Opening the Pocket Doors: What Past Exhibitions Reveal

Throughout its 157-year history, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) executed over 150 exhibitions. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working to process the Exhibits and Special Projects portion of BHS’s institutional archive. To wrap up this part of the project, this blog post highlights the exhibits that stand out as significant in BHS history, particularly those that demonstrate how the society's values changed over time.

The Brooklyn Historical Society was founded as the Long Island Historical Society in 1863, as a library and museum. While the focus on this institution mostly centered on the library and its vast collections, the museum was an equally, if not more, popular feature of LIHS in its early years. The museum primarily exhibited its natural history collection and other items referred to as “curiosities” and “relics” from Long Island and around the world. Objects on display included taxidermy animals (primarily birds, reptiles, and small mammals), Revolutionary War Era surgical instruments, geological specimens (local rocks, pebbles, and soils), firearms, arrowheads, and, most unsettlingly, human remains. These remains were mostly bones (skulls, ulnas, and femurs, to be specific), and the bulk of them were part of the society’s “Indian” collection. This collection consisted of arrowheads, spearheads, stone implements, and other objects belonging to indigenous people in the United States and abroad. These items attracted many visitors to the museum, but one display was especially popular: two smoked “Indian” heads.  

Initially, I had no information about the heads other than a few photographs. However, by utilizing the scrapbooks in the collection and reviewing the old museum catalog, I learned that they originated from indigenous people living along the Tapajós River in Brazil. Ernest Morris, who visited the region, met members of this community and purchased at least eight heads, which he claimed were the heads of enemies killed in battle. Upon returning to New York, he visited the society to lecture about his time in Brazil, recount his interactions with its indigenous population, and exhibit the heads he brought back. He ultimately donated two of them to LIHS where they were put on display in the Hamilton building -- LIHS's original location -- and later at its current home at 128 Pierrepont Street. 

The collection and exhibition of these heads are characteristic of late 19th-century museum practices, and it is important to recognize how these practices contributed to the exploitation, dehumanization, and fetishization of indigenous people. For LIHS, these actions go beyond the museum and have their roots in the foundation of the institution. The founders of LIHS state in their founding documentation that their goal was to document and preserve the “threefold Indian, Dutch, and English history of the Island.” In fulfilling this mission, it's clear that the founding members of LIHS viewed indigenous people as relics of a far-distant past rather than human beings. This ideology is evident in the language used to describe native peoples (often using words like "savage" or "uncivilized") and in the act of displaying these heads next to stuffed replicas of extinct species for people to ogle. 

Many cultural institutions today, including the Center for Brooklyn History, are working to address the unethical stewardship of their predecessors and have initiated efforts to move towards more just, humane, and anti-racist museum practices. Some museums still contain human remains and culturally significant objects in their collections, which is where repatriation and/or reparation should enter the conversation. However, in the case of the smoked heads, repatriation may not be possible because they no longer reside in the collection. In 1926, due to financial hardship, LIHS shut down its natural history department and donated its collections to other institutions in New York, such as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Museum of the American Indian. The heads were most likely part of the donation to the Museum of the American Indian, but documentation to confirm this has yet to be discovered. Regardless, the existence of these heads in the society’s collection remains in our institutional history and serves as a reminder of this institution’s active role in perpetuating colonialism and white supremacy. 

With the closure of the natural history department, library staff no longer had its items to exhibit in the museum, and there was a lull in the exhibition schedule. In 1936, a shift occurred, and exhibitions were brought back in a different way. Instead of displaying curiosities and relics, the exhibitions focused on local themes, such as the Battle of Long Island, President Theodore Roosevelt, and Brooklyn’s classical architecture. The exhibition records for this time period are sparse compared to those executed from the 1990s onward, but there are two exhibits that caught my eye while I was reviewing these files: The History of Firefighting on Long Island (1955) and The Story of Transportation on Long Island (1955). 

