Cyclo-what?
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…
Our Streets, Our Stories Community Scanning Update
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.…
Double Header -- two programs on Brooklyn's baseball history!
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…
What's wrong with your tongue?
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…
A Whale's Tale
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…
Preservation and Progress at the Brooklyn Collection
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…
A Civil War of Our Very Own
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…
Leaving Brooklyn: Fuhgeddaboudit!
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…
Crow Hill Castle
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…
The Giglio Feast
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…
Brooklyn Connections 2014-2015 Wrap-Up
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…
The Garden of Damascus in the Heart of Brooklyn
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 Streets Our Stories: Community Scanning Events
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…
Putting Out Fires Since 1865!
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…
In the Shadow of the Bridge
“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…
A Night to Remember
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…
50? That Bridge Doesn't Look A Day Over 25!
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.…
Brooklyn Collection + Brooklyn Historical Society
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…
When Brooklyn Was Briney
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
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…