Officials of the Brooklyn Public Library described more details about the planned move out of the Crown Heights library branch to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. The cost of keeping the branch where it is will cost $8 million, officials say, but only $3 million to make the move. The new library in the museum will take up about 6000-6500 of administrative space in the museum, according to Executive Vice President of External Affairs at Brooklyn Public Library, David Woloch. It is comparable to the space now at the Brower Park branch now at 725 St. Marks Avenue. The BPL will pay the museum $230,000 in yearly rent for the space. Creating a library from the space there now will cost about $3 million. Staying put will cost about $5 million in repairs and an additional $3 million to buy the building. The city built the library branch in 1963, but never purchased the land that it is on, said Woloch. It is located only 1.5 blocks from the museum, and about a 1.4 mile walk for the Central branch of the BPL, which also has a youth wing. Although located within the museum building, the library will have its own hours and a separate entrance. Officials are looking forward to building a state-of-the-art family-centered library with child-focused programing and other resources. Woloch empahasized that the proposed move is just that, and not a ‘done-deal.’ Funding has not yet come through, and the details of the new branch’s layout and programming are not yet “set in stone.” “We’re in the process of speaking to as many people as we can,” he...
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Beginning on October 1st the public will be allowed to visit the Ellis Island Hospital for the first time in 60 years. As part of the opening an art exhibit by artist JR will be on display. Featuring old photographs superimposed on the walls and doors of the hospital, the exhibit, “Unframed-Ellis Island,” evokes a time during the first half of the 20th century when about 1.2 million immigrants passed through the hospitalâ’s doors between 1901 and 1954. Visitors will be led through the corridors of the hospital wearing hard hats. During the 90-minute tour they will visit the laundry building, infectious and contagious disease wards, kitchen, staff housing, autopsy room and more. During the entire half century that the hospital was in use only 3,500 of the immigrants passing through there died. “This is a part of the history of immigration that is really not well known” museum historian Barry Moreno said. Tour guide Jessica Cameron-Bush says that these buildings are not just for tourists. She says that these buildings are “for people who live in this area that see the Statue of Liberty every day, or that hear about Ellis Island every day. Itâ’s something new for them to come back and...
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The Princeton University Art Museum recently acquired a new and fascinating ancient artwork from the New York and Geneva based gallery, Phoenix Ancient Art. The piece is a magnesite sculpture of a woman holding her left breast with her right hand. Dating back to the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, (750-656 BC), due to the particular placement of the hand on the breast it is clear that the sculpture depicts the Egyptian goddess Isis. According to the curator of ancient art at the museum, J. Michael Padgett: “This bust of a woman dates from one of the most fascinating periods of ancient Egyptian history, the 25th Dynasty (750—656 B.C). In this period, Egypt was ruled by the Kushite kings of Nubia, who had emerged from their homeland in what is today North Sudan, above the first cataract of the Nile. The Nubians were black Africans who had fought and traded with the Egyptians for centuries, exporting gold, ivory, ebony, and slaves. Well before their conquest of Egypt, the Nubians had been heavily influenced by Egyptian culture, its people adopting the worship of the god Amun and its kings assuming the traditional pharaonic titles.” The Fowler McCormick, class of 1921, Fund purchased the artwork for the museum from Phoenix Ancient Art. The art collections in Princeton’s museum date back to almost the foundation of the University in 1746, making Princeton University one of the oldest collecting institutions in...
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At the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, a ceremony was held to mark the 72nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered flags on state government buildings to be flown at half-staff. In a news release Cuomo wrote, “on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, I join with all New Yorkers to pause in observance of the 72nd anniversary of the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor and remember those we lost. December 7, 1941 was truly a ‘date that will live in infamy’ that changed the course of our nation’s history and propelled the United States into World War II. On behalf of all New Yorkers, I offer my thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of those we lost at Pearl Harbor and thank the service members who continue to protect this country.” The ceremony at the museum paid tribute to those who gave their lives in the attack as well as those who survived. This includes Clark Simmons who is now in 90s and who served on the U.S.S. Utah. President of the Museum, Susan Marenoff-Zausner, explained how he was forced to swim to survival following the two torpedoes that hit it. There were three other survivors at the ceremony, and they discussed their experiences with the attendees. As well, attendees laid a wreath in the Hudson River and played “Taps” in recognition of this date in...
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History buffs are in for a treat as what some people call New York’s “weirdest museum” celebrates its tenth anniversary on April 1st. The City Reliquary is a storefront museum located in Williamsburg, holding a collection of a huge assortment of memorabilia which together tells the remarkable story of the development of New York City. Contained within its walls are objects as unique and familiar as old seltzer bottles, street signs and small representations of the Statue of Liberty. Although the museum takes a special interest in the history of Brooklyn, and Williamsburg in particular, most of the items in the collection tell the story of New York City’s development and history through the years. Beginning on April 1st the museum will have regular hours seven days a week and a brand-new, freshly renovated gift shop will be launched. It is easy to get the feeling that the museum is just a collection of items that someone who has been hoarding objects would possess, especially when visitors look around and see World’s Fair souvenirs, framed photos of iconic Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson, specialty postcards, and even recognizable signs from some of Brooklyn’s more famous restaurants (and even some not so famous.) But the director of the City Reliquary Dave Herman says no: “Hoarding is collecting items without historic value or preservation. Our collection has the power of retelling the history of the city and contributes to the preservation of Brooklyn.” There are also dioramas on display which help to retell some of the key events in Brooklyn’s history. For example there is a presentation of one of the Civil War’s most famous battles-the fight between the USS Monitor (built in Greenpoint, Brooklyn) and the USS Virginia. “This collection is for all New Yorkers, whether artists with a rent controlled-loft or brand new condo owners on Kent Avenue,” said Reliquary tour guide Matt Levy. “We welcome all of them, regardless of how much rent your pay or how long you lived there.” Grand Reopening at...
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After spending about one year in the Trenton City Museum, a rare ceramic vase is being carefully packaged for its return back to Brooklyn. The vase was originally made in 1904 as part of a set of four, for the St. Louis World’s Fair, by the Trenton Potteries Company, and was on loan to Trenton form the Brooklyn Museum. But last month the museum asked for the return of the vase after Trenton fired the full-time director of the Ellarslie Museum. “The return of the vase was requested because of concerns over its safety and security,” Brooklyn Museum spokeswoman Sally Williams said. Brian Hill was fired in September after serving as the full-time museum director for ten years, along with 150 other employees of the city as part of an overall citywide reduction in workforce. In Hill’s stead an intern has been installed. Hill’s layoff was a violation by the city of an agreement they had with the independent Trenton Museum Society, the owner of the collection which is kept in the city-owned Ellarslie Mansion in Cadwalader Park. The agreement stated that the city will pay the expense of having a full-time, qualified director in exchange for permission to exhibit the various artifacts in its facility. “This all comes from not having a director,” museum society president Robert Cunningham said of the loss of the vase. “You can’t interact with other museums fluently without a director, and I think we’re now seeing evidence of that.” Before Hill’s leaving he was working on organizing an exhibit which would bring all four vases in the set together for the first time since 1904, to be displayed at the Trenton Museum. The plans for this showing have fallen apart without the help of a director to put together the project. “This seals the fate of our attempts to get the four vases back together again,” Cunningham said. “It’s something that was very important to us and should be to the city. I don’t think that the Brooklyn...
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