This LGBT Pride Month, the Dorot Jewish Division honors the lives and work of LGBT JewishHolocaust survivors. We’ve compiled short biographies of several individuals, with links to related publications and online resources.
With special thanks to Rick Landman, International Association of Lesbian and Gay Children of Holocaust Survivors
Evelyn Torton Beck (1933-) was born in Vienna, Austria, and survived World War II with her family, settling in Brooklyn, New York, where she studied at Brooklyn College, later receiving an M.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a retired professor of Women’s Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland and an activist for Jewish, lesbian and feminist causes. Beck is the award-winning author of several important works, including the pioneeringNice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology and Franz Kafka and the Yiddish Theater: Its Impact on His Work.
Frieda Belinfante (1904-1995) was a musician active in the LGBT resistance movement. Raised in the Netherlands by a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother, she was the first female orchestra conductor in Amsterdam and a pioneer in a male-dominated profession. Frieda participated in resistance activities such as sabotaging Nazi efforts and falsifying documents. She described her life in an oral history interview conducted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and was the subject of a documentary film titled, But I was a girl.
Roman Blank (1920-2017) was Holocaust survivor from Central Poland who came out as a gay man in his 90’s. He was aware of being gay since childhood, but had to hide his sexual orientation. His life was already at risk for being Jewish. After the war, he married a woman from his hometown and started a new family in the United States. Recently, he came out as a gay man and shared his story publicly. Blank is the subject of On My Way Out, a documentary film directed by his grandson, Brandon Gross.
Annette Eick (1909-2010) was born in Berlin and identified as a lesbian from a young age, drawing inspiration from the legendary Sappho for her poetry. Active in the lesbian literary and social scene, she was forced to flee for her life to England in 1938, barely avoiding deportation. Her parents were killed in Auschwitz. In England, she made a new life and was involved in literary circles, later publishing a book of poetry, Immortal Muse. Eick is notable as the only woman to appear in Paragraph 175, a film about Nazi persecution of gay people.
Felix Fibich (1917-2014) was a dancer and actor specializing in Eastern European Jewish dance. Born in Warsaw as Fajwel Goldblatin, he worked as a Yiddish actor. During the Holocaust, his parents perished, and he escaped from the Warsaw ghetto. He married his dance teacher, Judith Berg, herself a renowned choreographer, and spent the remaining war years in the Soviet Union. They later immigrated to the U.S. and also toured internationally. Fibich was was a beloved figure in the world of Jewish dance, as documented in Judith Brin Ingber’s book, Seeing Israeli and Jewish Dance. Watch a humorous clip of his work in a famous TV commercial here. Fibuch is survived by his companion, Jaya Pulami.
Alfred (Al) Munzer (1941- ) was born to Polish-Jewish parents in The Hague, Netherlands, who later moved to Holland to escape antisemitism. During the Holocaust, he was cared for by the Madna family and by Mima Saina, immigrants from Indonesia, who were later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. Ultimately, only he and his mother survived, and they came to the United States in 1958. He chose medicine as his profession, specializing in internal medicine and pulmonary disease. Munzer has been openly gay in his professional life, recently marrying his partner of 30 years. Now retired, Munzer spends much of his time volunteering at the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum and speaking publicly about his wartime experiences. His story is featured in Indonesian Lullaby, a documentary film.
Richard Plant (1916-1998) was a Holocaust survivor, critic and literature professor at City College (City University of New York) and at the New School. Born in Germany and educated in Switzerland, he specialized in Germanic literature. His groundbreaking 1986 book The pink triangle : the Nazi war against homosexualsexplores Nazi persecution of gay men, and to a lesser extent, lesbians. Plant was the author of several books and of a scenario for an opera about Lizzie Borden. His papers are held in NYPL’s Manuscript and Archives Division.
