Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists.
Historic Photos of the Brooklyn Bridge. An illustrated talk and book signing by John Manbeck
Wednesday January 27th at 7 p.m. in the Brooklyn Collection, Second Floor, Central Library, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11238. Come early (6:30) for wine and superb cheese, and meet the author.
Distilling in Brooklyn--Whiskey Wars and Swill Milk in the 1860s
We hear a good deal about brewing in Brooklyn, but a patron's question recently made me realize that we hear little about the making of stronger stuff. But as you would think in a place the size of Brooklyn, there has been no shortage of local liquor, both legal and otherwise, in the City of Churches--and of stills. One of the most venerable distilleries was that of Cunningham and Harris, at the corner of Main and Washington Streets; it was described in court proceedings as being founded as early as 1810. A considerable number of these distilleries…
Peace Love Hope
This morning I was lucky to witness students from Brooklyn's PS261 Magnet School for Integrating the Arts on their March on Brooklyn Borough Hall in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They were carrying signs that read Peace and Hope and I Have a Dream and some students were chanting "Peace, Love, Hope". The cellphone photos below capture just a bit of the inspiring spirit these young people brought to Brooklyn today.
Coney Island is a Jonah
In 1867, Kings County celebrated the opening of Ocean Parkway, which connected Prospect Park with the Town of Gravesend. The Parks Commission owned the small patch of land where the Parkway met the Atlantic Ocean. The land, known as Ocean Concourse Drive, straddled the barrier between Coney Island and the more respectable Brighton Beach. Looking for revenue, the Parks Commission proposed that an aquarium should be built on the west end of the Concourse, believing an aquarium would "be a good thing to introduce the Island to civilization." From 1877 to 1887,…
Meet Emma
Emma is the name of BHS's ever-growing catablog of archives, manuscripts and special collections, including oral histories. The catablog is named after Emma Toedteberg, who was BHS's librarian for more than 50 years. She began as an assistant librarian in 1869, just a few years after BHS was founded, and was promoted to Librarian in 1889, serving until shortly before her death in 1936. Try browsing the collections by the Category Oral History and if something peaks your interest, you are welcome to come listen to oral history collections in the Othmer Library.
The Nurse is Here to Help
19th century Brooklyn offered few opportunities for poor, deserted, or unmarried pregnant women. Many of these expectant mothers would typically find shelter within a local station house and give birth in horrible conditions or would desert their child completely, leaving them to the elements or to the kindness of strangers. These children were known as foundlings or "almshouse cubs". The above photo shows two Sisters of Charity, a nurse and an abandoned baby at the New York Foundling Hospital around 1892. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle is…
Of Speaking Tubes and Kalsomining
To leaf through our Letterhead Collection is to enter a world that is at once familiar and strange. Consisting of about 5000 letterheads, bills, receipts, blotters and advertising ephemera arranged alphabetically in looseleaf binders, this collection is the work of local historian Brian Merlis who gathered the items over the course of 25 years, between 1980 and 2005. Taken together these letterheads form a kind of living directory of Brooklyn businesses, conveying the flavor of a bygone era through artwork and iconography, as well as the lists…
The Season for Giving
As this is the season for giving, it seemed timely to look at a few of the gifts Brooklynites of yore might have offered to one another. Our growing collection of trade catalogs contains not only lists of screws, greenhouses, surgical instruments and the like, but also catalogs from department stores, furriers and all kinds of other traders. In search of holiday gifts just now I came upon the 1889 catalog of Wechsler and Abraham, the forerunner of Abraham and Strauss, now Macy's on Fulton Street. As this is my year for giving gloves, of which one can never have too many,…
Julius Wilcox (1837-1924), Man of Many Parts
For a long time the life of Julius Wilcox, one of the outstanding photographers whose collections are housed here in Brooklyn Public Library, was something of an enigma. Exactly how his album of original cyanotypes came to us is not known, and until recently, precious little could be discovered about his life. But now, thanks to www.ancestry.com and the remarkable compilation of New York State newspapers online at www.fultonhistory.com, the outlines of his life and background are beginning to take shape. 468 of Wilcox's images are available online via the library's catalog here. (Click…
