Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists.
House Hunting, 1800s Style
When I first moved to NYC, I was fascinated by the real estate ads posted in shop windows. Whenever I passed by one, I was compelled to stop and gawk at where I could be living. Of course, I knew I couldn't afford a $2 million townhouse in Park Slope, but it was nice to dream of having 3 bedrooms and room for a dog! As I've discovered from working with the map collection at BHS, posting real estate advertisements around the city is not a new phenomenon. Our collection has a substantial amount of 19th century auction maps that show property for sale throughout Brooklyn. These maps demonstrate…
Introducing Gertrude Hoffman
Ladies and gentleman, we are pleased to present to you, appearing for the first time on this stage, with athletic abilities that will amaze you and natural grace that will charm you, the internationally famous, world renowned and much beloved... ...Gertrude Hoffman! Here at the Brooklyn Collection, we are fortunate to house the personal papers, photographs and scrapbooks of the early 20th-century dancer, Gertrude Hoffman. Her name may not roll as readily off the tongue as that of Ruth St. Denis or Isadora Duncan in a discussion of modern dance pioneers, but she was…
Happy National Bookmobile Day!
Though we're a little late to the party on this one, the BHS library and archives staff would like to wish everyone a very happy National Bookmobile Day! Designated as the Wednesday of the American Library Association's (ALA) annual National Library Week, National Bookmobile Day celebrates the vital role that bookmobiles and other direct-delivery outreach services play in providing underserved communities with access to valuable library and information resources. Here's an image from our postcard collection of some young residents of the Glenwood Houses checking out books from the Brooklyn…
From the annals of Brooklyn's musical history: The Tollefsens.
Carl Tollefsen and his wife, Augusta Schnabel-Tollefsen residing at 946 President Street, stood at the center of Brooklyn's musical life for upwards of four decades in the first half of the 20th century. Tollefsen was born--to my utmost surprise-- in my home town of Hull, UK, in 1882, immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 6. Founder of the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, an active music school and the Tollefsen Trio, Carl Tollefsen was also a storied collector of musical instruments and manuscripts. His manuscript finds included early versions of one of Schumann's best-known…
In Like a Lion, and Out Like a Lamb?
Summers of Fear
Summertime--the name alone conjures up images of days filled with fun and freedom. Warm lazy days spent at the beach, or by the pool eating ice cream, going to the amusement park, or catching fireflies. The daily pace slows down just a little and childhood takes on a more carefree feeling. But as a new decade began, summertime in the 1950's was anything but carefree for Brooklyn families. Something had stolen the "joie de vivre." It was the continuing threat of infantile paralysis, or polio. Polio slowly…
Map of the Month - April 2011
This month marks the Civil War Sesquicentennial. In honor of this event, I would like to showcase one of our Civil War maps. Published in 1961 for the Centennial Celebrations, it shows major troop movements, battle sites, and portraits of important figures. It also features historical commentary and illustrations of flags, artillery, and uniforms. If you’d like to view more Civil War-related items, you can search the BHS collections or preview the National Archives’ upcoming exhibit Discovering the Civil War.…
The Reverend Obadiah Holmes Clock at the Brooklyn Historical Society
I received an email some three years ago about a clock that was rumored to be standing in the main floor of the library at the Brooklyn Historical Society. The person asking happened to be a descendent of the original owner of this clock (which was given to the Long Island Historical Society (now known as the Brooklyn Historical Society) in May of 1869. I looked downstairs and saw no clock and could not recall ever having seen a clock (except for the plastic one on the ref desk) in my tenure at BHS. After a bit more head scratching, card catalog searching, and widespread questioning I located…
A VERY QUIET FURY
Very few photos exist of the little-known anarchist, vegetarian, and amateur photographer Heinrich Bollinger. Unlike his more celebrated comrades -- Johann Most, Alexander Berkman, and Emma Goldman, who all lived in Manhattan and with whom he consorted -- Bollinger spent his entire Brooklyn life living in an old stone house near Coney Island. His life, oddly enough for a self-professed anarchist, was a quiet one: he earned his daily bread selling sand worms and renting boats. Bollinger collected the stones for his house just off the shores of Coney Island, enlisting the help of local…
A Few of my Favorite Maps
This past year I’ve had my hands on many different maps. As one of the map catalogers for our CLIR Hidden Collections grant I’ve gone through and closely examined much of our collection. Every map is interesting and historically valuable, but some have stuck in my mind more than others. Yes, I have favorites. These are not necessarily the rarest or most valuable pieces in our collection – they’re just maps I’ve had fun poring over. I hope you enjoy them too.…
The Loneliness of the Skyscraper Window-Washer
"He was strapped to a window frame just a few feet under the huge clock. The cold of a November morning swept away from the gilded dome of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank above him. He shifted his weight. The wind snapped at the chamois strung around his neck. Below, toy-like cars and tiny figures wove a crazy pattern in front of the Long Island Rail Road station." This vivid, poetic storyline from the November 16, 1952 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle describes not the antics of some real-life Spiderman, but rather the daily grind of one humble 34-year-old…
Is it un-American for mothers to work?
