Blog posts by Kevina

POTW: Happy Pride Month, horseshoe crab

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Boy with horseshoe crab, 1990, COHEN_0180; George Cohen photograph collection; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Here at CBH, we are the first to admit that while we have several collections relating to gay history, our digital collections sorely lack in queer visual representation. I even sought photos of the famous February House, and found only photographs of the block to its east.Instead, I must horseshoehorn in this photograph of a crab and his tormentor. In addition to Pride Month, June is horseshoe crab mating season…

POTW: Ragpicker

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Ragpicker, [187-?], BRAI_0219; George Bradford Brainerd photograph collection; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Rag-and-bone men, also called ragpickers or rag dealers, were poor laborers who gathered business and household scraps and sold them for recycling and reuse. They gathered rags, glass, bones, metal, and other scrap and waste products from the streets a resold them in bulk to merchants. This work exists today in New York and around the world, under different names.Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s…

A Hanging in Brooklyn, Part 3

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Content note: This story contains strong language, descriptions of violence, and descriptions of racism.This is the third part in a series, A Hanging in Brooklyn. Read part one here. Read part two here.

[Collage by author]: [Brain cross section], Edward Anthony Spitzka and Edward Charles Spitzka papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.; [Folder titled “Hangman’s Bungling”], Edward Anthony Spitzka and Edward Charles Spitzka papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Newspaper coverage is the only readily available…

POTW: Battle Ground of Golden Hill, January

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

"Battle Ground of Golden Hill", January 1910, V1974.022.9.017, Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's photo of the week strays across the river to the site of the Battle of Golden Hill at 122 William Street in Manhattan. The image was clipped in 1910 by Eugene Armbruster and presumably taken around that time. Armbruster was a German immigrant who lived in Bushwick and worked at the H. Henkel Cigar Box Manufacturing Company. Later, Armbruster became an amateur photographer…

POTW: Boys' Thanksgiving

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Boys' Thanksgiving, 187-?, BRAI_0309, George Bradford Brainerd photograph collection, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Museum/Brooklyn Public Library.
Though today's photo of the week has "Thanksgiving" in the title provided by the photographer, the events pictured in the photo are, at first glance, mysterious. Boys surround a group of people dressed in women's dresses, wearing masks and hoods, as they all traipse down a residential street. Some damage to the negative or the print adds a graphic addition to the upper right corner. The…

A Hanging in Brooklyn, Part 2

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Content note: This story contains strong language, descriptions of violence, and descriptions of racism.This is the second part in a series, A Hanging in Brooklyn. Read part one here. Read part three here."Jefferson the hateful ruffian has been lost sight of, and another person has been executed, namely, the interesting colored man, to save whose soul pious friends entered into competition, to nurture whose physical body the ingenuity of womankind has been set in action and to study whose anatomy learned professors in great numbers have been invited."—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 1, 1884.…

POTW: Pumpkins Outside, Books Inside

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Clinton Hill Branch], 197-?, Folder: Brooklyn Public Library: Branches: Clinton Hill: General; Brooklyn Public Library photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Happy fall! Things to appreciate in this photograph taken in the 1970s at the Clinton Hill Library: very cool but probably very warm checkered sweater, old BPL branding on the door, hand-drawn pumpkin poster made by library staff. Despite the unseasonably warm weather of late, I'm declaring it Pumpkins Outside, Books Inside season, starting now.The Clinton Hill…

POTW: Pastel Demolition

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Fulton Street.], 8/1964, V1974.9.501; John D. Morrell photographs; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's photo of the week shows a building being demolished, possibly on Cadman Plaza West, in August, 1964. The exact location is unknown, and seems potentially difficult to identify. The photographer, John D. Morrell, who has been written about before in this blog, was a librarian at the Long Island Historical Society. He walked the streets of Brooklyn over several decades, documenting residential and commercial streets,…

POTW: Dr. Richard Green at SUNY Downstate

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Dr. Richard Green in his office at SUNY Downstate], circa 1975, ALPH_0187: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Gamma Iota Lambda Chapter records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today’s POTW shows Dr. Richard Green, Dean of medical students at SUNY Downstate circa 1975. Dr. Green was, by one member’s recollection, president of the local Alpha Phi Alpha chapter at this time. SUNY Downstate was recently saved from closure through the work of local activists and state legislators.Interested in seeing more images from CBH’s…

POTW: [Blossoms]

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Blossoms], May, 1975, V1990.2.251; Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, ARC.120; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week shows the Cherry Esplanade in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in May 1975. The photograph comes from the Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection ARC.120. Nowlan attended Saint Saviour Elementary School in Park Slope, high school at Manual Training High School, also in Park Slope, and Brooklyn College in Midwood. Through his time in Brooklyn he documented the beauty of the Botanic Gardens and…

POTW: Coney Island montage

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Photomontage of Coney Island], [192-?],  CONE_0434, Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Today's photo of the week is a dizzying montage of negative images from Coney Island. Among the images is Lane's Irish House, an Irish-themed eatery (as you can guess from the name). Though the cataloger dates the montage to the 1920s, results from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle suggest the eatery opened in 1932 at Bowery and West 15th street.Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our…