The History of Firefighting on Long Island provided a look into historical emergency response techniques, with particular focuses on the practices of early colonists and the volunteer firemen of the 19th century. This exhibit is one of the most well-documented of the 1950s, and in a separate but related collection, there are photographs! 

In the same year, LIHS curated The Story of Transportation on Long Island – an exhibit that traced the island’s complex transportation system through pictures, maps, signs, and historic articles. Themes included the Fulton Ferry, horse-drawn carriages, the trolley, the Brooklyn Bridge, and a special section on the pictorial history of the Long Island Railroad. This exhibit stood out for its broad scope and colorful labels, which are my favorite records of this era. 

These exhibits demonstrate the approach to exhibitions from the mid-1930s through the mid-1960s. Both helped illustrate the story of Long Island’s past, but neither focused on contemporary topics or the community LIHS hoped to serve. Over time the exhibits became simpler and fewer in number, so much so the building and the members of the society developed a reputation for exclusivity, signaling to the community, whether intentionally or not, that they must belong to a secret club – and in a way it was. Admittedly, my interpretation here could be incorrect due to the lack of exhibition records for 1967-1982. However, except for the Puerto Rican Oral History Project, there doesn’t appear to have been much of an effort (or at least a sustained effort) to include Brooklyn’s communities in LIHS activities. Without exhibitions open to the public, non-members were left to wonder what was going on behind the pocket doors. 

Things shifted when David Kahn was appointed Executive Director in 1982. Under his leadership, many significant changes occurred, including the name change to the Brooklyn Historical Society in 1985. Kahn developed BHS’s emphasis on educational programming and exhibits centered on community. While some exhibits – such as In Transit: Two Centuries of Commuting in Brooklyn and Volunteer Firefighting in 19th Century Brooklyn (1994) –  tackled similar themes to those covered in the 1930s-1960s, others were vastly different. 

The new approach to exhibits consisted of two phases – documentary and exhibition. The documentary phase served an important function, as it allowed BHS to gather materials for exhibition and add to its collections, which were not representative of Brooklyn's diversity. Through the photographs, objects, ephemera, and oral histories collected during these projects, a more accurate and complete picture of Brooklyn and its communities materialized. Rather than continuing to exclude traditionally marginalized groups from the historical record in favor of rich, white male-dominated narratives, BHS actively sought to expand the story of Brooklyn. 

After the documentation phase, BHS staff turned efforts toward exhibition. With help from scholarly and community advisors, staff would utilize the materials gathered during their research to curate exhibits that told the stories of the people that make up Brooklyn. Instead of only taking the historical approach to exhibits that LIHS did in the past, BHS tackled contemporary topics, at times with an activist perspective. Two projects characteristic of this era are AIDS/Brooklyn and the Crown Heights History Project. 

The planning for AIDS/Brooklyn began in 1991. The idea for the project came to Kahn as he watched many of his friends die of AIDS, including his partner, Ron Wogaman, in March of that year. One of the observations Kahn made during the HIV/AIDS epidemic was that, after a loved one died, people would throw away all of their belongings to get rid of upsetting memories:  

“I felt this was an understandable response, but after hearing of this phenomenon several times, the historian in me became alarmed. How would future generations know what this crisis had been like? Who would preserve the material culture of AIDS?” – David Kahn, “Telling the Story of AIDS in Brooklyn.” 

He also noticed that art museums at the time were addressing the epidemic through themed exhibitions, but he wanted to address it in a more direct way, which led to the development of AIDS/Brooklyn. 

To implement this project, BHS, under the direction of Robert Rosenberg, organized a scholarly advisory committee and a community advisory committee, composed of people with AIDS, health care providers, members of religious communities, representatives of Brooklyn youth groups, and people who worked with the gay and IV drug user communities. With the help of these individuals, the historical society spread the word that they were seeking oral histories and objects for an exhibit. This public collecting initiative resulted in 22 oral histories and around 400 objects, approximately half of which were incorporated into the exhibit. Objects collected include buttons, get-well cards, posters, pill bottles, teddy bears, and personal photographs. 

