Brooklynology

Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists.

Steve Brodie Jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and Lived (Maybe?)

[Rendering of Steve Brodie (1863-1901) who jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge, and survived, on July 23, 1886.

Contribute to our Brooklyn Resists Community Collecting Project

GEAT_0002, Anthony Geathers Photograph Collection, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
This week's Photo of the Week is a call to action. Did you know that one facet of Brooklyn Resists is a community collecting initiative?

Celebrating Student Research: Brooklyn Connections 2020-21

Brooklyn Connections is a program run by the Center for Brooklyn History’s education department that cultivates 21st Century learning skills in students and supports teachers with the incorporation of archives materials into curricula.  Click here to view a selection of this year's Brooklyn Connections final projects. 

Bulger's Hotel: Subway Construction Photographs Shed Light on a Lost Brooklyn Business

[Sidewalk conditions on southeast corner of Pearl and Willoughby Streets looking south from roadway of Willoughby St], 1915.

Brooklyn's Lost Saltwater Oasis

[Hotel St. George pool], 1930. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NEIG_1455.  Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
As a summer heat wave kicks off the last few days of Pride Month, our Photo of the Week takes us to an elegant indoor pool at the Hotel St.

The Lost Murals of Borough Hall

Brooklyn Borough Hall murals, circa 1939. Edgar E. Rutter photograph collections, RUTT_0001.

Process of EL-imination: the last days of the Fulton Street elevated

Requiescat in pace--No tears were shed for the passing of the Fulton St. L today, but Masur, the florist on lower Fulton St., rushed out with a wreath to hang on the elevated pillar in front of his shop [with sign, "Funeral services May 31, 1940 of the dirty elevated, undertaker, Mr.

Lionel the Lion-Faced Man

Taking a Bite Out of Spiritualism

When the Scientific American offered a $2500 prize to anyone who could produce a visible psychic manifestation, Chicago medium Elizabeth Allen Tomson answered the call. In the Fall of 1923 she arrived in New York with her husband and spokesman, Dr. Clarence Tomson and their daughter. Tomson performed several seances in homes across the city, using a technique that involved her entering a large cabinet where she fell into a trance and manifested spirits of the dead. 

Wheeling in the Years: A Slice of Brooklyn Bicycle History

To close out National Bicycle Month, here's a little a celebration of bicycling in Brooklyn, from 1897 to the present. 

A Look Back at Brooklyn's Central Library

[Brooklyn Central Library, Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway; Alfted Morton Githens, Francis Keally, Associated Architects], CBPL_0004, 1938; Roy Pinney photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
 

A Story of Sands Street

[Brooklyn Navy Yard Buildings], NEIG_1249, 1908; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's photo of the week takes us to the corner of Sands and Navy Streets in Vinegar Hill, a section of Downtown Brooklyn adjacent to the Navy Yard. While the neighborhood was named for the final battle of the Irish

A Mother's Immigration Story

The Gottlieb family.

The Librarian in Congress: The Life and Work of Major Owens

Representing Brooklyn From his roots as a librarian here at Brooklyn Public Library, to his ascent to the New York State Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, Major Owens' legacy is defined by his work as a tireless antipoverty reformer and as an advocate for education, civil rights, Americans with disabilities, workers' rights, and immigrants.

Spring, Is That You?

[Four people and a field of sheep], circa 1890, arc.202_box17_112; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Spring in Brooklyn is often fleeting, lasting a month or two at most. With it brings relief from winter’s harsh weather, blooming flowers, and tepid evening breezes.

Mesopotamia in Brownsville

Loew's Pitkin Theater, 1958.

Park Slope's Old Tower House

 

Old Tower House, NEIG_1696, 1910; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
 

Brooklyn in Blue

WILC_0085, 1892, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library
Today's Photo of the Week is a cyanotype created by New York City photographer Julius Wilcox. Wilcox was born in Vermont in 1837, moving to New York at the age of 29 and settling in Brooklyn.

