Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists.
Ephemera #1: Locks, Olives, and Hats
We have filing cabinets full of ephemera -- campaign materials, menus, ticket stubs, old library cards, beer coasters -- all the typical daily detritus which, through our careful selection and preservation, we have saved from the trash bin. But a filing cabinet is no place for what are, more often than not, strikingly designed historical materials. So in an attempt to air out these easily overlooked treasures, we here at the Brooklyn Collection will start posting images of our favorite flotsam and jetsam every week to offer an unglossed peek at some of the surviving bits…
Gentrification in Fort Greene
Check out Story #1 on this City of Memory tour! You'll find a painting by Nina Talbot and oral history interview from the Weeksville Heritage Center's collections which are both featured in BHS' upcoming exhibit Painting Brooklyn Stories of Immigration and Survival which opens here Thursday, September 16. Curated by Nina Talbot, painter, in collaboration with Rachel Bernstein, public historian at New York University, the exhibit presents striking stories of Brooklyn residents through paintings, oral histories, poetry and personal effects. These different modes of expression offer multiple…
Brooklyn, Then and Now Exhibit....curated by teen interns.
Stop by the Brooklyn Collection to view our new exhibit, "Brooklyn, Then and Now." This new exhibit was curated by our teen interns, Arelis and Eva, who joined us this summer through the Multicultural Internship Program. We were very lucky to have two eager interns help us with tasks throughout the collection. Their primary project was to create a series of "Then and Now" pairs, which match a historic image from our collection with a photograph taken from the exact same spot today. From day one, Arelis and Eva helped us with this project by…
Leprosy on Kingston Avenue
Although many have heard of Kings County Hospital, the huge medical center that sits right in the middle of Brooklyn between New York and Utica Avenues, few now remember the name of the Kingston Avenue Hospital, which occupied a site bounded by Kingston and Albany Avenues to the west and east, and Rutland Road and Winthrop Street to the north and south. And the reason we have heard of it here in the Brooklyn Collection, is that a doctor by the name of Boris Schleifer photographed the hospital and some of its inmates and staff during the 1930s. The resultant collection of over…
Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Charles M. Murphy
Charles M. Murphy was one of the greatest riders in bicycle history. On June 30th, 1899, he completed a famous bicycle ride behind a Long Island Railroad train, covering an entire mile in the record-breaking time of 57 4/5 seconds. This record earned him the nickname of "Mile-a-Minute Murphy." Mile-a-Minute Murphy The event took place at Maywood, Long Island, where board track was placed over the railroad tracks, and visitors piled in by the hundreds to watch the event. On the following day, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported "the ride was thrilling and…
Found in the Morgue: Seven Special Cats
We have a great folder of vintage cat photographs in the collection of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Morgue; below are some of my favorites. Barbara Baiena's Brooklyn kitten had a special talent -- sipping her milk through a straw in tandem with her owner. These three kittens were found inside a furniture crate shipped from Los Angeles to Brooklyn, discovered at the end of their transcontinental trip. Susie, who lived on a wharf at 57th St., chased a rat that dove into the water and Susie went in after it. Workmen tried to rescue her for more than six hours after she scrambled onto a crossbeam…
Was it standard to have gun racks in libraries in 1959?
Ever since Chela mentioned offhand at lunch the other day that the BHS library had once had gun racks, my imagination was captured. I once helped move insanely heavy boxes of muskets in our storage and wondered where and when they'd been on exhibit.
Well, thanks to the "Random Images" button in our online photo search of the John D. Morrell collection, an image popped up which quelled my curiosity.
