks--Forsythia! Seventy years ago Mrs. Florence A. Blum lobbied to make Forsythia Brooklyn's official flower.  To her, Forsythia was "a symbol of unity and brotherhood at a time when world…

Hancock Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant

Julie May

There are certainly some architectural gems in Bedford-Stuyvesant.  A researcher in the library today researching her block for the purpose of landmarking it and The Brownstoner making 247 Hancock Street the Building of the Day drew me into another section of our Photography Collection.  In the early 70s, BHS president James Hurley, with others, photographed this beautiful block of Hancock Street.

Mr Lonto and Jackie Robinson

Thomas

We have recently acquired one volume of the diary of Arthur Lonto, a noted authority on transit and a former President of the Electric Railroaders Association. A World War II veteran, Mr Lonto worked in insurance and real estate until he was hired by the MTA, eventually becoming a transit management analyst. At the time the diary was written, Mr Lonto lived on East 7th Street between Avenues M and N.  He notes indefatigably and compulsively every journey taken by public transportation, but more importantly, he abstracts news items of interest and follows the fortunes of the Brooklyn…

Genealogy Workshop Tonight April 7, 6 p.m.

Thomas

Join us in the Central Library's Brooklyn Collection at 6 p.m. to uncover the secrets of your family history with genealogist Linda Jones.

Brooklynology Featured in New York Archives Magazine

Thomas

I would tell everyone to rush out to the news stand immediately to pick up your copy of  the Spring issue of New York Archives magazine, but--attractive as this publication of the New York State Education Department is--I don't think you can find it on every corner.  Still, we are pleased to have rated a two-page spread in the "Archives Around New York" section of this well-designed organ of the Archives Partnership Trust. Hoping we can be forgiven for a moment of self-reflexivity, we offer a paragraph from the article, entitled Blogging the Archives, for the special…

Of Brooklyn Ferries

Thomas

Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes!how curious you are to me!On the ferry-boats, the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose;Any you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence, are more to me, and more in my meditations than you might suppose.Walt Whitman, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"  Looking at an image like this makes me pine for the era when travelling by ferry was the norm.      While we have reference materials that will give you a thorough history of the ferry system (the many stops and…

Arts and Skills for Veterans

Thomas

In 1944, as more and more American soldiers were returning home from war, the American Red Cross established a new volunteer sector: the Arts and Skills Corps.  This program is included in the Eagle's post-war publication, Staging Area Brooklyn.  It states that the Corps "resulted from increased awareness of the therapeutic problems of convalescents.  Skilled and craftsmen, wearing the Red Cross uniform, helped men fill the long hours of convalescence with activities ranging from sculpture to photographs, programs that kept minds and hands busy in the fights against boredom…

Dropping Anchor in Brooklyn

Sady Sullivan

Watch this great video of a giant anchor arriving home to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where it will soon become part of the exhibition at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92.   Since 2007, BHS and BNYDC have partnered on an oral history project documenting the important work that happens in the Navy Yard.  We are currently interviewing people who worked in they Yard in the 1950s and 1960s and for any of the private shipbuilders after the 1966 decommissioning. You can listen to some clips from WWII-era interviews here.  And to suggest someone we should interview please contact the…

The Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

Thomas

Annual reports of charitable institutions do not usually make riveting reading matter.  The annual reports of the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children form  a compelling yet disturbing exception to the rule.  Aside from the inevitable statistics and lists of donations, they contain photographs of some of the children brought to the notice of the Society, each one accompanied by a brief report of the circumstances surrounding the child's misfortune.  Here are a few, offered without commentary: "From the Report for 1891 Case No. 9641--The…

Postcard craze

Julie May

The recent New Yorker blog post "Off the shelf: Folk Photography" by Rollo Romig about the popularity of postcards renewed my enthusiasm for our collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society.  Widely printed, mailed, and collected, we have thousands of postcards depicting a long ago Brooklyn and from one Brooklynite to another.  Not only are the images great to see, they show a Brooklyn from years ago that may or may not still exist and the correspondence is fascinating to read.  They are somewhat like the tweets, text messages, and emails we send today.  At only a penny to send, why not,…

Little Known Brooklyn Residents: Grandma Logan of Greenpoint

Thomas

I am very content to live and work in the borough of Brooklyn, and wholeheartedly enjoy my provincial lifestyle. Occasionally months will pass before I travel across the river -- a running joke with my husband who commutes into Manhattan frequently. This probably reveals why the following headline caught my attention, from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, dated June 19, 1927. Mrs. Mary A. Logan lived a long, happy and peaceful life within the confines of three city blocks of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. When she first arrived in Greenpoint from Ireland in 1859 at the age of 21, the district was a…

Walter O'Malley and Robert Moses: The Loss of the Dodgers Reconsidered

Thomas

Join us on Wednesday night March 24th, at 7pm for an illustrated talk by Robert E. Murphy. Lamenting the removal of the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 has been a major pastime among traumatized fans for 53 years. But who was to blame? After poring relentlessly through archives, original news stories, and government documents, Robert Murphy, author of After Many a Summer: The Passing of the Giants and Dodgers and a Golden Age in New York Baseball, gives the most fully-researched answer to that question yet offered. Seating is limited so come early to meet the author and enjoy wine and cheese…

Taylor Branch at BHS Library Dinner

Sady Sullivan

On March 8, 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch spoke at the Brooklyn Historical Society's Annual Library Dinner.  Taylor Branch is a native of Atlanta, Georgia and author of the King Era Trilogy, a narrative history of the U.S. during the Civil Rights era which includes Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Non-Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for History. His most recent book is The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President (Simon and Schuster 2009), a presidential memoir based on secret late-night…

That's Using your Noodle

Thomas

Brooklyn was once renowned for producing beer, sugar, ships, and much more, but not many people know that it was also once famous for the manufacture of pasta. Brooklyn was pasta's gateway into America, as documented in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1886:                                                        …

Loyd's Puzzles

Thomas

  It’s nice to find some other visual specimen to rest the eyes upon in the ant nest that is late 19th century newspaper text—an illustration of crustacean jelly molds and cake tins, a diagram of celestial bodies in spring skies, the thoraxes of some silhouetted country home pitchers; anything to give a respite from that headachy, inky and—now—digitized type.   That's why when I came across these images on page 26 of an 1896 Sunday edition of the Eagle I felt as though I had found some uninhabited moon world, as though the editor of the…

E.E. Rutter

Thomas

Some may find this hard to believe but--librarians can make mistakes. Sometimes we know very little about the photographers whose works we find in our collections. Photographs by E.E. Rutter can be found not only in the collection of Brooklyn Public Library but also in Queens Borough Public Library and the Brooklyn Historical Society. A recent telephone call from a colleague in Queens alerted us to the fact that we may have been perpetuating a mistake as to Rutter's first name. In several documents in our control file he is named Edward E. Rutter. His images are often signed simply "Rutter"…

Over Here! New York City During World War II Exhibit at the Central Library

Thomas

The Central Library at Grand Army Plaza is hosting an exhibit based on the book Over Here! New York City During World War II by Lorraine B. Diehl.  Many photographs from the Brooklyn Collection archives are on display for the very first time to the public.  The images show the first day of work for female employees of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn war bond fundraisers, and the Sheepshead Bay Maritime Training Station.  Don't miss this chance to see treasures from the Brooklyn Collection on display, along with original posters, photos, and World War II…

Basketball in Brooklyn

Sady Sullivan

Bats, Balls, Nets and Hoops: Stories of Sports in Brooklyn is the latest in a series of educational curriculum kits from the Brooklyn Historical Society (forthcoming Spring 2010). Organized around four case studies, the kit is packed with more than 50 primary source documents from the BHS archives, including newspaper articles, photographs and oral histories of Brooklyn athletes born between the 1920s and 1950s.   Each case study comes in a separate folder with critical thinking questions and document-analysis activities to help students observe, question, analyze and interpret the material.…

Little Known Brooklyn Residents: Treasure Hunter, Jay Erlichman

Thomas

While researching in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle morgue, I came across this curious image of a young Brooklyn resident digging in rubble. Brooklyn Treasure Hunter Jay Erlichman hard at work hunting treasure. On January 16, 1950, a small article ran in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, with this image titled "Youthful Treasure Hunter". By the time it went to print, nine-year old Jay Erlichman had been digging for treasure with his broken shovel for "about four years". Up until this date, his efforts had dug up a total of $1.27 and "an enormous collection of rusty bottle caps, tin cans, broken glass and…

Rites and Ceremonies of the Brooklyn African Diaspora

Sady Sullivan

BHS is pleased to join the Brooklyn Arts Council in hosting a discussion panel featuring founders of annual events, ceremonies and rituals in Brooklyn, including Yolanda Lezama-Clark from the West Indian American Labor Day Parade, Brenda Grenne from the National Black Writers' Conference, Akeem from Tribute to the Ancestors at Coney Island and others. WHEN: Wednesday, March 17, 6:30 - 8:30pm WHERE: Brooklyn Historical Society Do you have a rites and…

A Parting Word

Thomas

A little over a month ago marked the 55th anniversary of the last published newspaper of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  January 28, 1955 was a sad day in Brooklyn history as the final newspaper rolled off the presses and was delivered to the Brooklynites who depended on it for news and entertainment.  The beloved 114 year old newspaper closed its doors the very next day, never to reopen under the same publisher or with the same mission.  Brooklyn would not have a single newspaper that reported on the daily local news of the entire…

Little Known Brooklyn Residents: Wilhelmina Carlstedt

Thomas

Up until the age of 99, a local resident known as "Brooklyn's Betsy Ross" designed and handcrafted a series of elaborate flags to spread her message of "Lasting World Peace." Wilhelmina Carlstedt with one of her peace flags. Wilhelmina Carlstedt began stitching peace flags with the assistance of her daughter Olga Hesse, from their home on 864 St. John's Place. She began stitching for peace after her two grandsons left home to fight in World War I, and her desire for the "cessation of world hostilities grew daily stronger". She hung the first flag in the window of her home at the time of the…

Genealogy Workshop with Wilhelmena Kelly, Wednesday March 3, 6-8 p.m.

Thomas

Join us in the Brooklyn Collection's Reserve Room from 6-8 p.m. to explore your family history with help from an expert genealogist. Wilhelmena Rhodes Kelly is the author of books on Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. She sits on the boards of the African American Genealogy Society, Manhattan Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Association and the Fort Greene Revolutionary War Committee. Ms Kelly is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and is also Regent of the Manhattan Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution. We encourage anyone who is interested in…

Puerto Rico, March 2, 1917

Sady Sullivan

On this day in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Act thereby making Puerto Rico a United States territory and extending citizenship to all Puerto Ricans.  This allowed people to migrate from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States at a time when quotas were restricting immigration (Immigration Act of 1924).  This also meant that the WWI draft extended to residents of Puerto Rico, sending 20,000 Puerto Rican people to the U.S.…

Illusion and Reality at Loew's Kings

Thomas

News of the planned renovation of the Loew's (pronounced LOWees in this part of the world) Kings Theater on Flatbush Avenue sent us scurrying to our files for Loew's ephemera. And, given the sad history of the theater over the past thirty years, it caused us to think a little about the tenuous nature of plans, and their tendency to turn into something other than reality. One could be forgiven for greeting the announcement of a planned $70 million cash infusion with more than a little scepticism--after all, we heard it all before, and more than once.  After the Kings went dark, the…

Saffire

Sady Sullivan

Well, this is just awesome: Here are two videos of the band Saffire playing at BHS for the Make Music New  York festival last spring.  Saffire is an all-girl rock band from Nyack, New York -- two sets of multi-instrumentalist sisters who play original music.

Obscure Quotes... compiled by Brooklynites

Thomas

Be on the lookout for enlightening and eccentric quotes on our Twitter page, as we've decided to start pulling inspiration from The Beecher Book of Days.  This charming little book was published in 1886 by editors Eleanor Kirk and Caroline B. LeRow.  Many of the quotes come from Beecher's sermons, but some are pulled from works that Beecher read or owned, giving us insight into both Beecher's mind and the reading habits of 19th century Brooklynites.  There are two or three quotes for each date (plus some extra pages in the back to record…

Ebbets Field Oral History project

Sady Sullivan

Do you have a story to share about Ebbets Field? The Brooklyn Historical Society invites you to share your experiences of Ebbets Field and your memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers. This is an exclusive opportunity to share your story and have it archived as part of the BHS oral history collection.  Your interview may also be included in BHS’s upcoming exhibit about Ebbets Field and the Brooklyn Dodgers, opening on…

This Wednesday: The Stages of Brooklyn: an Illustrated Talk by Cezar Del Valle.

