Alice Mabel Allen (1886-1976) grew up in the village of Adams in Jefferson County. In 1908, while attending Syracuse University Mabel, as she was known, kept a diary which New York Almanack is publishing each week.
Monday, February 24
Lu and I slept in Grace’s room last night as Cassie had gone home. Fuzzie slept with Lillian. I studied only a few minutes before breakfast but was all right for math as Mr. Pratt cut. Helen Beattie came back and studied Trig and Latin. At four walked with Fuzzie. She afterwards took me in for chocolate.
To-night Lu and I went to recital given by Mr. Mahr, cellist, and Mlle. Hinchey-Harden, vocalist. It was very classical yet I enjoyed it. Started report on part of Venn in Return of the Native.
Tuesday, February 25
After English went down and studied trig with Helen Beattie. Recited in Elocution this P.M. — Robert of Sicily. Came home and found letter from Edna with one from Dora [her older sisters] enclosed.
After dinner, Helen Beattie came. Telephoned [?see insert] to come over as it was her twenty-second birthday. Mine comes soon and I would ward it off for the restlessness each year brings. We went over to Hill’s for hot chocolate and I then walked a piece with her. After tea Lu and I walked. I wentdownstairs and watched the girls get ready for the carnival; then came up and studied until the lights went out.
Wednesday, February 26
In Trig I was called on for some angles which I guessed at and then forgot what I said before I could substitute. Received invitation from Jessie Torrey to attend graduation of nurses from St. Luke’s March 2. From 11 to 12 studied at Helen Beattie’s. Isabel made fudge down in Christine’s room. Leta and I made a raid on rooms for alcohol and at last I bought some of Miss Adams. After supper I went with Lu down to the Boys’ Club on Willow St. There were only a few boys there and only one came into the library. Am going to sleep with Lu until Harriet comes. She has been to a baby party.
Thursday, February 27
Katherine Arnold came home with me after Roman Hist and I persuaded her to stay to dinner. After she left I wrote my report and finished it to-night. Took a warm bath and then wrote theme for Eng. III. Studied well for me — the whole evening until the lights went out. To-day we had ice-cream and suet pudding “both at once.”
Friday, February 28
Studied math early and for once made a decent recitation. Helen Beattie came back and we studied 1 hour in Harriet’s room. Letter from mother. Says they are having a hardwood floor laid in the dining room. After Latin went over to see Katherine. She seemed much stronger.
Found that she never received the pot of daffodils I had ordered sent. Went over to the library and read the [?see insert] of The Wayfarers. To-night wrote up Roman Hist notes in Lu’s room. Jean came in. Went to sleep in there. Three of girls have gone home.
Saturday, February 29
Crawled into bed with Harriet and Lu, in spite of Harriet’s neuralgia. After breakfast studied Shakespeare. Straightened credits out with the registrar as I was not catalogued with advanced standing. Eng. VIII conference with Prof. Eaton. Came back and swept and dusted the room. After dinner Lu and I walked and then went downstreet. Bought eatables for a spread; blue and white handkerchief and picture frame. Walked both ways. Late to-night we had a spread in Lu’s room; cocoa and peanut butter sandwiches.
Professor H.A. Eaton
Sunday, March 1
After breakfast, washed fudge, or rather, spread dishes. Went to St. Mary’s Cathedral with Lillian, Harriet and Lu. Lenten regulations were read and I was much interested to hear them. Commenced to storm just after we reached home.
Read Richard Feverell after dinner. Collected material for Harriet to make fudge; took bath and put on blue waist for lunch. Mrs. Campbell joined us in singing afterwards. Miss Stevenson told our fortunes. Wrote letters to-night to the people [her parents] and Edna [her older sister].
Mabel Allen’s 1908 Diary: Math Trouble & A Barn Dance
Alice Mabel Allen (1886-1976) grew up in the village of Adams in Jefferson County. In 1908, while attending Syracuse University Mabel, as she was known, kept a diary which New York Almanack is publishing each week.
Monday, March 9
Called on in math and managed to make a recitation after much hesitation. Then came home to study. Had a long letter from Betty who is doing Y.W.C.A. work in Sacramento. After dinner Lu, Harriet and I finished the last orange. Went in Isabel’s room after Latin and she told me all about her travels home. Finished Richard Feverel. Lu and I went down to drugstore and bakery. Mailed white goods to mother and bought brown bread. Came back and found Jessie Barnes here. She is much thinner but hopes to come back after sanitarium treatment.
Tuesday, March 10
Celebrated with coffee and doughnuts this morning. Jean brot my mail up to Shakespeare class; three letters from Edna, Rollin and Earl Dunmore. Studied math at Helen’s. In elocution had to read [????]. After dinner Helen came and we tried to study math and Roman History but could not do either to advantage. Went up to Liberal Arts after tickets for Harvard concert. Miss Minch stopped for me to go down to hear Dr. Hearst speak on Miracles. I was eager to go, but he was not satisfactory, very. Walked home with her and discussed the Doll’s House. Lu & I walked down to drugstore after tea. Julia Marlow in As You Like It to-night.
Wednesday, March 11
Recited in math. I always want to put this down as a red letter day when I happen to be called on for something I know. Helen came back with me. After Latin went over to library and studied on Roman History until after six. Studied math in the evening. Harriet bought a plateful of cookies from Mrs. Campbell. They were not very good. Bea made some tea and I went down and drank some after lights went out. It was good but it kept me awake until after one. Bea and Christine were honored with a private interview because they talk across the way with one of the boys. Lillian is waiting on table in Ethel’s place. I cannot decide about answering the letter. Cassie pledged Alpha Gamma Delta.
Thursday, March 12
No Journal. Roman history quiz. Walked down after dinner a piece with Lu and Harriet who is going to the dentist’s. Stopped in to see Leta. Wrote in her birthday book. Helen came over to study for a math quiz. Afterwards went down in Fuzzie’s room and we lay on bed and talked. Bea came in asked us in to have some of her box; apples and cookies. After supper walked with Lu and Harriet. Studied Latin in Jean’s room. Ethel has gone home. Going to bed early as the tea last night kept me awake. Katherine went home yesterday.
Friday, March 13
Math quiz this morning but I got most terribly mixed. Came back and read the Journal. Mr. Smith cut English. Harriet had a fruit cake sent to her. Isabel made some good nut fudge. Went over to library to read for Shakespeare. Walked home with Miss Briggs with Fuzzie and Christine. After supper we danced and tried the Barn Dance. Went up to Liberal Arts with Lillian and climbed thru window into History seminar. Made fudge–under protestation.
Saturday, March 14
Letter from Father with check for $50 enclosed. He is troubled with rheumatism and was going up to see Dr. White. Studied or at least tried to study Trig down at Helen Beattie’s. Came home and swept the room. Walked with Lu after dinner and then walked downstreet with Jean, Grace Gatchell and Harriet. Took my black skirt to tailor to be mended. I tore it this morning making the bed. Went with the girls to the dentist. Saw [????] at the Five and Ten. Went over and left a note for Myrtle Heath to stay with me to-night. Sewed and started linen collar. Lillian gone away to-night.
Sunday, March 15
Myrtle staid for some time after breakfast and we had music in the parlor. Undressed to take a bath but had to wait for the water to heat. Wrote home and, later, to Mary. Isabel went down after mail and brot me a letter from mother. Thundered and lightened after dinner. Walked down to Harvard concert with Harriet, Lillian and Lu and then went to Vespers. Rode home. After lunch Christine and I went down and popped corn over the furnace. Went in Lu and Harriet’s room to eat it. Have to study Trig to-night.
Mabel Allen in Syracuse, 1908: St. Patrick’s Parade, Dancing & Preaching
Alice Mabel Allen (1886-1976) grew up in the village of Adams in Jefferson County. In 1908, while attending Syracuse University Mabel, as she was known, kept a diary which New York Almanack is publishing each week.
Monday, March 16
Went down early in Fuzzie’s room to study math but there was no light so I crawled into bed with her until the light came on. Put on my new white shirt waist. Math quiz on identities and I flunked about every example. Helen Beattie came back with me to study. Bought some sugar for Isabel to make fudge. Went over to library to write report. In place of Latin, attended a lecture on Sicily by Mr. Emerson. Wrote to Rollin and a birthday letter to Alice. Studied in Lu’s room. The girls filled out my room. Have been to sleep but will write in report now.
Tuesday, March 17
Late for Trig and had to hand in a blank for the example as time was called. Mrs. Campbell’s clock is about 10 minutes slow. Had a letter from Edna [her sister]. Went down to Helen Beattie’s to study Trig and staid during elocution period as Mrs. Butler is ill. After dinner embroidered on linen collar Myrtle Heath gave me. Helen Beattie came and afterwards I walked downstreet with Jean and bought a pot of tulips for Rita Cooper who is ill at hospital. Saw the St. Patrick’s parade. To-night wrote English report on Richard Feverel. Is not all that satisfactory. For a wonder I studied during entire evening.