Dr. Bob (In Memory of Bob Vadheim)
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
On a recent beach vacation I discovered that many towns along the Jersey shore hold a 'baby parade' each summer. I was intrigued by the idea of a parade of babies, but I chose an afternoon of lounging over further investigation -- bloggers get vacations too! After returning home, a thought occurred to me: "If baby parades existed in New Jersey, maybe there was one in Brooklyn too." It's not that I think everything ties back to Brooklyn. It's just that through my posts I have become familiar with Brooklyn's tendency towards the…
Bob Vadheim, 1920-2010
Dr. Robert H. Vadheim, preservationist, music lover, and longtime friend of BHS passed away on July 16 at 90 years old. I interviewed Bob at his home in Brooklyn Heights in 2008 for the BHS Oral History collection and remember feeling so inspired as he talked about Robert Johnson, his partner of 43 years, and the wonderful music salons they would hold in their home. Over tea after the interview, Bob and I got to talking about all kinds of things, favorite songs (Someone to Watch Over Me), movies (I had just discovered William Powell) and what life was like for a gay man in the 1950s. He…
Peacock in Bushwick: The Pope Mansion
Some years ago we purchased a small collection of photographs of an opulent house known as the "Pope Mansion" at 871 Bushwick Ave. Mostly interior shots showing crushing amounts of Victorian clutter, the photographs are credited to H.G. Borgfeldt and dated c. 1909. A search for information on the house and the family revealed a fascinating story of tobacco wealth and family feuds right in the heart of Brooklyn. The Pope parents immigrated to the U.S. from Bavaria. It was their son John, born around 1857, who was the founder of the family fortunes.…
Bundle of Fun
If you make regular use of our collection it is likely that the name Henry Reed Stiles rings a bell -- a very small, rusty, cracked, nearly inaudible bell -- but a bell nonetheless. At the time of his death in 1909, Stiles was widely recognized as the first historian of the city of Brooklyn; his three volume History of the City of Brooklyn was published between 1867 and 1870 and covers everything from Hudson's first Manhattan visit to the consolidation of the cities of Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, and the township of Bushwick. He was this borough's Herodotus -- and though a photograph is an…
Whitney Museum: History Plays at BHS
This summer, Whitney Museum Artist-in-Residence, Colin Gee, filmed a series of History Plays in response to works in the Whitney's permanent collection. Three pieces, In Transit, What, and Lobby, were filmed here at BHS. Here's Lobby, which is a response to Eva Hesse's Untitled (Rope Piece), 1969–70:
Collage Workshop: Picturing Your Neighborhood
A summer art workshop jointly sponsored by the Brooklyn Collection and the Art, Music Media and Sports Division (AMMS), with Artist and Librarian June Koffi. Central Library, 2nd floor meeting room, 11:00-12:30. Registration required. 718-230-2708 Week One, Wed. August 4. What makes a Collage? What makes a neighborhood? In this session participants will brainstorm about what makes their neighborhood unique. We'll also go over collage techniques and the various materials that will be used. Week Two, Wed. August 11. Looking for Images. Week two will be spent gathering and selecting images from…
The National League of Women's Services, 1918
In 1970, 80 year-old Dorothy L. Betts of Park Slope (in 1918 at the right), donated a set of eleven photographs featuring the National League of Woman's Service. From the census, I learned that Miss Betts was an only child who grew up in a stately brownstone on 8th Avenue between 1st Street and Garfield (the same residence she occupied at the time of her donation). Miss Betts was born in 1890. In 1918, she would have been 28 years old and an ideal candidate for joining the National League of Woman's Services. The National League of Woman's Services was a…
Vegetarians vs Meat Eaters
One of our readers some time ago suggested we explore the subject of vegetarianism, and so Brooklynology eagerly takes up the challenge. In its early years the Brooklyn Daily Eagle treated vegetarianism as a joke, summing up vegetarians as inauthentic and bloodless bores. One of the first references to vegetarianism appears in 1851 in an article on angling, in which those objecting to the sport on grounds of cruelty are termed "canting vegetarians," a phrase that sets the tone for the next fifty years. An 1853 article suggest that a vegetarian diet is all very well in the…
Home Base on NY1
Check out this NY1 video feature about Ebbets Field and the BHS exhibition Home Base - plus interviews with two Ex Lab students: Borough reporter Jeanine Ramirez visits the former site of Ebbets Field where its legacy continues to make its presence known: The housing complex on Bedford Avenue in Crown Heights looks similar to others in the city. But it's no ordinary location. It's the former site of Ebbets Field -- the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers until 1957, the place where Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier and the site of numerous World Series showdowns. Brooklyn…
Little Known Brooklyn Residents: eden ahbez
Although not exactly "little known", and a California resident for much of his life, songwriter eden ahbez was Brooklyn born and bred. You may not immediately recognize his name (spelt in lower case as he believed the only words that deserved capitals were Nature, God, Happiness and Life) -- but you will certainly be familiar with a song he wrote, made famous by Nat King Cole. Nature Boy was a major hit when it was released in 1947, and has since been performed by scores of recording artists. Portrait of eden ahbez The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that eden ahbez was born in Brownsville,…
What's in the Cards?