Thomas

From Downtown to Bushwick to Brighton Beach, theaters could once be found in almost every neighborhood of Brooklyn. Cezar Del Valle shares his unrivalled knowledge of Brooklyn's stages in a lively illustrated lecture at 7 p.m. on Wednesday Feb 24th in the Brooklyn Collection Reserve Room, Central Library, 2nd floor.  This talk will cover legitimate theater, vaudeville and other live venues. Mr Del Valle will return in April to cover Brooklyn's many movie theaters. Seating is limited so come early and join us for wine and cheese from 6:30 to 7.

Clara Whitehill Hunt, Superintendent of Work With Children

Thomas

  In an era when it is common for people to spend two years in a position and then move on, Brooklyn Public Library remains an institution in which many people spend lengthy careers. This was as true in the early years of the 20th century as it appears to be today. Clara Whitehill Hunt worked for the system for 36 years, from 1903-1939. Brooklyn's library system was in the early years of its development when Miss Hunt, who had spent some years in the classroom and risen to the rank of principal of a small elementary school, became convinced that librarianship was the path she wished…

Brooklyn: How Sweet It Is!

Thomas

From fall through early spring, it's easy to have candy on the brain.  Over the past months I've had my share of peanut butter pumpkins, marshmallow santas, chocolate coins and sugary hearts.  (And my favorite, the elusive cream egg, has yet to arrive.) Today our craving for sweets is satisfied by factories all over the world.  But up until just a few decades ago, many of my favorite treats would have been produced right here in Brooklyn.  For example, the Just Born company, home of those cute marshmallow peeps, has only been located in…

Two Dodgers Valentines

Thomas

This is my gift to you, Brooklyn Dodger fans.  My Valentines Day weekend was quite romantic, so readers will have to forgive me if these Valentine's poems are a little late. I found them competely by accident, while I was looking for some photos of Gil Hodges in military uniform.  They were written by the somewhat eccentric, so-called "Dentist Laureate" of Borough Hall, who was also dentist and poet to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Dr. John L. McAteer.  Dr. McAteer wrote quite a few sports poems.  I cannot find out much about him…

Oh the weather outside is frightful

Chela

In honor of all the snowpocalypse and snowmageddon talk I've been hearing for the past few days, and my really rather lovely snowy walk in to work this morning, I thought I'd post a few pictures of snowy Brooklyn in years past. Enjoy!  

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Oral History Seminar

Sady Sullivan

Virginia Woolf and Dame Ethel Smyth; photo courtesy of NYPL Digital Gallery Listening to Women: Documenting Women's Lives through Oral History a six week non-credit course at BHS The Brooklyn Historical Society's oral historian Sady Sullivan leads a seminar this spring (March 24 - May 5, 2010) introducing the practice of Oral History as an historical methodology, a unique narrative genre, and a tool in the reconciliation of social injustices. The course is interdisciplinary, drawing from history, sociology, memoir, and gender studies.  We will examine oral history in all its forms --…

Brooklynite Howard Zinn

Sady Sullivan

In memory of Howard Zinn (1922-2010) and in appreciation of his life's work, the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation would like to share these excerpts from an interview we conducted with Howard Zinn on December 8, 2008. Howard Zinn was an historian, activist, playwright, and author of more than twenty books including A People’s History of the United States. In these (very) roughly edited clips, Howard Zinn talks about growing up in Brooklyn, working as an apprentice shipfitter in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and his first date with his future wife…

Tivoli Towers in Crown Heights

Sady Sullivan

Tivoli: A Place We Call Home is a new multimedia exhibit curated by Delphine Fawundu opening at BHS next Thursday, February 11.  Check out this NY1 News Story and this trailer below:

Sentimental Journey

Thomas

Gonna take a sentimental journey Gonna set my mind at ease Gonna make a sentimental journey to renew old memories.    

S.S. Argentina. Postcard courtesy of VintagePostcards.com.
By 1946 the war had ended. Notorious, The Big Sleep, and It's a Wonderful Life graced the silver screen. From the radio came the music of the Ink Spots, Frank Sinatra and Doris Day. Against this backdrop and by an act of Congress,(The War Brides Act-Public Law 271), thousands of foreign women made the trip…

Crown Heights Oral History Project

Sady Sullivan

Last week, BHS had the pleasure of a visit from Alex Kelly and four high school students who are working on an oral history project in Crown Heights in collaboration with the Crow Hill Community Association.  They came to BHS to read transcripts from an oral history project BHS conducted with residents of Crown Heights in 1993-1994; 33 interviews conducted by Craig Wilder, Jill Vexler, and Aviva Segall. You can find out more about the BHS Crown Heights Oral History Collection…

Happy Birthday, Central Library!

Thomas

Central Library turned sixty-nine years old this week. In February 1941, thirty-four years after breaking ground on the original proposal, Central Library was ready to receive patrons.  A small ceremony with Borough President John Cashmore and other local dignitaries was held on January 31st in the new children's room (the Eagle called it "the mecca of juvenile readers").  At 2pm on February 1st, the doors of Central Library were opened for the public - without any ceremony or event.  According to the Eagle, "schoolboy" Raphael Kermish of 951 Carroll Street was the first…

The Grapes of Brooklyn

Thomas

In this biting cold I think longingly of summer, of heat, of gardens bursting with blossoms, fruits and whatever else they may produce. And produce they do, in an abundance that reminds one of the fact that not so long ago, much of Brooklyn's land was given over to the intensive cultivation of market garden crops. I am reminded of this every time I visit a house I used to live in, the back of which is covered by a large grapevine. This vine left unchecked  would cover the entire back yard in a season. It was so vital that if you left a window open in the…

New Genealogy Group Starts Weds Feb 3rd 6-8

Thomas

Come and join us on Wednesday February 3 from 6 to 8 in the Brooklyn Collection Reserve Room for the first meeting of our new genealogy group. Genealogist and historian Wilhelmena Kelly will help group members trace their ancestry. In honor of Black History month the first meeting will focus on African-American ancestry but Ms Kelly will be demonstrating techniques and resources that can be used by all. Hereafter this group will meet regularly on the first Wednesday of the month. Light refreshments will be served.

Historic Photos of the Brooklyn Bridge. An illustrated talk and book signing by John Manbeck

Thomas

Wednesday January 27th at 7 p.m. in the Brooklyn Collection, Second Floor, Central Library, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11238. Come early (6:30) for wine and superb cheese, and meet the author.  

Distilling in Brooklyn--Whiskey Wars and Swill Milk in the 1860s

Thomas

We hear a good deal about brewing in Brooklyn, but a patron's question recently made me realize that we hear little about the making of stronger stuff.  But as you would  think in a place the size of Brooklyn, there has been no shortage of local liquor, both legal and otherwise, in the City of Churches--and of stills. One of the most venerable distilleries was that of Cunningham and Harris, at the corner of Main and Washington Streets; it was described in court proceedings as being founded as early as 1810.  A considerable number of these distilleries…

Peace Love Hope

Sady Sullivan

This morning I was lucky to witness students from Brooklyn's PS261 Magnet School for Integrating the Arts on their March on Brooklyn Borough Hall in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  They were carrying signs that read Peace and Hope and I Have a Dream and some students were chanting "Peace, Love, Hope".  The cellphone photos below capture just a bit of the inspiring spirit these young people brought to Brooklyn today.

…

Coney Island is a Jonah

Thomas

In 1867, Kings County celebrated the opening of Ocean Parkway, which connected Prospect Park with the Town of Gravesend.  The Parks Commission owned the small patch of land where the Parkway met the Atlantic Ocean.  The land, known as Ocean Concourse Drive, straddled the barrier between Coney Island and the more respectable Brighton Beach. Looking for revenue, the Parks Commission proposed that an aquarium should be built on the west end of the Concourse, believing an aquarium would "be a good thing to introduce the Island to civilization."  From 1877 to 1887,…

A Tweet a Day

Thomas

   Starting today, January 8th 2010.

Meet Emma

Sady Sullivan

Emma is the name of BHS's ever-growing catablog of archives, manuscripts and special collections, including oral histories. The catablog is named after Emma Toedteberg, who was BHS's librarian for more than 50 years. She began as an assistant librarian in 1869, just a few years after BHS was founded, and was promoted to Librarian in 1889, serving until shortly before her death in 1936. Try browsing the collections by the Category Oral History and if something peaks your interest, you are welcome to come listen to oral history collections in the Othmer Library.

The Nurse is Here to Help

Thomas

19th century Brooklyn offered few opportunities for poor, deserted, or unmarried pregnant women.  Many of these expectant mothers would typically find shelter within a local station house and give birth in horrible conditions or would desert their child completely, leaving them to the elements or to the kindness of strangers.  These children were known as foundlings or "almshouse cubs".  The above photo shows two Sisters of Charity, a nurse and an abandoned baby at the New York Foundling Hospital around 1892.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle is…

Of Speaking Tubes and Kalsomining

Thomas

To leaf through our Letterhead Collection is to enter a world that is at once familiar and strange.  Consisting of about 5000 letterheads, bills, receipts, blotters and advertising ephemera arranged alphabetically in looseleaf binders,  this collection is the work of local historian Brian Merlis who gathered the items over the course of 25 years, between 1980 and 2005. Taken together these letterheads form a kind of living directory of Brooklyn businesses, conveying  the flavor of a bygone era through artwork and iconography, as well as the lists…

The Season for Giving

Thomas

As this is the season for giving, it seemed timely to look at  a few of the gifts Brooklynites of yore might have offered to one another. Our growing collection of trade catalogs contains not only lists of screws, greenhouses, surgical instruments and the like, but also catalogs from department stores, furriers and all kinds of other traders. In search of holiday gifts just now I came upon the 1889 catalog of Wechsler and Abraham, the forerunner of Abraham and Strauss, now Macy's on Fulton Street. As this is my year for giving gloves, of which one can never have too many,…

Julius Wilcox (1837-1924), Man of Many Parts

Thomas

For a long time the life of Julius Wilcox, one of the outstanding photographers whose collections are housed here in Brooklyn Public Library, was something of an enigma.  Exactly how his album of original cyanotypes came to us is not known, and until recently, precious little could be discovered about his life. But now, thanks to www.ancestry.com and the remarkable compilation of New York State newspapers online at www.fultonhistory.com, the outlines of his life and background are beginning to take shape. 468 of Wilcox's images are available online via the library's catalog here. (Click…

Santa's Helpers

Thomas

"One of the nicest things about the Christmas season is that it brings in a flood of mail.  The recipients never utter one word of protest.  Only the overworked and overburdened letter-carriers might be inclined to raise an objection or two..."  -New York Times, December 30, 1944     You can't really blame postal workers for feeling overburdened during the holiday season.  It's no secret that when most of us are wrapping gifts, lighting candles and decorating trees, they are in the middle of their busiest season.  Articles from our collection show…

After Thanksgiving

Thomas

Thanksgiving is behind us. It is one of my favorite holidays because it is so distinctly American, crossing regional, ethnic and racial boundaries. When discussing the meals we had among ourselves, we learned that our tables groaned with the usual surfeit of meats -- turkey and ham -- but also lasagna, antipasti, a turducken, macaroni and cheese, chittlins, rutabaga mash, Portuguese stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn bread, pecan pie, cranberries, roasted red peppers with fresh mozzarella, sliced salami, and for our lone…

In Line with Jive Turkey

Alli

Thanksgiving in Clinton Hill just wouldn't be the same without the around-the-block lines to Jive Turkey, leading up to the big day. This has been my second year witnessing the massive lines down Myrtle Ave., smelling the scent of cooked turkey from blocks away and watching as employees work late into the night as they pack hundreds of boxes with fried turkeys to ship around the country. This morning as I walked by folks were sitting in folding chairs, drinking coffee out of…

Brooklyn Mohawks

Thomas

  To close out Native American Heritage Month I thought a post about the community of Mohawk Indians that lived in Brooklyn would be in order. For more than three decades, starting in the 1920s, the Mohawk Indians from the Kahnawake reservation near Montreal, Canada, made the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn their home away from home. This close knit community grew and prospered and left their stamp on Brooklyn, as well as on the skyline of New York. At a time when New York was being transformed, skyscraper after skyscraper…

Making life easier for the Brooklyn housewife (and househusband)

Thomas

I often wonder what the life of a 1950s housewife was like.  How did Brooklyn housewives manage to accomplish their appointed tasks each day?  Well, convenience and help seem to have been the keys to the homemaker’s daily routine.  Exciting advancements came through machines, pre-cooked foods, and easy solutions to prepared food storage. The Brooklyn Collection has photographs and ephemera that showcase moments in the life of a housewife and -- a happy surprise-- a 1950s househusband too!  In 1953, the Brooklyn Daily…

The Darlington Electric Fountain, 1897-1915

Thomas

When this blog began I thought an article on the successive fountains of Grand Army Plaza would be a good idea--but found I had nothing to add to the section in the Wikipedia article on same.  Well, finally I do have a little something new to add to the story. This recently acquired photograph looking southeast across the Plaza shows the circular pipes in the empty fountain basin, with the reservoir tower in the background. Just below the tower you can see hoardings around the site of the Central Library, on which my trusty loupe shows a sign reading "To the Museum." This photograph was…

City of Memory: The Porto Rico Steamship Co.

