Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists.
May Queens and Cherry Blossoms
The delicate cherry blossom is so ephemeral! This poor blossom wilted as I walked from the park to my office, and the trees bloom for just a few short weeks in early spring. In my previous post, I wrote about Brooklyn's official flower, the Forsythia. I like to think that the cherry blossom is one of Brooklyn's unofficial flowers because Brooklynites have celebrated this symbol of spring for many, many years. The cherry trees of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden have been celebrated since their planting, some as early as 1912. The garden boasts around 42 varieties of…
Horsecars and trolleys and plank roads, oh my
One of my favorite things about being an archivist at BHS is all the different people I get to meet in the library. Researchers and their work are fascinating, and with each new person I work with, I get to learn something new. When I first started working as an archivist, I was amused to make the connection that libraries and archives have regulars-- folks that come in often enough that you know their names (and sometimes their stories and their quirks)-- just like the bars and coffee shops and restaurants I'd worked at in the past. At BHS we have some great regulars, either because they…
Brooklyn Goes to the Movies. A talk by Theater Historian Cezar Del Valle. Wednesday, April 28, 7 PM,
During the Golden Age of cinema, Brooklyn had over 200 movie houses. Many of these theaters, originally used for vaudeville acts, found new lives with the advent of moving pictures. Theater historian Cezar Del Valle willl host a lively lecture about these movie houses of yesteryear. Please come early as seating is limited. Wine and cheese social from 6:30-7:00 and the talk begins promptly at 7:00. The Brooklyn Collection is located at the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza on the second floor. Come and join us for this free and fascinating program! In addition to the program,…
Little Known Brooklyn Residents: Emil Kulik
From his workshop at 240 Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Emil Kulik spent more than three years and a decade worth of savings to realize his dream -- inventing a diving apparatus like no other, seen in this image below. His invention, completed in 1932, resulted in a 3 1/2 ton device -- a cross between a diving bell and a solo submarine. The chief feature of his invention was that the diving apparatus operator would be able to work inside the diving bell for long periods of time, at normal air pressure with little or no help from the surface. The robot arms protruding from the front…
Julius Wilcox Cyanotypes: Exhibit in the Brooklyn Collection
Readers of this blog will be familiar with the name of Julius Wilcox, one of several late 19th century photographers in our collection. Wilcox was interested in architecture, engineering and celebrations as well as the seamier side of New York Life--the world of Mulberry Bend, the Tombs, and Silver Dollar Smith's Saloon. In this exhibit we have chosen to focus on the compelling social commentary that makes Wilcox's work a worthy counterpoint to that of his better known contemporary, Jacob Riis. These new digital prints from the original cyanotypes will be on display in the…
Stories from Puerto Rico
Writing in 1975, Angelo Falcón, founder of the National Institute for Latino Policy and currently a professor at Columbia University, said: The more than century-old presence of a politically active Puerto Rican community in New York City has been curiously obscured, afflicted by what Russell Jacoby calls 'social amnesia’ and with serious consequences. (Puerto Rican Politics in Urban America, 1984) 35 years later, last Friday, BHS celebrated the newly accessible Puerto Rican Oral History, 1973-1975. This oral history project, initiated in 1973 by John D. Vasquez, then Director of Puerto…
Found in the Morgue: Six Special Canines
There are many wonderful photographs and stories hiding in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle clippings and photographs morgue, silently waiting to be rediscovered. I've been keeping an eye out for interesting photos and stories on dogs, as a follow up to Olivia's charming post on cats in the Long Island Cat Club. We have two folders filled with images of Dogs at War, from which these first two images were found. Below is an image of Mike, guarding the weapons of Marine Corps recruits in training at Parris Island, S.C. recruit depot. Sinbad, a Coast Guard pup, sailed more than one million miles…
You may not quite recall my name, but certainly you ought to...