National Library Outreach Day: On Bookmobiles and Fugitive Libraries

BPL_0002, 1951, Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photograph Collection,

When the Dodgers went to the Bronx: Game 1 of the 1947 World Series

[Opening game of the World Series], DODG_0002, 1947; Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
 

The Opening of a Vaudeville Theater in Williamsburg

[The Folly], THEA_0027, 1906; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
To celebrate the announcement in the beginning of March that theaters will reopen in April, our photo of the week takes us to the corner of Graham Avenue and Debevoise Street in Williamsburg.&

One Bedford-Stuyvesant Block's Industrial Past

[Former Joseph Wild & Co factory, 218 Kosciusko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant], circa 1935; Bommer family collection, 1992.033, Box A0142; Center for Brooklyn History.
This week’s Photo of the Week takes us to Kosciusko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, on the block that forms the northern boundary of Herbert Von King Park (known in the 19th century as Tompkins Park).

Cleaning Up the Waterfront with N.A.G.

Photo of Neighbors Against Garbage (N.A.G.) litter cleanup, GEHP_0193, c.

The Brief Life of a Fanciful Building

Fulton Ferry House, [190-?] TRAN_0364, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History
Our photo of the week features the Fulton Ferry House that once stood where Old Fulton Street met the water’s edge in Brooklyn Height

Web Archiving at BPL: Saving Brooklyn's Web Content One URL at a Time

Did you know that Brooklyn Public Library has a web archive? In 2017, the Brooklyn Collection (now part of the new Center for Brooklyn History) joined the Internet Archive’s Community Webs program, in which public libraries around the country are given the funding and support to start and sustain web archives.

Preserving Black History in Brooklyn

[Interior of the Slave Theater], Hiroki Kobayashi, circa 2010; Hiroki Kobayashi photographs on the Slave Theater from the collection of Dexter Wimberly, 2014.023;

Bedford-Stuyvesant's Dar-ul-Islam Movement

Khalil Abdulkhabir, Young Girls and Teachers at the Yasin Mosque, circa 1975, 2020.002.005; Khalil Abdulkhabir photographs of the Dar-ul-Islam movement,

Brooklyn's First Black Elected Official: Bertram L. Baker

Before Shirley Chisholm or David Dinkins made history, Bertram L. Baker paved the way. If you've found yourself on Jefferson Avenue between Tompkins and Throop Avenues, you may have noticed street signs announcing his name. The first Black elected official from Brooklyn, Bertram L. Baker made his debut in the New York State Assembly in November 1948, where he would serve for the next twenty-two years. It was a milestone in Brooklyn history, but do you know his story, or what politics in the borough looked like when he was elected?  

Community and Activism in one Brooklyn Family's Roots

A few years ago, I went in search of background information about a periodical in the Center for Brooklyn History collections called Afro-America. It was published in the late 1960s from Fred Richardson’s African American Bookstore in Crown Heights, which sold books by and about Black writers, poets, and political leaders, as well as picture books for children and art by Black artists. Fred opened the store when he was just 22.

The Life Saving Station of Manhattan Beach

J. S. Johnston, Life Saving Station, Manhattan Beach, Coney Island, N.Y., c. 1894, v1972.1.557; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.

Generations of New Years

Larry Racioppo, New Year's Day dinner toast, 6th Avenue, 1977, RCPO_0005; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Family history, memory, and tradition abound in the work of Larry Racioppo, including this evocative and joyful image of a family New Year's Day toast.
Photographer Larry Racioppo grew up in a

Brooklyn's Teen Poets

The teenage years are a difficult time, with emotions running high and relationships with the people in your life changing quickly. Poetry is a universal outlet for teens to explore feelings about themselves and their world. While most poems stay tucked away in journals or at the bottom of trash cans, some brave souls are eager to share. Before social media, publication in a school newspaper was one of the most direct ways for a poet to reach their peers.

When Coal Was King

Office of Z. O. Nelson & SonA corner of our office, Walter H. Nelson, circa 1887, v1972.1.1222; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History

A Few of Our Favorite Things: Holiday Photos from the Collections

This year has proven to be a year like no other, full of ups and downs, and a longing from most for better and brighter days. Despite the challenges, we at the Center for Brooklyn History are grateful for what we've been able to achieve this year. A historic partnership between two long standing, and significant institutions, and with it, the opportunity to serve our community and our borough, by expanding access to a singular collection in a single space, free and open to all.

