Brooklynology

Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists.

The Lady of Gravesend

Sarah

The Lady so integral to the history and development of Brooklyn spent most of her life in England. She was born Deborah Dunch around 1586, in London’s Gray’s Inn or a country estate outside the city. Her father, Walter Dunch, was a barrister and her grandfather, William Dunch, was an Auditor of the Royal Mint. She was a child during the reign of Elizabeth I, and grew up in the shadow of the plague, which had killed one-quarter to one-third of London’s population only twenty years before her birth and made appearances again in 1581 and 1592.

[Memorial to Lady…

No Bones About It – They Are Getting the Skinny on This Exam Subject

Deborah

Young students, oldest school--[eight] prospective R.N.'s are receiving instructions from Anna Dennis, R.N., director of nursing at the Prospect Heights Hospital … 1946. HOSP_0566. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
In honor of the scary season, today's photo of the week features our popular Halloween friend. Here in Brooklyn Heights within the last few weeks we’ve seen skeletons clambering up or down the sides of buildings, leaning chattily over a table in quiet conversation, or…

Five Children and a Puppy

Gina Murrell

[Five African-American children with puppy], circa 1968, HERZ_0667, black and white silver gelatin print.  Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, BCMS.0056. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In the bright sun, five Black children squat down on the ground, forming a semicircle. Four have their hair carefully sectioned off in plaits, the fifth has natural hair closely shaven, as if fresh from the barber. All five look on with affection, their arms outstretched. What is the object of their focus? A fluffy puppy on a…

The Elephantine Colossus

Allyson

Elephantine Colossus], circa 1893, Illustration, V1972.1.1090; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This From the Vault post was originally written by Dan Brenner and published on November 6, 2019 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter.   The Elephantine Colossus was an elephant-shaped hotel attraction located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Coney Island from 1885 through…

LGBTQ+ History Resources at the Center for Brooklyn History

Gina Murrell

Group portrait taken at Brooklyn Pride Street Fair, 2007. Ann Rosen photograph collection, ROSE_0013. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
October is LGBTQ+History Month. In the weeks leading up to this month celebrating the history and achievements of LGBTQ+communities, a question that is asked by researchers is: What resources do the Center for Brooklyn History have on queer people? The answer? A lot! This Brooklynology blog post will highlight several CBH LGBTQ+history resources that can be referenced in October and all year-round…

Risky Business: October 1878

Liza

Brooklyn Anchorage, 1878, gelatin silver print, BRID_0040; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.   
  So begins another October, arguably Brooklyn’s best month (feel free to debate me in the comments). Let’s take a moment to travel back to another Brooklyn October, back to this photographed moment in October 1878. Brooklyn was independent from New York City, no Statue of Liberty was yet visible from Brooklyn’s shores, and the only way to reach Manhattan was by boat. But this last detail was…

Black-and-white photograph of two men standing in the center of an unfinished basement with columns along each side

Wasted Space, But Not for Long

Alice

Wasted space, but not for long, 1952, Gelatin silver print, CBPL_0111; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Can you guess where this week's Photo of the Week was taken? "Referred to as 'the hole' by library personnel," this cavernous space was the sub-basement of our very own Central Library. In this photo we see a miniature Chief Librarian, Francis R. S. John, speaking with a Brooklyn Eagle reporter about plans for the space to be converted into stacks for 500,000 more books. This sub-basement was…

A Child's Bedroom in 1880

Dee Bowers

[John T. Martin house], c. 1880, v1972.1.1312, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently updated the finding aid for our Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection (ARC.201) and came across this haunting image of a child's bedroom in a home at 28 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Taken around 1880, the image shows a number of dolls standing and sitting in the room, looking disturbingly as if they had just been caught mid-action. Sunlight streams…

Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, 1900-1939

Deborah

[Portrait of man posing on a boardwalk in Coney Island], 1898, v1974.022.4.068, Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, ARC.199; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on September 13, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. In the dog days of summer, it seems fitting to call out a collection…

The World of Miklos Suba

Anna Schwartz

Miklos Suba, Study for “Barber Pole, South 8th Street,” [1941?], watercolor on paper, 2022.006.28; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
When artist and trained architect Miklos Suba (1880-1944) immigrated to NYC in 1924, he was confronted with a starkly different cityscape compared to his native Hungary. Suba quickly became enthralled by the American urban landscape. He spent hours wandering the busy streets and industrial areas along Brooklyn’s waterfront in search of his next subject. During these excursions, Suba produced numerous…