Gertrude Sandmann (1893-1981) was a German-Jewish artist known for her drawings and paintings, and for her activism on behalf of feminist, lesbian, and leftist causes. Sandmann confronted many obstacles throughout her life based on her identity as a Jewish lesbian. During the Nazi period, she was stripped of her rights and targeted for deportation, and survived World War II in hiding in Berlin. Although much of her work was destroyed during the war, she had a rich artistic career for decades afterwards. Her life story is detailed in Days of masquerade : life stories of lesbians during the Third Reich by Claudia Schoppmann.
Thea C. Spyer (1931-2009) was born in Amsterdam and immigrated to the United States during World War II. Earning her Ph.D. at Adelphi University, Spyer was a prominent clinical psychologist. She married Edie Windsor in Canada in 2007. Their relationship of more than 40 years is detailed in a film, Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement. Spyer’s widow, Edie Windsor, later initiated a landmark case overturning DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) in 2013 and granting same-sex couples the right to marry in the United States. The case, led by attorney Roberta Kaplan, is documented in the book Then Comes Marriage : United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA.
There’s not really a “classic” Dad: they’re all over the map in when it comes to style, hobbies, and interests. (Except when it comes to sweeping the garage. Every dad has a gold standard of perfection when it comes to sweeping the garage.) Father’s Day is June 18, and NYPL’s Shop has exactly what you need. (No, it’s not another tie, though we do have them!)
1. For the Dad Who’s an Old Soul
Penned in 1858, Walt Whitman's Guide to Manly Health and Training is a collection of recently-discovered columns and essays the American poet wrote under a pseudonym. Filled with eclectic advice on health, diet, and fashion, it’s a perfect guide for the classic gentleman.
We all need some time to ourselves! For the dad who likes his creature comforts, this NYPL-branded bistro mug is perfect whether he prefers coffee, tea, or cocoa. Pair it with a beautiful leather catch-all, crafted in Italy by Luca Natalzia (see our interview with their co-owner below!). Stamped with NYPL’s vintage logo, the classic design goes with any interior, and keeps necessities like keys and cards at his fingertips.
A perpetual calendar and ruler, this exquisite tool is a beautiful desktop decoration that measures time and space! One side displays the month and day of the week; the other is a 12-inch, brass ruler.
If he’s an avid armchair historian, History by the Meter is the perfect (practical!) gift. From year 0 CE to present day, this ruler lists the major events of 2000 years in as many millimeters. Plus, there’s a colonial-era George Washington’s Rules of Civility, the founding father’s guide to decent behavior. All 110 maxims are brief but powerful rules of etiquette and moral issues, including the timeless, final rule: "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience."
Simple, elegant, and versatile! This leather case, engraved with a vintage NYPL stamp, is another beautiful creation by Luca Natalzia. Designed to carry and protect important items like reading glasses, this Italian design is timeless and endlessly useful.
A Conversation with Laura Natalzia, co-owner of Luca Natalzia
Luca Natalzia is the bindery and design studio that handmakes the Shop’s NYPL-branded journals and accessories.
Where are you from?
We are located in Italy, near Rome.
How did the bindery get started?
The bookbinding workshop is a family-owned company that first opened in 1910.
Who is your biggest design inspiration?
Our inspiration comes from the past. Our journals are inspired by medieval- and Renaissance-era materials and workmanship. But we never forget that we live in the present, and that above all a journal, or a leather object, is meant to last for many years. The past, present, and future must live in every article we craft.
When did you start creating?
It started before me! Our generation is continuing and enhancing the work started by the generation before us. We strive to keep the secrets and passions of those who came before us.
What's your favorite part of creating these items?
Journals! We do bookbinding, bags, and leather accessories, but journals are the most important business for us. We produce about 15-20 new leather designs per year. We express our creativity best through our leather journal collection.
What inspired the NYPL-branded collection?
We visited the Library and were inspired by both its charm and sense of history. The collection was born!
What are you reading now?
A thriller by Italian writer Andrea Camilleri, L’altro capo del filo (The Other End of the Thread).