Sady Sullivan

Stories from BHS's Puerto Rican Oral History Project, 1973 - 1975 are on the map! City of Memory is an online collection of New York stories accessed through an interactive map and thematic tours and the Steamship Migration tour features audio and video from an event organized by BHS and Elena Martinez, staff folklorist with City Lore, in 2008.  This event featured audio selections from BHS's Puerto Rican Oral History Project, 1973 - 1975, 69 interviews with people who migrated…

Got cycling photos?

Janice

  One of the artworks from the current group exhibit at BHS, Brooklyn Utopias, moves beyond the museum walls. Eric Corriel's "A History of Cycling in Brooklyn," an interactive public art installation explores the history of bicycle culture in Brooklyn from 1880 to today, through images and video projected in the windows of the Brooklyn Historical Society. It can be seen from Clinton (between Pierrepont and Montague Streets) in Brooklyn Heights, sundown to sunrise, according to this calendar.…

The Shriners in Brooklyn

Thomas

This sublimely silly program has resided quietly in our ephemera files under the heading "Clubs: Masonic" for quite some years. I am so fond of it that I decided it was time to give it an airing, and in so doing could not help but ask myself some questions. Who were these dudes? What was the  Kismet Temple they occupied? Why are they wearing this curious headgear? And what accounts for the sense of humor so unusual in items relating to fraternal orders? In 1928 the Kismet Temple was located at 92 Herkimer Street in Bedford Stuyvesant, and the full name of its occupants was  the "…

Coney Island Carousel Carver

Sady Sullivan

Image courtesy of the National Carousel Association
M.C. Illions (1872 - 1949) was one of the world's greatest carousel carvers.  His beautifully painted horses with gold-leaf manes became a signature of Coney Island Style. Marcus Charles Illions was born in Vilnius, Lithuania and he came to Coney Island in 1888 with the British animal showman Frank C. Bostock.  He worked with famed carousel carver Charles Looff until opening his own shop in 1909: M.C. Illions and Sons Carousell Works on Ocean Parkway and Neptune Avenue in Coney Island (…

So What'll It Be?

Thomas

The Brooklyn Navy Yard wasn't the only workplace taking in women during the war.  Brooklyn's bar scene was also reliant upon the female workforce.  In 1939, a group of female bartenders formed Bar Maids Local 101, an official union for women who had taken on the important duty of pouring drinks and lending an ear to war-torn Brooklyn.  To legitimize their work, members of Local 101 completed three months of job training before they were employed.  They were also agreed not to work past midnight or give their last name to patrons.  Local…

Riding the Rails!

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection holds several collections of little-known transit-related photographs and we've just installed a new photography exhibit in the cases in our reading room, called Riding the Rails.  This display of post cards, ephemera and photographs highlights the construction of trolley and subway tracks and tunnels and the machines used to assist in building them.  It also features passenger cars not seen in over 100 years as well as the people who rode them.  Many of the photographs chosen are from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and can be found in our…

Park Slope Walking Tour

Sady Sullivan

In 2008, BHS published the Park Slope Neighborhood & Architectural History Guide, written by Francis Morrone.  We are currently working on a neighborhood guide about Fort Greene / Clinton Hill, so, stay tuned and please be in touch if there's something BHS needs to know, someone BHS needs to interview, or you have other ideas for this forthcoming guide. You can download a Walking Tour of Park Slope here. And you can listen to voices from Park Slope to accompany the tour: LIFE OF A BLOCK…

Brooklyn Utopias? - 'Utopian' Urban Planning - what does it mean?

Janice

Yesterday (Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009) BHS hosted a lively panel discussion about 'Utopian' Urban Planning, in conjunction with BHS' current Public Perspectives exhibit, Brooklyn Utopias?. Organized by curator Katherine Gressel and moderated by urban historian and licensed architect Marta Gutman, PhD, the panel addressed what the role of artists is in urban planning and how artists and community leaders might work together. We heard from Amy Sananman, Executive Director/Founder…

Collier L. Duncan

Thomas

    The blog has fallen silent for a few days. Last Friday afternoon our colleague and friend, Collier Duncan left the library wishing us all a good weekend. Collier was not supposed to work on Fridays, but even so, he could usually be found at his desk down among the Brooklyn Daily Eagle files on a Friday afternoon. "I was coming to the library anyway, so I thought I'd swing by," he would say. It had been a week like any other. Our research assistant for the last five years, Collier had been busy, with an ever increasing load of requests for searches of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle…

Brooklyn and the Atomic Age

Thomas

I was born in the late 1970s and cannot remember a time when the nuclear threat kept me awake at night.   I've been exposed to tornado drills, not air raid drills; calls for nuclear disarmament formed a background hum that was soft and loud by turns.    While I was digging through some of our Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, I found several images that represent Brooklyn life during the Cold War.  They cover a wide range of subjects from atomic air raid drills and civil defense preparedness to exhibits on nuclear physics, at the same time providing a…

Cemetery of the Evergreens. A talk by John Rousmaniere just in time for Halloween, Wed. October 28t

Thomas

Join us in the Brooklyn Collection on Wednesday October 28th for an illustrated talk by the author of  Green Oasis in Brooklyn, featured previously in this blog. There will be a short reception at 6:30 with wine and cheese and possibly some black and orange things if we get inspired -- followed by the talk at 7 p.m. 

Making Antibiotics in Brooklyn

Sady Sullivan

Founded in Brooklyn in 1849, Pfizer is now one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and maker of drugs such as Benadryl, Depo-Provera, Glucotrol, Lipitor, Viagra, Xanax, and Zoloft, to name just a few. BHS interviewed over 20 past and current employees of Pfizer Brooklyn on the occasion of the closing of this historic manufacturing plant. On June 12, 2008, Pfizer's Brooklyn plant on Flushing Avenue was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the New York…

Open House New York Weekend and Brooklyn's Central Library

Thomas

On Saturday and Sunday October 10 and 11 at 3 p.m., free guided tours through areas of the Grand Army Plaza library that are not usually accessible to the public will be offered as part of the Open House New York weekend.   Reservations are required for these tours and participants will learn about the history of the Central Library and will visit the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper "morgue". A  pictorial history of the 36-year effort to build the Central Library, prepared by Olivia of the Brooklyn Collection, will be on show in the Grand Lobby.  Did you know…

Crown Heights in History--and an Important Announcement

Thomas

Wilhelmena Kelly gave an illustrated talk last night to a standing-room only crowd on the history of Crown Heights, in the Brooklyn Collection's Reserve Room. Ms Kelly is an avid genealogist as well as the author of two books on the central Brooklyn communities of Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant.  Formerly  an assistant vice president of communications at Citibank, Wilhelmena is now Regent of the Manhattan Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution and sits on the boards of the African American Genealogy Society, Manhattan Soldiers and Sailors Memorial…

Brooklyn's Vietnam Veterans

Sady Sullivan

In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn's Vietnam Veteran's (2007 - ongoing) is the first exhibit in BHS's oral history gallery.  With the use of oral histories, portraits, and personal artifacts this audio installation explores the impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of Brooklyn’s diverse residents, from the first person perspective.  Meeting people who were touched by the Vietnam War, visitors are prompted to consider the on-going impact of the Vietnam War in the lives of Brooklynites, from their memories of the war to how it affects them today. From portrait to portrait, from person to…

On Bookplates

Thomas

A question from one of our longtime patrons got me thinking about bookplates. Brooklyn Public Library has used many bookplates through the course of its 110-year history. Mostly they celebrate the donor of a book, or of the funds that  provided the book, but in the early years of the library bookplates were used simply to announce ownership. As any collector of bookplates will know, wonderful things can happen in the space of that little scrap of paper, usually no more than 3" x 4" and often smaller.  As it happens, although the mission of the Brooklyn Collection is to collect…

FOLK FEET: Irina Roizin

Sady Sullivan

This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers.  BAC initiated Folk Feet, a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn, in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the fifth in a series of five audio slideshows from…

Back to School

Thomas

  A new school year has begun and with it, one of the annual rites of Fall - shopping for new school clothes.  How have clothes changed since the Eagle first started running back-to-school advertisements at the turn of the last century? How have the ads changed?  From mid-July to September today's parents are inundated with TV ads, circulars, flyers, and catalogues. Children in Brooklyn today have a wider variety of styles and stores to choose from. Local stores and national and international brands offer choices that would have…

FOLK FEET: Carlos Vasquez

Sady Sullivan

This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers.  BAC initiated Folk Feet, a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn, in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the fourth in a series of five audio slideshows…

Bountiful Borough

Alli

A few weeks ago I went to Frankie's Spuntino on Court St. in Carroll Gardens for the first time. My entire experience at Frankie's was amazing from the warm service staff to the delicious Soppressata, which even broke the will of my mostly vegetarian boyfriend.

I was thrilled to learn a week later that Frankie's is one of the local businesses taking part in BHS' Brooklyn Bounty event on October 29. Brooklyn Bounty is BHS' fall fundraising party and this year Brooklyn Bounty is proud to feature…

FOLK FEET: Donny Golden

Sady Sullivan

This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers.  BAC initiated Folk Feet, a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn, in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the third in a series of five audio slideshows from…

Wish You Were Here

Thomas

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Brooklyn (Non New York)

Thomas

There are a lot of serious and solid information sources in the Brooklyn Collection, but over the years we have certainly allowed great amounts of trivia to accumulate in our files. The pursuit of the trivial, it has been argued, can actually lead to profound insights; and you just never know whether a matter that seems trivial today might turn out to be of immense importance  tomorrow. At least, that is my excuse for digging into one of our so-called "Brooklyn Archive Files" or "BAFs" labeled Brooklyn (Non-New York). Under this cryptic heading we find articles on towns…

FOLK FEET: Marie Basse-Wiles

Sady Sullivan

This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers.  BAC initiated Folk Feet, a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn, in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the second in a series of five audio…

Back to School / Web Tools for Teachers

Todd Florio

I'm always happily surprised by how web savvy many of the teachers I work with are. As computers make there way into more and more classrooms, a huge pool of resources is at our fingertips. Here's a great list from mashable of some of the applications that are available for tech-minded educators: http://mashable.com/2009/09/07/web-apps-teachers/ My favorite is called "Footnote" and it features links to millions of primary source documents. The navigation bar which puts things in chronological order and…

Help Police!