AIDS/Brooklyn opened in April 1993. The exhibit explored the personal stories of individuals – of different races, ages, and sexual orientations –  living with HIV and AIDS. Presented in five sections, AIDS/Brooklyn discussed how the disease affected life in Brooklyn neighborhoods, offered a glimpse of how people experienced it on a daily basis, and detailed the struggles of dealing with the medical establishment. At the end of the exhibit, visitors received information regarding AIDS-related organizations at work in Brooklyn and how to offer assistance.  

Another memorable development during the 1990s was The Crown Heights History Project (CHHP) – a collaborative community history study developed by the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History (now Weeksville Heritage Center), The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and the Brooklyn Historical Society. In August of 1991, tensions between the Lubavitch Hasidim community and Black community resulted in three days of conflict. Originally titled “Bridging Eastern Parkway,” the goal of CHHP was to increase understanding between African Americans, Caribbean Americans, and Lubavitch Jews in Crown Heights. The project resulted in museum exhibitions, public events, and educational programs that explored the diverse cultures of the neighborhood. 

As part of the project, cultural anthropologist Jill Vexler and historian Craig Wilder researched the history of Crown Heights, conducted oral history interviews with residents, and curated exhibits at all three institutions. The objectives of the project organizers were to work closely with and accurately represent the people of Crown Heights, making community involvement a crucial factor during the planning process.  

In 1994, Brooklyn Children's Museum presented Crown Heights: The Inside Scoop, the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville presented Crown Heights: The African Diaspora, and BHS presented Crown Heights: Perceptions and Realities. The BHS exhibit used the events of August 1991, its media coverage, and the community responses that followed as a basis for exploring different perceptions and realities of the neighborhood. 

The approach to both AIDS/Brooklyn and Crown Heights starkly contrasts with the first iteration of the museum. Rather than participating in the objectification of traditionally marginalized groups, these exhibits encouraged visitors to evaluate their biases, learn about the perspectives of various Brooklynites, and take action within their communities. Other exhibits of this period include Black Women of Brooklyn, Por Qué Brooklyn: Our Borough's Latino Voices, and New Neighbors: Sunset Park's Chinese Community.   

While these exhibits were all very much relevant to the community, each was temporary and remained open for about a year. Beginning in 1989 and lasting until 1998, Brooklyn’s History Museum was the first long-term exhibition on the borough’s history. Sections were organized around familiar symbols of Brooklyn: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklynites, Coney Island, and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Under the direction of Chief Curator Ellen Snyder-Grenier, the symbols were chosen as engaging entry points to building broader interpretations of an aspect of Brooklyn history.  

Similar to the motivation behind many of the other projects at BHS at the time, the permanent exhibition sought to create something that Brooklyn deserved – a place where everybody felt included and welcome. Due to this, the curatorial staff thought it was crucial to show the diversity of Brooklyn’s people and their lives over time to give people an opportunity to connect personally, emotionally, and intellectually to Brooklyn’s past and present. The structure of the exhibit is also noteworthy – its non-narrative approach allowed visitors to browse through the exhibit in the order of their choosing, which gave them the ability to shape their own museum experience. 

After David Kahn’s departure in 1996, BHS experienced changes in leadership, financial circumstances, and to its historic building. Despite this period of instability, exhibitions were still ongoing, and BHS was able to hit a few milestones, one of which was the execution of its first major traveling exhibition.  

In Pursuit of Freedom: African Americans and the Antislavery Movement (1997-1998) was a traveling exhibition that explored the role played by Brooklynites, particularly African Americans, in the abolitionist movement. Traveling exhibitions were not new to BHS. Brooklyn Baseball and the Dodgers (1986) and Brooklyn Neighborhoods and How they Grew (1987) made their way across Brooklyn several years before In Pursuit of Freedom. However, both Dodgers and Neighborhoods grew out of popular exhibits previously installed at BHS; In Pursuit of Freedom was the first exhibition solely designed for travel. It featured an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln, historical photographs, original documents, and several artifacts.  After opening at City Hall in Manhattan on September 22, 1997, In Pursuit of Freedom traveled to locations in Brooklyn including Borough Hall, the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp, and several libraries within the Brooklyn Public Library system. Beginning in 2008, ten years after the conclusion of In Pursuit of Freedom: African Americans and the Antislavery Movement, a separate public history initiative, also titled In Pursuit of Freedom, would explore similar themes and build on the work done for this initial project. 

