Blog posts by Alice

Black and white image depicting a nurse in the foreground with a stethoscope on the arm of a man. In the background, two men stand with FDNY seals on their hats. On the righthand side, a standing doctor holds a stethoscope to the heart of a man

POTW: To Save Three Lives

Alice

To save three lives, 1948, Gelatin silver print, HOSP_0432; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Tuesday, June 14th is World Blood Donor Day, so this Photo of the Week takes us to a scene at Kings County Hospital on October 22, 1948. According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle caption, eight firefighters donated four quarts of blood "To Save Three Lives." The firefighters knew the three girls for whom they were donating blood: "Dolores Johnson, 4, and her sister, Eleanor, 2, in the institution with critical…

Introducing the Park Slope Civic Council Records

Alice

The Park Slope Civic Council (PSCC) was founded in 1896 as the South Brooklyn Board of Trade, a kind of chamber of commerce formed to lobby the city and state for improvements to infrastructure and services across the geographic area south of Downtown Brooklyn. In the late 1950s, the South Brooklyn Board of Trade changed its name to the Park Slope Civic Council in order to improve engagement in the neighborhood. As a result of this change, PSCC leaders planned to center civic projects and residents' needs, as opposed to focusing mostly on business owners. …

POTW: On a Boat Built for One

Alice

Boys boating along Canarsie Creek, 1924, Photographic print, OSOS_0248; Our Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's Photo of the Week takes us to a scene on the Canarsie Creek in 1924 where 1-year-old, William Johnson, floats in a little toy boat next to a skiff holding an unidentified man and boy. It's possible this creek is a section of the Fresh Creek Nature Preserve, a body of water between Canarsie and Starrett City in the Jamaica Bay Watershed. In October 2021, the Governor's Office of…

POTW: Macaroni-Making Machine

Alice

Automatic short paste drying unit, [1932?], Photographic print, OSOS_0016. Our Streets, Our Stories collection. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Ever wonder how the pasta gets made? This photograph from circa 1932 shows an "Automatic Short Paste Drying Unit," which promised pasta-making "From Press to Package without Handling." The machine itself was manufactured by the Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation at 156-166 Sixth Street in Gowanus. Ignazio De Francisci, an engineer from Sicily, founded Consolidated Macaroni…

"The Fastest and Most Thrilling Ride Ever Offered the Public": Flying Turns at Steeplechase Park

Alice

It's January in Brooklyn, but one can always take a journey into summer through the collections at the Center for Brooklyn History (CBH). CBH holds many archival collections and digitized photographs on our digital collections portal and online image gallery that document Coney Island and its fantastic amusement parks, such as Luna Park, Dreamland and Steeplechase Park.  

A corner of the park, [190-?], Postcard, POST_0109. Brooklyn Postcard colletcion. …