Thomas

In our collection there are quite a few books from the 19th century. These books are not only valuable for the information contained within their pages, but also for their historical perspective.  One such book is "Brooklyn's Guardians" by William E. S. Fales.  This book published in 1887 traces the "origin, growth and development of the Brooklyn police force", from the early colonial period to it's enrollment in 1887 of 972 policemen.              …

FOLK FEET: Shock-a-lock

Sady Sullivan

This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers.  BAC initiated Folk Feet a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the first in a series of five audio slideshows from…

W.F. Mangels and his "Amusing" Career

Thomas

Summer is quickly coming to an end, and soon our favorite boardwalks and amusement parks will be closed for the season.  As we roll, spin, slide and gallop our way into fall, few of us will notice that many of our favorite rides were designed by a Brooklynite.  In 1882, a 16 year-old German by the name of William F. Mangels emigrated to New York City.  The young amusement enthusiast found himself at the right place at the right time.  Coney Island was the epicenter for the amusement industry.  The latest and newest rides were being manufactured…

For Columbia Oral History Master's Students

Sady Sullivan

In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans opened at the Brooklyn Historical Society in December 2007 and, while it is a temporary exhibit, there are no plans as yet to de-install it.  One of the featured Vietnam veterans, who actively supports Iraq Vets Against the War, suggested BHS keep the exhibit up for as long as American soldiers are in Iraq and Afghanistan.  This exhibit was the first to be launched in BHS's Oral History gallery. Background materials: History of the Brooklyn Historical Society Original Press Release for exhibit, featuring short narrator biographies…

More Brooklyn Navy Yard Stories

Sady Sullivan

Here are a few more clips from the BHS Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project: Abraham Weintraub (b 1910) worked as a chipper and a caulker in the Navy Yard during WWII. This clip is from an interview conducted in 2008: [audio: /sites/default/files/images/blog-bkology/cbh/abe-2008.mp3] Frank Siragusa (b 1928) started working as a painter n the Navy Yard during WWII when he was just 16 years old because he was too young to join the Navy. This clip is from an interview…

Geomapping on Flickr

Thomas

Historic photographs are one of the highlights of the Brooklyn Collection, and thanks to digitization, are the most easily accessible of our treasures. Thousands of unique Brooklyn photos can be searched and found on the BPL web site. Recently, we've embarked on a project that will make some of these images even more visible, through the photo sharing web site Flickr. Along with other cultural institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Queens and New York Public Library, we've created a Flickr page with a sample of some of our photographic holdings. Because…

Brooklyn Summer H.E.A.T. Reflections

Janice

Today's post is written by Evan Threadgill, who worked at BHS this summer through the Borough President's Office program, Brooklyn Summer H.E.A.T. Evan is entering his junior year at East NY High School of Transit Technology.  BHS is proud to participate in this program and gives tremendous thanks to Evan for all his hard work!  Today is my last day working at BHS, and the time that I have been here has been great.  Everyday since the first day I started has given me more and more experience in the museum and the office environment.  I was able to see how a museum operates behind the scenes…

Transcribing a Difficult Past

Thomas

It saddens me that our manuscript collection doesn't get more use.  To be fair, it is a hodge podge of documents that are challenging to read and cover various parts of 19th century history.  But amidst contracts and lists of construction materials, there are some real gems.  I had known for some time that we had three documents that addressed slavery in Brooklyn, but I had never taken the time to read them carefully.  This week, I settled down to transcribe them in preparation for class visits.  What I found were three heartbreaking, but…

Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral Histories

Sady Sullivan

Since 2007, BHS and the Brooklyn Navy Yard have collaborated on an oral history project interviewing people who worked in the Navy Yard during WWII.  BHS also interviewed WWII Navy Yard workers in 1987 - 1989 and we have digitized those cassette tapes to make the interviews accessible.  BHS is a leader among archives who give researchers access to the actual audio/video of the interview rather than just the transcript.  It's one of the ways BHS furthers the mission to…

Brooklyn-Long Island Cat Club

Thomas

I was having a very grumpy day. Looking back, I remember that the one thing that can almost always cheer me up--my cat Oscar--didn't seem to do the job before I left for work.  Even a day of going through photograph folders, which is a calming, productive, and fun activity, couldn't erase my glum mood.  The Brooklyn Collection has been conducting a photo inventory for the past few weeks.  We've found lots of photographs, some that we look at in puzzlement -- ("Why would someone take four photos of someone pointing?") --many of checks and awards…

Secret Bookstore on Montague

Todd Florio

Book-loving staffers at BHS were  sad to see Heights Books move off Montague Street a few months ago. Though still nearby at 120 Smith Street, it's a little far to walk during lunch. Luckily for those of us in the know, there's a tiny little-known "bookstore" hidden inside of the Housing Works Thrift Shop at 122 Montague.  Okay so our savvier readers probably already knew about this "secret" spot, but, as Biggie says, "if you don't know, now you know." I was mostly inspired to write this…

Mystery Building by Raoul Froger Doudemont

Thomas

We are cataloguing the Raoul Froger Doudemont Collection, and this photograph has us stumped. Froger Doudemont photographed in New York City and Washington D.C. around the turn of the 20th century--but where is this? There are no prizes for the solution to this conundrum, just our eternal gratitude and smiles from the gods of metadata. Please use the Comments  box to dazzle us with your scholarship and knowledge of the world.

Pioneering Children's Services

Thomas

While students enjoy the final days of summer, we're preparing for another year of class visits and research projects.  We get so excited about our plans that we often forget our efforts are based on century-old standards that originated right here in Brooklyn. In the early 20th century, both Brooklyn Public Library and the Brooklyn Children's Museum were pioneers in children's services.  By creating spaces that uniquely catered to children, they dramatically changed the way young people interacted with cultural institutions.  In 1899, the Brooklyn…

Oral History Interview with Radical Priest Frank Morales

Sady Sullivan

Today's post is by oral historian Amy Starecheski.  Amy was Lead Interviewer for the 550-hour Atlantic Philanthropies Oral History Project at the Columbia University Oral History Research Office from 2005-2008.   She was a lead interviewer on the September 11, 2001 Narrative and Memory Project, for which she interviewed Afghans, Muslims, Sikhs, activists, low-income people, and the unemployed.  Amy is co-author of the Telling Lives Oral History Curriculum Guide and she is currently pursuing a doctorate in anthropology at the City University of New York. Oral History Interview with Squatter…

Panamanian Festival

Thomas

There was a great deal of drumming and trumpeting behind the library this lunchtime.  I grabbed the division's big old digital camera and followed the music  through the back door to its source in Mount Prospect Park, right behind the library.  The park was filled with the food and sounds of the the  Panamanian Festival.  Not one but several marching bands, some in splendid white regalia, were parading around the circular path.  (Evidently the marching bands are quite active, because I soon found video footage of a similar group.)…

Up for Debate: Thinking about the Supreme Court and Civil Rights with NYC Public School Teachers

Emily Potter-Ndiaye

I am working as an intern at Brooklyn Historical Society this summer as part of my Masters Program in Museum Studies at NYU.  Last week I attended a four-day summer institute for New York City Public School Middle and High School teachers. Brooklyn Historical Society is one of the partner cultural institutions for Leadership in American History (professional development sponsored by a federal Teaching American History Grant [TAHG]). I was there representing BHS with our head of school programs, Todd Florio.…

Regina Pacis and the Case of the Missing Crowns

Leslie

In the midst of World War II, the parishioners of St. Rosalia's Church in Borough Park made a pledge:  if the war came to an end, they would construct "a lasting memorial to the ideal of peace."  By 1948 ground was broken for one the greatest churches in Brooklyn, a $1,000,000 devotion to the Queen of Peace - Regina Pacis. Regina Pacis Votive Shrine, at 65th Street and 12th Avenue, was (and still is) a model of Italian Renaissance design. It was a two-story building with 1,500 seats on the main floor and 1,200 more in the basement chapel.  It was the second…

Chinese-American Oral Histories Translated by a Chinese-American

Sady Sullivan

Today's post is written by Qin Yong David Chen, our BHS summer intern from the Chinese-American Planning Council.  This fall, he will be a sophomore at Stony Brook University where he studies economics and political science.  He plans to attend business school after graduating. Many people have proclaimed 8th Avenue in Sunset Park as New York City's third Chinatown.  My name is Qin Yong David Chen and I am an intern here at the Brooklyn Historical Society.  My job includes many roles: I am a tour guide, a promoter, a receptionist, and an amateur historian. One task that was assigned to me was…

To Gravesend and Back

Chela

Last week's guest post was so well received, we thought we'd try it again this week. Today's post is from Joseph Ditta, BHS friend, Reference Librarian at the New-York Historical Society, and born-and-bred Brooklynite. Joseph has a great new book out through Arcadia Publishing called Then & Now: Gravesend, Brooklyn. The book is packed with cool photographs comparing the same locations in the 19th and early 20th Centuries with modern day. It  is really fun to see what familiar buildings looked like in their past, the way that people have attempted to modernize buildings (both to good and…

Of Strawberries

Thomas

Strawberry shortcake is one of my favorite desserts. So I thought what better way to celebrate the end of the strawbery season than to search for, and create one of the strawberry shortcake recipes from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. It seems that Brooklynites were such fans of all things strawberry that there were hundreds of articles about this fruit -- ranging from strawberry festivals to recipes for strawberry custard, strawberry sponge, iced strawberries and strawberries and claret. But I was searching for strawberry shortcake, and the …

Coming Up in Bed Stuy

Sady Sullivan

2007 marked the 40th anniversary of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration, the oldest community development corporation (CDC) in the United States, founded in 1967 through the efforts of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob Javits.

To celebrate this anniversary, BHS and Restoration partnered on an oral history project interviewing founding Board members, supporters, activists, artists, tenants, and other community members, over 50 narrators total, to document Restoration’s…

Serendipity in the Eagle Morgue

Thomas

If the serendipitous nature of alphabetical order has ever struck you as one of life's inexpensive pleasures, then the Eagle morgue is for you. Why should nudity and nugatory nestle so close to one another on the dictionary page?  And there among the s's sedition and seduction rub shoulders, one misdemeanor inciting its neighbor to worse and worse behavior.  A file drawer full of photographs is much like a dictionary page in producing strange bedfellows. Leslie mentioned in her last post that we have been undertaking an inventory of some of our photograph…

Storybooks and Captain Hook

Thomas

We've been working diligently on our photo inventory, and it's uncovered some new material to write about.  Today, I found myself enchanted by a relatively unknown event in the Central Library's kitschier history:  the Pet Show. On May 21, 1955, Brooklyn Public Library and Abraham & Straus department store hosted the Storybook Pet Show, a costumed pet competition for children in first through seventh grades.  Entrants were asked to create a costume or display that was, in true library form, inspired by a good book.  One young man went all out, creating both a…

What’s wrong with my scrapbook?

Chela

The library at BHS is lucky enough to have a great team of interns working on all kinds of projects from answering your reference questions to scanning historic images to cataloging archival collections. Today we'll hear from Katy Christensen, who has been working in the archives processing and cataloging archive, manuscript and photo collections, about some of her recent work. Scrapbooking has become increasingly popular in recent years and one can now find webpages devoted entirely to scrapbook layouts and suggested themes. They are hardly a new phenomenon, however. Scrapbooks have been…

Love and Financial Services

Sady Sullivan

Before most of us had ever heard of credit default swaps and other financial services, products, and derivatives, there were changes afoot in the banking industry as local savings banks, also known as thrifts, got involved in other kinds of investment banking following federal deregulations in the 1990s.  Many of the smaller banks were eventually bought out by larger banks, which is what happened to Brooklyn-based Independence Community Bank in 2006 when Sovereign Bancorp (which is itself owned by Banco Santander, based in Spain) took it over. An integral part of Brooklyn’s economic and…

A Home for "Ladies"

Thomas

A search for luxury condos in Clinton Hill might bring you to 320 Washington Avenue, a lovely co-op surrounded by trees and situated on a comfortable street.  And, if that weren't enough, it is an historic building, which seems to be a favorite factoid for realtors. While doing some research into the building's history, it came to my attention that our colleagues over at the Brooklyn Historical Society had just blogged about this very building.  It was particularly helpful because I never think to use annual reports as they did.  I love a good story, so I decided to…

The Eagle Excursion to the Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1893. Part II

Thomas

In my last post on the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, I mentioned two books.  First, I wrote extensively on the fair as described in The Hand Book to the World's Columbian Exposition.  Now I would like to share a scrapbook that documents one Brooklynite's journey from Brooklyn to Chicago and back in October 1893.  Entitled Brooklyn Eagle World Fair Excursion, the scrapbook begins with the list of men and women who lodged at the Vermont Hotel in Chicago. The excursion, sponsored by the Eagle, lasted one week and included 250 people who…

Teacups, Frog Hopper and Cyclone

Thomas

Photographer Ron Meisel has donated one of his beautiful 40 x 15" prints to the Brooklyn Collection. Coney Island, Brooklyn--Astroland Park: Teacups, Frog Hopper and Cyclone (2007) now holds pride of place on the rear wall of the reading room to the right of the Reserve Room doors, with Bill Creevy's pastel drawing of the Central Library to the left. Ron Meisel is represented by Phyllis Stigliano at the Phyllis Stigliano Gallery, 62 Eighth Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217.  This is a panoramic photograph taken with a Hasselblad Xpan camera, Fuji Color negative film and scanned on an…

Important records for the study of African history digitized and available on Ancestry.com for FREE!