On the surface, trade cards -- those little slips of card stock intended to advertise a business--send a simple message. "Come here and buy my wares," they say in various tones from respectable to louche. Today, the subject matter of trade card imagery tends to be connected to the trade being promoted. A card for a paint store might show a can of paint; a pet food purveyor might show a cute cat or dog. So much seems self-evident. But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, merchants would sometimes choose stock images for their cards that had no apparent connection to…
Check out our 2010 Student Projects slideshow...
To further celebrate the accomplishments of our Brooklyn Connections students, we've posted some of their best projects and quotes to share online. We're still hoping that all you Brooklynites out there will stop by the Collection to see our exhibit of student work this summer. But for our long-distance fans, we hope this little slideshow will provide you with a nice summary. We are proud of all of our students and are already planning for 2010-2011. And if you're a teacher, administrator or parent who would like to get your class involved in Brooklyn…
Brooklyn and the New York City Draft Riots
This month marks the 147th anniversary of the New York City Draft riots. For three days in July of 1863, rioters turned Manhattan upside down in protest against the Civil War Draft. How did Brooklyn residents react to orders to fight for the Union forces in the Civil War? In the early months of 1863 the National Conscription Act was passed and enforcement was planned for Brooklyn and New York City in July of 1863. The Conscription Act stated that all single men aged 20-45 and married men up to 35 would be enrolled in the draft lottery. The act also contained language for drafted men to…
Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Dorothy and Richard Minnich
Living in New York, we are accustomed to living in very close proximity with our neighbors, sometimes hearing more than we'd like to from the people living around us. I've been known to complain about my noisy upstairs neighbors, but after discovering Mr. and Mrs. Minnich's pastime, perhaps I have little to complain about. The Minnich's rescued organ, complete with built in bar In 1953, Dorothy and Richard Minnich rescued a 1,500 pound pipe organ from a mortuary chapel in Manhattan, and reinstalled it within the living room of their 3 1/2 room apartment in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The organ --…
Brooklyn Dog and Horse Parade
I recently came across some photographs that were newly uploaded to the Brooklyn Public Library catalog, and since they are pictures of animals, I had to write about them. On a lovely day in late June of 1935, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and the ASPCA of Brooklyn hosted the Dog and Horse Parade. But before I go into all the fascinating details about the parade, I must give a brief account of the history of the ASPCA in Brooklyn. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals began as a small group of concerned citizens in New York City. In 1866, the American…
And They're Off! - Part 1
At this time of year thoroughbred horses and their jockeys race around the storied tracks throughout the country--Hialeah Park, Churchill Downs, Belmont Park, Saratoga--names that conjure up the mystique, tradition, and excitement of horse racing. But there are names that are all but forgotten in racing lore. For during the late 1800's to the early 1900's the County of Kings was also home to the "Sport of Kings". With …
Remembering First Grade
BHS partnered with the Brooklyn School of Inquiry (BSI), a citywide gifted and talented school located in Bensonhurst, to conduct oral history interviews with all of the students in the school's first First Grade class. Although these narrators are only 6 or 7 years old, their interviews add much to BHS's Oral History collection, documenting important things about life in Brooklyn in 2010, including details that can only be captured by youthful candor. Students will receive copies of their interviews when they graduate from 8th Grade in 2017. Check out this video from BSI's series A School…
Brewed in Brooklyn: A History of Fermenting Barley in New York's Favorite Borough
Did you know that Brooklyn was once home to 48 breweries or that 10 percent of the nation's beer was made in the borough? Join David Naczycz and Cindy VandenBosch of Urban Oyster for an entertaining, in-depth look at how beer has played a pivotal role in the history of Brooklyn. A beer and cheese reception precedes the event at 6:30 PM. ***Please note that all 45 seats have already been reserved for this program*** If you'd like to place your name on a waiting list please call: 718.230.2723 The program will take place in the Brooklyn Collection's Reserve Room.
