Found in the Morgue: Seven Special Cats
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…
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
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…
Peacock in Bushwick: The Pope Mansion
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
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…
Collage Workshop: Picturing Your Neighborhood
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
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
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…
Little Known Brooklyn Residents: eden ahbez
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?
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...
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
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
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
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
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 …
Brewed in Brooklyn: A History of Fermenting Barley in New York's Favorite Borough
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.
The Borough of Homes and... Oysters?
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
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
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 …
Found in the Morgue: Five Local Snake Stories
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
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…