I’ve collected many things over the years: baseball cards, trains, decoys, cookie jars, and much more. In the 1980s, I went through a stoneware phase. Stoneware was the tupperware of the late 18th century and most of the 19th century: an all purpose storage container. It could hold liquids and solids. American stoneware is a [...]
I was wandering around Greenpoint a few days ago when I came upon the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Historic District. Who knew? But, I must admit, I was very excited. I knew that Eberhard Faber is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery. That was enough for me to immediately fall in love with the E.F.P.C.H.D. (for short, [...]
Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the launching of the Monitor, the iron ship that changed naval warfare forever. On January 30, 1862, “The Monitor” was launched from the Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. President Abraham Lincoln personally approved the plans for the Monitor, saying,”All I have to say is what the girl said [...]
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872) was a giant of the 19th century world and is one of Green-Wood’s most famous permanent residents. Morse had three extraordinary careers: as painter, photographer, and telegraph inventor. Morse was the leading portrait painter of his time; he was chosen in 1826 to be the founding president of the National [...]
We had our first snow of 2012 on Saturday–the first snow at Green-Wood since that historic snow at the end of October–when we got to see snow on the ground while trees were still in fall foliage. You can find photographs from that day here. It was a very nice dusting–not a lot of snow, [...]
I got an envelope in the mail last night. Its contents got me laughing, so I thought I would share them with you. Frank Morgan (1890-1949) is best-remembered today for his performance in the classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” Morgan, of course, was the Wizard, and played five other roles in the movie. His [...]
Last week, Dorothy Koppelman, widow of artist Chaim Koppelman, generously donated one of his artist’s proofs to Green-Wood’s collections. Chaim Koppelman was born in Brooklyn in 1920. He studied art in WPA classes, married painter Dorothy Myers in 1943, then took part in the World War II Normandy invasion and earned a bronze star. Returning [...]
On December 13, I posted about the sighting of a bald eagle at Green-Wood. Well, like so many others, it looks like our bald eagle is very much enjoying Green-Wood’s grounds. It has been seen several times by several people, including strollers, bird watchers, and members of our grounds crew. Here’s Ryan Morrisey’s dramatic account [...]
Ben Feldman, our volunteer extraordinaire, has been cataloguing our Historic Fund collections for years. Ben occasionally takes time off from cataloguing to blog, research, and write books. And, he gives talks also. If you would like to join Ben this Saturday at Green-Wood, to hear his tales of research (“Uncovering Long-Lost Stories: Digging Dirt At [...]
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