Wednesday, March 18
Staid for a conference after Trig. After Eng. went down to Helen’s and studied until 12:30. Dining room was full of men when I ate dinner and the silence was oppressive. In Latin Dr. Bushnell wore a Prince Albert coat. We wondered if he were going to a pink tea. Read Roman history and learned poetry until Lu came at 4:30 for me to go to Vespers. Dr. Coddington spoke on the one besetting sin of each individual. To-night we danced after supper and then studied. I went to sleep but now am wide awake.
Thursday, March 19
After Roman History, I started my long story. Went over to the library early with Lu and wrote most of the afternoon. Came back and studied Latin down in Fuzzie’s room until supper. Danced, finished my Latin and copied my theme until 12 by Mary’s candle.
Prince Albert in his frock coat.
Friday, March 20
Letter from mother telling of Uncle David’s death. The funeral is to be Saturday, but I decided not to go home. She said he died very quietly, as one goes to sleep. I wonder where Cousin Fannie will go. In Latin I had to recite the last verse of the poem. At four I went downstreet with Lu and bought some blue prints, some sandals and material for an underwaist. We bought some peanut candy to eat on the way home. We were quite late for supper. Lu and Harriet came in and I fixed up my Roman history note book. I slept with Lu and Harriet with Cassie as Grace went home.
Saturday, March 21
Alice Jenkin’s birthday. Did not get up until 7:00 and Lu and I came in to awaken Harriet and Cassie who had not heard the rising bell. Had a long letter from Jessie Torrey who has finished her training course and is going out for herself. Studied Latin in Lu’s room and then swept and dusted our room. After dinner cut out a corset cover by Harriet’s and sewed on it most of the afternoon. Also ironed and starched my white waist. The girls went downstreet and Lu bought me some lace. After supper we danced; Lillian and I went down after Florence Signeur to stay all night with Lillian. A beautiful starlight night. I made or started some fudge which Lu finished while I took a bath. Laura sleeping with Cassie to-night. She is down in Bea’s room and Harriet is in here studying by candlelight. Uncle David’s funeral was this afternoon.
Sunday, March 22
Lu and Harriet piled into bed early this morning with Cassie and me. We started about half past nine, the four of us, to hear Rev. Hugh Black at the Fourth Presbyterian. He is wonderful, perfectly wonderful. He is tremendously intense and magnetic in his personality. His theme was our lack of responsibility for consequences. His face was so sad. I could have cried when the service was over and I would have given worlds to have shaken him by the hand. This afternoon he spoke on the Hill. We walked home this morning and heard some song sparrows. To-night we heard the robins and it was so encouraging. Took off heavy underwear.
Mabel Allen’s 1908 Diary: Invitation to Junior Prom
In 1908, while attending Syracuse University, Alice Mabel Allen (1886-1976) kept a diary which is being published each week. In this week’s entries, a suitor visits Syracuse and invites Mabel to the junior prom at his college
Monday, March 30
Slept with Fuzzie in her room. After Helen and I studied math I went down in Fuzzie’s room and (studied math) darned stockings–slightly different. Came home from Latin and found a letter from Herbert Jenkins. Walked downstreet with Grace, Fuzzie, Cassie and Blanche McGelligott. My shoe rubbed and I was pretty tired before I reached home. Met some frat sisters of Cassie who asked us to go to the basketball to-night between juniors & senior women. Cassie would not say a word and I accepted conditionally. The position I did not like to-night.
Tuesday, March 31
After English stopped after [older sister] Edna’s letter and went down to study math with Helen. Recited on “Cuddle Doon” in elocution. Had an Eng. conference and Mr. Smith asked if I cared to run my long theme in the weekly. I told him I was willing. Went down to library with Lu and learned poetry. Afterwards went to Vespers. Had to ride home on account of the rain. After supper danced the barn dance with Christine. Edith and Mrs. Hannahs over to-night. Mrs. H. told me Harriet Nott was to leave town. Lu’s box came to-day and in it were rocks and oatmeal cookies. Saw Mabel Hammond Griggs this afternoon.
Wednesday, April 1
“April Fool.” Recited in math but could not do the traverse function example. Staid afterwards. Prepared for a quiz on poems in Eng. VIII but did not have it. Met Mrs. Hammaker on the Hill. After Latin studied Shakspere. Lillian went over and bought some cookies. Started a letter to Della when Edith phoned for me to meet her and her mother at the Sterling. We had a delicious lunch together and then Edith and I went to the train. We stopped on the way home to look at hats. Went with Lu to Sophomore contest for women. Hazel Thomas received 2nd prize. Poured when we came home, so I took my rain coat and rubbers up to Lillian who ushered. Rooms of Haven Hall girls were stacked. Fooled Lillian this A.M. telling her Fuzzie had been sick.
Thursday, April 2
Cold, especially in this room. Read [Jefferson County] Journal after Roman history. After dinner studied Latin poems in Harriet’s room. Postal card from Rollin saying he would be here tomorrow. At three went down to see Mabel Hammond Griggs who is visiting on Genesee St. Blew and snowed hard. After supper, danced and then studied in Harriet’s room. Went to sleep.
Gaius Valerius Catullus
Friday, April 3
Called on in math, much to my surprise. Helen came down. Discussed Markeim in Eng. III. In Latin we are reading Catullus’ poems. After Latin, studied Shakspere. Put on my gray for supper. Rollin T., who is visiting at the ɸ 𝜅 ψ House called me up and asked me to go to the debate between Wesleyan and Syracuse. Syracuse won and I am so glad because Russel D. sent a card saying they expected to trim Syracuse. Wesleyan’s speakers were readier and smoother.
Saturday, April 4
Letter from mother. Dr. Carter in Eng. read Sheridan’s play by [about?] Mr. Puff, an excellent satire on Shakspere’s dramatic style. Swept the room and studied Latin with Fuzzie. After dinner Rollin came and we walked over to see Rosina and Mr. Scoville. Rosina has a very pleasant home and a dear daughter. On the way home, Rollin asked me for the Junior Prom in May. After supper Lu and I walked. Rollin came over to-night, but I had to make peace with Mrs. C. because it was not calling night. Fooled upstairs.
Sunday, April 5
Of course I awoke at about 6 this morning. Got in bed with Harriet and Lillian went down with Mary and Clara and raised “rough house.” Walked to church with Rollin to Park Presbyterian. After dinner Cassie, Harriet, Lu, Miss Sanford and Helen Beattie and I went down to the Harvard concert. The orchestra played Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony which was fine. Went to Vespers, four of us, and had to ride home as it was raining. Wrote home, to Bina Legg and Herbert & now am going to bed.
Presenting: Conversations in City History
Monday, April 13, 2026, 6:30 pm “Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen” Author Bonnie Yochelson will discuss with moderator Judith Berdy about how a woman who grew up in the Gilded Age, when the term “lesbian” did not yet exist, challenged the conservative ideals of Staten Island high society. She will explain, as does her book, the role of photography in Alice Austen’s journey of self discovery, embrace of feminism and involvement in a loving lesbian partnership.
Monday, May 11, 2026, 6:30 pm “Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Queens” When preservationist and author Jeffrey A. Kroessler passed away in 2023, his wife, architect Laura Heim, selected the images for his book and saw it through publication. She has generously agreed to be interviewed on this seminal historical work that charts how politics, industry, transportation, government and real estate interests all shaped New York’s borough of extraordinary ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity.
Monday, June 8, 2026, 6:30 pm “The Killing Fields of East New York” Author Stacy Horn (also writer of “Damnation Island,” about 19th-century Blackwell’s Island) has chronicled how the subprime mortgage scandal of the 1970s and a long history of white-collar crime slowly destroyed the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. She will share her compelling investigative journalism in a conversation about the area’s fair housing, race, violence and misplaced city priorities.
JUST ADDED: Monday, September 14, 2026, 6:30 pm “Louis I. Kahn The Last Notebook Edited By Sue Ann Kahn An intimate record of Kahn’s musings on design, coupled with preparatory drawings of his monumental last project
Published in honor of the 50th anniversary of his death in March 1974, this two-volume set contains a facsimile of the notebook in which Louis Kahn drew and wrote during his last year of life, alongside a second volume of scholarly commentary and transliterations of his musings. Anchored by a magnificent set of preparatory drawings for his monument to Franklin Roosevelt in New York City, the notebook provides an intimate glimpse into private sketches of Kahn’s final projects and his poetic reflections on thematic preoccupations, such as “Silence to Light,” “Form and Design,” “Society of Rooms” and “Desire to Express.” Each volume is in a vellum sleeve and both are housed together in a transparent slipcase. Born in Estonia, Louis Kahn (1901-74) immigrated with his family to Philadelphia when he was four years old. Kahn received Beaux-Arts training at the University of Pennsylvania, under the French-educated Paul Philippe Cret, and then adopted his own idiosyncratic modernism, which would engender the heterogeneous “Philadelphia school.” His architectural career did not take off until later in life; he attained his first major commission to design Yale University’s Art Gallery in 1951. Upon its completion, Kahn received many international commissions, and he developed a signature style that was monumental, monolithic and transparent in its functionality. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal.