How fun is this?
How the Architectural Walking Tour Built the Preservation Movement
The Borough of Homes and... Oysters?
As the school year comes to a close, I find myself weeding through the many notes I have accrued while planning student projects this year. Most projects were based on topics that were familiar to me. But in some cases I had to become an "expert" on a new field. Such was the case with what become known as "the oyster project." IS 14 in Sheepshead Bay received a special grant this year that required them to create a multi-disciplinary curriculum focused on the local marine environment. So when I came to them in the fall, they were desperate to connect the…
The Loyal Order of the Moose
Like the Shriners mentioned some time ago in Brooklynology, the Loyal Order of the Moose has long had a presence in Brooklyn, raising money for good causes while promoting pleasant social intercourse among its members. Founded in 1888 by Dr John Henry Wilson, who admired the way the moose protected the young and old of its species, the Order was originally nothing more than a social club. But according to its web site, it soon began using membership dues to offer benefits to members in need, providing "security and protection for a largely working class membership."…
Card Parties and Lunching Ladies
Flipping through our Eagle photograph collection, you see a lot of patterns: children looking cute, attractive women at Coney Island, enthusiastic Dodger fans, exteriors of churches and schools and so on. But my favorite "genre" is the party planning committee shots. There's no shortage of pictures in our collection that look like this: Or this: Or this: (Don't they seem to be having fun together?) At first glance, these images seem trivial, if not humorous. Just exactly how many hat-wearing party planners lived in this borough? I …
Brooklyn Beatmakers
The Brooklyn Historical Society is proud to announce Brooklyn Beatmakers, a showcase with headliner The New School Sun Ra Arkestra, led by 22-year Sun Ra arkestra musician, master jazz trumpeter, and music director of Sistas' Place, Ahmed Abdullah! Joining the Arkestraʼs “21st century, interplanetary sound and philosophy” made famous by the legendary composer-bandleader Sun Ra, will be emerging songwriter and emcee Imani Kairee, the dub diva Honeychild Coleman, and the Bushwick teen hip-hop collective Nine 11 Thesaurus. The New School Sun Ra Arkestra “represent[s] a milestone in the…
Found in the Morgue: Five Local Snake Stories
While searching in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle morgue, I came across the following photo, which spurred a hunt for local snake stories. Reverend Dr. Hugo E. Meyer Reverend Dr. Hugo E. Meyer, Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Woodhaven, Queens, had a long-standing pastime of hunting snakes. He collected snakes for his personal specimen collection, which he housed in hundreds of jars in the cellar of his Ozone Park home. His capture method involved throwing himself at the snake and "just about smothering it", using his stomach to field the blow, making sure to have a "hypodermic needle and…
Empty Shelves, Empty Reference Desks
I'm sure, good readers, that you have all been watching the New York State and New York City budgets closely. Many of us in the Brooklyn Collection, and at Brooklyn Public Library as a whole, have been watching the budget negotiations compulsively. Budget mania is nothing new to the libraries in New York City and I write that with a sigh because libraries are easy targets over and over again. As archivist of the Brooklyn Collection, my work allows me to sort through photo folders and photocopied newspaper clippings and pieces of ephemera. I'm glad to say…
Crown Heights Oral History Exhibit
Library Layoffs May Hit Brooklynology.