On Sundays, beginning sometime around 1895, there began to appear in the pages of the Eagle a column called Tricks and Puzzles. Unlike Sam Loyd's eponymous puzzle column which first appeared in 1896, Tricks and Puzzles was not the work of one riddling mastermind, but rather a column created by Eagle readers for Eagle readers. However, don't think that this column was proof of some conundrum-loving community of puzzle-heads bound by the mysteries of five-letter double diamonds and scriptural enigmas; the motivating factor here was rather simple: cold hard cash. For the contributor offering the…
The Things They Carried
BHS and Queensborough Community College hosted a reading and discussion last Saturday of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, a collection of short stories about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. This event was part of The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to encourage reading and cultural conversation. Joseph Giannini, Joan Furey, and Anthony Wallace, three veterans featured in BHS's exhibit In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans, read from their own writings and generously shared stories about their…
Brooklyn's Flower
Is there anything better than walking through Grand Army Plaza, around Prospect Park, or down Eastern Parkway in the spring? Our eyes are so ready for some color, and at last the delicate daffodils appear, and tiny buds on the trees float in a green haze above us. And then too there are the skinny branches shooting from the ground covered with buttery flowers swarming the stalks--Forsythia! Seventy years ago Mrs. Florence A. Blum lobbied to make Forsythia Brooklyn's official flower. To her, Forsythia was "a symbol of unity and brotherhood at a time when world…
Hancock Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant
There are certainly some architectural gems in Bedford-Stuyvesant. A researcher in the library today researching her block for the purpose of landmarking it and The Brownstoner making 247 Hancock Street the Building of the Day drew me into another section of our Photography Collection. In the early 70s, BHS president James Hurley, with others, photographed this beautiful block of Hancock Street.
Mr Lonto and Jackie Robinson
We have recently acquired one volume of the diary of Arthur Lonto, a noted authority on transit and a former President of the Electric Railroaders Association. A World War II veteran, Mr Lonto worked in insurance and real estate until he was hired by the MTA, eventually becoming a transit management analyst. At the time the diary was written, Mr Lonto lived on East 7th Street between Avenues M and N. He notes indefatigably and compulsively every journey taken by public transportation, but more importantly, he abstracts news items of interest and follows the fortunes of the Brooklyn…
Genealogy Workshop Tonight April 7, 6 p.m.
Join us in the Central Library's Brooklyn Collection at 6 p.m. to uncover the secrets of your family history with genealogist Linda Jones.
Brooklynology Featured in New York Archives Magazine
I would tell everyone to rush out to the news stand immediately to pick up your copy of the Spring issue of New York Archives magazine, but--attractive as this publication of the New York State Education Department is--I don't think you can find it on every corner. Still, we are pleased to have rated a two-page spread in the "Archives Around New York" section of this well-designed organ of the Archives Partnership Trust. Hoping we can be forgiven for a moment of self-reflexivity, we offer a paragraph from the article, entitled Blogging the Archives, for the special…
Of Brooklyn Ferries
Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes!how curious you are to me!On the ferry-boats, the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose;Any you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence, are more to me, and more in my meditations than you might suppose.Walt Whitman, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" Looking at an image like this makes me pine for the era when travelling by ferry was the norm. While we have reference materials that will give you a thorough history of the ferry system (the many stops and…
Arts and Skills for Veterans
In 1944, as more and more American soldiers were returning home from war, the American Red Cross established a new volunteer sector: the Arts and Skills Corps. This program is included in the Eagle's post-war publication, Staging Area Brooklyn. It states that the Corps "resulted from increased awareness of the therapeutic problems of convalescents. Skilled and craftsmen, wearing the Red Cross uniform, helped men fill the long hours of convalescence with activities ranging from sculpture to photographs, programs that kept minds and hands busy in the fights against boredom…
Dropping Anchor in Brooklyn
Watch this great video of a giant anchor arriving home to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where it will soon become part of the exhibition at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92. Since 2007, BHS and BNYDC have partnered on an oral history project documenting the important work that happens in the Navy Yard. We are currently interviewing people who worked in they Yard in the 1950s and 1960s and for any of the private shipbuilders after the 1966 decommissioning. You can listen to some clips from WWII-era interviews here. And to suggest someone we should interview please contact the…
The Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Annual reports of charitable institutions do not usually make riveting reading matter. The annual reports of the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children form a compelling yet disturbing exception to the rule. Aside from the inevitable statistics and lists of donations, they contain photographs of some of the children brought to the notice of the Society, each one accompanied by a brief report of the circumstances surrounding the child's misfortune. Here are a few, offered without commentary: "From the Report for 1891 Case No. 9641--The…
Postcard craze
The recent New Yorker blog post "Off the shelf: Folk Photography" by Rollo Romig about the popularity of postcards renewed my enthusiasm for our collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Widely printed, mailed, and collected, we have thousands of postcards depicting a long ago Brooklyn and from one Brooklynite to another. Not only are the images great to see, they show a Brooklyn from years ago that may or may not still exist and the correspondence is fascinating to read. They are somewhat like the tweets, text messages, and emails we send today. At only a penny to send, why not,…
Little Known Brooklyn Residents: Grandma Logan of Greenpoint
I am very content to live and work in the borough of Brooklyn, and wholeheartedly enjoy my provincial lifestyle. Occasionally months will pass before I travel across the river -- a running joke with my husband who commutes into Manhattan frequently. This probably reveals why the following headline caught my attention, from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, dated June 19, 1927. Mrs. Mary A. Logan lived a long, happy and peaceful life within the confines of three city blocks of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. When she first arrived in Greenpoint from Ireland in 1859 at the age of 21, the district was a…
Walter O'Malley and Robert Moses: The Loss of the Dodgers Reconsidered
Join us on Wednesday night March 24th, at 7pm for an illustrated talk by Robert E. Murphy. Lamenting the removal of the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 has been a major pastime among traumatized fans for 53 years. But who was to blame? After poring relentlessly through archives, original news stories, and government documents, Robert Murphy, author of After Many a Summer: The Passing of the Giants and Dodgers and a Golden Age in New York Baseball, gives the most fully-researched answer to that question yet offered. Seating is limited so come early to meet the author and enjoy wine and cheese…
Taylor Branch at BHS Library Dinner
On March 8, 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch spoke at the Brooklyn Historical Society's Annual Library Dinner. Taylor Branch is a native of Atlanta, Georgia and author of the King Era Trilogy, a narrative history of the U.S. during the Civil Rights era which includes Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Non-Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for History. His most recent book is The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President (Simon and Schuster 2009), a presidential memoir based on secret late-night…
That's Using your Noodle
Brooklyn was once renowned for producing beer, sugar, ships, and much more, but not many people know that it was also once famous for the manufacture of pasta. Brooklyn was pasta's gateway into America, as documented in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1886: …
Loyd's Puzzles
It’s nice to find some other visual specimen to rest the eyes upon in the ant nest that is late 19th century newspaper text—an illustration of crustacean jelly molds and cake tins, a diagram of celestial bodies in spring skies, the thoraxes of some silhouetted country home pitchers; anything to give a respite from that headachy, inky and—now—digitized type. That's why when I came across these images on page 26 of an 1896 Sunday edition of the Eagle I felt as though I had found some uninhabited moon world, as though the editor of the…
E.E. Rutter
Some may find this hard to believe but--librarians can make mistakes. Sometimes we know very little about the photographers whose works we find in our collections. Photographs by E.E. Rutter can be found not only in the collection of Brooklyn Public Library but also in Queens Borough Public Library and the Brooklyn Historical Society. A recent telephone call from a colleague in Queens alerted us to the fact that we may have been perpetuating a mistake as to Rutter's first name. In several documents in our control file he is named Edward E. Rutter. His images are often signed simply "Rutter"…
Over Here! New York City During World War II Exhibit at the Central Library
The Central Library at Grand Army Plaza is hosting an exhibit based on the book Over Here! New York City During World War II by Lorraine B. Diehl. Many photographs from the Brooklyn Collection archives are on display for the very first time to the public. The images show the first day of work for female employees of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn war bond fundraisers, and the Sheepshead Bay Maritime Training Station. Don't miss this chance to see treasures from the Brooklyn Collection on display, along with original posters, photos, and World War II…