THE ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
6:30 p.m.
504 Main Street
We had a tech error yesterdayAbove are the two volumes of “The Last Notebook”.
FIRST TO BLOOM RIVERWALK COMMONS CHERRY TREES
Photo Judith Berdy
CREDITS
NEW YORK ALMANACK
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Economic history is a tale of bubbles and booms in which assets such as commodities, land, or stocks, quickly inflate in price above their intrinsic value. Such sudden movements, driven by greedy investors and speculative hype, are invariably followed by a bust. Loss of confidence causes a collapse in prices, resulting in a crash of “panic selling.”
There are many such examples, most of them well-documented. Tulip-mania in the Dutch Republic during the 1630s was the first real financial bubble. Then there were the Mississippi and South Sea Bubbles (1720), both followed by a spectacular crash. More recently, we have seen the Dotcom Bubble, driven by mad speculation in internet-based stock.
While the assets may change over time, from tulips to technology, the factors of greed and fear are the ever-present psychological drivers of economic upheavals. Of all the bubbles known to historians, the “Plume Boom” is one of the more obscure tales.
Feather & Fan
Feather fans in Chinese culture date back to ancient times. The fan’s original use was functional as a cooling tool in the heat. The addition of bird feathers brought a level of elegance. Dignitaries began to carry feather fans as a sign of rank and status.
Once introduced to Japan from China, fans became part of the nation’s culture. They appeared in stage performances, helping to create visual and auditory effects (the fluttering of wings or the swaying of trees) to heighten the dramatic impact.
Feather fans arrived in Europe in the sixteenth century through expanding contacts with China and Japan. These early fans, made of ostrich or peacock feathers, were regarded for their exotic beauty and restricted to Royalty and aristocracy.
In England, they became fashionable during the Elizabethan era. In most painted portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, she holds a “fixed” fan (a fine handle with a variation of feathers). Originating in Japan, folding fans were developed later; by the end of the century, they had superseded fixed fans.
During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, feather fans enhanced the non-verbal theatrics of court life. A fan relayed secret messages on a “language” of over two dozen gestures (leaflets to master the code were available).
Holding it to cover one’s face showed shyness, fanning oneself vigorously signaled irritation. Fans were used to flirt or show contempt; their color was imbued with significance. White symbolized purity; red stood for passion; black represented mourning.
France was the center of éventaillistes (fan makers and designers) during the seventeenth century, and the craft involved Huguenot specialists. Following the 1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, many Protestant artisans fled the country, taking their skills of silk weaving and other decorative arts to England and elsewhere.
Refugees boosted high-quality fan making in Spitalfields, East London, and turned the craft into a thriving enterprise of family-run firms. François (Francis) Chassereau and his descendants were prominent fan makers, running The Fan & Crown in Hanover Street, Long Acre, throughout the eighteenth century.
Funerals, Fashion & Feathers
In the sixteenth century, men used feathers to symbolize status and rank, notably in court attire and military regalia. Ostrich feathers adorned cavalier hats and military plumes. By the 1660s, French courtiers wore small hats adorned with feathers.
Military regiments used them too. The Scottish Highland Infantry worn a “feather bonnet” from about 1763 until the outbreak of World War One (now mostly worn by pipers in regimental bands). In the late Victorian era elaborate “fluffy” plumes were in vogue. They became an essential part of lavish funeral processions.
At the funeral of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, in September 1852, twelve black horses pulled a massive hearse, each sporting a plume of black ostrich feathers.
Their inclusion in the parade determined Victorian funereal customs. English mourning rituals were copied in the United States with the death of Abraham Lincoln.
After lying in state at both the White House and the Capitol, the President’s body was returned to his native Springfield, Illinois. The funeral train stopped in eleven cities along the way (including Albany).
The procession in New York City on April 25, 1865, was a massive event, drawing some one million people. The procession moved up Broadway to Union Square and then to the Hudson River Railroad Depot, featuring sixteen grey horses carrying large ostrich plumes pulling the hearse.
The fashion trade was by far the biggest market for ostrich feathers. In the 1860s the French elite began wearing colored feathers on hats, dresses, jackets, and boas. Where Paris went, the world followed and soon the demand for ostrich feathers outstripped supply.
Up until that time, ostrich feathers sold on the London market were plucked from wild birds hunted in South Africa and across the Sahara (until the “Arabian” ostrich was driven to extinction by excessive hunting). Live plucking was a particularly cruel process.
Pushed by the demand for feathers, farmers at the Cape began to domesticate the ostrich, plucking the bird twice a year without harming it. Experiments began in the Oudtshoorn region.
The invention in 1869 of incubators to hatch chicks was a breakthrough and the number of specialized farms expanded rapidly. By the 1880s ostrich feathers had become South Africa’s fourth largest export after gold, diamonds, and wool. Some traders built opulent properties, known as “feather palaces.”
London became the focus of the feather market. Huge crates would arrive each week from the Cape in addition to a smaller number of the Arabian subspecies. Warehouses owned by the East India Company at Cutler Street and Billiter Street, East London, displayed the wares for merchants to inspect before being auctioned in sale rooms at Mincing Lane. Feathers were big business.
Status & Elegance
In December 1882, a herd of twenty-two ostriches were sailed into New York Harbor, having arrived from Cape Town.
These creatures were the sole survivors of two hundred birds that had been sent to sea by Charles Sketchley, a South African ostrich exporter who had decided to expand his operations into America, thus avoiding the cost of shipping and skip the twenty percent duty charged on foreign feathers.
Once disembarked, the birds were loaded on a train destined for Anaheim where Sketchley had founded the California Ostrich-Farming Company, the nation’s first farm of its kind.
He did attract attention. The farm became a national curiosity, drawing journalistic reports in The New York Times, Harper’s Weekly, and Scientific American. Competitors rushed to set up their own farms throughout the southwest.
The economic future was an ostrich. The plume trade thrived as it stopped the slaughter of wild birds that had sparked the creation of the Audubon Society and the eventual passage of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty.
Ostrich feathers represented status and elegance in American society. By the 1890s, stylish women wore hats, boas and fans adorned with elaborate feathers. Dyeing them had become an art form.
Manuals such as Alexander Paul’s The Practical Ostrich Feather Dyer (1888) set out methods for creating an extraordinary variety of colors including lemon, salmon, bronze, lavender, and olive, as well as more exotic tints such as gendarme blue, Russian green, Bismarck brown, terracotta, or seafoam, transforming natural feathers into fashion items.
The Plume Boom did not last as fashions changed. By the time of World War One, the price of ostrich feathers had plummeted, the market crashed, most farms went bust, but the ostrich would make a return in Montmartre and on Broadway in the post-war era.
Fan Dancers
Once the Great War was behind them, Parisians rebounded in a carnival of hedonism, an era referred to the années folles (crazy years). The period coincided with an influx of young Americans who embraced the city’s permissive morality and creative energy.
Feather fans became symbolic of those flamboyant years, blending luxury with the theatrical style of the flapper generation. Women carried fans attending jazz clubs, cabarets, or evening parties.
Fashion, feathers, and performance were in interlinked. So-called “fan dancers” used them as a means of revealing and concealing (hide-and-seek) body parts during their routines.
Parisian houses set the trend and manufactured refined and dramatically sized fans. Founded in 1827, Jean-Pierre Duvelleroy had revived the fashion after the French Revolution, becoming a supplier to European Royalty, including Queen Victoria.
Known in the 1920s for its Art Nouveau designs and creative collaboration with artists, the firm re-established its prime place in the industry.
On September 15, 1925, young Josephine Baker joined twenty-five black performers (thirteen dancers, twelve musicians) who set to sail for Cherbourg on Cunard’s SS Berengaria. Rehearsals for their Revue Nègre took place during the crossing.
The show opened at the Champs-Élysées on October 2nd and was a smash hit. Dancing with Senegalese partner Joe Alex, she performed a “Danse Sauvage” (wild dance) in which both performers were scantily clad with ostrich feathers and beads.
Dancers like Los Angeles-born Faith Bacon (1910-1956), who had begun her career in Paris, used large white plumed fans for her dramatic performances. Having returned to New York late in the decade, she appeared on Broadway in July 1930 as a “principal nude” in Earl Carroll’s revue Vanities.