Elizabeth Call

On July 16th Ancestry.com, in conjunction with the Virgin Islands Social History Association (VISHA), launched the 1st installment of newly digitized St. Croix-Virgin Islands slave records.  Part of the St. Croix African Roots Project, the two databases now available, St. Croix Slave Lists (1772-1821) and Population Census (1835-1911), will be freely available until July 31st: http://bit.ly/IbxiE For some background information on this project, check out: http://bit.ly/18jsf2 Genealogy for African Americans presents its own unique sets of challenges, largely because records like these are…

Breukelen State of Mind

Alli

The Brooklyn Paper's going Dutch this week? The newspaper's title banner has been changed to the Dutch spelling of the word (or at least a version of the Dutch spelling) and is replete with an animated windmill. Jasper Danckaerts would be thrilled - though perhaps not as much with reporter Shannon Gies' "good riddance" send off of Danckaerts and the Labadists. As for the Breukelen/Breuckelen spelling of the Dutch-settled land - this is something that BHS debated about during the preparation of the Pages of the Past exhibit. After all, BHS has a t-shirt that uses the spelling with the 'c', and…

Beauty and the Beer

Thomas

Brooklyn and beer have a long history together, as do beautiful women and beer advertising.  These early advertisements from our collection illustrate that point:          But no beauty was quite like Miss Rheingold:  From 1942 to 1965, Liebmann Breweries of Bushwick, Brooklyn used an annual beauty contest to sell beer.  It was a clever marketing ploy that offered the general public the opportunity to choose Miss Rheingold.  Ballot boxes were placed in taverns, grocery stores and other locations and citizens could vote as many…

Park Lit TONIGHT Coney Island ALWAYS

Sady Sullivan

Two of BHS's Interpreting Brooklyn artists, novelist Elizabeth Gaffney and Coney Island playwright Michael Schwartz, will be reading tonight in Fort Greene Park with L.J. Davis, a fellow contributor to the magazine A Public Space. Another friend of BHS and Coney Island, Charles Denson, founder of the Coney Island History Project, is hosting an online conversation at The New York Times City Room Blog this week. If you haven't been following the debates about revitalizing Coney Island, the City Council is about to vote on a rezoning plan and the Municipal Art Society has suggested improvements…

Photograph inventory July 13-24, 2009

Thomas

Brooklyn Collection staff will be carrying out an inventory of our photograph collections from July 13 to 24, 2009. The physical photograph collections will be closed to researchers during that time and no photograph orders will be processed, although images will still be available through our digital files.

Some Brooklyn Hats

Thomas

As a "friend" once memorably put it, you can always count on me to find the cloud behind every silver lining. The rain has held off for a few days now, but can the miserably hot and humid days of summer be far behind? There was a time when head protection on sunny days was de rigueur, and a baseball cap was considered the appropriate headgear only for playing baseball. For the rest of life, other types of summer hat gave Brooklyn heads their special pizzazz. In the late 19th century you could still wear a straw boater without a hint of irony, in fact every member of this well-…

Sham Warfare in Prospect Park

Thomas

   On a frigid February afternoon in 1885, the Third Brigade of Brooklyn's Second Division of the National Guard marched onto the frozen, snow covered fields of Prospect Park.  Dressed in full winter uniforms, carrying muskets and bayonettes and waving their American flags, they were prepared for an elaborate exercise in mock warfare - a sham battle.  In the 19th century, sham battles were used for either commemorative or practical reasons.  Although the National Guard had scheduled the event on a holiday, Washington's birthday, the sham battle was…

The Saw-Book Quarterly

Thomas

It is my good fortune to purchase, when funds allow, new items for the Brooklyn Collection. Among our ever-growing sub-collections is a group of trade catalogues from Brooklyn businesses, and I was happy to find three of them in a recent offering from a well-known bookseller. The most striking was this booklet bearing the subtitle Saws--Their History, Manufacture and Use, Continued. The cover image of a phoenix rising from a flaming ruin clearly announces what must have befallen the company of Joshua Oldham and Sons.  Sure enough, the booklet tells the whole story of the disaster…

New Exhibit: Students Reflect On a Year of Research

Thomas

It's been another busy year for the students in our Brooklyn Connections program, and we are celebrating with an exhibit at the Central Library! This year we wanted to celebrate the diversity of topics and projects selected by our partner schools.  Each panel highlights one school's project and the thoughts of students who worked to complete it.  Students utilized photographs, newspapers and other documents to bring history alive in their classrooms.  We were thrilled to see that even 8th graders were able to truly appreciate all that the Brooklyn…

Brooklyn in Film: Gems from our 16mm Collection

Thomas

Aziz Rahman, director of the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival, will present highlights of our 16mm film collection in the Dweck Auditorium on Wednesday June 24th at 7 p.m.  Program: Trinidad in Brooklyn, 1985; Who Grows in Brooklyn, 1969; Incident on Wilson Street, 1964;  I remember Barbara, 1981. Free.

The rain it raineth every day...

Thomas

Since we've been deluged for the greater part of the month I thought it would be appropriate to find some rain-related entries from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.        _______________________________________________ The rain isn't bothering this woman on Cortelyou and Coney Island Avenue in 1948                                            …

MMNY at BHS

Sady Sullivan

Photos from the Make Music New Y0rk show at BHS yesterday And a review of the show in Girls Rock & Girls Rule!

Old Ladies and Respectable but Indigent Females

Chela

A few weeks back, we got a reference question about  the Graham Home for Old Ladies, a charitable organization long gone, but whose building still stands at 320 Washington Ave. at Dekalb in Clinton Hill. Just a few days after the question came in, Brownstoner wrote about a condo for sale in the building.   Then, on my way to eat delicious tacos this week, I looked up as I was walking down the street and there the building was again. Well, I figured it was the blog gods telling…

Build the Bridge: The Eagle Backs a Failing Venture

Thomas

If the Eagle had gotten its way, the New York skyline would look quite different.  A tunnel from South Brooklyn to the Battery had been on the drawing table for at least a decade in 1939.  However, when federal funding started to dry up, it became unclear who would fund such an expensive venture.  Enter Robert Moses, whose Triborough Bridge Authority had more than enough spare cash on hand.  Moses "graciously" agreed to help and he soon unveiled his proposal - not for a tunnel, but for a bridge.  A bridge, he argued, would be…

Photographs by Mike Stein of the Prospect Press

Thomas

Imagine finding a lost trove of 25,000 negatives documenting life in Brooklyn a quarter century ago. They were produced for a newspaper, beloved in the community for its honest and detailed reporting - and reviled by some for the same reasons - that published for five years, and exists only in the memories of long-time Brooklynites.   It was called the Prospect Press, and it lived a short but illustrious life from 1982 to 1987. Although it was only distributed in the communities of Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington and Sunset Park, its impact reached beyond, as it reported on…

Women Make Movies @ BHS

Sady Sullivan

Join BHS and the New York Chapter of COLAGE, a national movement of children, youth, and adults with one or more LGBTQ parents, as we celebrate Brooklyn PRIDE with a screening of films on same-sex marriage from Women Make Movies: My Sister, My Bride directed by Bonnie Burt (26 min) As the issue of gay marriage grips the country, this touching documentary follows the heartwarming and historic journey of two Jewish lesbians as they seek to celebrate their commitment to one another. In Sickness and In Health directed by Pilar Prissas (56 min) A battle to legalize same-sex marriage turns…

ExLab Students on WNYC!

Sady Sullivan

Listen to the Ex Lab student curators of Pages of the Past: The Breukelen Adventures of Jasper Dankaerts on WNYC: And here they are giving a virtual tour of the exhibit which is on view now: AND the students have a blog where they wrote about foot-long oysters and much more...

Herb and Dorothy, and Brooklyn Public Library.

Thomas

Herb and Dorothy Trailer from Herb and Dorothy on Vimeo. I stand a little bit prouder as a librarian of Brooklyn Public Library today, after seeing Megumi Sasaki's film about art collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel.  Herb and Dorothy, a documentary about the lives of librarian Dorothy and postal clerk Herb and their shared passion for art, opened on Friday at Cinema Village on East 12th Street. For those who do not know their story, the Vogels, living in a one-bedroom rent-controlled apartment on the East side, used her salary to cover their expenses and his to buy art. They…

Babes named (in) Brooklyn

Thomas

Whilst doing research, I discovered an article from March 7, 1938 titled “Everybody Wants Library to Name Baby.” It seems that the Brooklyn Public Library received a “flood of requests for baby names” when the public discovered that the library had a whopping 560,000 names at its disposal. Soon the librarians spent oodles of time looking for names for a “whimsical baby boy with long ears and a penchant for the esthetic” or a “girl, coquettish, second choice of father who wanted boy named Jack.” To manage the demand, the chief…

Now You've Got Plans for Friday

Alli

If you've been clicking around the BHS website recently, you've probably seen the mentions of this new exhibit, Pages of the Past: The Breukelen Adventures of Jasper Danckaerts. Or if you've come into our building lately then you might have noticed that exhibit in the midst of installation. Days ago I was stunned to see the high school student-curators who've created this exhibit, painting images of whales and birds onto the walls. The images were straight out of Jasper Danckaerts' diary, perfectly resembling the sepia drawings throughout his journals. I wonder if in 1679, Danckaerts had any…

Admirals Row

Sady Sullivan

BHS is collaborating with the Brooklyn Navy Yard to interview people who worked in the Yard during WWII for our oral history collection.  It's a fascinating project and I felt really lucky the first time I got to snoop around inside the gates of the Navy Yard (after spending years riding my bike past it and wondering what goes on in there).  It seems like a lot of other people share this curiosity since BHS's new tours of the Navy Yard always fill up fast (the next one is June 21 at 1:30pm)! One part of the Brooklyn Navy Yard is still owned by the federal government and there is a lot of…

What is it about Brooklyn?

Janice

Okay, I'll admit it right now. I am not a native Brooklynite. I originally come from Seattle, on the Left Coast, as many say here.  And do I live here in Bklyn now? No. Not yet, I always say sheepishly when someone asks me at the front desk. I live in a brownstone, but in another historic neighborhood - Harlem. Which is also a very cool place. So, why, then, do I work at the Brooklyn Historical Society? What am I doing here? Well, because there is just something about…

Hard Times by guest blogger Richard Reyes-Gavilan, Chief of the Central Library

Thomas

Library Budget Cuts -- A Recurring Theme In the summer of 1995 New York City’s public libraries were hiring en masse.  I’d just moved back to the city after having spent a few years in Texas earning my MLS.  Mayor Giuliani, fixated on the quality-of-life issues that—until September 11, 2001—had defined his administration, held firm on the plan for six-day service across the city’s 200 branches.  Finding work was easy.  Everyone was happy. Just a few years earlier, in 1991, the city, in the depths of recession and long-mired in a crack-fueled…

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and the Chicago World's Fair

Thomas

I just finished reading the book The Devil in the White City.  It's a really good read about an unimaginable task done well--the story of the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.  What does this have to do with Brooklyn?  Well, Brooklyn was mentioned many times in the book and there were many famous historical names that I have frequently looked up in the collection that had some association with Brooklyn, and then I remembered, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle sent an entire team of reporters and about 200 Brooklynites to Chicago to cover the fair.  So, I…

Revisiting a Lost World: The Past, Present and Future of Brooklyn's Dutch Farms. A Talk by Dr Sean S

Thomas

This illustrated talk will revisit the lost world of Brooklyn's Dutch farms--from their 17th century origins through their heyday in the mid-19th century when Long Island was the center of American agriculture, to their rapid extinction in the 20th century and the precious but precarious survival of their remnants on the streets of Brooklyn today. Dr Sean Sawyer has taught at Harvard, Columbia and Fordham universities and the New School. He was Director of the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum from 2001-2007, and is currently an organizer of 5 Dutch Days 5 Boroughs" and the…

The “Figurative Border”

