From the Archives

Home for Christmas

Meredith Wisner 5 months, 3 weeks ago

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From the Archives

In Remembrance of Archives Past

Meredith Wisner 10 months, 1 week ago
Drafting Room, Building 5, August 1, 1940 Drafting Room, Building 5, August 1, 1940

This photo is one of my favorites. Depicted is the Yard’s drafting department hunched over their desks busily insuring my future job security. The film’s extended exposure captures their movements – a happy accident that gives the photo an urgency felt across the whole Yard at this time. Taken on August 1st 1940, this image tells the human scale story of the US Navy hurrying to modernizing its infrastructure for its eventual entry in WWII. What was the remainder of all this activity? The answer is tens of thousands of maps and plans that detail the Yard’s largest expansion - a weighty bulk of a collection that I currently manage.

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From the Archives

A Father's Day Remembered

Meredith Wisner 1 year ago
Fatherly Pride: Anapolis bound Nicholas LaDuca Jr. and Andrew Zagayko are honored by Admiral Schuyler Neilson Pyne for their soon-to-be midshipmen status as their fathers look on. Fatherly Pride: Anapolis bound Nicholas LaDuca Jr. and Andrew Zagayko are honored by Admiral Schuyler Neilson Pyne for their soon-to-be midshipmen status as their fathers look on.

For Father's Day we found this charming little story of two Navy Yard employees whose sons earned acceptance into the Naval Academy in Annapolis.  Their graduation fittingly took place on Father's Day 1962, and both proud papas were fortunate enough to have been in attendance. We just loved the tone of the story, and how the editorial staff of the Shipworker seemed just as enthusiastic about the young mens' achievements. The story speaks eloquently of the family atmosphere that characterizes Navy Yard throughout its history.

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From the Archives

The HMS Jersey, is she or isn't she?

Meredith Wisner 1 year ago
The HMS Jersey, Illustration courtesy of the New York Public Library The HMS Jersey, Illustration courtesy of the New York Public Library

It is thought that approximately 11,000 Continental soldiers died in the British prison ships moored in Wallabout Bay. The most notorious of these ships was the HMS Jersey. Known colloquially as "Hell," the Jersey became the subject of a number of first-hand accounts telling of the horrific conditions and punishing treatment wrought by the British. Philip Freneau, a prisoner himself, relayed his experience in a collection of poems published around 1780.  An excerpt of one of his more famous poems is transcribed below (and more here).  

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From the Archives

Howard Zinn, Author, Activist, Basketball Star!

Meredith Wisner 1 year, 1 month ago
Howard Zinn (top right), posing with his fellow Apprentice Association teammates 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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