Many of you may know that New York City's three library systems are currently under threat of crippling budget cuts--so crippling, in fact, that about a third of the library's workforce received provisional pink slips last week, pending the finalization of budget negotiations. Three of the Brooklyn Collection's staff are under the gun, and two of them -- Olivia and Ben--are Brooklynology bloggers. So here today are three of the actual faces of the budget cuts. They represent 50% of the Collection's librarian staff and 33% of our overall staff. Olivia, who has two masters…
Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Dr. Ida Mellen
In the first half of the 20th century, Brooklyn was home to one of the world's most respected authorities on the ailments of fish. Dr. Ida Mellen, lived most of her life in the borough of Brooklyn, working for many years as chief aquarist and ichthyologist at the New York Aquarium. Dr. Ida Mellen The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that during Dr. Mellen's time at the New York Aquarium, she "nursed penguins with bronchitis, turtles with tumors, and alligators with fungused snouts." Her scientific research caused intense excitement within the marine science world, when she discovered a rare type…
Reflections on Times Past: High School Yearbooks
June is upon us and it brings with it a most important milestone in teenage life: "HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION"! Thinking about my own graduation and all of the people I graduated with led me to the Brooklyn collection morgue and our collection of High School yearbooks. We have yearbooks from a few Brooklyn high schools, for example the Flying Dutchman from Erasmus Hall, The Blue & Gold from Girls High and an almost full run (1901-2006) of the Polyglot from Poly Prep. The Prospect, the yearbook of Manual Training High School, is the one that whetted my appetite…
Early Views of Prospect Park
Tupper Thomas announced her retirement as administrator of Prospect Park just as we were beginning a project to catalog our 19th Century map collection. The collection includes a number of maps covering the progress of Prospect Park from early proposals to today. In honor of both Ms Thomas and the beautiful park she has worked to preserve, here are a few interesting pieces: An early plan by Egbert Viele. Note Flatbush Avenue cutting directly through the middle of the park. Land was purchased based on Viele's plan, but plans changed as time passed and the park ended up looking very different…
Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field
Through archives, photos and oral histories, Home Base: Memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field explores the connection between Ebbets Field, the Dodgers and the Brooklyn community. This exhibition is curated by high school students from Brooklyn Technical High School, Cobble Hill School of American Studies, The Packer Collegiate Institute and Saint Ann’s School as part of the Brooklyn Historical Society's Exhibition Laboratory (Ex Lab) after-school museum studies program. Ex Lab introduces high school students to the art of exhibition development: conducting…
Little-Known Brooklyn Businesses: The Meyer Saddlery Corporation
Thanks to Tara, we've been having fun learning about "Little Known Brooklyn Residents" lately. So why not a spin-off series about the businesses that kept these residents employed? For example, if it weren't for the Meyer Saddlery Corporation, where would Al Sharp (below) have cultivated his years of experience in the bridle making trade? The Meyer Saddlery Corporation, like so many Brooklyn businesses, was a family affair. It was founded around 1852 by German immigrant George Meyer near Kings Highway. Mr. Meyer had a unique angle that separated …
New Luna Park opening in Coney Island on May 29th
With the grand opening of the new Luna Park in Coney Island this Saturday, May 29th, we thought it would be cool to post of some of the great photographs of the original Luna Park from our collections. The original Luna Park opened up in Coney Island on May 16, 1903 (and closed in 1944). A New York Times article that covered the opening stated that 45,000 individuals showed up to the park's first day. Many of the park's attractions seemed to have surrounded around performance. For a mere 5 cents visitors could witness something titled "The Fatal Wedding": There was also a daily fire,…
Celebrating another year of Connections!