Remembering 9/11 with Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein

Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein

  This month's guest blog post comes from friend of the blog Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein. First is Larry's contribution followed by Amy's.   On February 19, 2002, I met Jan Ramirez, the vice president and director of the New York Historical Society's museum, at St. Paul’s Chapel, the oldest church building in Manhattan. Soon after the 9/11 attacks she helped to launch History Responds. As part of this series, she commissioned me to photograph the Chapel’s wrought-iron fence which ran north along Broadway from Fulton Street to Vesey Street. Thousands of New Yorkers and…

Williamsburg Bridge

Sarah

[Waterfront basketball], 1951, PARK_0050; Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
The Williamsburg Bridge was completed in 1903, making it the second of three bridges to connect Brooklyn to our neighbors in Manhattan. Make no mistake, this middle sister is no Jan Brady. At completion, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world and quickly became a vital artery for movement between the boroughs. The bridge was one of the last to be designed to accommodate horse and carriage traffic and…

Shirley Chisholm Visits Fulton Street Festival

Gina Murrell

Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm visits the Fulton St. festival, 1972 ca. 2020.002.018. Khalil Abdulkhabir photographs of the Dar-ul-Islam movement, 2020.002. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In 1972, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm strolled the tables lining Fulton Street, stopping to chat with vendors at the bustling outdoor festival in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. Just four years earlier, in 1968, Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress,…

Jacob Mann Photographs

Allyson

 

Sunrise on Brighton Beach, 2009, 2010.008.2; Jacob Mann photographs, 2010.008; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on February 28, 2018 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. Brooklyn Historical Society is fortunate to have several fine art photographers represented in the photography…

The Skate Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln’s Unexpected Legacy in Prospect Park

Nathaniel Weisberg

Abraham Lincoln never thought he would witness a kickflip. Never mind seeing one while cast in bronze and elevated nearly nineteen feet high over the southeast corner of Prospect Park lake. However if you stroll through the park’s ornate Concert Grove and make your way down to the waterfront esplanade, taking care to avoid the skateboarders flying around Abe’s feet, you will find yourself being scrutinized by more than the sunbathing red-eared slider turtles who have (against all odds) also made the lake their home. Skaters grind, slide, and slam under the watchful eye of the United…

A coat of arms depicting a royal figure knighting a kneeling hot dog with dachshunds on the sides, a pot of mustard at the top, and the words "calidus canis" at the bottom in a ribbon

Hot Dog Days

Alice

[Hot dog coat of arms], 1939, Gelatin silver print, CONE_0198; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
It's the dog days of summer here in Brooklyn, a perfect time to head down to Coney Island and enjoy a hot dog on the boardwalk. This coat of arms honoring the 50th anniversary of the hot dog in 1939 shows a royal figure knighting a kneeling hot dog in the center. On the sides are two dachshunds (wiener dogs, of course) standing on their hind legs with faces turned up towards a radiant pot of "sinapi" ("…

Remembering CETA artists in NYC

Anna Schwartz

Walking through the Clark Street subway station in Brooklyn Heights, one can easily miss the two colorful tile murals installed near the entrances. Completed in 1981 by artists Jonah Sellenraad, Alan Samalin, and ceramicist Joe Stallone, the murals depict several nearby attractions, including Plymouth Church and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

Johan Sellenraad's mural of Plymouth Church in the Clark Street subway station.
Plymouth Church House, 1941, CHUR_0109. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs. …

Summer Vibes

Dee Bowers

HERZ_0080, Bathing beauties, 1959, black and white silver gelatin print. Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, BCMS.0056. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Welcome to August! To bring us into the final weeks of summer vacation, this Photo of the Week is all about those summer vibes. A bevy of the titular "bathing beauties" is seen frolicking in the surf at Coney Island, each with a different stylish swimsuit and creative coif. The palpable joy on their faces is what drew me to this image. Of course during these…