Basketball in Brooklyn
Bats, Balls, Nets and Hoops: Stories of Sports in Brooklyn is the latest in a series of educational curriculum kits from the Brooklyn Historical Society (forthcoming Spring 2010). Organized around four case studies, the kit is packed with more than 50 primary source documents from the BHS archives, including newspaper articles, photographs and oral histories of Brooklyn athletes born between the 1920s and 1950s. Each case study comes in a separate folder with critical thinking questions and document-analysis activities to help students observe, question, analyze and interpret the material.…
Little Known Brooklyn Residents: Treasure Hunter, Jay Erlichman
While researching in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle morgue, I came across this curious image of a young Brooklyn resident digging in rubble. Brooklyn Treasure Hunter Jay Erlichman hard at work hunting treasure. On January 16, 1950, a small article ran in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, with this image titled "Youthful Treasure Hunter". By the time it went to print, nine-year old Jay Erlichman had been digging for treasure with his broken shovel for "about four years". Up until this date, his efforts had dug up a total of $1.27 and "an enormous collection of rusty bottle caps, tin cans, broken glass and…
Rites and Ceremonies of the Brooklyn African Diaspora
A Parting Word
A little over a month ago marked the 55th anniversary of the last published newspaper of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 28, 1955 was a sad day in Brooklyn history as the final newspaper rolled off the presses and was delivered to the Brooklynites who depended on it for news and entertainment. The beloved 114 year old newspaper closed its doors the very next day, never to reopen under the same publisher or with the same mission. Brooklyn would not have a single newspaper that reported on the daily local news of the entire…
Little Known Brooklyn Residents: Wilhelmina Carlstedt
Up until the age of 99, a local resident known as "Brooklyn's Betsy Ross" designed and handcrafted a series of elaborate flags to spread her message of "Lasting World Peace." Wilhelmina Carlstedt with one of her peace flags. Wilhelmina Carlstedt began stitching peace flags with the assistance of her daughter Olga Hesse, from their home on 864 St. John's Place. She began stitching for peace after her two grandsons left home to fight in World War I, and her desire for the "cessation of world hostilities grew daily stronger". She hung the first flag in the window of her home at the time of the…
Genealogy Workshop with Wilhelmena Kelly, Wednesday March 3, 6-8 p.m.
Join us in the Brooklyn Collection's Reserve Room from 6-8 p.m. to explore your family history with help from an expert genealogist. Wilhelmena Rhodes Kelly is the author of books on Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. She sits on the boards of the African American Genealogy Society, Manhattan Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Association and the Fort Greene Revolutionary War Committee. Ms Kelly is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and is also Regent of the Manhattan Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution. We encourage anyone who is interested in…
Puerto Rico, March 2, 1917
Illusion and Reality at Loew's Kings
News of the planned renovation of the Loew's (pronounced LOWees in this part of the world) Kings Theater on Flatbush Avenue sent us scurrying to our files for Loew's ephemera. And, given the sad history of the theater over the past thirty years, it caused us to think a little about the tenuous nature of plans, and their tendency to turn into something other than reality. One could be forgiven for greeting the announcement of a planned $70 million cash infusion with more than a little scepticism--after all, we heard it all before, and more than once. After the Kings went dark, the…
Saffire
Well, this is just awesome: Here are two videos of the band Saffire playing at BHS for the Make Music New York festival last spring. Saffire is an all-girl rock band from Nyack, New York -- two sets of multi-instrumentalist sisters who play original music.
Obscure Quotes... compiled by Brooklynites
Be on the lookout for enlightening and eccentric quotes on our Twitter page, as we've decided to start pulling inspiration from The Beecher Book of Days. This charming little book was published in 1886 by editors Eleanor Kirk and Caroline B. LeRow. Many of the quotes come from Beecher's sermons, but some are pulled from works that Beecher read or owned, giving us insight into both Beecher's mind and the reading habits of 19th century Brooklynites. There are two or three quotes for each date (plus some extra pages in the back to record…
Ebbets Field Oral History project
This Wednesday: The Stages of Brooklyn: an Illustrated Talk by Cezar Del Valle.
From Downtown to Bushwick to Brighton Beach, theaters could once be found in almost every neighborhood of Brooklyn. Cezar Del Valle shares his unrivalled knowledge of Brooklyn's stages in a lively illustrated lecture at 7 p.m. on Wednesday Feb 24th in the Brooklyn Collection Reserve Room, Central Library, 2nd floor. This talk will cover legitimate theater, vaudeville and other live venues. Mr Del Valle will return in April to cover Brooklyn's many movie theaters. Seating is limited so come early and join us for wine and cheese from 6:30 to 7.
