Blog posts by Allyson

Eubie Blake and the Legitimization of the Black Musical

Allyson

Eubie Blake. 1954. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History ​​​​​​ ​​​​
His father called him Bully. His mother called him Wally. Neighbors called him Mouse. Relatives called him Eubie. And Eubie was the one that stuck for James Herbert Blake.  Happy Black History Month, Brooklyn fans! Today we're going to spend time with the American pianist, lyricist, and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music, Eubie Blake. Not orginally from Brooklyn, but a resident, Eubie Blake was born February 7, 1887…

POTW: Hell's Gate Explosion

Allyson

Explosion at Hell Gate, [1880], Lantern Slide, V1974.7.121. Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
On October 10, 1885 the ground in Princeton, New Jersey shook. There was no great earthquake. It was, instead, the largest planned detonation prior to the atomic bomb. In order to clear obstacles from Hell Gate - a narrow tidal strait in the East River -- and free up ship traffic the US Army Corp of Engineers started blowing up several obstructions in the waters. This…

The Restoration of Endale Arch

Allyson

View of Prospect Park's Endale Arch, cobblestone path, street lamp, several park benches, and portion of park beyond. Endale Arch, 194-?, gelatin silver print. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photograph collection, PARK_0166. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
  This photograph, aside from being an excellent candidate for the liminal spaces Twitter account, depicts the view that park-goers would have seen when exiting the Endale Arch and entering the Long Meadow. It is located under Park Drive, which at construction, would…

POTW: A (Maybe) Brooklyn Haunting for Spooky Season

Allyson

 

Litchfield Villa, HERZ_0213. Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  Each day on my walk to work I pass the Litchfield Villa, admire it for its Italianate style architecture, glance at the dance class that is usually taking place on the front lawn and continue on my way.  It was designed and built in 1854 by Alexander Jackson Davis, a prominent architect for Edwin Clark Litchfield, a railroad and real estate developer. He's the one who turned a small creek into Gowanus…

POTW: Inman's Vaudeville

Allyson

[Inman's Casino], 1946, CONE_0451. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.ption
This week's photo is of Inman's Casino, which was located on the Bowery of Coney Island. The Bowery was south of Surf Avenue and ran from Jones Walk to West 16th Street on the east side of Steeplechase Park. Its main drag, known as Ocean Avenue until around 1905 and as Bowery Lane thereafter, ran parallel to Surf Ocean. The Vaudeville opened prior to 1900, and claimed to cater to women and children. But if this…

POTW: Steve Brodie Jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and Lived (Maybe?)

Allyson

[Rendering of Steve Brodie (1863-1901) who jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge, and survived, on July 23, 1886. Image includes a portion of the East River and four small boats.] 1886. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This is a rendering of Steve Brodie a resident of Manhattan and former newsboy who claimed to have jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge and lived. The bridge, then called the East River Bridge had just recently been completed in 1883 and on July 23, 1886, Brodie took the plunge. Or did he? The…

POTW: A Look Back at Brooklyn's Central Library

Allyson

[Brooklyn Central Library, Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway; Alfted Morton Githens, Francis Keally, Associated Architects], CBPL_0004, 1938; Roy Pinney photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  Recently the Central Library of the Brooklyn Public Library had a ribbon cutting ceremony for the completion of Phase One of a multi-phase renovation project. This phase returns space formerly used for administrative needs back to the public and creates five grand spaces: the Major Owens Welcome Center, New and…

POTW: When the Dodgers went to the Bronx: Game 1 of the 1947 World Series

Allyson

[Opening game of the World Series], DODG_0002, 1947; Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  It's been a strange long year and something like the start of baseball seems even stranger in our current climate. Fields and stadiums are opening slowly with limited entry and required vaccination cards. But back in 1947 all you needed to see a game was a ticket and some excitement. This is a shot of fans from Game 1 of the World Series pitting the New York Yankees against Brooklyn's own beloved Dodgers. 73,365…

Moving Day: When All of Brooklyn Moved at Once

Allyson

Brooklyn Daily Eagle Saturday May 5, 1888
  Moving. No one enjoys moving – lugging all your furniture into the van, heavy boxes full of books, exhausted family members, crying kids. It’s stressful and miserable moving at any time of the year.  But, I recently learned, it could be worse. Much worse. In fact, in Brooklyn from around the 1820’s to just after the start of World War II, Moving Day was the same for every single Brooklynite – May 1st of each year. Each May, leases ended and in a mass exodus the…

I, Asimov in Brooklyn: How the Library Shaped a Writer’s Mind

Allyson

  I'll write as I please and let the critics do the analyzing. — Asimov, 1973

Cover of First Edition of Nightfall and Other Stories by Issac Asimov
By the time he died in 1992, Isaac Asimov had penned or edited over 500 books and hundreds of short stories over the course of his 72 years; a staggeringly prolific career. A giant amongst the hard science fiction genre, he was considered one of the “Big Three” along with Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. He not only won every science fiction award available he created canonical characters and…

Forgotten History: Remembering Dr. Mary M Crawford and her Contributions to Brooklyn's History

Allyson

For this Women’s History Month, Brooklyn Collection is spreading awareness about Dr. Mary M. Crawford, a woman who radically altered how the world viewed female doctors during the early 1900s. Not only did Doctor Crawford serve abroad during World War I as the only female doctor in the American Hospital in Paris but she was also the first female ambulance surgeon in Brooklyn who later became chief surgeon of the Williamsburg hospital.  

Dr. Crawford at her graduation from Cornell Medical School. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn…

A Look Back at Brooklyn's LGBTQ+ History

Allyson

  Happy Pride Month Brooklyn! Pride month is always tons of fun in Brooklyn. From the parades to the parties it’s a wonderful time to celebrate diversity, inclusion and visibility, the highlight of which is the Pride Parade. The Pride Parade was started in 1970 to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community to protest the police raid of the Stonewall Inn. Historically Stonewall is often seen as the start of the Gay Pride movement, a veritable phoenix rising from the ashes, but even before…

Susan Smith McKinney Steward: Brooklyn's First Black Woman Physician

Allyson

Welcome to Black History Month at the Brooklyn Collection! Last year our blog highlighted the good work of Hattie "The Tree Lady" Carthan. This year we want to share the story of another Black woman pioneer – Susan Smith McKinney Steward who was Brooklyn's first black woman physician (who also happened to be the third Black physician in the whole country.) Dr. Kinney Steward had a very successful practice with locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan but for her, medicine was more than just treatment. It was a means by which she could further elevate and impact the community she loved…