Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 Turns 10 | Episode 252

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Photo of the lobby of BLGD 92 showing a large anchor and visitor services desk with a staff member and group of visitors gathered around it

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 opened its doors on Veterans Day 2011, 11/11/11, making it the first publicly-accessible building at the Yard in over a century, and the first in a series of projects that have pushed back Yard’s walls. BLDG 92 was created to be the public gateway, containing not only the museum of the Yard’s history and contemporary story, but serving as a hub for educational and public programs, and brining the Yard’s Employment Center closer to the community. On this virtual tour of BLDG 92 and its exhibits, we will look at how this project was realized, what the exhibits tell us about the Yard’s story, what is missing from that interpretation 10 years on, and how the Yard engages the public today through different sites and programs.

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Veterans Day in Prospect Park: Commemorating the Great War | Episode 160

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A statue of a soldier who stands clutching his gun and looking off into the distance as an angel begins to wrap her wing and arm around him

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

More than 2,800 Brooklynites were killed in World War I, and Prospect Park quickly became one of the borough’s key points of remembrance and commemoration. On this virtual walking tour for Veterans Day, we will explore some of the memorial sites in the park and they people they memorialize, including the memorial trees along Prospect Park West, Bartel-Pritchard Square, and the striking 1921 memorial by Henry Augustus Lukeman. We will also discuss the ways in which the park was mobilized and transformed as a result of the war.

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Listening to WWII: Voices from the Brooklyn Navy Yard | Episode 159

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PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

On the eve of Veterans Day, join us as we explore Brooklyn’s homefront during World War II through the experiences of those who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Center for Brooklyn History archivists Amy Lau and Mary Mann team up with Turnstile Tours’ Andrew Gustafson to lead us on an intimate journey that weaves together oral history clips from CBH’s Brooklyn Navy Yard collection, excerpts of letters to loved ones overseas, and photographs of the Yard and its workers. These first-hand stories, primarily from women and people of color, bring to life the WWII efforts of those who remained at home.

This program is presented by the Center for Brooklyn History of the Brooklyn Public Library.

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Semper Fi on Flatbush: US Marine Corps in Brooklyn, 1807–1975 | Episode 158

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PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

November 10 marks the 245th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, which has had a longstanding presence in Brooklyn, dating back to the first marine guards posted at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1807. This virtual program will highlight important historical moments and the evolving mission of the Corps – from the Draft Riots and Whisky Wars of the 1860’s to the Caribbean interventions of the 1910’s to the Vietnam War – through the lens of the marines stationed here in Brooklyn. We will examine original historical documents and listen to oral histories of marines and their families to better understand the meaning of “Semper Fidelis” – always faithful.

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