Listen Up Brooklyn

Chung Yuen Bow
One of the unique challenges that came with curating the exhibit Living and Learning: Chinese Immigration, Restriction & Community in Brooklyn, 1850 to Present, was attempting to show how immigration law pervaded everyday life for the Chinese community in Brooklyn. As the scholar Robert Chang has argued, historically, immigrants groups that the government has subjected to restrictive legislation, “carry a figurative border” with them. For these immigrants, their admission into the United States – even…

Sunset Park Oral Histories

Sady Sullivan

The current Public Perspectives exhibit, Living and Learning: Chinese Immigration, Restriction, and Community in Brooklyn, 1850 to Present curated by Andy Urban, features audio clips from BHS's oral history collections - you can listen online or download the BHS podcast from iTunes (search the Store for Brooklyn Historical Society). In 1993 - 1994, BHS and the Museum of Chinese in America, then known as the Chinatown History Museum, collected interviews regarding Brooklyn's Chinese Community in Sunset Park.  The resulting oral history collection, 8th Avenue - Sunset Park Oral History Project…

Robert Moses, the Power Broker

Civic Holidays

      The below blog is posted on behalf of my Visitor Services colleague, Eric Ursol, who's having a few issues with his log-in info.  Eric's here every weekend with me, at the front desk and gift shop, and is a recently graduated History major at St. Francis here in Brooklyn Heights- so his thoughts on the history texts we carry at the BHS gift shop are pretty informed!  Robert Moses is one of the most important figures in New York City history.  His reign as Parks Commissioner is mired in both fame and infamy.  The decades you've lived in will probably determine your opinion on Robert…

iDream of BHS

Alli

As someone charged with marketing BHS and our many awesome projects, programs and collections I often find myself weighing the most innovative and cost-effective options to spread the word about our work. Last night it came to me in a dream, (perhaps because of Julie's  obsession with them) that creating a BHS iPhone app would certainly be the best way to introduce people to the Brooklyn Historical Society. But then again, what would a BHS app do? Would people be able to look up their family genealogy with the touch of a screen? Or trace their house history by simply typing in the address?…

Beautifying Montague Street with Guerrilla Knitting

Julie May

I think we can all admit there's an aesthetic division on Montague Street in our Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.  In one several-block stretch little shops of delicacies, restaurants with sidewalk seating, and cafes to satiate your caffeine addiction abound.  However, in just the one block between Clinton and Court Streets, a parking garage, banks, construction and the subway entrance leaves little to admire (excepting the lovely Brooklyn Trust Company, now the Chase Manhattan Bank).  I suppose that's why it was attacked by guerrilla knitters this week.  I don't know about anyone else, but I…

Miss Doggett's Masterpiece

Thomas

If this post is about anything at all, it is about the places you can end up when you don't quite know where you are going. There is a book in our collection that no one ever asks for, even though it is an excellent example of its kind and a work of solid scholarship. The book I have in mind is Marguerite V. Doggett's, Long Island Printing 1791-1830. This bibliography of all the earliest printed works produced on Long Island inspired me some years ago to search the decks of the Library for neglected examples of early Brooklyn printing. [Some people are unaware of the fact…

I Knight Thee, Sir Hot Dog

Thomas

In 1939, for the first time in American history, the King of England set foot on U.S. soil.  After a whirlwind tour of Washington, President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor invited King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to an informal picnic at their "country home" in Hyde Park, New York.  In true American fashion, Mrs. Roosevelt decided that no picnic would be complete without hot dogs.  Snobs everywhere, including the President's mother, balked at the thought of a hot dog being presented to His Majesty.  But, when the King enjoyed…

Change in Brooklyn

Sady Sullivan

Nelson George and Rosie Perez were on The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC last week talking about Change in Brooklyn neighborhoods - it's a great segment, good callers, and it's not just about gentrification, have a listen: AND THEN join us TONIGHT at BHS @ 6:30 – 9:00 pm when Nelson George, esteemed cultural critic, author of Hip Hop America, screenwriter and lifelong Brooklyn resident will launch his memoir City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success.Nelson George will read from his memoir and discuss growing up in Brownsville and living in Fort Greene.  He'll be joined…

Happy Mother's Day

Thomas

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I would highlight some photographs from our Herzberg Collection. Irving I. Herzberg was an amateur photographer who took thousands of pictures of the people of Brooklyn.  His photographs captured everyday life throughout the borough, but he excelled at informal portraits - on the bus, subway, at the beach, people usually lost in thought.  In these closeups of mothers and children, Herzberg, through superb composition, conveys a quiet moment, where the mother at least for the…

House Genealogy

Elizabeth Call

Next to genealogy, house research is the most researched topic in our library.  Recently a local reporter spent some time in the library researching her home, which led to an extremely interesting article in The New York Times.   This is not surprising, considering the varied amount of resources we have that assist in this endeavor. Two weeks ago, Sady Sullivan, our Oral History Coordinator, and I gave a presentation to the New York Methodist Alumni Association. We decided to present on the history of 641 Carroll Street since it is in Park Slope, near Methodist Hospital itself. There are many…

Mystery Market

Thomas

Here is another mystery market for all you Brooklyn mavens.  Anyone who can tell us the location of this market gets a copy of the print.

Brooklynite Marilyn French 1929 - 2009

Sady Sullivan

Feminist author Marilyn French passed away on May 2nd.  Her four-volume history of women, From Eve to Dawn, came out last year, and she was working on a memoir at the time of her death. I was surprised (and also not surprised) to find out that Marilyn French (nee Edwards) was born in Brooklyn.  Her parents were both of Polish descent, her mother was a department store clerk and her father was an engineer.  I haven't read anything yet that notes what neighborhood she grew up in but I'm…

Studio in a School - Teachers' Workshop

Todd Florio

Last week, Studio in a School brought teachers from PS 255 in Gravesend to BHS for a professional development workshop. We looked at primary source documents in the BHS library and exhibits, then created exhibition boards for the classroom.
The teachers were great, and very interested in the subject matter which was slavery and abolitionism in Brooklyn.  I…

Bicycling in Brooklyn!

Julie May

Perhaps others have also noticed that Spring is brewing in Brooklyn.  With last weekend's record highs, bicycles and their cyclists came out in force all over the borough.  I was one of these people churning over the Williamsburg Bridge on my folding bike on Saturday, parked by the grocery store on Sunday, and commuting via bike path to work on Tuesday.  All of which gave me some time to think about bikes!  Not only are they a great way to get around New York City, but they have seen some interesting leaps in terms of technology and design. Here are a few of my favorite examples from the…

National Poetry Month Ends Today

Alli

On this, the last day of  National Poetry Month, I am thinking of Walt Whitman's volume of 12 poems "Leaves of Grass." A perfect celebration of spring and the senses can be found in this collection in poems like "I Sing the Body Electric." First published at a printing shop (not too far from BHS) on Fulton Street in Brooklyn, "Leaves of Grass" lives on in Brooklyn.  

The Brooklyn Historical Society library holds three early published editions of Whitman’s poem: the second edition (1856), third (…

Oral History and Environmental Justice

Sady Sullivan

Tonight in BHS's oral history seminar we discussed the many uses of oral histories beyond the archive: radio, museums, performance...  One inspiring example is Invisible-5, a self-guided audio tour along Interstate 5 from Los Angeles to San Francisco.  Check out the Superfund sites along the route. Speaking of Superfund sites, the Newtown Creek Health & Harm Narratives Project is collecting community stories of illness and environmental pollution in Greenpoint, East Williamsburg, and Maspeth.  If you would…

Types of Brooklyn Girls

Thomas

"Brooklyn Girls are renowned for beauty, grace, and wit... To those so unfortunate as to live outside the boundaries of the borough, all its young women are equally charming... But the native knows that each section of the city has its own peculiar type."   For several weeks in 1902, the Eagle published weekly drawings that represented certain female social "sets" in Brooklyn.  Each week, they asked readers to submit a 250 word essay in response to the recent image.  Judges selected the best three essays on each set to be…

Got an idea you want to see on our museum walls?

Janice

Public Perspectives is on my brain. This is an exhibit series for which we issue an annual call to Brooklynites - anyone in Brooklyn with an idea for an exhibit can apply. Then three proposals are selected by a group of cultural experts from the community. BHS works with the recipients to develop their ideas into an exhibit that's on view at BHS for four months.  It's an amazing experience for me to step back from what I do and help someone else through the process. I think it's cool…

Oral History in the Classroom at PS 27 in Red Hook

Todd Florio

Sady and I took a trip down to nearby Red Hook to teach 4th graders at PS 27 about oral history. We played clips from BHS collections and discussed them with the kids, who were learning about Weeksville, Bed-Stuy and the African American experience in Brooklyn. The kids were quite excited when we told them that the workshop would end with them conducting interviews that would be saved in the BHS collections for perpetuity (We didn't use the word perpetuity with the 4th graders.).…

Exploring Brooklyn!

Civic Holidays

It's been such a beautiful weekend (and will hopefully stay that way..), and many of the visitors who come into BHS want to find a way to explore the neighborhood and learn without being stuck inside for too long.  Brooklyn has so many amazing museums, historic spaces, and galleries that sometimes it's too easy to forget that just wandering around can be really enriching.  Aimlessly exploring can discover neat and unexpected points of interest, but for those looking for something more focused or specific, there are tons and tons of wonderful walking tours of the borough. Of course, my…

Alfred T. White and Brooklyn's Better Self

Chela

Last night, BHS hosted a book launch for The Social Vision of Alfred T. White, a new publication from Proteotypes, the publishing arm of the fantastic Brooklyn gallery and reading room Proteus Gowanus. It was a great event. Sasha Chavcahcadze and Tom LaFarge from Proteus spoke about White, his work and what compelled them to tell his story, and an interesting and diverse crowd of people were there to enjoy the speakers, our library, and some tasty treats. Brooklyn Historical was a collaborator on the book, and much research was done for it in our library. It is a great resource, and we were…

A Small Accolade, and Some Brooklyn Moustaches

Thomas

Good news! Amid the gloom of budget cuts, bursting property bubbles and bankruptcies, we take heart from the fact that Brooklynology won an honorable mention in the ArchivesNext Best Archives on the Web awards. That alone is a fine thing, but better yet, among the other winners is the University of Kentucky's "Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century" in the "Most Whimsical Archives-Related Website" Category--one of the most amusing blogs we have seen in a long time. Never having met a good idea that wasn't worth borrowing, I thought we might occasionally bring to your attention a few of the…

Annette Gordon-Reed Wins 2009 Pulitzer for History

Alli

Congratulations are in order for author and historian Annette Gordon-Reed, whose book "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for History. Ms. Gordon-Reed, who also wrote "Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy," was the Speaker at BHS' Annual Library Dinner in March. She delivered an amazing speech on the lives of the Hemings family, including much about Sally Hemings, who bore seven children by Thomas Jefferson. Again, congratulations from BHS and we hope that Ms. Gordon-Reed will return to the BHS Library when she begins to…

Memoirs

Sady Sullivan

I just finished reading Nelson George's new memoir City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success.  George's personal reflections on Brownsville, East New York, and Fort Greene; his open discussions of race and class; plus his impassioned knowledge of the complex relationships between the media, music & film industries, and popular culture, make for an inspiring read.  I'm looking forward to the City Kid launch party and reading here at BHS on May 13th. Students in the BHS oral history seminar I'm teaching are choosing books of oral histories (or memoirs) to read and…

The Drivotrainer

Thomas

Having grown up in the suburbs, I only learned to parallel park to pass the driver's test.  So when I borrowed a friend's car recently, I realized I would have to parallel park for the first time since I was 16.  But at the moment of truth I recalled my old driving lessons and found myself perfectly aligned with the curb.  Success!  I cannot say that I would have been able to pull off this feat if I had learned to drive under THIS method:   These high schoolers are practicing parallel parking with the Aetna Drivotrainer, which had its debut…

BHS Breaks 100 Followers on Twitter!

Todd Florio

In an effort to get the word out about our events, exhibits, and educational programs, (and to better connect to today's diverse communities), BHS started "tweeting" on twitter.com a bit over a week ago. In that short time, we have amassed over 100 followers! (Those are people who are signed up to see our updates.) It's great to see so much interest in BHS on the internets. If you're a bit of a technophobe or just not into twitter, don't worry. You don't have to sign…

Now the Drum of War. Robert Roper on Whitman and his Brothers in the Civil War

Thomas

Robert Roper, author of an acclaimed book on the Whitman brothers in the Civil War, will give a talk sponsored by the Brooklyn Collection on Wednesday April 29th at 7 p.m. in the Trustees Room, Third Floor, Central Library, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11238.

