The Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard Collection

This photograph comes from the Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard collection (ARC.023). Costanzo was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. In 1963, he attended Teachers College at Columbia University and received his Master’s in Education. After graduating, Costanzo stayed in New York City, working as a Public Information Officer for the U.S. Department of Navy at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He would remain in this position until 1966 when the Navy decommissioned and closed the yard.

The United States government first established the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1801 after purchasing privately owned land along the waterfront already used as a shipyard. For the next century and a half, shipyard employees constructed naval vessels. By 1938 it was providing jobs for over 10,000 people. Several historic ships were constructed or launched at the Navy Yard such as The USS Arizona, the USS Missouri, and the USS Antietam.

The Anthony Costanzo Brooklyn Navy Yard collection contains materials documenting the last years of the Navy Yard’s existence through 1966. For more information please see our finding aid here and for more photographs from this collection please visit our image gallery here.

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our Brooklyn Visual Heritage website here. To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections; visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Sat, 1:00-5:00 p.m. library@brooklynhistory.org.