Before the Roller Disco

Ralph Irving Lloyd, Meserole House, 1000 Lorimer St., c. 1905, lantern slide, V1981.15.124; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This week’s photograph of Adrian and Mary Meserole’s house on Lorimer Street takes us to the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The 1960 Plane Crash That Rocked Park Slope

Close-up of portion of United Airlines airplane after crash at Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place, 1960.Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection.

Vanderveer Park: When Flatbush Was a Suburb

Rustic Vanderveer Park sign at Flatbush Avenue and Avenue F, with a few houses in the background and a one-horse shay, 1894. NEIG_0905, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History.
 

Vanderveer Park: When Flatbush Was a Suburb

Vanderveer Park entrance sign at Flatbush Avenue and Avenue F, with a few houses in the background and a one-horse shay, 1894.

The Curious Origins of Thanksgiving

Providing for others, 1952, SCHL1347; Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photo Collection, Center for Brooklyn History
Thanksgiving is typically thought of as a day where we watch a parade of large floating creatures, eat ourselves silly and then gather around the television again to enjoy grown men chasing each other in pursuit of a ball. But not too many people know its strange history.

Take Two Shots and Call Me in the Morning: The Business of Selling Beer and Liquor

East Flatbush, 1980s, Jamel Shabazz Photograph Collection, SHBZ_0039, Center for Brooklyn History
There's a long history of medicinal uses of alcohol.

A Brooklyn Block's Hidden History

Classon Avenue showing entrance to Union PlacePhotograph album; Bommer family collection, 1992.033, Box A0142; Center for Brooklyn History.
 

A Short History of the Saratoga Park Playground

Saratoga Park is one of the many beautiful greenspaces Brooklyn has to offer. It’s the second largest park in Bedford-Stuyvesant, named for the nearby Saratoga Street, which takes its name from the Battles of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War. According to the New York City Parks Department, the word Saratoga might be Iroquois or Mohawk in origin, perhaps meaning either “springs from hillside” or “place of miraculous water in rock.” 

This Business of Voting…

Voting machine instructionWoman giving voters instruction in the use of a voting machine in lobby of A.I. Namm's department store. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, CLUB_0078; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.

Is It Un-American for Mothers to Work?

SWEL_0298"We want our nursery centers." Brooklyn Eagle, March 9 1947. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, SWEL_0298; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.

Designing the Library of the Future

2015.008.1Long Island Historical Society, Library Floor Plan, circa 1878; 128 Pierrepont Street building architectural drawings, ARC.302; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.

Celebrating the Next Million Possibilities!

Button, 1997; M1999.17.1, Center for Brooklyn History
In 1997, Brooklyn Public Library celebrated its 100-year anniversary serving local readers, the first free public library in Brooklyn having opened in 1897 inside Public School 3, in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Reading Against the Grain in the Montauk Club Collection

The Brooklyn Collection is now part of the Center for Brooklyn History! Learn more about this historic partnership here. This post is a collaborative effort of historian Dylan Yeats, Vice President of the Montauk Club and co-chair of its History Committee, and archivist Diana Bowers-Smith, who processed the Montauk Club Collection at Brooklyn Public Library along with librarian and archives volunteer Kreya Jackson.

Home Sweet Brooklyn

[Candy Dept., A. I. Namm & Son Department Store], 1898, V1972.1.749 ; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Halloween is still four weeks away, but store shelves are already stocked with candy for eager trick-or-treaters. While today most of the candy is manufactured outside of New York, a hundred years ago Brooklyn had a thriving candy industry.

Fall(ing) into an Odd Brooklyn Autumn

The "Camperdown elm," circa 1950; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection (V1974.5.3405), Brooklyn Historical Society
With temperatures falling, the beloved (or controversial) smell of pumpkin spice in the air, and the autumnal equinox passed on Tuesday, fall has officially arrived!

Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection now available online!

Old Navy yard sign that reads: Builders of the World's Mightiest War ShipsFrank J. Trezza, Old Navy yard sign that reads: Builders of the World's Mightiest War Ships, 1978, color slide, V1988.21.344; Frank J. Trezza Seatrain Shipbuilding collection, 1988.21; Brooklyn Historical Society.