We're excited to announce the launch of Subway Library, a new initiative between The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library, the MTA, and Transit Wireless that provides subway riders in New York City with free access to hundreds of e-books, excerpts, and short stories—all ready to read on the train.
As part of the Subway Library celebration, don't miss the specially wrapped "Library Train," with the interior designed to look like NYPL's Rose Main Reading Room! The train will alternate running on the E and F lines, running through Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.
How to Access the Subway Library
To access the Subway Library, MTA customers in underground subway stations can connect to the free TransitWirelessWiFi through their network settings and click on the SubwayLibrary.com prompt to start reading from a large selection of titles for all ages. The site was developed with the same technology we used to create our free SimplyE e-reader app.
Take a Photo with the Library Train and Win a Prize
Transit Wireless is giving riders a chance to win prizes—just post a photo with the Library Train or a Subway Library poster using the hashtag #SubwayLibrary and tag @TWWiFi and @MTAtransit on Instagram or Twitter, and you will be automatically entered to win an Amazon Kindle Voyager or a special prize from the NYPL Shop. Share a photo of yourself either near the Subway Library posters— which will appear throughout the system—or while riding the one-of-a-kind wrapped Subway Library train. Two winners will be randomly selected every other week and will be notified via direct message on the social media platform on which they posted. They will also be announced by @TWWiFi across social media. Learn more about the contest from Transit Wireless.
Book Recommendations
So, what's available via the Subway Library?
We have the first chapters of popular books—enough for a train trip or two. If you'd like to read on, download NYPL's SimplyE app to check out the full book. We also have the complete texts of dozens of classics and a great range of short stories you can read in a single sitting.
A New York Times bestseller getting a ton of well-deserved attention right now. The story of two lovers in a country on the brink of civil war, and their decisions about where, how, and when to leave.
Scare yourself silly with this tale of madness and memory. Our extensive collection of thrillers to read underground also includes heavy hitters like James Patterson, Sandra Brown, David Baldacci, Douglas Preston, and more.
Excerpt; an hour read. Part of our Thrillers section.
Does Subway Library also have books for kids and teens? Indeed it does. Hand your phone over to your kid or read it again yourself, and remind yourself why getting stuck in the Met overnight would be the coolest thing that could ever happen to you.
Excerpt; a half-hour read. Part of our Children's section.
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you'd recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!
Subscribing to The Librarian Is In on your mobile device is the easiest way to make sure you never miss an episode. Episodes will automatically download to your device, and be ready for listening every other Thursday morning
On your iPhone or iPad:
Open the purple “Podcasts” app that’s preloaded on your phone. If you’re reading this on your device, tap this link to go straight to the show and click “Subscribe.” You can also tap the magnifying glass in the app and search for “The New York Public Library Podcast.”
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Open the orange “Play Music” app that’s preloaded on your device. If you’re reading this on your device, click this link to go straight to the show and click “Subscribe.” You can also tap the magnifying glass icon and search for “The New York Public Library Podcast.”
Or if you have another preferred podcast player, you can find “The New York Public Library Podcast” there. (Here’s the RSS feed.)
From a desktop or laptop:
Click the “play” button above to start the show. Make sure to keep that window open on your browser if you’re doing other things, or else the audio will stop. You can always find the latest episode at nypl.org/podcast.
Have fun, be creative, make cool things, and share ideas with other kids!
TinkerShop is a free four–session program in which kids in grades 3-5 get to play and experiment in fun, science-based maker workshops. Children will engage in hands-on activities using crafts materials, magnets, conductive tape, and more.
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!
During the week, it can be tough to stay on top of everything. On Fridays, though, we suggest kicking back to catch up on all the delightful literary reading the internet has to offer. Don’t have the time to hunt for good reads? Never fear. We've rounded up the best bookish reading of the week for you.
No need to get up! Join our librarians from the home, office, playground — wherever you have internet access — for book recs on Twitter by following our handle @NYPLrecommends from 10 AM to 11 AM every Friday. Or, you can check NYPL Recommends any day of the week for more suggestions.