Support Your Local Storefront Photographers

Alli

Store Front by James and Karla Murray
We'll all miss seeing Jim & Karla Murray's "Counter/Culture" exhibit in the Independence Community Gallery (the show came down this week) - but never fear! You can see more of their amazing storefront photography in their new book "Store Front." It's on sale at the BHS store or you can catch them tomorrow night at Book Court.

Birds of Prospect Park

Thomas

Brooklyn is not a quiet borough.  When I walk around the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and listen to the wind in the trees, I will inevitably hear air plane engines over my head or the sound of sirens in the distance--not really the noises that I want to hear in this sanctuary.  But one sound that I've waited all winter for, I finally get to hear again: birdsong.   A lovely publication called Birds of Prospect Park that I found on our shelves is a delightful guide to birds in Brooklyn.  Published in 1951 by the Brooklyn Bird Club, this pamphlet …

Brooklyn Dodgers on WNYC

Sady Sullivan

If you missed the Forever Blue event at BHS on March 21st, you can listen to it here on WNYC: Join Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael D'Antonio with Peter O'Malley, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers 1970 - 1998, and Richard Sandomir, Sports Broadcasting Reporter for the New York Times, as they discuss the true story of Walter O'Malley and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles on the occasion of the launch of Mr. D'Antonio's new book Forever Blue.

America's Favorite Spokescow

Thomas

I can't help it; the thought of a cow with an office and a secretary makes me laugh. I've had a copy of this photograph displayed on my desk since I first stumbled upon it in our files, often wondering about the story behind it.  After a particularly long day of teaching, I decided to indulge in a little research of my own.  Turns out, we've just interrupted Elsie the Cow, the world famous mascot for Borden Milk Products, hard at work.  One can only imagine what Elsie is dictating.  Perhaps a thank you note to a fan who saw her cameo in the…

Font of Knowledge

Todd Florio

I just discovered this excellent article about lettering on Brooklyn architecture by Paul Shaw on the AIGA website. BHS's original 1881 lettering spelling out "Long Island Historical Society" is included along with dozens of other great lettering in Shaw's article. Check it out! http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/lettering-grows-in-brooklyn

     

5 1/2 Things About Ft. Greene

Sady Sullivan

A tour of 5 1/2 black culture spots in Fort Greene by Nelson George: 5 1/2 Things About Ft. Greene By Nelson George from Nelson George on Vimeo.

Brooklyn Beekeepers

Sady Sullivan

I'm loving this new blog about raising bees in Brooklyn: BQE KEEPER And it's really neat that City Councilmember David Yassky (D - Brooklyn Heights) is Pro-Honey: Legalized beekeeping would 'stimulate just the kind of niche manufacturing sectors that will be critical to an economic turnaround'.

Surfing Oral History

Sady Sullivan

Despite yesterday's snow, soon it will be warm enough to go to the beach.  In honor of impending summer, here's a clip from the Surfing Heritage Foundation's oral history collections:

We don't serve bread with one fish ball

Thomas

Today's post comes directly from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 29, 1887, p. 6:    Luckily for today's Brooklynite, the restaurant scene has finally emerged from New York's shadow after centuries. I've even heard that Manhattanites travel to Brooklyn to dine out. Web sites like Chowhound, Edible Brooklyn, and BPL's own No Shush Zone spread news and reviews on current cuisine in the borough. Anyone know where to get good fish balls?    For those who don't enjoy reading 19th century newsprint, the article text follows: "Brooklyn can stand…

Nelson George's Fort Greene

Sady Sullivan

Great essay on in the New York Times on Fort Greene by Nelson George.  He'll be here at BHS on May 13th to launch his book City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success. I had always viewed the area as a crucial black artistic enclave. It had nurtured some of the most important African-American talents of the past two decades, from Wynton Marsalis and Chris Rock to Erykah Badu.  And the neighborhood became the centerpiece of this black alternative vision precisely because it was a place where many whites were afraid to go. While Harlem carried the weight and burden of its…

An Unusual Suspect Visits BHS Library

Alli

When an American Airlines commercial shot at BHS a few months ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see Kevin Spacey walk into the library for the shoot, and I was floored when I saw Michel Gondry directing. I just found the final version online, a commercial for the airline that won't air in the U.S. Enjoy the finished product, apparently Mr. Spacey's first commericial. BHS makes its debut in the library scene around the :23 mark and the Tile Lobby is used in the shoe shine shot (don't blink!). And here's a precious Gondry-gem, completely unrelated to BHS:

Oral History of the Zombie War

Sady Sullivan

Important primary source documentation: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.  It's good background reading for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!

Ancient Questions Posed

Thomas

  Among the Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs that are now a part of the Library's Brooklyn Collection, are hundreds of images of Brooklyn's orphanages. Changes in social welfare policies have closed the doors of these places, but we here are fully aware of their past existence--in fact, a couple of times a year you can bet on an alumnus of one orphanage or another calling to ask for information about or pictures of their old home.  Some of the sweetest images come from the Pride of Judea Home, established as a Jewish orphanage on Dumont Avenue and…

Our Bi-Weekly Mystery Picture

Thomas

The word "unidentified" occurs all too often in our photograph database. I have decided it is time to tidy up a few of these "unidentifieds," and you, dear readers--I know you are out there--are going to help. Here are two pictures of a market in an unidentified Brooklyn location. The first to give a convincing account of the location may have a print of either of these if he or she so wishes, otherwise they may simply consider themselves covered in glory.  Now here are a couple of clues:  signs visible in the top picture read Printing 135, Bottaro…

Student Oral History Projects

Sady Sullivan

Today I spoke to a class of high school seniors at Packer Collegiate Institute.  They are planning to conduct oral history interviews regarding the current financial crisis.  The students had insightful questions about how to handle the subject of Money which stirs up all kinds of emotions in people no matter how the global economy is faring. Some students plan to interview their parents who work in the financial field and so, we talked about how intimacy can sometimes add to an oral history interview and sometimes it can make certain things more difficult to talk about.  I think it's a great…

More History Than We Can Handle?

Sady Sullivan

This is an interesting discussion from the National Council on Public History conference blog.  I've mentioned before that we need a new term to describe this wonderful phenomenon of more and more people documenting their lives publicly, and projects like StoryCorps, that fall somewhere between journalism and oral history. Opening keynote speaker Jill Lepore, keying on a New York times article that talked about an "unprecedented pileup of historic news," bemoaned the lack of depth or analysis in most of the discussions of historic candidacies, elections, meltdowns, and what have you, and…

Waiting for Spring

Thomas

In these early days of April, watching eagerly for signs of leaves returning to the trees, I am reminded of this old poem: Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where them boidies is? The boid is on the wing-- Absoid! Of course the wing is on the boid. -Anonymous Often attributed to Ogden Nash or other individuals, versions of this poem have appeared in newspapers (and now web pages) since the mid-twentieth century. Written in "Brooklynese," the poem is featured in a New York Times article on January 18, 1976 about our…

The Brooklyn That Never Was Part 2

Thomas

Back in December I posted a short piece about the Union Temple building that never saw the light of day, at the corner of Eastern Parkway and Plaza Street.  This stretch of the Parkway was a graveyard for grand designs, for directly opposite the Temple, the Moderne style Central Library building by Githens and Keally was the replacement for an unrealized original design by Raymond Almirall. The long sad story of the unfinished wing and the "hole in the ground" that that sat for thirty years until a Central Library was finally opened in 1941 (and then…

Brooklyn Bridge Saves Engagement Ring

Sady Sullivan

Good Brooklyn story on MSNBC: While proposing to his ladyfriend, Gina Pellicani, on the pedestrian walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge, Don Walling dropped the engagement ring and it fell through the wooden slats to the roadway below!  He recovered the ring from the roadway, the band was bent but the diamonds were intact.  Happy ending!

Oral History of Public Housing

Sady Sullivan

My first job out of college was to be "Resident Initiatives Coordinator" in a public housing development near Boston.  The plan was, I would interview as many people of the 616 families who lived there as I could, find out what kind of programming and services they would find most helpful, and then make that programming and those services happen.  That's a big undertaking for a 21-year-old, but I was naive and didn't understand the bureaucratic impasses and catch-22s people in the neighborhood were navigating, such as the confusing system by which childcare vouchers were dolled out according…

Librarian Conditions Vastly Improved Since 1920s

Thomas

Although the ladies in the photograph appear to be in good health and are enjoying their tea in pleasant surroundings, evidence uncovered today reveals stark truths about the lives of librarians in the 1920s. Seeking something else entirely, I stumbled upon the following in the 1921 Annual Report of Brooklyn Public Library, which, thanks to the kind ministrations of Google Books is now available online. Evidently it was the habit of the Assistant Chief Librarian to list in one paragraph all those who had  fallen in the line of duty during the year.  Call me…

Iraq History Project

Sady Sullivan

The Iraq History Project is one of the largest independent human rights data collection and analysis projects in the world. The IHP has gathered over 7,000 testimonies from throughout Iraq which have been entered into a secure, searchable database. The project is managed by the International Human Rights Law Institute of DePaul University College of Law in Chicago and run by an all-Iraqi in-country staff.         

Dave Eggers and Oral History

Sady Sullivan

Novelist Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, What Is the What), publisher of McSweeney's, and founder of 826NYC, a nonprofit organization in Brooklyn that supports students in developing their writing skills, is an oral history buff. In this interview in Mother Jones magazine, Eggers talks about Studs Terkel and Voice of Witness, a non-profit book series that uses oral histories to bring to light contemporary social injustices such as the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina and the lives of undocumented workers in the US.

Archie Green

Sady Sullivan

Folklorist and musicologist Archie Green (b. 1917), who established the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress, has died. Raised by a socialist father, Green worked in the San Francisco shipyards during WWII and both experiences inspired his lifelong love of labor history.  He influenced countless oral historians and the American Folklife Center houses the Veterans History Project and StoryCorps collections among much much more.  He also wrote Tin Men, a book documenting folk art robot-like figures crafted out of found metal.

Important Things in Small Packages

Thomas

I could write many, many entries on Brooklyn during World War II (and perhaps someday I will), but for the time being I am drawn to a small, rarely noticed item in our collection: There is nothing astounding about this particular ration book, other than the fact that it still exists.  I have been fascinated with the World War II home front since I first encountered the American Girl tales in my childhood, but I have never seen an actual ration book.  So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a few of them while preparing for a lesson on war efforts in…

Our bi-weekly quiz. Mystery picture.

Thomas

Attention Brooklyn Buffs and Buffettes--can you identify the building in this picture? Clue--it was in Brooklyn, and the photo was taken in May 1914.  Post your answers or guesses as a comment and collect kudos for being the first to get it right. AND--the winner gets a free 8 x 10 copy print of the featured picture.  All comments will be published together when the winner is announced so as not to give the game away.

Baseball Fanatics Beware

Thomas

Opening night of the 2009 Major League Baseball season is just 12 short nights away as I write.  Brooklyn’s baseball team is long gone, the Dodgers having played their last game in Brooklyn in 1957.  While working on some research for a patron, I found a cheeky bit of ephemera for Brooklyn Dodger fans hiding in the Ephemera Collection files.  Called “A Health and Safety Manual for the 1954 Baseball Season for Spectators, for Radio and TV fans and for all Brooklynites and other Dodger fans whereever they are,” this guide instructs Dodger fans on how to avoid…

Batters Up

Sady Sullivan

Forever Blue author Michael D'Antonio was on the Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC yesterday.

Wait, there's more?

Thomas

If you're a photo nut like me, you may be scrolling through the posts on Brooklynology, thinking "Wow! These are awesome pics! I wonder if they have any more?"   Well, have I got news for you. The answer is YES! For some instant gratification, start at the Historic Brooklyn Photo Galleries.  Browse through photos by selected themes such as neighborhoods, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and transportation. If that's not enough, you can search more than 15,000 photographs in the BPL catalog.  If Coney Island is your thing, a simple keyword search…

Forgotten Brooklyn, an Illustrated Talk and Book Signing by Kevin Walsh. Central Library Trustees Ro

Thomas

How many guide books to New York City do you know that devote two pages to Brooklyn and think they have done a good job?  Kevin Walsh, author of Forgotten New York, breaks this unsatisfactory mold, exploring the borough from end to end and uncovering corners even lifelong Brooklynites may not know. Kevin Walsh is an urban explorer extraordinaore and the creator of www.forgotten-ny.com. He grew up in Bay Ridge and now hosts sold-out Forgotten New York tours throughout the boroughs.  