Clara Whitehill Hunt, Superintendent of Work With Children
In an era when it is common for people to spend two years in a position and then move on, Brooklyn Public Library remains an institution in which many people spend lengthy careers. This was as true in the early years of the 20th century as it appears to be today. Clara Whitehill Hunt worked for the system for 36 years, from 1903-1939. Brooklyn's library system was in the early years of its development when Miss Hunt, who had spent some years in the classroom and risen to the rank of principal of a small elementary school, became convinced that librarianship was the path she wished…
Brooklyn: How Sweet It Is!
From fall through early spring, it's easy to have candy on the brain. Over the past months I've had my share of peanut butter pumpkins, marshmallow santas, chocolate coins and sugary hearts. (And my favorite, the elusive cream egg, has yet to arrive.) Today our craving for sweets is satisfied by factories all over the world. But up until just a few decades ago, many of my favorite treats would have been produced right here in Brooklyn. For example, the Just Born company, home of those cute marshmallow peeps, has only been located in…
Two Dodgers Valentines
This is my gift to you, Brooklyn Dodger fans. My Valentines Day weekend was quite romantic, so readers will have to forgive me if these Valentine's poems are a little late. I found them competely by accident, while I was looking for some photos of Gil Hodges in military uniform. They were written by the somewhat eccentric, so-called "Dentist Laureate" of Borough Hall, who was also dentist and poet to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Dr. John L. McAteer. Dr. McAteer wrote quite a few sports poems. I cannot find out much about him…
Oh the weather outside is frightful
In honor of all the snowpocalypse and snowmageddon talk I've been hearing for the past few days, and my really rather lovely snowy walk in to work this morning, I thought I'd post a few pictures of snowy Brooklyn in years past. Enjoy!
Oral History Seminar
Virginia Woolf and Dame Ethel Smyth; photo courtesy of NYPL Digital Gallery Listening to Women: Documenting Women's Lives through Oral History a six week non-credit course at BHS The Brooklyn Historical Society's oral historian Sady Sullivan leads a seminar this spring (March 24 - May 5, 2010) introducing the practice of Oral History as an historical methodology, a unique narrative genre, and a tool in the reconciliation of social injustices. The course is interdisciplinary, drawing from history, sociology, memoir, and gender studies. We will examine oral history in all its forms --…
Brooklynite Howard Zinn
In memory of Howard Zinn (1922-2010) and in appreciation of his life's work, the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation would like to share these excerpts from an interview we conducted with Howard Zinn on December 8, 2008. Howard Zinn was an historian, activist, playwright, and author of more than twenty books including A People’s History of the United States. In these (very) roughly edited clips, Howard Zinn talks about growing up in Brooklyn, working as an apprentice shipfitter in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and his first date with his future wife…
Tivoli Towers in Crown Heights
Tivoli: A Place We Call Home is a new multimedia exhibit curated by Delphine Fawundu opening at BHS next Thursday, February 11. Check out this NY1 News Story and this trailer below:
Sentimental Journey
Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my mind at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
to renew old memories.
Crown Heights Oral History Project
Happy Birthday, Central Library!
Central Library turned sixty-nine years old this week. In February 1941, thirty-four years after breaking ground on the original proposal, Central Library was ready to receive patrons. A small ceremony with Borough President John Cashmore and other local dignitaries was held on January 31st in the new children's room (the Eagle called it "the mecca of juvenile readers"). At 2pm on February 1st, the doors of Central Library were opened for the public - without any ceremony or event. According to the Eagle, "schoolboy" Raphael Kermish of 951 Carroll Street was the first…
The Grapes of Brooklyn
In this biting cold I think longingly of summer, of heat, of gardens bursting with blossoms, fruits and whatever else they may produce. And produce they do, in an abundance that reminds one of the fact that not so long ago, much of Brooklyn's land was given over to the intensive cultivation of market garden crops. I am reminded of this every time I visit a house I used to live in, the back of which is covered by a large grapevine. This vine left unchecked would cover the entire back yard in a season. It was so vital that if you left a window open in the…
New Genealogy Group Starts Weds Feb 3rd 6-8
Come and join us on Wednesday February 3 from 6 to 8 in the Brooklyn Collection Reserve Room for the first meeting of our new genealogy group. Genealogist and historian Wilhelmena Kelly will help group members trace their ancestry. In honor of Black History month the first meeting will focus on African-American ancestry but Ms Kelly will be demonstrating techniques and resources that can be used by all. Hereafter this group will meet regularly on the first Wednesday of the month. Light refreshments will be served.