Blog Posts tagged as: brooklyn history

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…

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…

Child wearing headphones while holding a green teddy bear.

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…

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

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 conditions on the ships were horrific…

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 the Majestic Theater, in the Fort…

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…

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…

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…

I Married the Widow of the Man Who Shot Your Horse

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History, 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…

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…

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…