23 Lake Street in Monroe NY once housed the Citizens Bank of Monroe in Monroe NY. This was a staple of the town of Monroe for more than 70 years. Now it is an abandoned property but when this photo was taken in 1965 the Citizens Bank of Monroe was celebrating its 50th anniversary.
In 1915, the United States had 7,598 National Banks and
18,227 State Banks (FDIC.Gov 2014). One of the banks that opened that year was
the Citizens Bank of Monroe located in Monroe NY. Though the building is no
longer in use the bank is still talked about and remembered for its great
customer service, it’s giant vault, and the ability to survive the run on banks
in the 1930s. Many banks did not survive the banking panics that began in
October of 1930 and lasted until Roosevelts national banking holiday in 1933
(Bordo and Landon-Lane 2010, 487). During this time over 8,000 commercial banks
were part of the Federal Reserve System, but nearly 16,000 were not members, including
the Citizens Bank of Monroe (Richardson 2013).
This photograph is taken of the original sculpture by Enid Bell (Palanchian) who gifted it to the Leonia Public Library in 1979. Enid Bell used hydrocal relief as the medium to sculpt two birds which look as if they are in flight (Bell Palanchian 1979).
The
sculpture, Birds, resides at the top of the Leonia Public Library’s rear
stairs where, on a busy day, hundreds of people pass by. The Leonia Public
Library welcomes all people, no matter their background. Likewise, St. John’s
University’s mission is to respect all people; this includes sharing our gifts
with others (St. John’s University 2019). The creator of Birds, Enid
Bell Palanchian, excluded none when displaying her work, implying that art is
not only for the wealthy.
A page from Robert Ray’s Book of Deeds 1845-1848, showing the purchase of plot deeds at Green-Wood Cemetery by the Harper Brothers.
In an old, dilapidated book, found among a trove of
yet-to-be processed archival material at Green-Wood Cemetery, the inevitable
resting place of four famous brothers is revealed. James, John, Joseph Wesley
and Fletcher Harper, the founders of the eponymous publishing house, Harper
& Brothers, purchased four adjacent 300 sq. ft. burial plots in Green-Wood
Cemetery in May of 1845.
This is the rotary switchboard which is found in the Hazleton Historical Society Museum. The dial switchboard came to Hazleton in 1954. All the original wiring and phone book is still intact.
The first manual switchboard came about in 1878 and Hazleton, Pennsylvania got its first dial switchboard in 1954. At 11:59pm on April 24the switchboard was up and running in this small town (The Plain Speaker 1954). The Bell telephone company decided to invest in this small town by opening up a building on W. Green St. in Hazleton; with the new switchboard, converting to dial service was costing them $1.5 million (The Plain Speaker 1954). According to Tom Gabos, who is the president of the Hazleton Historical Society Museum, “this switchboard came from the corner of W. Green Street, right across from where our library now is” (Tom Gabos, pers. comm, September 2019). This new technology that was coming to Hazleton was welcomed with open arms. Once word got around of the new switchboard technology, Hazleton was booming with people who wanted to see how this technology would work. By 1940, the population of Hazleton was just over 38,000 (City of Hazleton Pennsylvania, n.d.). By 1953, about 14,000 people were using telephone technology (The Plain Speaker 1954). This is a little under half of what the population was in Hazleton back in 1940.
Sandy Wilson’s review of the West End revisal of The King and I, printed in Plays and Players, Vol. 21, No. 3, December 1973 issue. Featured in the photograph printed in the article, Peter Wyngarde and Sally Ann Howes performing “Shall We Dance.”
The King and I is a musical theatre play, with music by
Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II that originally premiered on
Broadway at St. James Theatre. Mongkut, King of Siam (now Thailand), hired a
British tutor, Mrs. Anna Leonowens to teach his children English. A widow, Anna
tutors while simultaneously attempting to humanize their cultural difference
and broaden their world-view beyond Siam. Anna endeavors to remove Siam’s
perceived barbaric image by assimilating the family into Western culture and
customs. Anna and Mongkut engage in a short lived romance, and after subsequent
family turmoil with one of the King’s many wives, Anna wants to leave Siam. On
his deathbed, Mongkut asks Anna to watch over his son, Chulalongkorn, as he
begins his rule.
(a newspaper clipping of William Harris’ weekly column “OFF AND ON” where he examines the plays both off and on broadway. The image and first review are from the play “Rum and Coca-cola” by Mustapha Matura”.)
