Un-hiding our Collections
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,…
Horsecars and trolleys and plank roads, oh my
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…
Oh the weather outside is frightful
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!
To Gravesend and Back
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…
What’s wrong with my scrapbook?
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…
Old Ladies and Respectable but Indigent Females
Alfred T. White and Brooklyn's Better Self
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…