USS New York leaving the ways; Image courtesy of BNYDC Flickr

Since 2007, BHS and the Brooklyn Navy Yard have collaborated on an oral history project interviewing people who worked in the Navy Yard during WWII.  BHS also interviewed WWII Navy Yard workers in 1987 – 1989 and we have digitized those cassette tapes to make the interviews accessible.  BHS is a leader among archives who give researchers access to the actual audio/video of the interview rather than just the transcript.  It’s one of the ways BHS furthers the mission to “make the vibrant history of Brooklyn tangible, relevant, and meaningful” today.

Here are a few clips from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project:

Carmela Celardo Zuza (b 1924) worked as a welder in the Navy Yard during WWII. This clip is from an interview conducted in 2008:

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Lucille Gerwitz Kolkin (1919 – 1997) worked as a shipfitter in the Navy Yard during WWII. This clip is from an interview conducted in 1989:

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Ida Pollack (b 1922) and Sylvia Honigman Everitt (b 1921) both worked as welders during WWII. In this clip, from an interview conducted in 2008, they remember the strong language heard in the Navy Yard:

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These, and over 40 more, interviews from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project will soon be available for listening in the Othmer Library.