There is no question that World War II had a major impact on the role of women in the work place. Brooklyn's female task force was no exception to this trend--particularly given the amount of labor needed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard "to make the weapons to beat the Axis." For many, the choice to seek employment meant sacrifice--particularly when children were involved. Enter the Mayor's Committee on Wartime Care of Children. It was the duty of the committee to provide support, advice and childcare options for "temporary widows" (i.e. wives of soldiers)…
Gentrifiers and Nannies: two new books, two upcoming author talks
The intermittent stream of new books with significant content relating to Brooklyn has recently delivered to our desks two substantial volumes that will be of interest to our readers. Suleiman Osman's The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) offers a history of Brownstone Brooklyn's transformation from the run-down slums of the 1940s and 1950s to the current landscape of beautifully renovated houses and apartments selling for millions of dollars. The "…
Worth 1,000 words and sometimes a smile
I always enjoy working with the photography collection, and finding an unusual or unexpected image tends to make my day. The sentiment of the majority of portraits from the late 19th and early 20th centuries could lead you to believe that very few people had fun in those days. With scant smiles and rigid posture, how could they? So, here are some examples from the BHS photo collection to prove that notion wrong. Take this portrait of an alumni association known as the Old First Class of Wilson Street School (now P.S. 16 in Williamsburg). At quick glance, it's just a group of middle-aged men…
Una Furtiva Lagrima
Enrico Caruso's golden chord, which kept the world so enthralled, first began to fade at the Academy of Music in Brooklyn on December 11th 1920. There, in the first act of Donizetti's opera, L'Elisir d'Amore, leaning on the shoulder of whichever chorus member happened to be closest to him, Caruso filled handkerchief after handkerchief with blood as he struggled to sing through the pain of a hemorrhaged vessel in his throat. During a prolonged 45 minute intermission Caruso was examined by his physician and forbidden from continuing with his performance. As the intermission dragged on, the…
High Iron
Last December, the Landmark Preservation Commission proposed to designate a section of Downtown Brooklyn as the “Borough Hall Skyscraper District.” The buildings in the district, described here, were mostly built between 1901 and 1927, when Brooklyn was believed to have a future as a financial hub, but the district also includes landmark status for Borough Hall, where at one time the old Mayor of Brooklyn held office - so if it is a strange mis-characterization to refer to any part of Brooklyn as a "Skyscraper District" - as if Brooklyn ever cared for skyscrapers - at least the district…
Brooklyn's Vitaphone Studios
Jack Benny about 1930. The woman on the right may be Mary Livingstone, Jack Benny's wife and comedy partner. The photograph collections of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle are stored in two locations in the library: the 30,000 or so showing Brooklyn scenes are maintained for convenience in file cabinets in a small room close to the Brooklyn Collection reading room. These are the images that are most in demand with our patrons, and it is these that we have made available online where copyright issues permitted. At some time in the distant past these photographs must have been separated…
The Joy of Processing: a peek into the Bernard Green Collection
Composer, writer, and fan of mothers everywhere, Bernard Green (bottom, with telephone) and associate. In our Brooklynology articles, we often draw from several sources to flesh out each story about Brooklyn history, including our prints collection, our ephemera files, reference books, and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs and clippings. These are the same materials that we are most often serving to the researching public that visits the Brooklyn Collection. A feedback loop begins to emerge -- a researcher requests Eagle photographs, for…
Map of the Month - March 2011
I'm very excited to introduce "Map of the Month," a new feature on the BHS Blog. Every month, we will showcase a different map from our collection, from subway maps of the 1940s to property maps of the 1820s. Look for our featured maps on the 1st Monday of every month. For March, I'm starting with a personal favorite. This map dates from approximately 1684 and shows New Netherland and New England. It is attributed to Nicholas Visscher and is lavishly illustrated, containing drawings of wildlife and Native American villages, as well as a view of New Amsterdam. Enjoy!…
