Archives & Library Special Collections
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Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History, 2006-2011. Sound recordings: 47 digital audio WAV files (80hrs)
2010.003
In partnership with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, Brooklyn Historical Society collected interviews with men and women who worked in or around the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The majority of the interviews are with people who worked in the Yard during WWII. The narrators discuss growing up in New York, their work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, their relationships with others in the Yard, gender relations and transportation to and from work. Many narrators bring up issues of ethnicity, race, and religion at the Yard or in their neighborhoods. Several narrators describe the launching of the U.S.S. Missouri battleship and recall in detail their daily tasks at the Yard as welders, office workers, and ship fitters. While interviews focus primarily on experiences in and around the Yard, many narrators also discuss their lives after the Navy Yard, relating stories about their careers, dating and marriage, children, social activities, living conditions, and changes in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
View List of Interviews
Recordings of these interviews and accompanying transcripts are available in the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92.
Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History, 1987-1989. Sound recordings: 12 digital audio WAV files (6hr, 23min)
1995.005
In 1987-1989, Brooklyn Historical Society interviewed 10 people who worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard during WWII. Interviews were conducted by Benjamin Filene and Diane Esses and focus on working conditions and the experiences of women doing nontraditional labor such as welding and shipfitting. These interviews were recorded on cassette tape and have been digitized to make them available for listening.
Recordings of these interviews and accompanying transcripts are available in the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92.
Congregation Beth Elohim Oral History, 2010. Sound recordings: 6 digital audio WAV files (7hr, 14min)
2011.004
In 2010, the Brooklyn Historical Society partnered with Congregation Beth Elohim, a Reform synagogue founded in Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1861, to conduct an oral history with longtime member George Harris on the occasion of the Synagogue’s upcoming 150th anniversary (2011). The synagogue on 8th Avenue and Garfield Place was completed in 1910 and the Temple House across Garfield Place was completed in 1929.
In these interviews, George Harris talks about his childhood in Queens, lifelong friendships, his grandparents immigration experiences, education, religious education, his wife Katherine Harris’ conversion to Judaism, changes in Park Slope 1962-2010, and the community of Congregation Beth Elohim including influential rabbis and changes in ritual practice 1962-2010.
Recordings of these interviews and accompanying transcripts are available in the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library and at Congregation Beth Elohim.
Brooklyn Heights Synagogue Oral History, 2010. Sound recordings: 12 digital audio WAV files (16 hours)
2011.005
In 2010, the Brooklyn Historical Society and Brooklyn Heights Synagogue partnered to collect oral history interviews with 10 members of the congregation on the occasion of the Synagogue’s 50th anniversary.
Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, a Reform synagogue on 131 Remsen Street, was founded in Brooklyn in 1960 and currently includes over 330 member units made up of families, couples, and singles who live in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Park Slope and Fort Greene, as well as in nearby DUMBO and Lower Manhattan.
Recordings of these interviews and accompanying transcripts are available in the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library and at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue.
Crown Heights Oral History – Listen To This, 2010. Sound recordings: 22 CDs (80 minutes each)
2010.020
This collection of 43 oral history interviews with Crown Heights residents was donated to the Brooklyn Historical Society by project director Alex Kelly. The interviews were conducted in 2010 with the help of the Crow Hill Community Association and five students from Paul Robeson High School who came to the project through the Brooklyn College Community Partnership (BCCP).
Recordings of these interviews and an accompanying guide are available in the library.
Crown Heights Oral History – Bridging Eastern Parkway, 1993-1994. Sound recordings: 40 cassettes (90 minutes each)
ArMs 1994.006
In 1993-1994, the Brooklyn Historical Society collected interviews with residents of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. Thirty-three interviews were conducted by Craig Wilder, Jill Vexler, and Aviva Segall. The subtitle, Bridging Eastern Parkway, refers to racial tensions expressed during the 1991 Crown Heights riots. Narrators are of African American, Caribbean, Jewish, Polish, and Russian descent and include members of the Lubavitch community.
Transcripts of 24 interviews from this collection may be read in the library. Recordings are not currently available to researchers; we anticipate that recordings will be available for researchers to listen to in the library in the Spring of 2010.
8th Avenue – Sunset Park Oral History, 1993-1994. Sound recordings: 38 cassettes (90 minutes each)
1994.007
In 1993-1994, the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Chinatown History Museum (now Museum of Chinese in America), collected interviews regarding Brooklyn’s Chinese community in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. 28 interviews were conducted in English, Mandarin, or Cantonese. Narrators include recent Chinese immigrants as well as people of Italian and Puerto Rican heritage who live in the neighborhood.
Transcripts of these interviews may be read in the library. Some but not all of the recordings of these interviews may be listened to in the library; we anticipate the full collection will be available for researchers to listen to in Spring 2011.
Independence Community Bank Oral History, 2006-2007. Sound recordings: 18 wav files
2008.032
Independence Community Bank was founded in 1850 as The South Brooklyn Savings Institution and in 2006, it was bought out by a larger bank (Sovereign Bancorp, itself owned by Banco Santander). The Brooklyn Historical Society, with the support of the Independence Community Foundation (now Brooklyn Community Foundation), conducted 16 extended interviews with past and present employees of Independence Community Bank to document the end of the Bank’s 155 years based in Brooklyn.
Recordings of these interviews may be listened to in the library. An index of these interviews may be read in the library.
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Oral History, 2007-2008. Sound recordings: 60 wav files.
2008.030
The Brooklyn Historical Society and Restoration partnered on the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Oral History project in 2007-2008 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Restoration’s founding as the first community development corporation (CDC) in the United States. 56 interviews were conducted with founding Board members, supporters, activists, artists, tenants, and other community members.
Audio clips from these oral history interviews were included in the exhibit Reflections on Community Development: Stories from Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (BHS 2008, Restoration 2009).
Recordings of these interviews may be listened to in the library.
Pfizer Brooklyn Oral History, 2007. Sound recordings: 27 wav files
2008.029
The Brooklyn Historical Society and Pfizer, Inc., initiated the Pfizer Brooklyn Oral History project in June 2007. 25 in-depth interviews were conducted with past and current employees. The Pfizer pharmaceutical company was founded in Brooklyn in 1849, and in 2007 the company planned to close this founding plant location over the next two years (by 2009).
Recordings of these interviews may be listened to in the library. Transcripts of the interviews may be read in the library.
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Recently Added Collections
- John Kissam papers, 1778-1823; 1864-1868
- 90th Regiment New York Veteran Volunteer Association papers, 1862, 1882-1897
- Women’s Alliance of the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn records, 1922-2004
- Collection of Brooklyn, N.Y., Civil War relief associations records, ephemera and other material, circa 1798-1964
- Brooklyn Heights, South Africa, and Germany photograph album, circa 1890s-1930s
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