One-Woman Coney Express

Deborah

Ponyback protest--Post office economy moves notwithstanding. The Oceantide Civic Association of Coney Island undertook to show that the mails must go through, 1950. WORK_0770. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Today’s Photo of the Week features a photogenic protest against the curtailment of postal service. The previous year the Post Office ran a deficit of $550, 000. On April 18, 1950 the Postmaster General, Jesse M. Donaldson, acting on advice of the House Appropriations Committee, cut…

Anders Goldfarb Photographs of Coney Island

Anna Schwartz

Anders Goldfarb, [Person reading on boardwalk], 1989, v1992.48.59. Anders Goldfarb photographs of Coney Island, v1974.031. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on August 23, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. Anders Goldfarb is a Brooklyn-born documentary photographer. After receiving…

Mourning the Victorian Way

Sarah

[Hair Link], circa 1875, M1986.72.7; Artifact collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This simple, braided bracelet holds a special meaning. If you look closely, you’ll see that the braid is actually made of human hair. Although not widely practiced today, collecting a lock of hair from a deceased loved one to incorporate into a piece of jewelry was quite common in the Victorian era. According to author Allison Meier “There was also a hair jewelry industry that emerged with workshops and retailers to support this fashion…

Extortionists Targeting Abortion Doctors Arrested

Gina Murrell

Accused shakedown artists face law, Sep 28, 1954. Gelatin silver print, CRIM_0066; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In 1954, sixteen years before abortion was decriminalized in New York, four extortionists made it their business to blackmail doctors believed to be performing the then illegal procedure. Two of them posed as cops. They were Bruno Makan, 35, of 185 Marine Avenue in Brooklyn; Robert Murphy, 30, of 61 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn; Doris Aviron, 24, of 311 W. 178th Street in Manhattan;…

UnBanning Books Since 1934

Dee Bowers

You might have heard of our recent initiative Books UnBanned, which allows individuals ages 13-21 nationwide to apply for a free BPL eCard, providing access to our full eBook collection as well as our learning databases, and which makes a selection of frequently challenged and banned eBook & audiobook titles always available for BPL cardholders. But obviously, banning books and restricting access to information is unfortunately not a new phenomenon. Did you know that in 1934, the Brooklyn Jewish Center founded the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books? Though it's…

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

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…

Kindergarten Class at Fort Greene Park

Allyson

[Kindergarten class at Fort Greene Park], circa 1910, V1981.284.32, Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, v1981.284; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on September 20, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. No matter the decade or time period, it sure is challenging to keep kindergarteners…

From Factory to Community Hub

Dee Bowers

V1990.7.1, [South Side of Fulton Street between Brooklyn and New York Avenues], circa 1972. Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation publication and photograph collection, ARC.124. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently reprocessed our small Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation publication and photograph collection (ARC.124), which includes this photograph. At first I was thrown off by a notation on the back reading "Sheffield," and thought this must show Sheffield Avenue in New Lots. But I quickly realized…

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. …

Fighting Metal: Keys to Victory

Deborah

Librarian Charlotte Villanyi wearing jewelry made from castoff keys collected by the Brooklyn Public Library in nationwide campaign sponsored by the Paper and Twine Club. CBPL_0722, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
When I first saw today’s POTW, I thought - Best jewelry ever, but what is the story here?  The photo’s caption covers the bare essentials, but left me opportunities to dig for more.  Miss Charlotte Villanyi [standing in front of several book shelves] tries out…

Home Sweet Hut

Anna Schwartz

[Canarsie Quonset huts], [1946?], NEIG_0315, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week takes us to one of the city's first housing developments for veterans and their families. These semi-cylindrical structures made of corrugated steel sheets, known as Quonset huts, were erected along the Belt Parkway in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Canarsie and Gravesend. The steel huts, leased from the Federal government and shipped from a naval base in Rhode Island, provided temporary…

Wonder Wheel

Sarah

[Coney Island Wonder Wheel], circa 1945, CONE_0239; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
The world-famous Wonder Wheel is a Ferris wheel (also known as a pleasure wheel) designed by Romanian immigrant Charles Herman and operated by his business partner Herman Garms. Herman walked away after the Wheel’s completion, reportedly earning no money for his invention. Garms ran the Wheel for sixty years, spending his summers sleeping in a home beneath the ride. In 1983, the Wheel was sold to Denos…