Students and Faculty in the Archives
Connecting to Universities The Brooklyn Historical Society has officially kicked off our Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA) project. The BHS has long been committed to introducing students of all ages and backgrounds to our remarkable facilities and collections. SAFA is a three-year, US Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant that will create a replicable pedagogical model for collaboration between museums like BHS and institutions of higher learning. In the first year, we will be working with local partners from New York…
Handsome Devils, or, Whiskers and the Men Who Wore Them
As we on the CLIR survey team have discovered in the hundreds of photographs we have encountered since beginning our work last April, the gentlemen and ladies who strolled the streets of 19th-century Brooklyn took great care to stay up on the hottest fashions of the day. For the gents, this often involved the sporting of some truly impressive and daring facial hair styles. I thought I might take this opportunity to share but a modest sampling of the mustaches, beards, and sideburns that have evoked our admiration and/or bewilderment. Let these photographs be a testament to the hidden power…
How photos get from the archives to the web site by Micah Vandegrift
The Brooklyn Collection is a goldmine of resources for teaching and learning the history of our borough. As you probably know, we have extensive collections of documents, ephemera and photographs that are housed here at the Central Library and made available for research. What you may not know is that there are ongoing efforts to digitize our materials in order to make them more widely accessible through our website and across the internet. So how does it all happen? Previous digitization projects--using LSTA funds to digitize 18,000 photographs, or the IMLS project to scan…
The Duke
The Yankees had Mickey Mantle, the Giants had Willie Mays, and dem Bums had the Duke. From 1947 to 1957 New York City experienced a golden age of baseball, and the play of these three centerfielders made for some of the headiest rivalries the sport has ever seen. For ten out of those eleven years, at least one New York team made the World Series, with the Yankees and Dodgers meeting six times. On each of those Dodgers teams, Duke Snider was as valuable as his cross-river counterparts, usually leading the club in base hits, runs, home runs, and RBIs. On Sunday February 27th, this titan of…
Of Equal Rights and Legal Forms
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.... Even before the ink used to write the Declaration of Independence dried on the paper, it was clear that these stirring words reflected both the promise and the paradox of America: that while the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness might form the very foundation of our nation, many Americans would also be systematically denied their equality and their rights. The promise has often been realized: the abolition of slavery, the extension of the vote to women, the elimination of restrictions…
Presidents Don't Use Rain Delays
On October 21, 1944, as heavy rain and autumn winds pelted the five boroughs, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, approaching an election for an historic fourth term, toured through fifty-one miles of New York City streets in a large motorcade. With his wife Eleanor at his side, the aging President defied terrible weather to greet his fellow Americans from an open car (and sometimes without a hat). "There was no doubt," the Times wrote, "that he wanted to be seen by as many New Yorkers as possible." For Brooklyn, considered one of FDR's…
Memories of MetroTech
Days of Wine and Onions: Garrett & Co and Virginia Dare
Original Virginia Dare Extract Company invoice for flavorings dated Apr 15, 1936. Brooklyn Public Library--Brooklyn Collection. One of the more interesting companies to have occupied premises in Bush Terminal is Garrett & Co, makers of Virginia Dare wine and flavoring extracts. Long-time readers of Brooklynology may remember a post called the Grapes of Brooklyn in which I drew attention to early efforts at viticulture and wine-making in Brooklyn. Garrett & Co kept the flag of Kings County oenology flying for 45 years, from its quarters in Building 10 in the…
A Taste of The Lefferts Collection
One of the most fun aspects of working with the Lefferts family papers for me was getting to see some of the cookbooks the collection contained. In particular, the handmade and handwritten cookbook that likely belonged to Maria Lott Lefferts (1786-1865) with some possible contribution from her daughter Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt (1824-1902).