The latter’s indifference to legal boundaries landed him in court several times on charges of public indecency which offered added publicity to his theater at 753 Seventh Avenue. The Feather Fan became synonymous with Broadway’s art of the burlesque.
As the moral climate changed, censorship in the late 1930s forced these “naughty” shows off stage.
While Manhattan stayed a hub of cultural innovation, the prevailing mood was one of anxiety and caution which filtered through to stage and screen productions. Even Broadway stuck to a restrictive moral code that called for traditional values, conservative policies, and a regime of law and order.
The immorality of feather fans was no longer tolerated. By 1937, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had ordered the closure of major burlesque houses, classifying them as “filth.” It finished off the feather fever.
Presenting: Conversations in City History
Monday, April 13, 2026, 6:30 pm “Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen” Author Bonnie Yochelson will discuss with moderator Judith Berdy about how a woman who grew up in the Gilded Age, when the term “lesbian” did not yet exist, challenged the conservative ideals of Staten Island high society. She will explain, as does her book, the role of photography in Alice Austen’s journey of self discovery, embrace of feminism and involvement in a loving lesbian partnership.
Monday, May 11, 2026, 6:30 pm “Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Queens” When preservationist and author Jeffrey A. Kroessler passed away in 2023, his wife, architect Laura Heim, selected the images for his book and saw it through publication. She has generously agreed to be interviewed on this seminal historical work that charts how politics, industry, transportation, government and real estate interests all shaped New York’s borough of extraordinary ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity.
Monday, June 8, 2026, 6:30 pm “The Killing Fields of East New York” Author Stacy Horn (also writer of “Damnation Island,” about 19th-century Blackwell’s Island) has chronicled how the subprime mortgage scandal of the 1970s and a long history of white-collar crime slowly destroyed the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. She will share her compelling investigative journalism in a conversation about the area’s fair housing, race, violence and misplaced city priorities.
JUST ADDED: Monday, September 14, 2026, 6:30 pm “Louis I. Kahn The Last Notebook Edited By Sue Ann Kahn An intimate record of Kahn’s musings on design, coupled with preparatory drawings of his monumental last project
Published in honor of the 50th anniversary of his death in March 1974, this two-volume set contains a facsimile of the notebook in which Louis Kahn drew and wrote during his last year of life, alongside a second volume of scholarly commentary and transliterations of his musings. Anchored by a magnificent set of preparatory drawings for his monument to Franklin Roosevelt in New York City, the notebook provides an intimate glimpse into private sketches of Kahn’s final projects and his poetic reflections on thematic preoccupations, such as “Silence to Light,” “Form and Design,” “Society of Rooms” and “Desire to Express.” Each volume is in a vellum sleeve and both are housed together in a transparent slipcase. Born in Estonia, Louis Kahn (1901-74) immigrated with his family to Philadelphia when he was four years old. Kahn received Beaux-Arts training at the University of Pennsylvania, under the French-educated Paul Philippe Cret, and then adopted his own idiosyncratic modernism, which would engender the heterogeneous “Philadelphia school.” His architectural career did not take off until later in life; he attained his first major commission to design Yale University’s Art Gallery in 1951. Upon its completion, Kahn received many international commissions, and he developed a signature style that was monumental, monolithic and transparent in its functionality. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal.
THE ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
6:30 p.m.
504 Main Street
We had a tech error yesterdayAbove are the two volumes of “The Last Notebook”.
FIRST TO BLOOM RIVERWALK COMMONS CHERRY TREES
Photo Judith Berdy
CREDITS
NEW YORK ALMANACK Illustrations, from above: Unknown artist, Portrait of the featherworker Johann Wurmbein, Nuremberg, 1667 (Stadtbibliothek im Bildungscampus Nürnberg); Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, “Queen Elizabeth I,” ca. 1592 (National Portrait Gallery, London); William Lockhart Bogle painting of Piper Kenneth MacKay at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, with feather bonnet; Funeral car at the Duke of Wellington’s funeral with feathers, 1852; Advertisements for ostrich feathers in the Millinery Trade Review, vol. 30, 1905; A selection of feathers from Alexander Paul’s The Practical Ostrich Feather Dyer (1888); and Faith Bacon posing with her ostrich feather fans.
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Infrastructure is an inevitable part of urban living. Subways and tunnels need ventilation, but the question is often–how to keep these functional spaces contained and away from the public eye? While many subway substations have been gutted and turned into apartments in New York City, other ventilation buildings have been concealed as residential townhouses. Here’s a roundup of these clever pieces of faux architecture in NYC, Paris, London, and Toronto:
Everyday people in Mott Haven in the Bronx walk around and see these townhouses, but never see anyone go in or out. They must wonder who lives inside: Why are there never any open windows? Is this the first sign of gentrification to hit the Bronx? The answer to all those questions, ridiculous or otherwise, is that it is not a series of townhouses at all, but a substation run by Con Edison made to look like a small gated community.
Made to look like townhouses to appeal to the residents who were not happy with a substation being built in their neighborhood, Scouting NY reports that the substation was constructed in 2008 to meet energy needs for the neighborhood. It is one of many that Con Edison will be building around the city, due to the rise of commercial and residential buildings over the last decade.
ventilation plant under construction in November 2015.
In 2011, the MTA proposed several designs for a facade to hide a future emergency ventilation plant at Mulry Square on Seventh Avenue and Greenwich Avenue, a famous plot of land known for its 9/11 memorial tiles. The proposals faced vigorous opposition from community groups, local politicians, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission, who deemed that a floating, “faux historic” facade was the wrong approach. The design went through many iterations since 2007, including a living wall, a concrete modern design, and some bland faux brick proposals. The structure was completed in 2016.
Strecker Memorial Laboratory in 2011
This stone structure was built in 1892 as a laboratory for the lost Charity Hospital on Roosevelt Island. Until 1958, it was used by scientists to conduct pathological and bacteriological work. After experiments ceased, the lab building fell into disrepair, but it did earn New York City landmark status from the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1976. In the 1990s, it was purchased by the City’s transit authority and converted into a power substation that helps power subway lines.
International Fake Townhouses:
1. Paris Ventilation Chimney in Fake Haussmann BuildingIn the 10th arrondissement of Paris, on rue la Fayette, the windows are always dark on this Haussmann-style building. The door is there, and the balconies look just like their neighbors’, but they are hiding something unusual behind them. It turns out the façade is only a front with no building behind it. 145 rue la Fayette is a fake building hiding a ventilation chimney for the Paris métro.
Toronto Hydro’s Fake Houses Canadian Utility company, Toronto Hydro has taken a more suburban approach, though no less historical, putting substations into what appear to be single family homes. There are nearly 300 of these structures, like the Georgian-style one above at 555 Spadina Road, which form a nice catalogue of changing architectural preferences over the last decades from neo-Georgian to Victorian to Art Deco to Modern. The only sign of something afoot is the warning sign on the door, the plaque to the left of the front door which made by the Toronto Hydro Corporation in dedciation ot one of its board of directors, L. Ross Cullingworth. 23-24 Leinster Gardens in London
Sladen (Right) Photo by Z22, Both via Wikimedia Commons
In London, at 23-24 Leinster Gardens, there is a little secret. The facade, which matches with the rest of the block (except for the perpetually gray windows) is the front to an empty lot. The original buildings were demolished to build the London Tube in 1863 and used in action as a ventilation location for steam produced by the locomotives. In the back however, you can still see the tube tracks of the Metropolitan Line.
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
North Brother Island has been off-limits for more than 60 years.
Once home to Typhoid Mary, World War II veterans, and an early owner of the Yankees, visits to the island are now strictly prohibited. Find out what the island is used for now and more surprising stories from its past:
North Brother Island is most famous today for the beautiful photographs of its crumbling state, but its history and secrets are what give the place its mythical status in New York City. In 2015, there was a study that explored opening North Brother Island to public access, but access to the island is still forbidden. Here, we explore our favorite secrets of this off-limits island in the East River, many of which were sourced from the great book North Brother Island, The Last Unknown Place in New York Cityby Christopher Payne and Randall Mason.
10 North Brother Island and South Brother Island Were Known as the “Two Brothers” Islands
In 1791, the Two Brothers Islands were put up for sale at an auction at the Merchants Coffee House, where all business and politics seemed to take place in the early days of the colony. In the print advertisement, it was offered as an “eligible situation for a pilot or a house of entertainment,” due to its location along the river, and noted that already extant on the North Brother Island was a “dwelling house, barn, orchard, and a variety of fruit trees, with a quantity of standing firewood and timber.”
Initially, North Brother Island was part of the Bronx, which was part of Westchester. In 1881, a bill transferred North Brother Island to New York City, which was just Manhattan at the time (as the consolidation of the boroughs did not take place until 1898). Thus, other early short-term structures built on North Brother Island were temporary hospitals by Westchester County in the mid-19th century.