While In Pursuit of Freedom was traveling Brooklyn, and BHS’s historic building was undergoing extensive renovation (1999-2002), Ann Meyerson and her curatorial staff were at work developing BHS’s next permanent exhibition: Brooklyn Works: 400 Years of Making a Living in Brooklyn (2003-2006). The idea for Brooklyn Works began in 1990 when New York City and State officials approached BHS to create an exhibition about the industrial history of Brooklyn for the Empire Stores warehouse, which they were considering turning into a commercial and cultural space. While they lost interest in the project (until about 25 years later), the research and conceptualization of Brooklyn Works would find a home in BHS’s renovated space. 

Brooklyn Works was the society’s inaugural exhibition upon the reopening of its historic building in October 2003. It told the story of labor and industry in Brooklyn, starting with its agricultural beginnings and ending with stories of contemporary workers in various industries. The exhibit highlighted historical and contemporary personal narratives, featured several interactive activities, and showcased different work environments, including Bush Terminal, a tenement building, a sugar refinery, a garment factory, and a barbershop. The records of this exhibit in the institutional archive represent over 10 years of research, planning, and implementation, which speaks to the immense effort and care put into the exhibit.  

Around the time Brooklyn Works was deinstalled, planning for a smaller exhibition began. The Secret Lives of Streets (2007) explored Brooklyn’s streets and the people for whom they are named. This exhibit was the first Exhibition Laboratory (ExLab) project. Led by Kate Fermoile and Andrea Del Valle, ExLab (2007-2015) was an education department initiative that invited students to curate exhibits to teach them the history, function, and purpose of museums. The Secret Lives of Streets was created by students from three Brooklyn high schools: Brooklyn Technical High School, The Packer Collegiate Institute, and Saint Ann’s School. During this program, students learned how to create a museum exhibition from start to finish. With help from BHS staff, scholars, and graphic designers, students conducted extensive background research, worked with primary sources, chose design elements, developed promotional material, and wrote the text for the exhibit’s panels and labels. While ExLab exhibits were generally smaller in scale and scope, the program itself is a significant part of BHS history because it embodied the spirit of exhibition and education central to BHS’s mission.  

Students weren’t the only ones having all the curatorial fun. Under the direction of Kate Fermoile, Vice President of Exhibits and Education (2002-2011), the Public Perspectives Exhibition Series (2006-2011) provided a forum for Brooklynites to have an active voice at BHS by facilitating community-curated exhibitions. Public Perspectives reflected BHS’s deep commitment to community engagement and revitalized the energy surrounding the community-centered exhibits of the 1980s and 90s. These exhibits included: From Synagogue to Church: Converted Brooklyn Houses of Worship; Living and Learning: Chinese Immigration, Restrictions & Community in Brooklyn; and Lost In Transition: South Brooklyn, Williamsburg & Coney Island. The final exhibit of this series was Painting Brooklyn Stories of Immigration and Survival. Curated by Nina Talbot and Rachel Bernstein, Painting Brooklyn explored the paths of individual immigrants to Brooklyn and represented the diversity of the borough through paintings, objects, photographs, and oral histories. By featuring the work of community organizations and contemporary Brooklyn-based artists like Talbot, the Public Perspectives series encouraged new interpretations of Brooklyn’s evolving history and attracted a diverse group of new visitors to BHS. Once Public Perspectives ended, a new exhibit also hoping to attract new audiences opened, but the topic and approach were much different. 