Dodger Babies
Here at the Brooklyn Collection, we have a large collection of photographs of Brooklyn's much-missed local baseball team, the Dodgers. These are mostly images snapped by Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographers, depicting the players on the field, at training camps, and in locker rooms -- their faces flushed and euphoric with victory, or grim with defeat. Though these images are fascinating -- especially for a Brooklyn transplant like me, who never knew the borough's glory days of hometeam baseball -- I've become more engrossed by the photographs of the players'…
Black News
I floated a Twitter balloon the other week looking for feedback from our followers regarding topics they might like to see us cover here on Brooklynology. Of our 754 devotees (and I use that word loosely) only three responded; but their suggestions were all excellent and deserving of our attention. Of the three which you can see above I decided to address @brooklynhistory's request for more 20th century posts first -- and not merely because we are kindred cultural institutions (@brooklynhistory is the Twitter account for the Brooklyn Historical Society)…
The Battle of Long Island in Maps
I was in Greenwood Cemetery a couple months ago and spent some time lounging in my favorite spot: Battle Hill. Doesn’t it have the greatest view? I could sit there for hours. The history of Battle Hill is just as interesting as the view. It was here that Maryland troops kept the British forces distracted while Washington evacuated the rest of his army to Manhattan. We have a few maps in our collection that cover this battle, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to post a couple now.…
From the Ephemera Files: an Imperfect Paradise in Brooklyn
Walking into work today, I overheard the plaintive cry of a cabin-fevered fellow Brooklynite, "Ah, why can't it be just be warm outside?!" Grimly, inwardly, I had to agree with her helpless complaint. Facing the icy depths of February, the mind can't help but wonder if there's a happier place. A warm, welcoming place, with bright sunshine, sandy beaches, luxury accommodations, and maybe even world-class entertainment to round out a glorious day in paradise. A place like... Manhattan Beach! Browsing through our ephemera files, I found this…
The Blizzard of 1888
Interested in seeing more photos from BHS' collection? Visit our online image gallery. Use this database to search for individual photographs. Currently a small number of our images are available online, but we regularly add new photographs. You can also visit BHS' Othmer Library Wed-Fri, 1-5pm to search through our entire collection of images.
The Many Faces of Henry Ward Beecher
In the pages of the nineteenth century illustrated magazines, certain Brooklyn-related subjects seem to have been of perennial interest. One was the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a huge source of prestige and employment for the city (as it was until consolidation with New York City 1898.) Another was the controversial figure of Henry Ward Beecher. A thoroughly respectful engraving depicting the young HWB. From the Drawing Room Gallery of Eminent Personages, [c.1860] From his early days as a slim young preacher, to his more corpulent middle-aged presence as a master of oratory and Pastor of Plymouth…
Archives and Religion
As anyone who’s spent an afternoon looking through one of the archival collections at the Brooklyn Historical Society undoubtedly knows, archival research is an imaginative exercise. Scrapbooks, ledgers, letters, pamphlets, record books, collectibles, photos – such things work primarily to provoke the imagination, pointing to the human activity that may have produced them. And if one is willing to take the time to look carefully through them, archives can show us important things about a particular historical social world: what was important to the people in that world, where some of their…
White Wings and Dream Stuff
In the summer of 1951 New York City was a marijuana jungle. From underpasses in the Bronx to empty lots on Avenue X, the razor-toothed fronds of 10 foot tall Cannabis sativa plants could be seen all around the city happily waving in the wind like any other innocuous and legal weed. But for all their persistence in invading the city's forgotten horticultural corners, these plants were likely waving farewell: New York was no friend to pot. Over the course of the summer about 41,000 pounds of marijuana were uprooted and destroyed during a campaign to eradicate the psychotropic stuff from…
The Demon Barber of Brooklyn
He struck without warning, descending quickly upon unsuspecting adolescent girls and committing his dastardly deed with one efficient stroke. Before the victims even had a chance to cry out, his evil work was finished, and the bandit disappeared deftly into the bustling Brooklyn street crowds with his prize in hand... a fistful of hair. In the late 19th century, the man who would be known as "Jack the Snipper" allegedly lopped off the braids and pigtails of nearly a dozen young girls in Brooklyn and Manhattan. His bizarre crimes sparked a minor hysteria among the teenagers…
Pfizer Family Products--a Window Into The 1950s, by guest blogger Christine Modica.
Recently a friend of the family, who was something of a collector, passed away. Among the items he had accumulated over the years, my mother found a box of Pfizer medicines in near perfect condition, labeled “Family Products.” The contents include: • Visine eye drops • Viterra vitamins and minerals. “A smaller capsule for your convenience’ • Terramucin Ointment for minor burns, wounds or abrasions • Candettes cough syrup • Candettes cold tablets • Candettes cough-jel • ACM “New Improved” •…
The Ratzer Map 1770
Listen to historian Barnet Schecter, author of The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution, and conservator Jon Derow discuss the historical importance of this rare and recently conserved map of New York City made by Bernard Ratzer in the late 1760s.