Santa's Helpers
"One of the nicest things about the Christmas season is that it brings in a flood of mail. The recipients never utter one word of protest. Only the overworked and overburdened letter-carriers might be inclined to raise an objection or two..." -New York Times, December 30, 1944 You can't really blame postal workers for feeling overburdened during the holiday season. It's no secret that when most of us are wrapping gifts, lighting candles and decorating trees, they are in the middle of their busiest season. Articles from our collection show…
After Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is behind us. It is one of my favorite holidays because it is so distinctly American, crossing regional, ethnic and racial boundaries. When discussing the meals we had among ourselves, we learned that our tables groaned with the usual surfeit of meats -- turkey and ham -- but also lasagna, antipasti, a turducken, macaroni and cheese, chittlins, rutabaga mash, Portuguese stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn bread, pecan pie, cranberries, roasted red peppers with fresh mozzarella, sliced salami, and for our lone…
In Line with Jive Turkey
Brooklyn Mohawks
To close out Native American Heritage Month I thought a post about the community of Mohawk Indians that lived in Brooklyn would be in order. For more than three decades, starting in the 1920s, the Mohawk Indians from the Kahnawake reservation near Montreal, Canada, made the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn their home away from home. This close knit community grew and prospered and left their stamp on Brooklyn, as well as on the skyline of New York. At a time when New York was being transformed, skyscraper after skyscraper…
Making life easier for the Brooklyn housewife (and househusband)
I often wonder what the life of a 1950s housewife was like. How did Brooklyn housewives manage to accomplish their appointed tasks each day? Well, convenience and help seem to have been the keys to the homemaker’s daily routine. Exciting advancements came through machines, pre-cooked foods, and easy solutions to prepared food storage. The Brooklyn Collection has photographs and ephemera that showcase moments in the life of a housewife and -- a happy surprise-- a 1950s househusband too! In 1953, the Brooklyn Daily…
The Darlington Electric Fountain, 1897-1915
When this blog began I thought an article on the successive fountains of Grand Army Plaza would be a good idea--but found I had nothing to add to the section in the Wikipedia article on same. Well, finally I do have a little something new to add to the story. This recently acquired photograph looking southeast across the Plaza shows the circular pipes in the empty fountain basin, with the reservoir tower in the background. Just below the tower you can see hoardings around the site of the Central Library, on which my trusty loupe shows a sign reading "To the Museum." This photograph was…
City of Memory: The Porto Rico Steamship Co.
Got cycling photos?
The Shriners in Brooklyn
This sublimely silly program has resided quietly in our ephemera files under the heading "Clubs: Masonic" for quite some years. I am so fond of it that I decided it was time to give it an airing, and in so doing could not help but ask myself some questions. Who were these dudes? What was the Kismet Temple they occupied? Why are they wearing this curious headgear? And what accounts for the sense of humor so unusual in items relating to fraternal orders? In 1928 the Kismet Temple was located at 92 Herkimer Street in Bedford Stuyvesant, and the full name of its occupants was the "…
Coney Island Carousel Carver
So What'll It Be?
The Brooklyn Navy Yard wasn't the only workplace taking in women during the war. Brooklyn's bar scene was also reliant upon the female workforce. In 1939, a group of female bartenders formed Bar Maids Local 101, an official union for women who had taken on the important duty of pouring drinks and lending an ear to war-torn Brooklyn. To legitimize their work, members of Local 101 completed three months of job training before they were employed. They were also agreed not to work past midnight or give their last name to patrons. Local…
Riding the Rails!
The Brooklyn Collection holds several collections of little-known transit-related photographs and we've just installed a new photography exhibit in the cases in our reading room, called Riding the Rails. This display of post cards, ephemera and photographs highlights the construction of trolley and subway tracks and tunnels and the machines used to assist in building them. It also features passenger cars not seen in over 100 years as well as the people who rode them. Many of the photographs chosen are from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and can be found in our…
Park Slope Walking Tour
Brooklyn Utopias? - 'Utopian' Urban Planning - what does it mean?