Every other week, our resident book experts are live on Facebook giving book recommendations! Like our Facebook page, and every other Thursday at 3 PM EST you can watch live and comment to get a personalized book recommendation.
What did you read?
If you read something fantastic this week, share with our community of readers in the comment section below.
To prepare for her TONY-nominated role in the hit Broadway revival of Hello Dolly, star Bette Midler came to the Library for the Performing Arts to study the great Carol Channing's performance in the role some 35 years earlier. "I enjoy doing research, and I use those ideas as a springboard for my own work," she says. "I wouldn't be who I am without that library."
The Civil War is remembered in American literature by works such as The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, March by Geraldine Brooks, and Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. But the years following the war, Reconstruction, also offer a rich backdrop that have informed some of the greatest art in the country's canon. Books set in Reconstruction Era America ask how to rebuild after atrocity, how to love after war, and how to move toward a more perfect union. Read on to explore this rich body of literature and share your favorite Reconstruction Era books in the comment section below.
A political cartoon depicting Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln via Wikimedia Commons
The Unvanquished by William Faulkner
"'The Unvanquished' presents Mr. Faulkner in his most communicative mood. He tells, fairly simply and directly, a story of the Sartoris family during the latter days of the Civil War and the early days of Reconstruction; and in doing so he adds a central chapter to the legends of Jefferson, that mythical township in Mississippi in which he has carved out his literary domain... The people of this book are closer to the great dream of the Old South; they are more obedient to its moral dictates and more hopeful of its fulfillment." - Harold Strauss, New York Times, 1938
Jubilee by Margaret Walker
"At first glance this Houghton Mifflin Prize Novel seems to travel the well worn sweet persimmon trail of Civil War novels--sparsely faceted characters bolstered by research into the vagaries of General Sherman's bristling and ragtag hordes. However, it is perhaps just because of the shades of the old Scarlet sagas, that this book achieves its peculiar poignancy, for the gallant South is reconstructed here through the living of Vyry, a young Negro woman, born a slave... An affecting novel, carried handsomely by the subject." - Kirkus Review, 1966
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
"Mitchell’s book and the film adaptation of it are a valuable document of the way the Lost Cause curdled into a regional religion. Mitchell’s treatment of black people doesn’t invalidate her still-relevant portrait of white ones... 'Gone With The Wind' captures both the terrors of total war, and the self-pity that lingered after the Confederacy’s defeat." - Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post, 2015
The House Behind the Cedars by Charles W. Chestnutt
"A novel of purpose, and one of more than ordinary merit... The tale itself is an arraignment of 'the senseless and unnatural prejudice by which a race ascribing its superiority to right of blood permitted a mere suspicion of servile blood to outweigh a vast preponderance of its own.'" - Detroit Free Press, 1900
Beloved by Toni Morrison
"Morrison's truly majestic fifth novel—strong and intricate in craft; devastating in impact. Set in post-Civil War Ohio, this is the story of how former slaves, psychically crippled by years of outrage to their bodies and their humanity, attempt to 'beat hack the past,' while the ghosts and wounds of that past ravage the present... Morrison traces the shifting shapes of suffering and mythic accommodations, through the shell of psychosis to the core of a victim's dark violence, with a lyrical insistence and a clear sense of the time when a beleaguered peoples' 'only grace...was the grace they could imagine.'" - Kirkus Review, 1987
Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill
"Mr. O'Neill gives not only size but weight in 'Mourning Becomes Electra,' which the Theatre Guild mounted at its own theatre for the greater part of yesterday afternoon and evening... To him the curse that the fates have set against the New England house of Mannon is no trifling topic for casual dramatic discussion, but a battering into the livid mysteries of life. Using a Greek legend as his model, he has reared up a universal tragedy of tremendous stature - deep, dark, solid, uncompromising and grim." - J. Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times, 1931
Canaan by Donald McCaig
"Donald McCaig's Canaan is a panoramic snapshot of Reconstruction era America that captures the turmoil and human drama of a rapidly changing nation. Moving seamlessly between a multitude of characters and diverse settings, the novel follows several connected plotlines as men and women struggle with issues of race, shifting demographics, personal loss, and economic hardship. In the spirit of great southern writers like William Faulkner and Robert Penn Warren, McCaig sifts through the aftermath of the Civil War and raises up from the ashes real people with real lives and real problems that readers can easily relate to." - Jack Trammell, Civil War Book Review
A cappella, interstellar journeys, high-stakes card games in Sin City, and the Van Gogh brothers? Don't mind if we do! Check out some of our NYPL book experts' newest favorites.