You can read more about the Ratzer map in this recent article in The New York Times (1/16/2011).
The Tale of January 1871
The Brooklyn Historical Society has a largely complete run of the Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen of the City of Brooklyn—bound volumes for much of the late nineteenth-century that detail the week-by-week proceedings of the Brooklyn city government. The Tale of January 1871 So what can the Proceedings provide for the researcher?—I thought it would be fun to find out. I decided to look at just one month, January 1871, in the volume that covers proceedings From January 2 to June 26, 1871. I found a bunch of entertaining incidents that illustrate Brooklyn in 1871 -- the Street Commissioner…
More than just a pretty map
Recently, I was speaking to a woman about what I do. After I told her that I work with maps, she responded, I love maps! They're so beautiful. I'd love to get a framed one for my living room. To me, this comment highlights a shift in the way that we view maps. Now that we live in the era of GPS and Google Maps, the printed map has become more valued for its aesthetics than its functional capabilities. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it made me want to highlight some of the maps in our collection that I think are interesting because of the data that they impart, as opposed to the way…
Fort Greene / Clinton Hill Audio Tour
Strange as it May Seem
Long before "The Tonight Show" started featuring "Headlines", (the segment of the show running humorous advertisements and signs sent in from around the country), the Brooklyn Daily Eagle had a similar column. "Strange as it May Seem" highlighted images the Eagle photographers had taken of amusing and peculiar signs around Brooklyn. Here are a few from the Fall of 1933. …
When the Boro's Milk Vanished
In the early 1950s, with post-war families booming across the United States, no single food item may have been as important as milk. This was certainly the case in Brooklyn, where milk was needed to feed infants and supply children with necessary nutrients. Milk was even a key ingredient in many housewives' favorite recipes--everything from meatloaf to tuna casserole to chicken pot pies to pound cake needed milk! Demand for milk was so high that dairies had production and distribution plants right here in the borough. Borden's, Sheffield's and other familiar names were…
Engineering Love
As the Archives Survey Team enters into our ninth month on the CLIR survey project, we've had our share of surveying interesting archival collections, be they large or small. Recently we've come across a surprisingly fantastic little collection, the Brooklyn Engineer's Club publications (ARC.156). As you may have realized by now, we here at BHS love our Brooklyn architecture. But this collection reminds us that behind every great building, structure, or city infrastructure project, stands an engineer. Forever in the shadows of architects who get all the love and adoration (especially today),…
E.W. Bliss Co: Torpedoes and Telegraph Codes
Among the much-appreciated gifts that have found their way to my desk in recent weeks, is one from Michael D. Barber of Leeds, U.K. Mr Barber's parcel contained a 1901 catalogue of the products made by Brooklyn's E.W. Bliss Co, bearing a bookplate from the "Projectile Co. (1902) Ltd, of New Road, Wandsworth, S.W., sole agents for E.W. Bliss Co, , Brooklyn, NY, Presses, Dies and Special Machinery." There must have been a ready market for Bliss products in industrial West Yorkshire, and so it is in no way strange that the 534 page catalogue of heavy machinery should have…
Hit Parade, January 4, 1947
It's been a while since we dipped into the Diary of Arthur Lonto. Mr Lonto wasn't one for expressing on paper his innermost thoughts. His entries are all comings and goings, working and mending and studying and paying bills and going to mass and taking the subway for the fun of it. And then, now and again, he gives us the hit parade. In case it's hard to read his handwriting, here is what we might have been listening to at this time back in 1947. 1-Buttermilk Sky 2-Old Lamplighter 3- For Sentimental Reasons 4-Gal in Calico 5 Zippity Doo da 6- Whole World's Singing My Songs 7-…
Big Appetites, Little Pizzas
Brooklyn is justifiably world famous as a hot spot for delicious pizza, so much so that we even have our own style of pizza--thin-crusted slices cut so big you can fold them in half while you eat them. The borough is peppered, or, perhaps, "pepperonied", with beloved neighborhood pizza joints serving quality slices to loyal fans, who debate endlessly over which excellent pizza place is the best pizza place. And if you haven't yet known the pleasures of a coal-fired Totonno's slice, a fresh-from-the-oven DiFara's pie, or a delightfully doughy L & B…
Happy New Year from BHS!
In honor of upcoming New Year's celebrations, here is a sample of "celebratory" images from Brooklyn's past. Happy New Year everyone!