Posted by Jeff Richman on May 6th, 2020

There are many heroes at Green-Wood. Some are now dead. Some are still alive. Some were heroes because they bravely did their job. Others were heroes because they saw a job that needed to be done and took it upon themselves to do it. Heroes have stepped up to many challenges during Green-Wood's 182 year history, offering themselves to help others. What do heroes have in common? They head towards danger--towards conflict--to selflessly make things better for others. Implicit in being a medical doctor is helping others. In 1863, Dr.… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on April 16th, 2020

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, was appointed in January to the Trump Administration's White House Coronavirus Task Force. With his almost-daily appearances at nationally-televised press conferences, and his science-based approach, he has become famous. Dr. Fauci has had an extraordinary career pioneering the science of human immune responses. He has served every United States President since Ronald Reagan. In 2003, a survey found that Dr. Fauci was the 13th most-cited scientist in the world in the… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on March 25th, 2020

My most recent book, "The Gallant Sims": A Civil War Hero Rediscovered, was published by The Green-Wood Historic Fund in 2016. It is the story of Samuel Harris Sims, a brave and noble man, who in 1861 left his work as a glass stainer in Brooklyn to fight to preserve the Union during the Civil War. Early in that war, he recruited a company of 100 men, many of whom were his Brooklyn friends and neighbors, to serve as Company G of the 51st New York Volunteer Infantry. As the… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on January 7th, 2020

Green-Wood has millions and millions of records pertaining to the 574,000 individuals who are interred there. Sometimes the briefest of notations in these records can trigger a search through history--and uncover a long-forgotten story. Bob Moogan is a Green-Wood volunteer. Recently retired as an accountant, Bob decided that he wanted to explore history. So, for the past few months, he has been working at processing a collection of lantern slides of New York City, circa 1900, and, more recently, at creating a spreadsheet to help us understand the stories of… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on December 3rd, 2019

Visitors to Green-Wood today are welcome to explore the cemetery on their own, with the help of maps, apps, and/or self-guided walking tours, or on a tour led by a Historic Fund tour guide. But what, you may wonder, was it like to explore Green-Wood in its early years, soon after its founding in 1838? Fortunately, we can get a sense of Green-Wood's early years, courtesy of George Templeton Strong (1820-1875). Strong was a lawyer, trustee of leading New York City institutions (including Trinity Church and Columbia College) and one… Read more