Miss Chien at the Book Chute

Gina Murrell

Miss Chien at bottom of book chute, 1962. BPL_0298; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
On Monday, June 18, 1962, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle announced the opening of a "New Borough Library": the Brooklyn Heights Branch and Business Library. The newspaper sent photographer Ben Schiff to take photos of the new library and its staff, including Janet Chien, seen in the above Photo of the Week. In the photos that Schiff took for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Chien can be seen seated with library coworkers…

Community-driven Change in Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Greater Gowanus

Aimee Lusty

Throughout the Center for Brooklyn History’s archival collections there exists evidence of grassroots community organizations mobilizing to improve the quality of life for Brooklyn residents. Two recently processed collections provide insight into the people, programs, and services of community-driven neighborhood associations in Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Greater Gowanus, meanwhile illuminating common and reoccurring issues faced by residents throughout the greater metropolitan area. This month we take a closer look at the history and impact of the Prospect Lefferts Gardens…

Jamel Shabazz's Portrait of Louis Reyes Rivera

Allyson

Louis Reyes Rivera. SHBZ_0092. Jamel Shabazz photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
For this Photo of the Week, we are highlighting the work of Jamel Shabazz, a Brooklyn photographer who picked up his first camera at the age of fifteen. Shabazz says his goal is to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture. While having incredible range, Shabazz is often most known for documenting the people of Red Hook, Brownsville, Flatbush, Fort Green, Harlem, the Lower East Side and Bronx's Grand Concourse.…

April Showers Bring May Flowers and Floods

Aimee Lusty

Flooding at the end of 1st Street and Gowanus Canal, April 15, 2007. Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus records. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This week’s Photo of the Week looks back just 15 years to April 2007. A person in jeans and a raincoat rides their bicycle through at least eight inches of water with their kid in tow. The caption on the back of the photograph reads “4.15.07 - Flooding. End of 1st street and Canal.”  In April 2007, a devastating Nor'easter barreled up the East Coast of the United States,…

Bringing Swagger to the Court Since 1910

Dee Bowers

Senior Basket Ball Team, Adelphi College yearbook, 1910. Brooklyn Yearbook collection, BCMS.0031. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
For this Photo of the Week we have a captivating portrait of the Adelphi College senior basketball team from their 1910 yearbook. These six women, with their puffy, ruffled dresses, elaborate updos, and, in one case, an enormous hair bow, hardly fit our modern conception of athletic. Nonetheless, they project a confidence, even a ruthlessness, that makes it clear they were formidable on the court. Look…

What’s Better Than a Bake Sale?

Deborah

St. Thomas Aquinas : moving pictures. [Projection booth for outdoor movies] 1913. CHUR_1201, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This gangly construction was the brainchild of Rev. Dr. James Donohoe of St. Thomas Aquinas Church at 9th Street and 4th Avenue who, desiring to fund the construction of a new school to serve his parish, struck on the idea of offering outdoor picture shows on the planned school site. The setup was carefully considered, with a solid projection building, metal screen, electric…

Sun and Sea Therapy for Children

Anna Schwartz

 

Group at Coney Island seaside home, 1892, gelatin silver print. Julius Wilcox photograph collection, WILC_0022. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.  
The Seaside Home for Children, run by the Brooklyn Children's Aid Society, was a seasonal charitable facility for sick and lower-income children and their mothers. Located in Coney Island amongst the luxury shoreline resorts, the Home offered families a few days by the sea at no cost. On-site medical care from a dedicated team of doctors and nurses was also available.…

The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company

Sarah

The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company traces back to 18th century Bavaria, where carpenter Casper (Kasper) Faber began crafting and selling lead pencils in the small town of Stein. Casper’s son Anton Wilhelm (A.W.), took over the business in 1784, renaming it the A.W. Faber Company.  

[Faber family], 1924; Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In 1790, French scientist Nicholas Jacques Conte developed a method for heating a mixture of graphite and clay to form a superior writing tool that could be…

Early Years of the Pratt Institute

Sarah

[Pratt Institute blacksmith students], circa 1905, SCHL_1603; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Today’s Photo of the Week looks at a classroom in the early years of the Pratt Institute. The school was founded by businessman and philanthropist Charles Pratt, who envisioned a school for working-class people to get hands-on experience in industrial trades, arts, and engineering. The school opened in 1887, just a few blocks from Pratt’s home at 232 Clinton Avenue. Starting with only twelve…

