During the 1940s, male “crooners” dominated the music scene with their emphatically sentimental love songs. Alan Dale (1925-2002) emerged as a solo act in 1948 and was soon dubbed the “Prince of Baritones.” In 1956, Dale starred as a Rock and Roll singer in the film “Don’t Knock the Rock” alongside famed musicians Little Richard and Bill Haley and His Comets.
Elias Howe Jr. (1819-1867) is credited with the invention of the sewing machine, one of the most important innovations of the Nineteenth Century. Though Howe was not the first person to develop a sewing machine, he introduced the first efficient and practical version. In 1846 Howe received the first United States patent for a sewing machine using a lockstitch design. The lockstitch remains the most common mechanical stitch made by sewing machines. This particular model also introduced critical improvements that form the basis for the sewing machine design employed today, including a needle with the eye at the point and an automatic feed. The transition from hand stitching to mechanical stitching made possible by the sewing machine revolutionized the garment industry.
The above image depicts an Army air raid detection station set up in Green-Wood Cemetery in January 1941. In the years leading up to World War II, as there was an increased fear of air attacks, the United States developed and employed a system to monitor the sky for enemy aircrafts. Stations were set up that incorporated the use of searchlights and sound and heat locators. This view in Green-Wood shows a group of soldiers monitoring sound locators for the noise of airplane engines. Green-Wood’s high-elevation and proximity to urban centers made it an ideal location for the station.
Juan Terry Trippe (1899-1981) was a remarkably successful American Airline entrepreneur, founding Pan American Airways in 1927 and building it up to the most prominent airline of the Twentieth Century. The above image depicts Trippe boarding an American Airlines airplane. Trippe famously expressed, “The true objective is to bring to the life of the average man those things which were once the privilege of the fortunate few,” a goal undeniably achieved by Pan American Airways. Under his leadership, Pan Am expanded travel routes and offered low-cost tourist fares to the masses.
The Meade brothers, Charles R. Meade (1826-1858) and Henry W. M. Meade (c.1823-1865), were pioneers in American photography. Among the first studio photographers, they are credited with popularizing the daguerreotype, making the medium available to the masses. The accompanying image, originally published in an 1853 issue of Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, depicts the Meade Brothers’ Gallery at 233 Broadway in New York City. At this location visitors could view and purchase a wide variety of daguerreotypes including portraits of prominent people and panoramas of cities around the world. Their collection even included a rare portrait of the reclusive Louis Daguerre, inventor of the eponymous daguerreotype process. The Meade brothers had two photographic studios on site as well as photography equipment and supplies for sale.
Ada Rehan (1857-1916) was a renowned American actress of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born Delia Crehan, the actress adopted her stage name after being misbilled as Ada C. Rehan. She gained notoriety for her performances in classic comedies. Rehan is pictured here in costume for one of her most famous roles, Lady Teazle in Sheridan’s The School for Scandal. In 1891, the dramatic critic William Winter praised Rehan’s acting ability. Of her performance as Lady Teazle he wrote, “No previous representative of the part, upon the American stage, has dressed it so richly as it was dressed by Ada Rehan.”
Eugene W. Durkee (1850-1926) was a successful merchant of condiments, spices, and sauces. His father, Eugene R. Durkee, founded the Durkee company in 1861 to market his “secret recipe” dressing for salads and meats. Durkee quickly expanded, however, to manufacturing various sauces, condiments and spices. With factories in both Brooklyn and Queens, the Durkee Company was quite successful and well known in New York City. Pictured here is a tin in which cloves were sold, “One of Durkee’s Famous Foods.” Eugene W. Durkee went on to work for the federal government in 1906, hired to write federal standards for spices and extracts. Click the image to expand.
This serene seaside landscape was created by Lucy M. Durand Woodman (1829-1910), daughter of famed Hudson River School artist Asher B. Durand, dubbed the “Father of American Landscape Painting.” It is no question that Woodman shared with her father an affinity for capturing the essence of America’s natural landscape. This particular work, “Old Orchard, Maine,” depicts light waves crashing along the shore on a cloudy day. The artist and her father share a final resting space here in Green-Wood, surrounded by the natural beauty that provided inspiration for their work over a century ago.
“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” also known as the “Negro National Anthem” and the official song of the NAACP, was written by Green-Wood resident and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938). A prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Johnson was a novelist, songwriter and poet. This famous song, which made its debut in 1900, was a collaboration between James and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson. James was the lyricist, and his brother composed the music. The Johnson brothers are pictured on the cover of this 1973 version of the sheet music.
Juliet Corson (1842-1897) was a pioneering cooking instructor and cookbook author of the late nineteenth century. Greatly affected by the plight of the working poor, she recognized the difficulty of providing one’s family with proper nutrition on a strict budget. Corson devoted herself to the study of cooking, developing recipes that were both inexpensive and healthy. Pictured above is a copy of Corson’s Cooking Manual of Practical Directions for Economical Everyday Cooking, in which she declares “This book is intended for the use of those housekeepers and cooks who wish to know how to make the most wholesome and palatable dishes at the least possible cost.”