About This Item

  • Call NumberBJHP_0581
  • Summary(01:55) Maternal grandmother of Matt Meyer, Molly, was born on the Lower East Side (LES). All her 10 siblings (9 survived) were born in Eastern Europe, probably Austro-Hungary. Family of Molly arrived in US early 1900s -- (03:00) Paternal grandmother of Matt, Sylvia Meyer, was from a shtetl in Poland. Both were single mothers and raised their families off Kings Highway. The parents of Matt spent all their lives at 1701 West 3rd Street in Brooklyn -- (07:15) Molly and her husband ran a deli. After his death, Molly was a supervisor in a pen factory, then worked for an association of Jewish Philanthropies, working into her 70s. There were shady references to the ex-husband of Sylvia alluding to a mafia. Sylvia worked for a clothing factory, Diana Clothes, until retirement -- (10:45) Mother of Matt was a legal secretary than homemaker, his father taught English at William E. Grady high school -- (11:30) Matt grew up in Windsor Terrace. Mixed neighborhood, mainly Jewish. Attended PS 130, Jewish Center. Fond memories of family holidays, Sabbath dinners. Kept Jewish traditions with some exceptions. Matt had no siblings -- (19:40) Attended NYU, Columbia, focused on international affairs centered on Africa. Travelled, mainly in Africa, settled in 1991 in Brooklyn Heights. Loves his multiethnic neighborhood.
  • Date2022-01-26
  • Physical Description1 audio file (25 minutes) : digital, MP3
  • CreatorMeyer, Matt
  • CollectionBrooklyn Jewish History Project
  • Cite AsOur Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  • Formatsound recording-nonmusical
  • Genreinterviews
  • NoteTitle supplied by cataloger. Audio interview conducted on January 26, 2022 by Ariane Loeb. Collected through the Brooklyn family Jewish History Project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is funded by the David Berg Foundation.
  • SubjectJews--United States ; Families
  • PlaceBrooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • RightsThis work is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Users are free to share and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given to the source and new material created with this work is shared under the same conditions.
  • TitleMatt Meyer family. Oral history interview with Matt Meyer conducted on January, 26 2022.
  • Biographical NoteMatt Meyer was born in 1962. The family of his maternal grandmother Molly arrived in US early 1900s, and she was born on the Lower East Side. Molly and her husband ran a deli. After his death, Molly was a supervisor in a pen factory, then worked for an association of Jewish Philanthropies. Both grandmothers of Matt were single parents, and brought up their children off Kings Highway. The parents of Matt spent all their lives in Brooklyn. The maternal grandmother of Matt, Sylvia, worked for a clothing factory, Diana Clothes. There were shady references to the ex-husband of Sylvia working for the mafia. Mother of Matt was a legal secretary than homemaker, his father taught English at William E. Grady high school. Matt, and only child, grew up in Windsor Terrace, attended PS 130 and the Jewish Center. He attended NYU, Columbia, focused on international affairs centered on Africa. Matt settled in 1991 in Brooklyn Heights.