9 An Early Owner of the Yankees Was the Last Inhabitant Before the Parks Department took ownership of the island in 2007, it was privately owned. One of the earliest former owners was Jacob Ruppert, also an early owner of the Yankees baseball team. Ruppert had a summer home on the island, but it sadly burned down in 1909. No one has lived there since.
In 1868, after failed attempts to establish a lighthouse in 1829 and 1848 (the landowners refused to sell), a piece of land on the southern tip was acquired in 1868 by the federal government. The lighthouse built here was the first long-term structure built on the island. According to Randall Mason in North Brother Island, The Last Unknown Place in New York City, the small lighthouse had a mansard roof and an octagonal tower. Today, Mason rates, “traces of the lighthouse and federally owned property remain.”
7 North Brother Island Was Considered a Success For Infectious Disease Control
Nurse’s residence By 1881, plans were underway to create an infectious disease hospital on North Brother Island. This new hospital would take on the operations of Riverside Hospital, an existing hospital on Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island). It treated ailments such as typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and smallpox.
While there was controversy over the practices of the institution, both medically and socially, Mason writes, “North Brother Island worked. It protected the city from pestilence. The threat and fear of infectious diseases were great, and Riverside Hospital was essential to treating it in terms of the new science and policies of public health.”
Cities like Philadelphia looked at New York City’s solution as an example. Photographer and reformer Jacob Riis was also a supporter of the undertakings at Riverside Hospital, finding it peaceful and effective, and felt, as Mason writes, “exile to North Brother Island was necessary to protect the city and well worth the cost, both social and financial.”
6 Typhoid Mary Died on North Brother Island
After the initial success in controlling epidemics in New York City, North Brother Island “soon became a place of moral compromise, lax care, and anti-immigrant discrimination,” Mason writes. The infamous Typhoid Mary (aka Mary Mellon) was a figure who epitomized the island’s challenges and forthcoming decline. She was a healthy carrier of typhus and worked as a cook for the upper classes of New York.
She infected more than twenty people and was first sent to North Brother Island from 1907 to 1910. She was released on the condition that she would not work as a cook, but she continued to do so under an alias and infected more people. She was sent back for life from 1915 until her death in 1938. She lived in a small house built just for her so that she could be in complete isolation. In the book Fever, Mary Beth Keane writes, “I really believe that, if she had infected a tenement with hundreds of people in it, and far more deaths had been the result, she wouldn’t have been put in the position she was in, working as she did for a wealthy family.”
5 In the Early 1900s, 25% of the Island Was Landfill
Four acres of land were added to the eastern side of North Brother Island in 1909, accounting for 25% of the total island. Dormitories and other buildings were constructed on top of this fill. As Christopher Payne tells us, he finished shooting photography for the bookshortly after Hurricane Sandy, when much of the landfill eroded away.
4 The General Slocum Sunk Offshore Causing the Largest Loss of Life Until 9/11
Until the events of September 11th, the sinking of the General Slocum was responsible for the largest loss of life in New York City. The tragedy forever changed the composition of the Lower East Side. On June 15, 1904, St. Mark’s Evangelical Church chartered a boat, the General Slocum, to take 1,358 members of its German-American congregation for a fun-filled day on the water and on a Long Island beach.
Not far from shore, a fire burst out on board and quickly consumed the ship. The combination of faulty lifeboats and life jackets, a panicked crowd of non-swimmers, and a cowardly crew that sought their own escape first led to mayhem and death. The crisis was made worse by the captain’s refusal to bring the burning ship to shore, ostensibly to prevent the fire from spreading. The unfortunate timing of the fire occurred while the boat was in Hell Gate’s notoriously rough waters.
The General Slocum sank just off North Brother Island, with victims and debris washing up on shore. The staff of the hospitals of the island served as rescue staff for the event. 1,021 people died either by fire or drowning that day, with only a few hundred surviving. The disaster also devastated the large German-American population on the Lower East Side.
3 North Brother Island Served as Post-WWII Housing for Veterans
North Brother Island had declined in importance as a medical institution as scientific advancements and new ideas for care emerged in the years leading up to World War II. Faced with the housing crisis following the war, the government leased land and buildings on the island to house returning veterans. It should also be noted that after World War I, North Brother treated veterans with drug addictions. A ferry system was set up to bring veterans to the city’s universities to complete their education or for work.
A small village emerged, replete with amenities like a grocery store, library, and movie theater – not too dissimilar from Governors Island later, which had a Burger King and a motel. About 500 people lived on North Brother Island, and Mason writes that the “island population may have reached 1,500 at its peak in the late 1940s.”
Those who lived here during this time, some who came to speak to Christopher Payne and share their mementos after the release of his book, say it was an idyllic time. This was not to last, however.
2. North Brother Island Was a Drug Treatment Facility
In the 1950s and 1960s, drug abuse came to the forefront as a major public health issue. In 1952, the Tuberculosis Pavilion and other buildings were repurposed as drug treatment facilities, with isolation returning as a preferred method of treatment. Graffiti that can still be seen on the walls of buildings today showcase the difficulty of patients on the island during this time.
1. It is Now a Bird Sanctuary It’s an urban explorer’s dream to get to North Brother Island, which now serves as a bird sanctuary. Both North and South Brother islands make up the Harbor Herons Preserve, part of a “nationally recognized complex of uninhabited islands and expansive marshes essential for shorebirds, located right here in New York City.”
The islands are managed by the New York City Parks and Recreation Department. If you aren’t part of the lucky few who have gained access for research or other reasons directly through the Parks Department, your chances of (legally) getting onto the island are slim. We got lucky on a canoe trip back in 2015 and were brought ashore by a surprise stop with an Urban park Ranger. Check out our photos here!
Bonus: In the 1970s, Casinos Were Proposed for North Brother Island According to Robert Sullivan, two city councilmen in 1971 proposed to build “The Vegas of the East” on North Brother Island. Other suggestions have included prisons and every so often, architecture students dream up visionary plans for the island. A 2015 study, announced by New York City councilman Mark Levine and undertaken by PennPraxis, was the closest to restoring public access.
Presenting: Conversations in City History
Monday, April 13, 2026, 6:30 pm “Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen” Author Bonnie Yochelson will discuss with moderator Judith Berdy about how a woman who grew up in the Gilded Age, when the term “lesbian” did not yet exist, challenged the conservative ideals of Staten Island high society. She will explain, as does her book, the role of photography in Alice Austen’s journey of self discovery, embrace of feminism and involvement in a loving lesbian partnership.
Monday, May 11, 2026, 6:30 pm “Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Queens” When preservationist and author Jeffrey A. Kroessler passed away in 2023, his wife, architect Laura Heim, selected the images for his book and saw it through publication. She has generously agreed to be interviewed on this seminal historical work that charts how politics, industry, transportation, government and real estate interests all shaped New York’s borough of extraordinary ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity.
Monday, June 8, 2026, 6:30 pm “The Killing Fields of East New York” Author Stacy Horn (also writer of “Damnation Island,” about 19th-century Blackwell’s Island) has chronicled how the subprime mortgage scandal of the 1970s and a long history of white-collar crime slowly destroyed the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. She will share her compelling investigative journalism in a conversation about the area’s fair housing, race, violence and misplaced city priorities.
JUST ADDED: Monday, September 14, 2026, 6:30 pm “Louis I. Kahn The Last Notebook Edited By Sue Ann Kahn An intimate record of Kahn’s musings on design, coupled with preparatory drawings of his monumental last project
Published in honor of the 50th anniversary of his death in March 1974, this two-volume set contains a facsimile of the notebook in which Louis Kahn drew and wrote during his last year of life, alongside a second volume of scholarly commentary and transliterations of his musings. Anchored by a magnificent set of preparatory drawings for his monument to Franklin Roosevelt in New York City, the notebook provides an intimate glimpse into private sketches of Kahn’s final projects and his poetic reflections on thematic preoccupations, such as “Silence to Light,” “Form and Design,” “Society of Rooms” and “Desire to Express.” Each volume is in a vellum sleeve and both are housed together in a transparent slipcase. Born in Estonia, Louis Kahn (1901-74) immigrated with his family to Philadelphia when he was four years old. Kahn received Beaux-Arts training at the University of Pennsylvania, under the French-educated Paul Philippe Cret, and then adopted his own idiosyncratic modernism, which would engender the heterogeneous “Philadelphia school.” His architectural career did not take off until later in life; he attained his first major commission to design Yale University’s Art Gallery in 1951. Upon its completion, Kahn received many international commissions, and he developed a signature style that was monumental, monolithic and transparent in its functionality. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal.
THE ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
6:30 p.m. 504 Main Street
We had a tech error yesterdayAbove are the two volumes of “The Last Notebook”.