The Cube as an Alternate Plan to Urban Renewal

Gina Murrell

"The Cube Building, a future cooperative for homeless families," The Cooper Square Plan: Report for Discussion, October 15, 1986,  Ronald Shiffman Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In the mid-1980s, there was a rejuvenated plan to redevelop several blocks in Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan. Called the New Cooper Square Plan, it was a continuation of an earlier plan, called the Cooper Square Alternate Plan, that was formulated in reaction to a Robert Moses/New York City urban renewal plan that had threatened to…

The Evolution of Thought: Work by Lucille Fornasieri Gold

Allyson

Boys with butterfly, 1975, Photographic print, V2008.013.1; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week's Photo of the Week highlights the work of Lucille Fornasieri Gold, a Brooklyn photographer. She started photographing with a Leica camera in 1968, while her children were in school. She would develop and print in the kitchen darkroom of her home in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. When she moved, she lost her darkroom and while her negatives were processed, they remained unprinted for…

Changing Tides: 1965 Journal of Brooklyn CORE

Gina Murrell

Changing Tides: 1965 Journal of Brooklyn CORE. Arnie Goldwag Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Founded in Chicago in 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality - better known as CORE - is an interracial organization focused on nonviolent, direct action to achieve equal rights for Black Americans in all areas of US society. While southern chapters of the organization often made national headlines, there were chapters outside the South, including in Brooklyn, New York. The Brooklyn chapter of CORE…

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…

Windows of Rare Beauty

Dee Bowers

CHUR_1206, Spring Window, 1915, black and white silver gelatin print. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, BCMS.0002. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
We've lately had some surprisingly warm days in Brooklyn, and though they've been mixed with days appropriately cold for February, I nonetheless found my thoughts turning toward Spring. So for today's Photo of the Week, we have this Brooklyn Eagle photograph of a spring-themed stained glass window. The window was commissioned by Howard E. Raymond in memory of his…

Built for Brooklyn History: A Place With Many Names

Deborah

[Long Island Historical Society, Pierrepont Street and Clinton Street], 1961, by Ellis Herwig, V1974.031.30; Long Island Historical Society photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on July 26, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. Visitors to the Center for Brooklyn History on Pierrepont Street sometimes…

An Unsightly Approach

Anna Schwartz

Miklos Suba, Untitled (Brooklyn Bridge), circa 1926, crayon on paper. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The Brooklyn Bridge is arguably one of the most--if not the most--iconic symbols of Brooklyn. It has been depicted in art, like Hungarian-born American artist Miklos Suba’s version above, and replicated the world over. So, it's hard to imagine a time when the bridge was ever considered ugly. In fact, in the early 1900s, the approach to the bridge from the Brooklyn side was referred to by some as "the ugliest spot in the…

Shark attacks in Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Sarah

[8-foot shark caught on Sheepshead Bay fishing trip], 1950, NEIG_1852; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
They probably won’t need a bigger boat to haul in this little shark, caught off the coast of Sheepshead Bay. Although sharks can be found in Brooklyn’s waterways, attacks are extremely uncommon. In fact, the last shark attack in Sheepshead Bay was in 1916, when swimmers Gertrude Hoffman and Thomas Richards escaped with non-fatal injuries. Brooklynites have little to fear from these finned…

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…

Civic Center Book Shop: "For Lovers of Old Books"

Gina Murrell

[Civic Center Book Shop, Pierrepont Street near Fulton Street], December 15, 1958, gelatin silver print,  V1974.4.886; John D. Morrell photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
"He’s sort of a crazy guy," said Walter Goldwater about Irving Binkin, the proprietor of Civic Center Book Shop, in New York City Bookshops in the 1930s and 1940s: The Recollections of Walter Goldwater. "And has a great big bookshop with a lot of stuff in it." The "great big bookshop with a lot of stuff in it," Civic Center Book Shop was…

Atoms for Peace and Goodbye, Central Library

Michelle Montalbano

[Atoms for Peace], CBPL_0313, 1950s, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
Today, former Brooklyn Collection materials, staff, and all the rest officially moved to our new home at the Brooklyn Historical Society building on Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. As our own exhibits at Central Library also become a thing of the past, let's appreciate this view of the Flatbush Avenue side of Central Library, where the Atoms for Peace exhibit trailer was parked in the 1950s. While we may not know exactly what was on…