This newspaper clipping of two men, one of which was holding a guitar quickly catches the eye due to the overtones of potential Blackface. However, after reading William Harris’ review, I discovered the work of Trinidadian playwright Mustapha Matura who used his experiences to craft powerful political commentaries. Matura first began writing and directing plays in London often tackling the ways Black people have been mistreated and abused throughout the Caribbean and the UK.
“Interurban Time Table, effective April 12, 1925”, Wait Station, Dekker Huis, Zeeland, Michigan. This is a prime example of the numerous opportunities West Michiganders had to travel outside of their communities.
From the turn of the 20th
Century until the mid-1920s, travel by rail was the best way for Midwesterners
to travel beyond their hometowns (Ellison 2019; Geberer 2019, 51; Jenison
Historical Association 2009, 2; van Reken 1998). The road conditions were so
poor during this time that the Dutch and German settlers of small towns such as
Jenison, Saugatuck, and Zeeland were essentially isolated from the larger
cities in the region (van Reken 1998, 77). The implementation of the electric
interurban not only provided the citizens of West Michigan access to the
diversity found in larger cities, but also gave them the opportunity to share
their values with others.
This folder contains a unique selection of clippings compiled by the late William Harris, a drama and dance critic who assembled a sizable collection of theater memorabilia. The contents of the folder consist of reviews and articles, as well as a half-page advertisement, of Art Buchwald’s debut play, Sheep on the Runway. The play was a comedy directed by Gene Saks at the Helen Hayes Theatre on West 46th Street in Manhattan.
As
“the most widely published American journalistic humorist of the second half of
the 20th century,” Art Buchwald was a writer unlike any other
(Biography Reference Bank 2007). Buchwald spent the majority of his career
writing a satirical column that, at one time, was syndicated in 550 newspapers
(Nilsen 1996, 80). His contributions to journalism earned him a Pulitzer Prize
in 1982 (Folkenflik 2007).
A rare 19th century 50 cent token issued by the Burrows family for the coal mine store in Midlothian. The token reads “W.R. Burrows Will Pay In Goods 50 Cts At Midlothian Store.” Courtesy of the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia, Chesterfield County, VA.
As early as the 1700’s, coal was
discovered in the area of Chesterfield County, Virginia (McCartney 2019). The
coal from these pits supplied the fuel to the cannon factory at Westham during
the Revolutionary War until the pits were destroyed by the British in 1781
(McCartney 2019). The industry prospered in the area in the 1840’s-50’s, making
Midlothian one of the largest settlements in the area (McCartney 2019).
After the Civil War, production of coal
fell sharply, and the business in the area was never truly successful again
(McCartney 2019). The Burrows family from Albion, NY bought the bankrupt Mid-Lothian
mines from public auction in 1869 (McCartney 2019). After numerous accidents,
including an explosion that killed thirty-two miners, and an embezzlement
scandal, the Burrows family lost control of the mine in 1882 (McCartney 2019).
In February 1969, the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters wrote “The Ten Demands” to Barnard College President Martha Peterson, pictured above. Based off of their experiences on campus, their demands were: curriculum that includes Black studies across the board, nationwide recruitment of Black students, flexible financial aid policies, library materials that are about Black studies and culture, an orientation program by and for Black students, revamping the “Special Students” program, a Black-only study space on campus, selective living for Black students, Soul Food in the cafeteria, and an end to the policing of Black bodies on campus.
Amid the
backdrop of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, Black college students
paved the way for campus protests across the United States in the 1960s. Due to
an increased presence of Black students at primarily white institutions (P.W.I.s),
a number of systemic issues and needs were cropping up. This included
recruitment and retention, financial aid, racially sensitive support services,
culturally competent curriculum, and social facilities (Gamson, Peterson, and
Blackburn 1980, 260). Colleges became hotbeds of activism as Black students
fought against institutional racism and stood in solidarity with local
community organizers (Biondi 2012). In the late 1960s, Morningside Heights was
no stranger to Black student organizing. In spring 1968, students at Columbia
University, Barnard College’s brother school, had organized protests against
the white supremacy of the institution (Bradley 2003). The events of that protest
directly led to the founding of the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters
(B.O.S.S.), whose goals were to center Black women’s issues on campus
(Rosenberg 2004, 241).