Collier L. Duncan
The blog has fallen silent for a few days. Last Friday afternoon our colleague and friend, Collier Duncan left the library wishing us all a good weekend. Collier was not supposed to work on Fridays, but even so, he could usually be found at his desk down among the Brooklyn Daily Eagle files on a Friday afternoon. "I was coming to the library anyway, so I thought I'd swing by," he would say. It had been a week like any other. Our research assistant for the last five years, Collier had been busy, with an ever increasing load of requests for searches of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle…
Brooklyn and the Atomic Age
I was born in the late 1970s and cannot remember a time when the nuclear threat kept me awake at night. I've been exposed to tornado drills, not air raid drills; calls for nuclear disarmament formed a background hum that was soft and loud by turns. While I was digging through some of our Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, I found several images that represent Brooklyn life during the Cold War. They cover a wide range of subjects from atomic air raid drills and civil defense preparedness to exhibits on nuclear physics, at the same time providing a…
Cemetery of the Evergreens. A talk by John Rousmaniere just in time for Halloween, Wed. October 28t
Join us in the Brooklyn Collection on Wednesday October 28th for an illustrated talk by the author of Green Oasis in Brooklyn, featured previously in this blog. There will be a short reception at 6:30 with wine and cheese and possibly some black and orange things if we get inspired -- followed by the talk at 7 p.m.
Making Antibiotics in Brooklyn
Open House New York Weekend and Brooklyn's Central Library
On Saturday and Sunday October 10 and 11 at 3 p.m., free guided tours through areas of the Grand Army Plaza library that are not usually accessible to the public will be offered as part of the Open House New York weekend. Reservations are required for these tours and participants will learn about the history of the Central Library and will visit the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper "morgue". A pictorial history of the 36-year effort to build the Central Library, prepared by Olivia of the Brooklyn Collection, will be on show in the Grand Lobby. Did you know…
Crown Heights in History--and an Important Announcement
Wilhelmena Kelly gave an illustrated talk last night to a standing-room only crowd on the history of Crown Heights, in the Brooklyn Collection's Reserve Room. Ms Kelly is an avid genealogist as well as the author of two books on the central Brooklyn communities of Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant. Formerly an assistant vice president of communications at Citibank, Wilhelmena is now Regent of the Manhattan Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution and sits on the boards of the African American Genealogy Society, Manhattan Soldiers and Sailors Memorial…
Brooklyn's Vietnam Veterans
In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn's Vietnam Veteran's (2007 - ongoing) is the first exhibit in BHS's oral history gallery. With the use of oral histories, portraits, and personal artifacts this audio installation explores the impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of Brooklyn’s diverse residents, from the first person perspective. Meeting people who were touched by the Vietnam War, visitors are prompted to consider the on-going impact of the Vietnam War in the lives of Brooklynites, from their memories of the war to how it affects them today. From portrait to portrait, from person to…
On Bookplates
A question from one of our longtime patrons got me thinking about bookplates. Brooklyn Public Library has used many bookplates through the course of its 110-year history. Mostly they celebrate the donor of a book, or of the funds that provided the book, but in the early years of the library bookplates were used simply to announce ownership. As any collector of bookplates will know, wonderful things can happen in the space of that little scrap of paper, usually no more than 3" x 4" and often smaller. As it happens, although the mission of the Brooklyn Collection is to collect…
FOLK FEET: Irina Roizin
This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers. BAC initiated Folk Feet, a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn, in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the fifth in a series of five audio slideshows from…
Back to School
A new school year has begun and with it, one of the annual rites of Fall - shopping for new school clothes. How have clothes changed since the Eagle first started running back-to-school advertisements at the turn of the last century? How have the ads changed? From mid-July to September today's parents are inundated with TV ads, circulars, flyers, and catalogues. Children in Brooklyn today have a wider variety of styles and stores to choose from. Local stores and national and international brands offer choices that would have…
FOLK FEET: Carlos Vasquez
This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers. BAC initiated Folk Feet, a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn, in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the fourth in a series of five audio slideshows…
Bountiful Borough
A few weeks ago I went to Frankie's Spuntino on Court St. in Carroll Gardens for the first time. My entire experience at Frankie's was amazing from the warm service staff to the delicious Soppressata, which even broke the will of my mostly vegetarian boyfriend.
