Two Dodgers Valentines
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…
Sentimental Journey
Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my mind at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
to renew old memories.
Happy Birthday, Central Library!
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
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
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
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
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…
Coney Island is a Jonah
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,…
The Nurse is Here to Help
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
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
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
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
"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
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…
Brooklyn Mohawks
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)
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
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…
The Shriners in Brooklyn
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 "…
So What'll It Be?
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…