Save the Dates April 25-26 POMEROY FOUNDATION HISTORIC MARKER WEEKEND CELBRATION
Photo Judith Berdy
OUR CHAPEL IS IN TERRIBLE CONDITION
BROKEN CHAIRS, PATCHED UP FLOORS,WIRES OVER THE PLACE, MILK CARTON STORAGE!
THE CONDITION OF THE CHAPEL IS DISGRACEFUL.
RIOC IS A POOR GUARDIAN OF OUR HISTORIC CHAPEL.
THE LOWER LEVEL IS ALSO IN NEED OF MAJOR REPAIRS
LET’S GET GOING AND THOROUGHLY CLEAN AND REPAIR OUR LANDMARK BUILDING.
CREDITS
JUDITH BERDY UNTAPPED NEW YORK
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Monday, April 13, 2026, 6:30 pm “Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen” Author Bonnie Yochelson will discuss with moderator Judith Berdy about how a woman who grew up in the Gilded Age, when the term “lesbian” did not yet exist, challenged the conservative ideals of Staten Island high society. She will explain, as does her book, the role of photography in Alice Austen’s journey of self discovery, embrace of feminism and involvement in a loving lesbian partnership.
Monday, May 11, 2026, 6:30 pm “Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Queens” When preservationist and author Jeffrey A. Kroessler passed away in 2023, his wife, architect Laura Heim, selected the images for his book and saw it through publication. She has generously agreed to be interviewed on this seminal historical work that charts how politics, industry, transportation, government and real estate interests all shaped New York’s borough of extraordinary ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity.
Monday, June 8, 2026, 6:30 pm “The Killing Fields of East New York” Author Stacy Horn (also writer of “Damnation Island,” about 19th-century Blackwell’s Island) has chronicled how the subprime mortgage scandal of the 1970s and a long history of white-collar crime slowly destroyed the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. She will share her compelling investigative journalism in a conversation about the area’s fair housing, race, violence and misplaced city priorities.
JUST ADDED: Monday, September 14, 2026, 6:30 pm “Louis I. Kahn The Last Notebook Edited By Sue Ann Kahn An intimate record of Kahn’s musings on design, coupled with preparatory drawings of his monumental last project
Published in honor of the 50th anniversary of his death in March 1974, this two-volume set contains a facsimile of the notebook in which Louis Kahn drew and wrote during his last year of life, alongside a second volume of scholarly commentary and transliterations of his musings. Anchored by a magnificent set of preparatory drawings for his monument to Franklin Roosevelt in New York City, the notebook provides an intimate glimpse into private sketches of Kahn’s final projects and his poetic reflections on thematic preoccupations, such as “Silence to Light,” “Form and Design,” “Society of Rooms” and “Desire to Express.” Each volume is in a vellum sleeve and both are housed together in a transparent slipcase. Born in Estonia, Louis Kahn (1901-74) immigrated with his family to Philadelphia when he was four years old. Kahn received Beaux-Arts training at the University of Pennsylvania, under the French-educated Paul Philippe Cret, and then adopted his own idiosyncratic modernism, which would engender the heterogeneous “Philadelphia school.” His architectural career did not take off until later in life; he attained his first major commission to design Yale University’s Art Gallery in 1951. Upon its completion, Kahn received many international commissions, and he developed a signature style that was monumental, monolithic and transparent in its functionality. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal.
THE ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
6:30 p.m.
504 Main Street
Save the Dates April 25-26 POMEROY FOUNDATION HISTORIC MARKER WEEKEND CELBRATION
Photo Judith Berdy
OUR CHAPEL IS IN TERRIBLE CONDITION
BROKEN CHAIRS, PATCHED UP FLOORS,WIRES OVER THE PLACE, MILK CARTON STORAGE!
THE CONDITION OF THE CHAPEL IS DISGRACEFUL.
RIOC IS A POOR GUARDIAN OF OUR HISTORIC CHAPEL.
THE LOWER LEVEL IS ALSO IN NEED OF MAJOR REPAIRSLET’S GET GOING AND THOROUGHLY CLEAN AND REPAIR OUR LANDMARK BUILDING. CREDIT
JUDITH BERDY
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
In 1903, Ashkenazi Jews in Ukraine suffered systemic discrimination and severe poverty. Brutally enforcing residency laws, officers conducted nighttime raids and expelled those who lacked proper paperwork. A wave of (state-sanctioned) antisemitic attacks throughout the Russian Empire caused panic and displacement.
Born in Lysianka, near Kyiv, Bern Dibner (1897-1988) was the youngest of eight children. He was seven years old on arrival in Manhattan.
That same year Stuyvesant High School opened its doors in the East Village, Manhattan’s first “manual training” school for boys. Once set up at its permanent location at 345 East 15th Street (where it stayed until 1992), it was New York’s first high school to focus on the sciences.
Many sons of first-generation immigrants were taught at the Stuyvesant which offered them a gateway of opportunity to overcome language barriers, qualify, and make their way into society.
Bern Dibner was one of those students, before continuing his schooling at the Hebrew Technical Institute.
Born in Manchester in December 1854, Henry Marcus Leipziger was an educator whose family (of German origin) had emigrated to America in his childhood.
Having studied at City University and Columbia, he founded the Hebrew Technical Institute in January 1884 and acted as its director until 1891.
The school aimed at providing vocational education for Jewish immigrants. Starting at 206 East Broadway, and after several relocations, the school finally moved to premises at 34/6 Stuyvesant Street.
There is some irony in the fact that Peter Stuyvesant’s name is associated with two institutions that helped Jewish integration.
In 1654, the Governor had tried to prevent access to a group of Sephardic refugees into New Amsterdam after their escape from Recife following the Portuguese reconquest of Dutch Brazil (Nieuw Holland).
This marked the end of a brief 24-year period from 1630 to 1654 of religious freedom under Dutch rule, during which the first synagogue in the Americas, Kahal Zur Israel, was established in Brazil.
After working as an electrician and being injured, he used a small settlement to continue his studies. He matriculated at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, graduating in 1921 with a cum laude degree in electrical engineering.
Dibner started his career at the Adirondack Power & Light Company, a major utility with operations in Amsterdam, NY, featuring large infrastructure projects.
In 1923, the Electric Bond & Share Company employed him for an assignment to unify Cuba’s system on a single grid. He developed and patented a connector to link previously incompatible transmission lines.
A year later he set up a partnership with his brother-in-law, naming it Burndy (“Bern D.”) Company with a small office at Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street. Business took off rapidly; the Burndy Corporation was eventually listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Financially secure, Dibner retired from active management to pursue scholarly interests. Reading a chapter on Leonardo da Vinci in Stuart Chase’s Men and Machines (1929), he became intrigued by this extraordinary dual talent of creator and engineer.
In 1930 he enrolled at the University of Zurich where he studied history with a focus on Renaissance culture and technology.
Why Zurich? The University had been the intellectual home of Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897), the greatest Renaissance scholar of his time and the legacy endured. Dibner received the spark.
The History of Science discipline had manifested itself during the late nineteenth century by charting the modern world’s rise as driven by technology.
The word “scientist” has an equally brief history. In 1834, Cambridge academic William Whewell put the word into print when reviewing Mary Somerville’s study On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences.
He argued that the unity of science, and hence knowledge of the material world, had fragmented with the splintering of research into specialisms. He proposed the introduction of the word “scientist” (an analogue to “artist”) to bring back linguistic cohesion into scholarship.
In Britain, academics resisted the idea and stuck to the (gendered) term “man of science.”
Whilst the British debate endured into the twentieth century, in America the term “scientist” was adopted much quicker. By the 1870s it was in routine use.
In fact, the word was so common that many linguists assumed it to be an Americanism. Proof to purists that the term was illegitimate.
Collector & Legacy
Bern’s passionate curiosity led to a love for manuscripts and rare books as physical records of scientific progression. Over the years he assembled what became the pre-eminent American collection of materials on the history of science.
Available to scholars and bibliophiles, the volumes were stored in dedicated rooms at the Burndy Corporation’s headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut, and later in the specially designed Burndy Library.
In 1955, Dibner selected two hundred titles to highlight achievements in technology, biology, and medicine. That year he published Heralds of Science, a catalogue of “epochal books and pamphlets… in the Burndy Library that were instrumental in establishing our age of science.”
The book celebrated the 500th anniversary of the invention of printing from moveable type by Johannes Gutenberg.
Although aimed at a wide audience of non-historians, the scholarship that went into annotating his selection of titles showed the depth of Dibner’s historical knowledge. In his introduction he admitted that his choice was, inevitably, arbitrary.
In the following years, Dibner donated parts of the collection to various institutions, gradually dissolving the Burndy Library.
A considerable number of books went to the Smithsonian where a wing was named for him, while another part moved to the Huntington Library, California.
Dibner also supported his alma mater, the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, which in turn created the Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology, serving today as a resource for New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering.