In Pursuit of Freedom (2014-2019) was a multifaceted public history project that built on the abolitionism research initiated 20 years ago. The project was a collaboration between three Brooklyn cultural institutions: Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS), Weeksville Heritage Center (WHC), and Irondale Ensemble Project (IEP) that explored and traced the history of abolitionism, anti-slavery, and the Underground Railroad in Brooklyn. It was managed by Kate Fermoile and led by Historian and Curator Prithi Kanakamedala. In Pursuit of Freedom resulted in three interactive exhibits, an educational curriculum, public programs, walking tours, a content-rich website, and an original theater piece by Irondale Ensemble Project. The goal of this project was to engage metropolitan and national audiences into transforming the public memory of this chapter in American history. The exhibitions traced the history of abolitionist Brooklyn and provided visitors with the opportunity to read and explore images, primary source documents, and original land-use maps. The BHS exhibit, Brooklyn Abolitionists, led by Prithi Kanakamedala and a team of researchers, was a major, long-term exhibit that explored the lesser-known heroes of Brooklyn’s anti-slavery movement — ordinary residents, Black and white — who shaped their neighborhoods, city, and nation with a revolutionary vision of freedom and equality.  

In addition to its grand scale, In Pursuit of Freedom exemplifies the implementation of public history characteristic of the exhibits at BHS during its final years. The exhibits during this period connected the past to the present and made the history of Brooklyn tangible, relevant, and meaningful for visitors. In Pursuit of Freedom offered new avenues for visitors to learn about Brooklyn’s role in the abolitionist movement, such as the website which utilized digital media to reach greater local and national audiences. 

While In Pursuit of Freedom/Brooklyn Abolitionists was on display in the Shellens Gallery, another significant exhibit marked the beginning of a new phase for BHS. Located at 55 Water Street in the Empire Stores building, Waterfront (2018-2020) opened at BHS DUMBO – the institution’s first satellite gallery. This second location allowed BHS to reach new audiences by expanding its program and exhibition space beyond the walls of its Brooklyn Heights headquarters. Waterfront told the story of both the human and natural history of the waterfront by covering diverse themes including labor and commerce, environmental history, sea level rise, gender, race, art, and gentrification. Under the direction of Historian and Curator Julie Golia and Project Manager Paul Pearson, staff implemented creative storytelling, innovative multimedia installations, and low-tech activities to immerse visitors in the stories of workers, artists, industries, activists, families, neighborhoods, and ecosystems along the waterfront.  

The final exhibition I want to discuss is Taking Care of Brooklyn: Stories of Sickness and Health (2019-2020), which closed prematurely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking Care of Brooklyn explored how centuries of Brooklynites understood sickness and health. It showed visitors that sickness is as much a social experience as a biological one by telling stories about "changing beliefs, stereotypes, and practices; about families and caregivers, activists and experts; about the building of city infrastructure; and about the complicated role of government in people’s private lives."  

Taking Care of Brooklyn was the last major exhibition executed before BHS merged with the Brooklyn Public Library in 2020. Now, as the Center for Brooklyn History (CBH) works to process BHS’s institutional archive, we have the opportunity to look back at its history and learn how it influences us today. Processing the Exhibitions and Special Projects series of BHS’s records allowed me to learn about some fascinating projects, many of which I did not discuss here, and so much about the institution itself. In these records, I witnessed the evolution that I’ve outlined in this post – beginning with the unethical museum collecting practices of the Long Island Historical Society museum and ending with an approach dedicated to sharing and documenting untold stories. Although the Brooklyn Historical Society no longer exists, the spirit of community it upheld lives on in CBH’s efforts to create a space where everyone feels included, represented, and valued. 

The Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Archive Project is generously funded by the Leon Levy Foundation. 

Special thanks to David Kahn, Ellen Snyder-Grenier, Judy Giuriceo, Ann Meyerson, Larry Weimer, Prithi Kanakamedala, and Julie Golia for talking to me about their experiences working at BHS!