Blog posts by Dee Bowers

Documenting a Brownstone's Rebirth

Dee Bowers

In 2018, the New York Times published a story about an unusual Carroll Gardens brownstone for sale. 12 Second Place had been painstakingly restored during the brownstone revival movement of the 1960s and 70s, and had been owned by the same couple, Jane and Thor Rinden, ever since. Moreover, the Rindens had documented their five-year renovation process (1968-1973) in a charming and intimate scrapbook filled with photographs and memories. Fascinated by this story, I left a comment on the article, and fortuitously enough, the Rindens' estate decided that the scrapbook should come to the…

From the Vault: Majestic Theater

Dee Bowers

This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on January 27, 2016 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter.

[View of Fulton Street.], 1959, V1974.9.13; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The photo of the week depicts a view of Fulton Street, including the Majestic Theater, in the Fort…

May the Library Be With You

Dee Bowers

[Child in Luke Skywalker Halloween costume], 1977; Long Island Historical Society photographs, V1974.031, V1974.31.127; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The year is 1977. You're obsessed with the best movie you've ever seen in your life, Star Wars. Of course you want to dress as the movie's hero, Luke Skywalker, for Halloween. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of Star Wars costumes everywhere, as retailers scrambled to catch up with the movie's unforeseen popularity. So you pull out your galoshes and utility belt to get that perfect…

Park Slope's Colorful Past

Dee Bowers

Carl Steinbuch, [119-125 Park Place], circa April 1973, color slide, V1982.7.11. Carl Steinbuch slide collection, V1982.007; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week shows one block of Park Place looking noticeably different than it does today. Several of the classic nineteenth century brownstone rowhouses on this block are painted not-so-classic colors, with blue, yellow, and mint green all lining up next to the traditional reddish brown of the leftmost house. A bright red convertible in the foregorund brings another…

Remembering Summer 2020

Dee Bowers

Ron Foster, [Group of people holding their fists up at a demonstration.], July 4 2020, color digital photograph, BRCP_0009. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Three years ago this summer, the streets of Brooklyn, like the streets of cities all across the country, erupted in Black Lives Matter protests in response to the murder of George Floyd along with so many others at the hands of the police. As in years past, the area around Brooklyn's Central library became a gathering point for protesters. Then newly part of the…

Olives on the Avenue

Dee Bowers

Jim Kalett, [Interior of Sahadi Importing Company, Brooklyn, N.Y], c. 1983, black and white photograph, V1992.35.5. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week takes us to a Brooklyn institution, Sahadi's on Atlantic Avenue. This photograph of bins of olives and grains inside the store taken by Jim Kalett circa 1983 is similar to one published in Brooklyn...and How It Got That Way by David McCullough, for which Kalett was the photographer. The book notes that the western end of Atlantic Avenue became "…

One Pub's Layered History

Dee Bowers

Ballybunion Irish bar, 2012, color photograph, OSOS_0280. Our Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This Friday is Saint Patrick's Day, so I searched our Digital Collections portal for something Irish to share for Photo of the Week. I was pleasantly surprised to find an image from my own neighborhood, Bay Ridge, which is home to many Irish-American families. This color photograph of the Ballybunion Irish bar at 9510 3rd Avenue was taken in 2012 and donated to the Our Streets, Our Stories…

Odessa in Brooklyn

Dee Bowers

Marcia Bricker, "Odessa Restaurant," circa 1980, color slide, V1992.43.40. Marcia Bricker photographs collection, V1992.043; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This image of a restaurant in Brighton Beach is from our small collection of photographs by Marcia Bricker. Bricker, a documentary photographer, had worked for the federal jobs program CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) documenting the Soviet refugees that began settling in the Brighton Beach area in the 1970s when the Soviet Union relaxed immigration policies. In…

Stories a Photo Can Tell

Dee Bowers

[P.S. 15 graduating class], photographic print, June 1900, V1972.1.1343, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photographs, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently reprocessed the composite collection Early Brooklyn and Long Island photographs (ARC.201). This 1900 class photo from P.S. 15 is included in the collection. We have many class photographs like this one, such as in our Class Photographs collection (BCMS.0029) and our Brooklyn schools collection (CBHM.0006). But what caught my interest about this photo was an index card…

Hurricane Sandy

Dee Bowers

Shore Hotel sign damaged from the Hurricane Sandy], 2012, 2014.010.7, MIchael Claro Hurricane Sandy Photographs, 2010.010; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on November 7, 2018 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. It’s been ten years since Hurricane Sandy, but it’s not soon…