Manuscripts & Incunabula
The Smithsonian was the main beneficiary of Dibner’s generosity, receiving some ten thousand rare books and manuscripts in 1974, including most of the Heralds of Science, except for those already held at the institution.
The gift contained an astonishing 320 incunabula (documents produced with movable type at the transition from manuscript to printed book), including such landmarks as Pliny’s Historia naturalis (Venice 1469), considered the first printed science book; De re militari (Verona 1472) by Valturius, the first printed book to contain scientific illustrations; and Aristotle’s Organon, (Venice 1495/8), the first edition of his complete works in Greek.
Dibner stressed the importance of manuscripts as research tools in addition to printed literature. Whether hand-copied texts of ancient learning, letters exchanged between scientists, or lecture notes, they all contribute to the scope of scholarly research.
He assembled a diversity of documents associated with Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Benjamin Franklin, Alessandro Volta, or Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen.
As a collector, he literally “hunted” for materials. By acquiring the collection of Czech engineer Armin Weiner, he secured Alfred Einstein’s handwritten summary of the Theory of Relativity.
He also bought the library of Vito Volterra, the outstanding Italian mathematician, physicist, and Mussolini-opponent. His interest went beyond just manuscripts or books: in 1965 he added a hundred early light bulbs to his monumental collection.
Although a prominent entrepreneur and intellectual, the past came back to haunt him. In the post-war period, the American Jewish community and other minorities faced discrimination in higher education.
In 1948 Brandeis University at Waltham, Massachusetts, was founded as a non-sectarian research university, welcoming students of all backgrounds and beliefs.
Named for Louis Dembitz Brandeis, the first Jewish justice of the Supreme Court, the institution focused on undergraduate education, while building a pioneering research enterprise.
Dibner took a personal interest in the formation of its library and became a major contributor. Donations included materials related to the work of Leonardo da Vinci as well as 150 documents chronicling scientific discoveries over the centuries.
Among these rare texts was a 1613 edition of Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari, Galileo Galilei’s treatise on sunspots published in Rome which includes forty-four full-page illustrations and a fine portrait of the author by Assisi-born engraver Francesco Villamena.
Two Cultures
The traumatized child who had fled with his Jewish parents from Kyiv to Manhattan facing a foreign language and an alien socio-cultural environment, made his way up the economic ladder from a simple electrician to the founder of a major company actively involved in building New York City’s modern infrastructure.
Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci and Renaissance ideals, he also pushed forward a debate about the balance – or lack thereof – between the humanities and sciences (what physicist and novelist C.P. Snow would name the dichotomy of “Two Cultures”).
Intellectual life divided into two hostile camps, humanities versus sciences, prevents effective action on global problems and issues. The discussion today is more urgent than it has ever been.
Having started his life in an underprivileged and marginalized segment of Manhattan’s population, Dibner would eventually outsmart the nation’s “best and brightest.”
He considered his career a “gift to the nation” which had granted him education and opportunity. This is what should direct our reflections on immigration, but the reality is different.
In December 2025 antisemitic slurs and symbols as well as racist graffiti targeting other minorities were found in a study room at Brooklyn’s Dibner Library. The concrete walls of division are re-erected under our eyes.
Save the Dates April 25-26 POMEROY FOUNDATION HISTORIC MARKER WEEKEND CELBRATION
Photo Judith Berdy
First sign of spring A Robin outside the Kiosk
CREDITS
NEW YORK ALMANACK
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Coler’s Memory Care Units are such special places. These untis have won many awards for the care provided and the approach taken to residents with various memory needs. I will be sending information on how to visit Coler and learn more about the Memory Care Units.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler Memory Care Unit celebrates the 112th Birthday of Resident Carmen Augustin, along with family members.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler honored Carmen Augustin marking her 112th birthday celebration. Augustin is the oldest long-term care resident across the health system’s five skilled nursing facilities, and among the city’s oldest living New Yorkers. Born 1914 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Augustin spent most of her early adulthood managing a local market and teaching young children after school. She immigrated to the United States in 1984, joining her sister in Queens, New York.
Augustin has lived through significant historical events from the rise of aviation, the Spanish flu pandemic, World Wars, 19 United States Presidents, the transformative advancements of the phone, computer, artificial intelligence, among many others. In 2010, Augustin was welcomed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler and has resided there ever since. She enjoys singing in French and Creole with the residents and staff in its award-winning memory care unit, and spending time with her family.
Coler CEO Nataliya Yakovleva presents mayoral proclamation to Carmen Augustin and family
As part of the celebration, Ms. Augustin received a special message from the Office of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recognizing her as one of the City’s oldest living New Yorkers and proclaiming March 24, 2026, as “Carmen Augustin Day”:
“Carmen is an authentic New Yorker, embodying the bold and radiant soul that defines the five boroughs. She stands not only as a living testament to the strength and enduring triumph of the human spirit, but also to the great pinnacle of joy and personal fulfillment that can be achieved here as well.”
“In her lifetime, Ms. Augustin has touched the lives of so many generations and built an inspiring legacy rooted in love and resilience. Our Coler Memory Care community is proud to be among her many chapters, and we look forward to more singing, dancing, and celebrating future birthdays,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler Chief Executive Officer Nataliya Yakovleva, LNHA, LMSW.
Grandnephew Joseph Baron and Grandniece Marie Baron present birthday cake to Carmen Augustin.
“Celebrating Carmen Augustin’s remarkable 112th birthday is a powerful reminder of the strength, resilience, and rich life experiences that define our communities. From her early years in Haiti to building a life here in New York, Carmen’s story reflects the enduring spirit of generations who have shaped our city. As Chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging, I am deeply committed to ensuring that every older New Yorker is treated with dignity, respect, and the highest quality of care. I am especially grateful to the dedicated staff at NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler for providing compassionate, person-centered care that allows residents like Carmen to continue to thrive, connect, and celebrate life’s milestones. We honor Carmen today not only for her longevity, but for the joy, culture, and legacy she shares with all of us,” said New York StateAssembly Member Rebecca Seawright, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging.
“Carmen has been surrounded by the unwavering care and compassion of the Coler Memory Care Unit (MCU) team, who have developed a profound and heartfelt connection with her,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler Associate Director of Nursing Deepa Vinoo, DNP, RN. “Their dedication and warmth make her 112th birthday even more remarkable, and they are deeply honored to celebrate this incredible milestone alongside her.”
“At 112 years young, Carmen reminds us every day why individualized engagement matters,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler Activity Therapist Christopher Wittman, CDP. “By focusing on the music and activities she loves, we create a therapeutic space that honors her life-long journey. Our award-winning approach to memory care is built on the belief that honoring a resident’s unique spirit is the key to true resilience.”
Carmen Augustin c. 1960 (Photo Credit: Baron Family)
“Today, we celebrated my aunt’s 112th birthday, which is a testament to her strength and love for life. She would always tell us that her goal was to reach 115 years, and we’re confident she will get there with the love and support of those around her,” said Marie Baron, Grandniece of Resident Carmen Augustin.
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IN 1986, I REMEMBER WATCHING THE CLASS B TALL SHIPS SAIL PAST ROOSEVELT ISLAND ON THE DAY BEFORE THE TALL SHIPS SAILED ON THE HUDSON. IT WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE AND ONE I REMEMBER.
PLAN TO BE ON THE ISLAND TO WATCH THIS FUN SAIL-BY. JUDY BERDY
NEW YORK HARBOR FESTIVAL “77 PARADE OF SAIL PAINTING BY LETIZIA PITIGLIANS ASSOCIATION FOR A BETTER NEW YORK PRESS RELEASE SENT LAST OCTOBER:
America’s 250th, Over 50 Class A and Class B Tall Ships From 30 Nations Set to Sail Into New York Harbor July 3-4, 2026 In what is shaping up to be the most significant maritime event in the nation’s history, more than 50 Class A and Class B tall ships from 30 countries have committed to participate in the NY/NJ region’s plans to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary. These majestic sailing vessels will join another 50 allied and U.S. gray-hulled ships, the Queen Mary 2, and thousands of pleasure boats, on the water from the Verrazzano Bridge to the George Washington Bridge for Sail4th 250.
The Class A tall ships, which are used by foreign governments as Naval training vessels and goodwill ambassadors, will hail from all corners of the globe. They include ships from Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Marshall Islands, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay, and America’s own USCG Barque Eagle (pictured above), which will lead the Parade of Sail on July 4, 2026. Other nations are still expected to dispatch their tall ships to New York for this historic, maritime spectacle.
“We expect the Semiquincentennial celebration in New York to surpass the previous historic OpSail events from 1964,1976, 1986, 1986, 1992, 2000, and 2012,” noted Chris O’Brien, president of Sail4th 250, the non-profit, non-partisan organization behind New York and New Jersey’s on-the-water plans for the 250th. “With 250 days to go, we’re in excellent shape to mount what will certainly be a highlight of the many celebrations taking place around the nation. I’d like to thank I LOVE NY and NYC Tourism + Conventions for their continued support.”
