Calyo’s New York: Vistas and Vendors of the mid-1800s | Episode 251

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

In 1835, Naples-born painter Nicolino Calyo arrived in New York, and over the next 20 years, he produced a body of work that captured both the grandeur and minutia of city life. An experienced landscape painter, one of his first works was also one of the grandest—a series of paintings of the great fire of December 16–17, 1835, which would build his fame in America and lead to a number of touring exhibitions, including large-scale panoramas, a popular entertainment of the era. He also produced over 100 paintings of street vendors, and invaluable catalogue of the sidewalk economy of 1840s New York. In this virtual program, we will discuss Calyo’s life and career, and examine some of his most notable works, large and small.

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Machines and Tools: Printing Technology with Woodside Press | BCAP at Home

Typeface collection at Woodside Press at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

How did people print newspapers and books before the age of computers? Join this virtual program to learn about the history of printing technology with Woodside Press at the Brooklyn Navy Yard! We’ll virtually visit their workshop, which is like stepping back in time, and see how they use tools and machinery that are over a hundred years old that still work great today. We will share tips for how children and families can do their own printmaking at home using paper, paint, potatoes, cauliflower, and other objects.

This free family virtual program is part of Brooklyn Public Library’s Brooklyn Cultural Adventures Program

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Bowne & Co.: Letterpress Printing in 19th-Century New York | Episode 110

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

Bowne & Co., Stationers opened their doors at the South Street Seaport Museum in 1975, 200 years after Robert Bowne founded his shop across the street on Queen Lane. Today Bowne & Co., continues the tradition of 19th-century letterpress printing. This virtual program with Art Director Rob Wilson – co-hosted with Stefan Dreisbach Williams from the home of Robert Bowne’s ancestors, the 1661 Bowne House in Flushing, Queens – investigates the changing role that stationery and printing offices played in New York City, and the ways in which Bowne & Co., uses its collection of 34 printing presses, and more than 2,400 cases of movable type in contemporary ways today.

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Explore Traditional Letterpress Printing at Woodside Press on an Inside Industry Tour

Mergenthaler Linotype Machine at Woodside Press at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Woodside Press is one of our featured Brooklyn Navy Yard tenants on our Making It In NYC: Inside Industry at the Brooklyn Navy Yard tour series. This past winter, we visited the letterpress printshop to learn about their company and the unique services they offer. Woodside was founded back in 1993 by Andy Birsh in Woodside, Queens (hence the name), and in 1998 moved into their space in Building 3 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We were shown around the print shop by Davin Kuntze, who has been with the company for more than 10 years.>> Continue reading