A Child's Bedroom in 1880

Dee Bowers

[John T. Martin house], c. 1880, v1972.1.1312, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently updated the finding aid for our Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection (ARC.201) and came across this haunting image of a child's bedroom in a home at 28 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Taken around 1880, the image shows a number of dolls standing and sitting in the room, looking disturbingly as if they had just been caught mid-action. Sunlight streams…

Summer Vibes

Dee Bowers

HERZ_0080, Bathing beauties, 1959, black and white silver gelatin print. Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, BCMS.0056. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Welcome to August! To bring us into the final weeks of summer vacation, this Photo of the Week is all about those summer vibes. A bevy of the titular "bathing beauties" is seen frolicking in the surf at Coney Island, each with a different stylish swimsuit and creative coif. The palpable joy on their faces is what drew me to this image. Of course during these…

UnBanning Books Since 1934

Dee Bowers

You might have heard of our recent initiative Books UnBanned, which allows individuals ages 13-21 nationwide to apply for a free BPL eCard, providing access to our full eBook collection as well as our learning databases, and which makes a selection of frequently challenged and banned eBook & audiobook titles always available for BPL cardholders. But obviously, banning books and restricting access to information is unfortunately not a new phenomenon. Did you know that in 1934, the Brooklyn Jewish Center founded the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books? Though it's…

From Factory to Community Hub

Dee Bowers

V1990.7.1, [South Side of Fulton Street between Brooklyn and New York Avenues], circa 1972. Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation publication and photograph collection, ARC.124. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently reprocessed our small Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation publication and photograph collection (ARC.124), which includes this photograph. At first I was thrown off by a notation on the back reading "Sheffield," and thought this must show Sheffield Avenue in New Lots. But I quickly realized…

Bringing Swagger to the Court Since 1910

Dee Bowers

Senior Basket Ball Team, Adelphi College yearbook, 1910. Brooklyn Yearbook collection, BCMS.0031. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
For this Photo of the Week we have a captivating portrait of the Adelphi College senior basketball team from their 1910 yearbook. These six women, with their puffy, ruffled dresses, elaborate updos, and, in one case, an enormous hair bow, hardly fit our modern conception of athletic. Nonetheless, they project a confidence, even a ruthlessness, that makes it clear they were formidable on the court. Look…

Windows of Rare Beauty

Dee Bowers

CHUR_1206, Spring Window, 1915, black and white silver gelatin print. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, BCMS.0002. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
We've lately had some surprisingly warm days in Brooklyn, and though they've been mixed with days appropriately cold for February, I nonetheless found my thoughts turning toward Spring. So for today's Photo of the Week, we have this Brooklyn Eagle photograph of a spring-themed stained glass window. The window was commissioned by Howard E. Raymond in memory of his…

A Million Possibilities

Dee Bowers

Randy Duchaine, Fireworks over the Central Library, April 14, 1997, color print. Media Relations photographs, Brooklyn Public Library institutional archives. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Brooklyn Public Library kicked off celebrations of its 125th anniversary on November 30th and will continue them into the new year. In honor of that, and in the spirit of celebration and possibility brought by the New Year this week, today's Photo of the Week is of fireworks at the Central Library for BPL's centennial in 1997. On November 30, 1896…

Happy Birthday Marianne Moore

Dee Bowers

PORT_0606, Marianne Moore, 1949, black and white silver gelatin print. Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, BCMS.0002. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Brooklyn poet Marianne Moore was born on this day in 1887. For a birthday tribute, today's Photo of the Week is this striking portrait of her from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle photo morgue. This image appeared in the Eagle on June 3, 1951 alongside an announcement of Moore winning an honorary degree at the University of Rochester. That same year, Moore's Collected Poems…

Eaglets on a Jolly Jamboree

Dee Bowers

Title page from The Grand Canyon dedication tour by Edwin B. Wilson, 1920. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In summer 1919, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane invited the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper to conduct a tour of parks of the northwest for the purposes of "stimulating American travel to American resorts," which also "successfully inaugurated the new motor transport service between some of these parks." In 1920, he again invited the Eagle to arrange a tour, this time to assist in the dedication ceremonies for…

Dressing for Tradition

Dee Bowers

Kimberly McEwen, 1971, color photograph. Brooklyn Heights Garden Club collection, BCMS.0082. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
I recently finished processing the Brooklyn Heights Garden Club collection, which chronicles the club's history through documents, ephemera, clippings, and scrapbooks. The club was founded in 1940 by Mrs. Thomas Sturgis to "bring added beauty to Brooklyn Heights by the creation and cultivation of gardens, plantings and window boxes." In 1949, the club started organizing an annual…