nicole

Nicole Gajadhar for November 10th, 2009

The Brooklyn Historical Society was founded in 1863 as the Long Island Historical Society.  During this time  in Brooklyn, the borough was considered  the cultural center of Long Island.  During the decades the building has changed, during WWI the auditorium was changed into a Red Cross area and then in 1926 the auditorium space was divided and rented out as retail space to bring in an income.Now this Beautiful building is a museum, library, and an educational center which helps inform and preserve  400 years  of Brooklyn and the city’s history.

BHS has the most comprehensive collection of Brooklyn-related materials in existence. In 1993, the U.S Department of Education designated its library as a “major research library” under Title II-C of the Higher Education Act. As one in seven Americans can trace their family roots to Brooklyn, the BHS collections represent an important national resource. Inquiries received each month reflect the nationwide interest in the borough and its relevance to many family histories.(.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Historical_Society retrived on Nov.9.2009)

On Tuesday November 3rd we visited the Brooklyn Historical society which was located on Pierrepont St and the corner of Clinton Street. This trip was very interesting because I never even knew this building existed, especially in Brooklyn.

During this trip we were given our new assignment into this wonderful project. Our new assignment is very interesting, it requires a lot of digging and a lot of research, but it does seem very interesting. Each of us choose an address which Walt Whitman lived briefly in. We are doing something like a timeline of the address from Whitmans period, to our present time. Some of the addresses no longer exist, some of the building numbers have been changed, streets are added, high ways are added and buildings have changed. I believe this is going to be a challenge. However the libarian Liz is fantastic at finding out the hidden past.