FOLK FEET: Donny Golden
This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers. BAC initiated Folk Feet, a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn, in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the third in a series of five audio slideshows from…
Brooklyn (Non New York)
There are a lot of serious and solid information sources in the Brooklyn Collection, but over the years we have certainly allowed great amounts of trivia to accumulate in our files. The pursuit of the trivial, it has been argued, can actually lead to profound insights; and you just never know whether a matter that seems trivial today might turn out to be of immense importance tomorrow. At least, that is my excuse for digging into one of our so-called "Brooklyn Archive Files" or "BAFs" labeled Brooklyn (Non-New York). Under this cryptic heading we find articles on towns…
FOLK FEET: Marie Basse-Wiles
This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers. BAC initiated Folk Feet, a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn, in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the second in a series of five audio…
Back to School / Web Tools for Teachers
Help Police!
In our collection there are quite a few books from the 19th century. These books are not only valuable for the information contained within their pages, but also for their historical perspective. One such book is "Brooklyn's Guardians" by William E. S. Fales. This book published in 1887 traces the "origin, growth and development of the Brooklyn police force", from the early colonial period to it's enrollment in 1887 of 972 policemen. …
FOLK FEET: Shock-a-lock
This past year, BHS and the Brooklyn Arts Council partnered on an oral history project interviewing local dancers. BAC initiated Folk Feet a Folk Arts program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn in 2003. The goals of Folk Feet were to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops. This is the first in a series of five audio slideshows from…
W.F. Mangels and his "Amusing" Career
Summer is quickly coming to an end, and soon our favorite boardwalks and amusement parks will be closed for the season. As we roll, spin, slide and gallop our way into fall, few of us will notice that many of our favorite rides were designed by a Brooklynite. In 1882, a 16 year-old German by the name of William F. Mangels emigrated to New York City. The young amusement enthusiast found himself at the right place at the right time. Coney Island was the epicenter for the amusement industry. The latest and newest rides were being manufactured…
For Columbia Oral History Master's Students
In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans opened at the Brooklyn Historical Society in December 2007 and, while it is a temporary exhibit, there are no plans as yet to de-install it. One of the featured Vietnam veterans, who actively supports Iraq Vets Against the War, suggested BHS keep the exhibit up for as long as American soldiers are in Iraq and Afghanistan. This exhibit was the first to be launched in BHS's Oral History gallery. Background materials: History of the Brooklyn Historical Society Original Press Release for exhibit, featuring short narrator biographies…
More Brooklyn Navy Yard Stories
Geomapping on Flickr
Historic photographs are one of the highlights of the Brooklyn Collection, and thanks to digitization, are the most easily accessible of our treasures. Thousands of unique Brooklyn photos can be searched and found on the BPL web site. Recently, we've embarked on a project that will make some of these images even more visible, through the photo sharing web site Flickr. Along with other cultural institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Queens and New York Public Library, we've created a Flickr page with a sample of some of our photographic holdings. Because…
Brooklyn Summer H.E.A.T. Reflections
Today's post is written by Evan Threadgill, who worked at BHS this summer through the Borough President's Office program, Brooklyn Summer H.E.A.T. Evan is entering his junior year at East NY High School of Transit Technology. BHS is proud to participate in this program and gives tremendous thanks to Evan for all his hard work! Today is my last day working at BHS, and the time that I have been here has been great. Everyday since the first day I started has given me more and more experience in the museum and the office environment. I was able to see how a museum operates behind the scenes…
Transcribing a Difficult Past
It saddens me that our manuscript collection doesn't get more use. To be fair, it is a hodge podge of documents that are challenging to read and cover various parts of 19th century history. But amidst contracts and lists of construction materials, there are some real gems. I had known for some time that we had three documents that addressed slavery in Brooklyn, but I had never taken the time to read them carefully. This week, I settled down to transcribe them in preparation for class visits. What I found were three heartbreaking, but…