A Hanging in Brooklyn, Part 1

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Content note: This story contains strong language, descriptions of violence, and descriptions of racism.This is part one in a series. Read part two here. Read part three here. On the morning of August 1st 1884, Alexander Jefferson, known to his family and friends as Alec, walked to the gallows surrounded by clergymen, doctors, and activists. His brother Celestial Jefferson did not attend, but spent time with him the night prior. A throng of spectators spilled out around Fort Greene’s Raymond Street Jail. The ministers sang “Nearer My God to Thee” and other hymns. Doctors stood by,…

POTW: Mystery Parade

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Brooklyn Bridge Celebrations, 1977, V1984.1.77; Brooklyn slide collection; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week is a Kodachrome slide showing a group of New Yorkers with drums and pompoms parading east over the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan. The original cataloger does not identify the parade, but notes these clues:A 12-13. Bridges. Brooklyn Bridge. Celebrations [handwritten on mount].MAY 77N5 3 [stamped on mount].A curious researcher could search through our digitized newspapers to identify the parade…

POTW: Cozy in Brownsville

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Librarians at fireplace], 1915?, BPL_0383. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Christmas tree lots are fragrancing streetcorners, the sun is setting before 5, and a chill is driving us all into our homes where we light candles and settle in for the season. These librarians at Stone Avenue Library's gorgeous Carnegie building have set the perfect winter scene: a roaring fireplace, lit tapers, and coniferous adornments. Look at their perfectly trendy hair, some bobbed and some pinned up in a bob style for the scissor-averse.The…

Black and white photo showing bright overhead sun on border of the Flatbush Library garden against backdrop of adjacent buildings, the central one with an ivy-covered, sloping roof.

POTW: A Garden Grows Again in Flatbush

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

[Garden at Flatbush Branch Library], Summer 1932, BPL_0721; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
 Today's photo of the week shows the garden of Brooklyn Public Library's Flatbush branch in the summer of 1932. You can see other views of the garden from the same day here.Maura Johnson, a librarian at the Flatbush branch, revived this garden in recent years in collaboration with colleagues and the New York Restoration Project. The library holds regular Accessible Gardening Hours and Open Garden Hours, which you can find on…

POTW: Moonlight

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Moonlight, Nelson, Walter H., circa 1887, V1972.1.1218. Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Tonight's Photo of the Week is a cool evening on the water in 1887 by Walter H. Nelson from our Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection. In this scan the silvery photographic substrate slightly obscures the image. In person, the photograph seems touched with moonlight. Nelson was an amateur photographer about whom little has been written. Aside from celestial…

Brooklyn poets remember

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Dina Abdulhadi reading, April 24 2024. Photo: Kevina Tidwell.
“She wrote poetry, she published, she was read, and then she died.” Former Brooklyn poet laureate D. Nurkse spoke those words as an introduction to the poet Enid Dame. Nurkse was one of seven poets who read in the Othmer library last month to a packed room. Each poet selected poems from the Center for Brooklyn History’s library and archives collections and read them in conversation with their own poetry and reflections. Nurkse, in his words on Dame, was reflecting a theme…

Array of noted literary talent of Brooklyn gathers around folk singer Oscar Brand at the National Library Week Luncheon in the Hotel St. George on Tuesday, April 5. Seated, left, is Marianne Moore, the famous poetess of Cumberland Street. Standing, left to right, are Chief Librarian Francis R. St. John of Brooklyn Public Library; Brooklyn Heights humorist Ira Wallach; Paule Marshall, guest speaker, and Norman Rosten, Remsen Street poet and playwright who wrote a special poem for the occasion.

From the Vault: An Ode to Brooklyn Poets

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

 

Array of noted literary talent, 1960s, gelatin silver print, CBPL_1062. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I am reviving, from the vaults, this photo of a major gathering of Brooklyn "literary talent", first featured in this blog about Brooklyn poetry. The original Brooklyn Daily Eagle captions read:"Array of noted literary talent of Brooklyn gathers around folk singer Oscar Brand at the National Library Week Luncheon in the Hotel St. George on Tuesday, April 5. Seated, left, is Marianne…

POTW: Ramadan

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Young girl at evening prayers with her father during Ramadan, 2010, GERH_0001; Robert E. Gerhardt, Jr. photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.This Sunday, March 10 marks the new moon and the start of Ramadan. In this photo from the Robert E. Gerhardt, Jr. photograph collection, a young girl stares intently into the camera. She and her father are praying at the Muslim American Society in Bath Beach, 1933 Bath Avenue, in 2010. Robert Gerhardt Began photographing Muslims in Brooklyn in 2010 during Ramadan, leading him to photograph mosques and Muslims all…

POTW: Love of Line, of Light and Shadow: The Brooklyn Bridge

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Love of Line, of Light and Shadow: The Brooklyn Bridge, October 24, 1982, V1973.4.86; Postcard Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Clarinetist F. Gerard Errante commissioned a clarinet score and video from Reynold Weidenaar as a "centennial tribute to the Brooklyn Bridge" in 1982. Musical America described Love of Line, of Light and Shadow: The Brooklyn Bridge as "a strangely moving, evocative work ... visually spectacular ... with an equally fascinating soundtrack of traffic resonances and…