Emma

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.