It's not a party without a cappella! Jordan has a deep voice and she can't break through at her competitive performing arts high school... until she decides to audition for an all-male a cappella group.
This book is: character-driven, engaging, offbeat (ha ha).
Set in Sin City, this book tells the story of Nikki -- a high-school student operating illegal poker games -- who quickly gets involved in a different kind of game, with the highest stakes of his life.
Arturo is still just a kid, living on his own in a tent city in Juarez, Mexico. This intense, haunting, important book traces two fateful days of his life and draws the reader into the terrifying world of human and drug trafficking.
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!
For many of us, Where the Wild Things Are was the great bedtime story, one of childhood rebellion, confronting fearful things and freedom in the imagination, and considering what it means to come home. Yet Maurice Sendak was not just the author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are but a prolific talent who captured in equal parts the dark corners and whimsy of childhood. In honor of his birthday, we're sharing facts about Sendak you may not have known.
1) Noses were adored by Sendak.
In 2011, Sendak was working on a book about noses. He atrributed his love of the olfactory organ to his brother, who had a great nose in Sendak's opinion.
2) Sendak worked at the New York City toy store, F.A.O. Schwartz.
At age twenty, Sendak began working at F.A.O. Schwartz creating window displays. It was through his work at the shop that he met his editor.
3) Where the Wild Things Are was not Sendak's first choice for a title.
Sendak first considered the title Where the Wild Horses Are. Later, he decided against horses in favor of "things," the fanciful creatures now beloved by children.
4) One illustration in Outside Over There is based on the Lindbergh kidnapping.
In Sendak's picture book about a young girl who must rescue her baby sister who has been taken by goblins, there is an illustration of a ladder leaning out of the window of a home. This was based on the crime scene in the Lindbergh kidnapping, which terrified Sendak as a child.
5) Sendak wrote and illustrated Where the Wild Things Are while living close to the Jefferson Market Library.
At the time, Sendak lived in a basement apartment at 29 West 9th Street. We now like to think of it as a favorite NYC literary landmark.
6) Once, Sendak collaborated with the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner.
In 2003, Sendak illustrated a book, Brundibar, written by Kushner. The book was based on an opera by Hans Krasa and was performed by children in the concentration camp Theresienstadt.
7) If he had had a child, Sendak would have preferred a daughter. Speaking to Terry Gross of NPR, Sendak said that if he had a son he "would leave him at the A&P or some other big advertising place where somebody who needs a kid would find him and he would be all right."
8) Sendak designed costumes and sets for ballets.
When the Pacific Northwest staged The Nutcracker in 1983, it was with the help of Sendak's rich visual imagination.
9) The state of publishing today bothered Sendak.
In an interview with The Believer, Sendak expressed his opinion that publishing had become stupid due to the near-monopoly of Rupert Murdoch on the industry.
10) Sendak illustrated Tolstoy.
In 1963, Sendak's illustrated children's edition of Nikolenka's Childhood was published.
CUNY Tech Works in collaboration with CUNY BMCC (Borough of Manhattan Community College) Office of Adult Continuing Education and Workforce Development is offering "No Cost" Information Technology training. The 22 week industry certified Comupter Network Support training in CompTIA A+ and CISCO CCNA also includes soft skills preparation, and job placement assistance. Training earns up to 4 college credits towards a CIS Associate degree at BMCC. Classes begin August 21, 2017. Pre req: H.S. diploma or GED, Tabe test and interview for consideration. Must attend Information Session: Call 212-346-8410, visit www.bmcc.cuny.edu/ce
Career Development workshop: Intro to Social Media on Monday, June 12, 2017, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm at Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schemerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. This workshop is for all interested jobseekers to get an understanding of social media, and learn how you can use social media sites to help on your job search.
