From the Archives
Meredith Wisner
1 week, 2 days ago
Howard Zinn (top right), posing with his fellow Apprentice Association teammates
Through a serendipitous perusal of the Navy Yard's Shipworker, I found the above image of a dashing Howard Zinn posing after his basketball team’s victory in a Navy Yard tournament. What’s particularly profound about this discovery is that Zinn shared a story about this very team in an oral history he gave on December 8th, 2008. We’re always excited to find visual evidence of the stories our narrators tell, and given the significance of Howard Zinn’s life and his vivid account of the formation of this team, this discovery is all the more poignant. Here’s the full article for your reading enjoyment:
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From the Archives
Meredith Wisner
1 month ago
RMS Carpathia Resting in Erie Basin, Red Hook, New York
It was brought to my attention by a member of our staff--who is turning out to be something of a radio buff--that the Brooklyn Navy Yard radio station (call letters NAH) may well have been one of the first to learn the names of survivors of the RMS Titanic as relayed by the passenger ship, RMS Carpathia. Could this be true? It seemed likely given our position at the forefront of radio technology at the time, but I needed to dig a little deeper. A peek into ye olde New York Times revealed that indeed this is correct. NAH was among a handful of radio stations able to pick up the signal of the RMS Carpathia as her crew shared details of their rescue mission back to a nervously expectant American public.
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From the Archives
Meredith Wisner
1 month, 2 weeks ago
Brooklyn Navy Yard - Census Week, March 30, 1940
The 1940 census has been released! I might be tipping my hand here, but to archivists such as myself this day is akin to Christmas. You see, although we are able to access statistical information from even our most recent census reports, the details, including family names, individual professions, household incomes and addresses are suppressed for 72 years to protect the privacy of census participants. This census, which was taken the week of March 24th 1940, tells the human scale story of a population struggling to pull out of the Great Depression, and a larger story of a Nation preparing for its possible involvement in a second world war.
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From the Archives
Meredith Wisner
2 months ago
Manatus Map (detail), Library of Congress, Geography and Maps Division, 1639
The archive and exhibition staff are just now putting the final touches on our next BLDG 92 talk, Mapping History: 400 Years in 5 Minutes, which will be held at BLDG 92 tonight (March 15th) at 6:30. In this panel discussion we will cover how technology and archival materials merged to create our most popular museum feature, the 5 foot round interactive map table that lives in our timeline gallery. If you're interested in attending there are still some seats left. Book a spot on our events page, here.
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From the Archives
Meredith Wisner
2 months, 1 week ago
Detail, Brooklyn Greenway
Inspired by the unseasonably warm weather a number of Brooklyn Navy Yard staff, including myself, dusted off their bikes, filled their tires and biked to work. The route has gotten exponentially more attractive given the continued expansion of the Brooklyn Greenway, which once completed will be a 14 mile route that hugs the Brooklyn waterfront--including our very own Navy Yard!
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