Ross Levi, Executive Director of the New York State Division of Tourism at Empire State Development said, “Sail4th is going to be a tentpole in America’s commemoration of its 250th anniversary, and the anticipation here in New York is only growing with just 250 days to go to this once in a lifetime event. I LOVE NY is proud to be supporting the flotilla and continues to make the invitation to visitors from across the globe to come be a part of Sail4th and all the other America 250 events happening statewide that will show guests that everything they love is waiting for them here in New York State.”
The New York celebration calls for a July 3rd parade of the smaller, but equally impressive Class B tall ships down the East River. The next morning, the majestic Class A international tall ships will sail from the Verrazzano Bridge, past the Statue of Liberty, up the Hudson River to the GW Bridge and beyond.
Eight million spectators are expected to line the shores of New York and New Jersey. They will also witness an International Naval Review (INR250) featuring the gray-hulled vessels, an unprecedented aerial review led by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels, and the massive Macy’s fireworks display that evening. The U.S. Navy’s Fleet Week will be moved to coincide with the six-day celebration in New York.
An NYC Economic Development Corp (EDC) study projects a $2.85 billion windfall for New York City from direct, indirect, and induced impacts from both event operations and visitor spending. Sail4th 250 is supported through a Market New York grant awarded by Empire State Development and I LOVE NY, New York State’s Division of Tourism.
NBCUniversal Local is a media partner of Sail4th 250. Through the partnership, NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations will present Sail4th 250 content across TV, streaming and digital platforms nationwide, highlighted by live coverage of the International Parade of Sail on July 4, 2026, which will also be featured during NBC’s TODAY and on Telemundo’s national morning programming.
“As we reach another significant milestone counting down to America’s 250th anniversary, the anticipation for our national celebration continues to expand, along with the expectations for the maritime festivities being organized by Sail4th 250 in New York,” said Valari Staab, Chairman of NBCUniversal Local. “We are proud to partner with Sail4th 250 and excited to bring this momentous spectacle to audiences nationwide in July.”
Once the Tall Ships are berthed in and around New York City, they will be open for free public visitation until July 8. Visitors should note that stepping aboard one of these international Naval vessels is akin to stepping on foreign soil. Passports, however, will not be required.
About Sail4th 250
Sail4th, the New York and New Jersey component of Sail 250, a five-port consortium creating tall ship events in New Orleans, Norfolk, Baltimore and Boston, is the official high-profile international tall ship and government project formed to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States. As a major component of a nationwide endeavor, Sail4th 250 will host tall ships over the weekend of July 4, 2026. The six-day celebration will be the culmination of a multi-year platform of storytelling, events and diverse celebrations around the nation.
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Photo Judith Berdy
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In 1908, while attending Syracuse University, Alice Mabel Allen (1886-1976) kept a diary which is being published each week. In this week’s entries Mabel and her friends play college pranks on each other. She also remarks on the laying of the cornerstone of the Archibold Gymnasium and the impending execution of Chester Gillette for murder.
Monday, March 23
Had examples in equalities and I only did one and did not even finish that. I have not been able to do any of them and will probably get about a zero on the work. Helen came down to study but we both felt too tired. After dinner sewed lace on corset cover and finished it to-night. Lu and I went downstreet at 4:30; did some errands and went to Vespers. Bought chocolates for Jean and ate some of them on way home. Paid tuition to-day. Lu in drawing library plan. Learned Shakespeare passages to-day.
Tuesday, March 24
A letter from Edna, so I wrote to her this afternoon. After English I went over to the library and studied Trig with Helen Beattie. During that period the corner stone to the new gym was laid. Elocution to-day. Studied Latin this afternoon. Pressed my black skirt. Studied Shakespeare and went down to the castle with Miss Minch. Dr. Hearst spoke on the relation of morality to religion, saying that religion must be moral. After supper we danced and I walked around the block with Cassie. I have not been able to study at all to-night.
Wednesday, March 25
Staid after math for conference. Did not get up early this morning. Have not had any letters this week but the Journal comes to-morrow. After dinner Lu and I had a light hand to hand contest. At 4:30 she and I walked downstreet. Went to Vespers at St. Paul’s. After supper we danced and Cassie and I stacked Christine and Fuzzie’s room. We hid in Leta’s room and listened thru the register. They all mistrusted me at once. We went for a walk and then met the girls and went up to the mass meeting for baseball. It was not particularly inspiring. I bought some peanuts and Lu came in while we ate them.
Thursday, March 26
Letters from Mary Wick, Rollin, one from mother this afternoon, and the paper [Jefferson County Journal]. Did not feel well–achy all over. Wrote up Roman History notes, studied Latin. Lu came in and we lay down together. Dressed for dinner and while eating Fuzzie stacked the room. Pulled everything out of the closet, the clothes off the bed and emptied some of my drawers. I cleaned it up and have not said a word about it. After supper Grace, Harriet, Cassie, Lu and I went walking. Was faint when I came back and could not study.
Friday, March 27
Did not do math until after Eng. III. After Latin went over to the library and studied Hamlet. Lost track of the time and was late for supper. Danced. Went in Jean’s room to study Shakespeare but did not accomplish much. Took a warm bath and tried to finish studying in here but the girls came in and piled onto the bed. Fuzzie had some fudge and we all fooled around in the hall until late. For some reason, I was wide awake.
Saturday, March 28
Quiz in Shakespeare which I thot was fair but I found out afterwards most people thot it was stiff. Had a dandy letter from [older sister] Dora, the first in a long time. She told about the battle between [Stanford] students and town [?] over carousing, Cleaned the room and changed furniture about. After dinner washed and went with Leta Osgoodby over to West Genesee hospital. She took me into Schrafft’s and then we walked home. After supper I walked with Fuzzie and Lillian. Lillian bought caramels and so I ate and studied Latin. Went to sleep, however. Slept alone.
Sunday, March 29
Harriet came in and we read the Ladies’ Home Journal in bed. Sang in parlor after breakfast. At the table we had quite a discussion about the Shaw and Gillette cases. Wrote letters home, to Alma and Dora. Harriet in here to make bulletins. Read this afternoon and went down to Vespers with Lu and Harry. The usher took us way up front and we had a funny time. After lunch Lu and I went for a long walk. Now I am going to bed and Lillian will hear me say poems. My eyes are getting bad again.
[The Gillette case refers to the highly publicized execution of Chester Gillette
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nycurbanism
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The 309-foot New York World Building (officially known as the Pulitzer Building) was the tallest skyscraper in the world when it opened in 1890. Located on Newspaper Row (today’s Park Row) across from City Hall and next to the Tribune, Times, Herald, and Sun newspaper buildings, it served as an office building and vertical factory, with newspaper production starting in the tower’s dome – under the publisher Joseph Pulitzer’s direction – with photoengraving, editorial and reportorial staff meeting and compiling photographs and news stories in the sun-light upper floors. Production then traveled down to the linotype composing room, then to the giant presses in the cellar, where newsprint paper making machines printed 48,000 8-page papers per hour. Paperboys waited outside on the curb for the cut, pasted and folded papers to be distributed.
Designed by architect George B. Post (NY Stock Exchange) the skyscraper featured an ornate red sandstone facade. The dome at the top of the world housed a public observation deck where visitors could ascend a flight of stairs to a cupola where they would be greeted with a 360-degree view of the city.By the mid-19th Century, the newspaper buildings had moved from Park Row, with the Herald going to 34th Street (Herald Sq) and the Times going to 42nd Street (Times Sq). But in January of 1953, the New York Times reported the fateful news for the World Building, which neighbored the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge: “The doom of the historic World Building at 63 Park Row was forecast yesterday as the City Planning Commission approved a $5,266,000 plan drafted by Manhattan Borough President Robert F. Wagner Jr. for rearrangement and reconstruction of the street system at the Manhattan plaza of the Brooklyn Bridge.”
In 1955 the building was demolished to make way for an on-ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge. The iconic Tribune Building next door would also be demolished to make way for the Brutalist Pace University.
World Building elevation drawing
World Building demolition, 1955. Tribune Building on the right before demolition.
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April 25-26 POMEROY FOUNDATION HISTORIC MARKER WEEKEND CELBRATION
Photo Judith Berdy
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With Your Membership Fill out form below or join online at: RIHS.US with Paypal
CREDITS
nycurbanism
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
the pot of daffodils I had ordered sent. Went over to the library and read the [?see insert] of The Wayfarers. To-night wrote up Roman Hist notes in Lu’s room. Jean came in. Went to sleep in there. Three of girls have gone home.
North Brother Island has been off-limits for more than 60 years.