Open Forum: Dodgers

Sady Sullivan

This Saturday, March 21, 1 - 3 PM BHS is hosting an a program:  Walter O'Malley and the Brooklyn Dodgers, A New View a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael D'Antonio and Peter O'Malley, moderated by Richard Sandomir, Sports Broadcasting Reporter for the New York Times, followed by a Q&A session, on the occasion of the launch of a new book Forever Blue. This program has sparked lots of press and community interest.  BHS is providing this open forum for discussion: we invite you to share your thoughts in the comments section below.  This blog forum will be open…

What's in a Name Part 2: Looking for a community

Thomas

Old directories have always seemed to me like snapshots of the past. Open one up and you are privy to all the people that lived for that period of time.  The indexing of citizens: orderly, logical, alphabetical. From the early to mid 1800's the directories listed African-Americans in Brooklyn with "c" or "col" after their names, and I began to wonder how best to use this information.  What about constructing a different snapshot--a snapshot of the African-American community during the civil war? The year 1863…

Storyscape

Sady Sullivan

Last Friday, Storyscape launched their third issue with a night of readings and performance here at BHS, it was great.  As editor Anne Hays described, Storyscape is a different kind of literary journal since it's not about Fiction or Poetry or Prose, it's about Stories, and stories can be true, untrue, part true and part fiction, told through photographs, drawings, audio pieces such as Ken Cormier's Sounds of Lunch - so good!

Church of the Atonement Ledger

Thomas

A recent arrival on our shelves is the Ledger of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Atonement at 239 17th Street near Fifth Avenue. This once pretty and active church is now almost a ruin.  The ledger documents meetings of the vestry from 1887 to 1907, twenty years of growth and optimism in the life of the congregation. During this period, a new building was erected, an organ by Reuben Midmer was installed, and the arrival of the elevated railroad on Fifth Avenue caused the church to sue for annoyance and depreciation of property. They won a settlement of $5000 from the…

John Manbeck Packs the House

Thomas

Former Borough Historian John Manbeck gave a lively illustrated talk last night in the Brooklyn Collection's Reserve Room, before a packed house. Using photographs from his two recent books, Brooklyn Historically Speaking and Historic Photos of Brooklyn, John covered the borough from end to end and back again with the ease that can only come from deep knowledge of his subject.  He also signed copies of his books. 

Kids Workshops

Sady Sullivan

Last weekend, the Center for Architecture Foundation’s Family Day and BHS hosted a workshop for kids about building the Brooklyn Bridge and lots of fun was had by all.  Which got us thinking... Parents, teachers, babysitters, mentors and friends of young people: We'd love to hear your ideas for future Kids Workshops. Are mornings or afternoons better?  What age group has the greatest need?  What would your kids be into?  Let us know! Photos by Catherine Teegarden

Elders Share the Arts

Sady Sullivan

I just went to a wonderful performance presented by Elders Share the Arts: Talkin' Brooklyn - A Story Circle Showcase.  Story Circle has been partnering with neighborhood branches of the Brooklyn Public Library and local senior centers for six years, inviting elders to get together to share memories and reflect together on their long and unique lives. For this showcase, eight storytellers read from a script made up of multiple narrators' stories which echoed, overlapped, and brought to life Brooklyn childhoods.  They told about sing-a-longs in neighborhood movie theaters and street games: "…

North Brooklyn Story Project

Sady Sullivan

Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG), a community organization that has been serving North Brooklyn since 1994, is starting a project called the North Brooklyn Story Project and their first meeting is tonight at 7pm at 101 Kent Avenue at North 8th Street in Williamsburg. This is such a wonderful idea, it's an oral historian's fantasy that everyone everywhere will start recording everybody else everywhere!  If you live in North Brooklyn, get involved, and if you live in another part of Brooklyn think about starting your own local Story Project.  And if you would like to learn more about…

Brooklyn Barbados Africa

Sady Sullivan

I can't wait to read Brooklyn-born novelist and MacArthur fellow Paule Marshall's new memoir Triangular Road.  In our Listening to Women seminar, we will be discussing the differences between oral histories, autobiographies, and memoirs - I'm curious what people think.

Pigtown

Thomas

Some new pictures of Pigtown by E.E. Rutter that have made their way to us, started me wondering where exactly Pigtown was.  I am now in a position to answer that question: it was, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of April 6, 1921, and allowing for some flexibility of boundaries, "that part of Flatbush which is bounded on the north by Malbone st., on the south by Midwood st., on the east by Albany Ave and on the west by Nostrand ave."  The images show tracts of wasteland, ash dumps, garbage piles,  stark new dwellings fronting empty blocks defined by crudely…

New Photo Exhibit at the Brooklyn Collection!

Thomas

The Brooklyn Collection recently acquired 29 photographs of the Steeplechase Park Circus in Brooklyn during the 1936-1937 season.  Images include death-defying barrel jumps, performing horses and acrobats, and more.  Visit the Brooklyn Collection at the Brooklyn Public Library, Central Branch to view this unique collection.   .

So this is Brooklyn! An illustrated talk by John Manbeck. Wed, March 11 2009, 7 p.m.

Thomas

Brooklyn's former borough historian will give an illustrated talk on Brooklyn's history, showing many photographs published in his recent books, Historic Photos of Brooklyn and Brooklyn: Historically Speaking. John B. Manbeck taught English and journalism at Kingsborough Community College for 32 years. He has lectured at the Smithsonian and for the New York Council for the Humanities. He will be available to sign copies of his books at the end of the talk. This event will take place in the Brooklyn Collection Reserve Room on the Second Floor of the Central Library.  

Brooklyn Born

Sady Sullivan

We're enjoying this blog today: Brooklyn Born: Views of a Born and Bred Brooklynite And the New York Times' Brooklyn blogging foray based in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill: The Local And photos of Brooklyn covered in snow:

Brooklyn's New Culinary Movement

Sady Sullivan

This time the New York Times got it right about Brooklyn.  The Brooklyn Kitchen is a dreamy store, the owners Taylor and Harry are wonderful, and it's a great place to take classes like How to Make Kombucha. Plus, it's good to read about the growing successes of mom & pop operations and not just their closings, like Jimmy Prince's Major Prime Meat Market on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island which opened in 1934 and is closing at the end of the month. In honor of Jimmy Prince, shop local this weekend and come see our exhibit Counter/Culture: The Disappearing Face of Brooklyn's Storefronts!…

It's Here: The Brooklyn Collection Teacher's Guide!

Thomas

We are proud to present a new FREE resource for educators in Brooklyn - A Teacher's Guide: Student Projects at the Brooklyn Collection.  Our new publication will help Social Studies teachers create exciting and rewarding projects for their students using the thousands of materials held right here in the Brooklyn Collection.  In addition to basic information about our collection, the guide also provides... Worksheets and Lesson Plans: Sample Documents from Brooklyn's past: Example projects with step-by-step instructions:…

Women Veterans

Sady Sullivan

Here's more information about this event next week: Women Veterans: Citizen-Soldiers in Changing Times Thursday, March 5, 6:30 – 8:30 PM *This BHS event is being held around the corner from BHS at the Rotunda Gallery, 33 Clinton Street* Women veterans who served in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan discuss their military experiences and the expanding role of women in U.S. Armed Forces. Presented in conjunction with the Brooklyn Historical Society exhibit In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn’s Vietnam Veterans Featuring: Joan Furey, author with Lynda Van Devanter of Visions of War, Dreams of…

FUREE Film Premiere

Sady Sullivan

Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), a Brooklyn-based, multi-racial organization announce the premiere screening of the documentary Some Place Like Home: The Fight Against Gentrification in Downtown Brooklyn this coming December - tickets are on sale now.  Check out the trailer, what do you think?

The Sheepshead Bay Race Track and the Birth of a Black Community. Illustrated talk, Wed Feb 25th, 20

Thomas

Brooklyn Collection Librarian June Koffi and others will give an illustrated talk on the history of the race track, the founding of the First Baptist Church of Sheepshead Bay that welcomed many of its African American workers, and the community that grew around them. This program will take place at 7 p.m. in the Brooklyn Collection Reserve Room on the Second Floor of the Central Library.

Bath houses or Axel Hedman Part III

Thomas

I am probably the only person alive in Brooklyn to have made regular use of a Scottish municipal bath house as well as a "steamie," a public laundry facility. In my student days in Edinburgh I lived for a year in a flat with a bath tub that filled so slowly that by the time you had  enough water for a bath, it was stone cold.  The solution was the bath house around the corner from James Thin Bookseller, which had big deep bathtubs with an enormously wide faucet that released a river of hot water, filling the tub in seconds. While some probably associate such places with poverty,…

Grunge Is Dead

Sady Sullivan

Following in the footsteps of Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, authors of Please Kill Me: An Uncensored Oral History of Punk, comes Greg Prato's Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music.  I'm excited to see how this book talks about Riot Grrrl.  And I'm always interested in this small but powerful distinction: THE Oral History vs. AN Oral History, hmm...  is there a difference?

Brooklyn Women

Sady Sullivan

Yesterday, I was getting some ducks in order for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project we're working on and browsing through some audio recordings to double check dates of birth and I happened to listen to two striking moments. In one, a woman who grew up in Red Hook in the 1920s and 1930s breaks into tears when she talks about having to end her schooling and go to work.  She was a proud honors student but she didn''t finish high school.  In the second, a woman who worked as a welder in the Brooklyn Navy Yard during WWII talks about how she would have loved to continue her career as a…

On moving houses, and John Thatcher.

Thomas

A print that is new to our collection got me thinking about buildings that have been moved, about things worth keeping, and exile, and all sorts of serious things. Single-pointed focus is not my strong point, and so the faithful reader--if you are still there, thank you--will just have to put up with reading several posts melded into one.   This print shows the Brighton Beach Hotel being moved back from the beach to terra firma in 1888, after erosion brought the ocean to the very foundations of the building.   No small structure, the hotel was…

America I AM

Sady Sullivan

America I AM: The African American Imprint is currently on view at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.  I heard about it on NY1 yesterday where they quoted the exhibition's press release: An interactive component of the exhibition will allow visitors to leave their own video “imprints,” and this collection will grow throughout the life of the exhibit to become the largest recorded oral history project in U.S. history. And that got me thinking about the meaning of oral history. Recording the impressions of museum visitors certainly creates an excellent video document that future…

Federal Writers' Project

Sady Sullivan

Oh wow, this is a treasure: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 - 1940.* There are 417 stories in the New York City collection.  In one titled Brooklyn Streets the worker (that's how the WPA writers were cited) William Wood describes The Hundski Pickers he heard many tell about: The Hundski Pickers were a strange occupational group whose scattered membership plied their business in Brooklyn during the early years of the present century. Their calling was definitely unconnected with the harvest fields; nor was it related with the garnering of some strange genus of flora. In…

New Oral Histories

Sady Sullivan

Islam, Women and Violence in Kashmir: Between India and Pakistan by Nyla Ali Khan I have chosen to deploy oral evidence in my book, which has allowed me to approach events, notions, and literatures about which there was meager evidence from other sources. The use of oral history has empowered my interviewees/correspondents, people of Jammu and Kashmir, in significant ways, bringing acknowledgment of hitherto disregarded opinions and experiences. Chicana Sexuality and Gender: Cultural Refiguring in Literature, Oral History, and Art by Debra Blake Since the 1980s Chicana writers including…

Citizen Soldiers

Sady Sullivan

While We Lie Sleeping, a silent short film by Monica Sharf, is a tribute to those who have served or are still serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It's a provocative addition to the 'support the troops and oppose the war' conversation. Relatedly, we're hosting a discussion with women who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam: Women Veterans: Citizen Soldiers in Changing Times Thursday, March 5th 6:30 - 8:30pm

Collective History of LGBT Groups

Sady Sullivan

Spreading the word about a good public history project: OutHistory, an educational website produced by CUNY's Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies is collecting histories of LGBT Employee and Other Groups. Jonathan Ned Katz, director of OutHistory.org, says: We’d especially like to have histories of LGBT employee organizing at Google and IBM, at other electronic media companies, and at other corporations.  We are also asking users to create histories of organized LGBT groups within unions, and among LGBT professionals.