New Partners, Inc. will present a recruitment on Tuesday, June 13, 2017, 10 am - 1:30 pm for Home Health Aide (5 F/T & P/T openings) at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355. By appointment only.
Career Development workshop: Job Finding Club on Tuesday, June 13, 2017, 2-4 pm at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Ave, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355. This workshop is for all interested jobseekers and dislocated workers to form a weekly support group focusing on obtaining job goals.
AutoZone will present a recruitment on Wednesday, June 14, 2017, 9 am - 4 pm, for Store Manager (MIT) (5 openings), Sales (5 F/T & P/T openings), Part Sales Manager (5 F/T & P/T openings), Commercial Driver (5 openings), Commercial Sales Manager (5 openings), Assistant Store Manager (5 openings), at Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. By appointment only.
Adecco Staffing will present a recruitment on Thursday , June 15, 2017, 10 am - 2 pm, for Outbound Call Center Representative (8 Temp openings) at Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. By appointment only.
People Ready will present a recruitment on Thursday, June 15, 2017, 10 am - 2 pm, for Carpenter (5 Temp openings), Concrete Worker (5 Temp openings), Skilled Laborer (5 Temp openings) at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355. By appointment only.
Spanish Speaking Resume Writing workshop on Thursday, June 15, 2017, 12:30 - 2:30 pm. at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355. All interested jobseekers will learn to organize, revise and update resumes.
Basic Resume Writing workshop on Thursday, June 15, 2017, 1:30 - 3 pm at Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Participants will learn the purpose of a resume, chronological and combination resumes and select the appropriate type for their specific needs.
Customized Recruitment - Aramark will present a recruitment on Friday, June 16, 2017, 10 am - 2 pm, for Merchandise Sales Cashier (100 seasonal openings), at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2 nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355.
START Treatment & Recovery Center Career Fair on Friday, June 16, 2017, 3:30-7:30 pm at START Treatment & Recovery Center 937 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11238. This job fair is for all interested jobseekers. Open positions include: Executive Roles , Counselors (CASAC), Clinic Directors (LCSW), Asst. Clinic Directors (LCSW), Nurses, Nurse Practioners, Physician Assistants, internships.
START Treatment & Recovery Center Career Fair on Saturday, June 17, 2017, 10 am- 2 pm at START Treatment & Recovery Center 937 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11238. This job fair is for all interested jobseekers. Open positions include: Executive Roles , Counselors (CASAC), Clinic Directors (LCSW), Asst. Clinic Directors (LCSW), Nurses, Nurse Practioners, Physician Assistants, internships.
The New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCE&TC) is an association of 200 community-based organizations, educational institutions, and labor unions that annually provide job training and employment services to over 750,000 New Yorkers, including welfare recipients, unemployed workers, low-wage workers, at-risk youth, the formerly incarcerated, immigrants and the mentally and physically disabled. View NYCE&TC Job Listings.
Digital NYC is the official online hub of the New York City startup and technology ecosystem, bringing together every company, startup, investor, event, job, class, blog, video, workplace, accelerator, incubator, resource, and organization in the five boroughs. Search jobs by category on this site.
St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development provides Free Job Training and Educational Programs in Environmental Response and Remediation Tec (ERRT). Commercial Driver's License, Pest Control Technician Training (PCT), Employment Search and Prep Training and Job Placement, Earn Benefits and Career Path Center. For information and assistance, please visit St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development or call 718-302-2057 ext. 202.
Brooklyn Workforce Innovations helps jobless and working poor New Yorkers establish careers in sectors that offer good wages and opportunities for advancement. Currently, BWI offers free job training programs in four industries: commercial driving, telecommunications cable installation, TV and film production, and skilled woodworking.
