Ever since Chela mentioned offhand at lunch the other day that the BHS library had once had gun racks, my imagination was captured. I once helped move insanely heavy boxes of muskets in our storage and wondered where and when they’d been on exhibit.
Well, thanks to the “Random Images” button in our online photo search of the John D. Morrell collection, an image popped up which quelled my curiosity.
Gun Rack in the BHS (f.k.a. Long Island Historical Society) Library
I highly recommend searching around in those photos. There are some real gems! Here are a couple more photos apparently taken on the same day in November, 1959:
Francis Guy’s Painting of Brooklyn at Long Island Historical Society."
Old director’s room, Long Island Historical Society.
I was looking through some old BHS library reports from 1959 the other day. In them the librarians were complaining about boys from the neighborhood sneaking in to the library to look at the guns, and then flipping off the lights before running out the door. I love that this was a place that neighborhood kids wanted to sneak in to, and was amused by the prim reaction and level of concern about it from our librarians.