This morning, 150 students, teachers and parents filled the Library's Dweck Auditorium for our annual Brooklyn Connections Recognition Ceremony and Celebration. On stage, outstanding students presented their final Brooklyn History projects and received certificates of achievement from the Library. In our lobby, students and their guests enjoyed a catered reception while viewing presentation boards and other materials representing the hard work of students from 10 middle schools across the borough. Although the event has quickly come and gone (without…
Hard Times Revisited by Guest Blogger Rich Reyes-Gavilan
It's been one year since the appearance of the blog post detailing the sorrowful history of budget cuts to Brooklyn Public Library. Sadly, the recurring theme has become a recurring nightmare as we once again find ourselves threatened with deep cuts that will devastate our ability to provide service. This year's proposed budget could result in a $20 million reduction to BPL, meaning the closure of 16 branch libraries, fewer books, fewer programs, fewer computer sessions, and massive layoffs. We continue to ask our supporters to write their elected officials and advocate on behalf of the…
The Brooklyn ???
When the Dodgers left Brooklyn 53 years ago they not only ripped out our hearts and guts they also took away the borough's only major league sports franchise. We all know this sad story, so let's not dwell on it here; better for Brooklyn sports fans to turn their attentions to the hardwood machinations of a spindly Russian billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov, majority owner of the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets. Or, I should say, the Brooklyn Somethingelses. At a recent press conference Prokhorov hinted that the nickname Nets might stay behind in Newark when the team moves to the Barclays Center…
Little-Known Brooklyn Residents: Elizabeth Hughes
On October 31, 1950, the front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran an article including a startling action photograph of 65 year-old Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes. "I just went swoooosh!" - Elizabeth Hughes Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes, a B.M.T. subway ticket agent, "scared the daylights out of a husky six-foot-tall bandit who thrust an automatic pistol in her face and sent him packing", the Eagle reported. She re-enacted her quick response for the Eagle photographer, illustrating how she swooshed a nearby pan of water on the would-be-bandit and chased him away from her ticket booth. Elizabeth…
Lost children and leeches.
The recent announcement by Verizon that they will no longer be distributing telephone directories in print form made me think about how the directory has evolved or--some might say--regressed--over the course of the last 200 years. We recently acquired a group of four Brooklyn City Directories, all in wonderful condition, from 1839-1840, 1840-41, 1842-43 and 1844-45. Yes, they all exist on microfilm, but the convenience of a print directory is equaled only by its ability to conjure the atmosphere of an era. Aside from the listed occupations that no longer exist, the addresses that…
Don't Know Why There's No Sun Up In The Sky
This past Sunday, May 9th, legendary singer, actress and activist Lena Horne, passed away. She was born in Brooklyn and as a child lived at 189 Chauncey Street in Bedford Stuyvesant. Lena attended P.S. 35 and then Girls High School on Nostrand Avenue. She only stayed there for a few years, leaving to work at the renowned Cotton Club in Manhattan. She made it into the chorus line there, and the rest, as they say, is history. Hollywood and the world…
Genealogy Group Tonight Wed May 5, 6 p.m.
Come and join our genealogy group with Wilhelmena Kelly tonight at 6 p.m. in the Brooklyn Collection. All welcome.
The Diary of Arthur Lonto Pt 2
At the end of April and the beginning of May, Arthur Lonto repeated rituals taking place all over Brooklyn--he planted his garden, and he enjoyed the beginning of the baseball season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was never idle. Here are a few more extracts from the busy realtor's journal. "Wednesday, April 30, 1947 Dodgers lose 1st game at Ebbets Field to Chicago. Jerome & I took Jitterbug lesson at 6 p.m.--Miss Young. Thursday, May 1, 1947 New family moves into 1431 E. 7th St from Park Slope. Called Rickerman, man, wife and young daughter Saturday, May 3, 1947 Father & I…