CMP (formerly Chinatown Manpower Project) in lower Manhattan is now recruiting for a free training in Quickbooks, Basic Accounting, and Excel. This training is open to anyone who is receiving food stamps but no cash assistance. Class runs for eight weeks, followed by one-on-one meetings with a job developer. CMP also provides Free Home Health Aide Training for bilingual English/Cantonese speakers who are receiving food stamps but no cash assistance. Training runs Mondays through Fridays for six weeks and includes test prep and taking the HHA certification exam. Students learn about direct care techniques such as taking vital signs and assisting with personal hygiene and nutrition. For more information for the above two training programs, email: info@cmpny.org, call 212-571-1690, or visit. CMP also provides tuition-based healthcare and business trainings free to students who are entitled to ACCESS funding.
Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) trains women and places them in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades. It helps women achieve economic independence and a secure future. For information call 212-627-6252 or register online.
Grace Institute provides tuition-free, practical job training in a supportive learning community for underserved New York area women of all ages and from many different backgrounds. For information call 212-832-7605.
Please note this page will be revised when more recruitment events for the week of June 11 become available.
In advance of Broadway’s biggest night, the Tony Awards, we dove into our Digital Collections to play fashion consultant for a few of the nominees. Five spectacularly talented women have been nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical at the 71st Tony Awards, which air June 11. Using a range of our collections, we’ve chosen a selection of outfits inspired by each woman’s role - feel free to take the inspiration, ladies!
Denee Benton, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Evoking Natasha’s penchant for cuffs, as well as the fantastical elements included in the show’s production, this costume design from Robert McQuinn, found in our R.H. Burnside Collection, might suit Ms. Benton just right.
Elizabeth Arden started her ascent to cosmetic queen in the 1930s, so Ms. Ebersole may want to look to Ruth Etting, singing and acting star of the Gilded Age for inspiration. Found in our Billy Rose Theater Division, Etting’s satin sophistication is befitting of the pioneering Arden.
Arden’s adversary, Helena Rubinstein, had a penchant for the sartorial elegance of suits, which makes this ensemble from the Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection a worthy look for Ms. Lupone.
As Ms. Midler gained insight into her role from Carol Channing’s original performance, she may look to another performer who won a Tony for portraying Dolly Levi: Pearl Bailey. The The Friedman-Abeles Photograph Collection holds images from multiple Hello Dolly! Productions, inciting inspiration from variations on an iconic theme.
Miss Saigon is a reinterpretation of the classic Puccini opera, Madame Butterfly, so we suggest Ms. Noblezada look to another tragic story of his for vestiary inspiration. The American National Opera Company’s performance of Tosca from the Billy Rose Theater Division provides the necessary element of drama.
Being gifted means that you lead a charmed life and everything is easier for you, right? Not necessarily. Having talent and more abilities can make life more interesting and fulfilling, of course. However, gifted children face an extra set of challenges that may not be taken seriously by society.
Feeling run over by their brains
Sometimes, these kids get frustrated by roving minds that will not shut off and let them rest.
Faced with too many choices and too little time
They have a hard time selecting a career because their interests are so multitudinous and varied.
Difficulty finding peers who understand them and have similar interests
This can lead to stultifying feelings of isolation, loneliness and mental problems.
Giftedness is not simply about having a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ). A score of 100 designates an average level of intelligence. For example, an IQ of 150 means that the child's mental capacity is at 150% of his or her chronological age (a 3-year-old with this IQ will think at the level of a typical 4.5-year-old. Teacher and parent observations should be used in addition to IQ and other test scores in order to determine admittance to gifted programs. Social, emotional and kinesthetic intelligences, etc. will likely not be assessed by any standard evaluation tool. In addition, poor attitudes towards testing, poor test-taking skills, language barriers, and more will adversely affect test scores.
Gifted kids have easier lives in many respects than the majority of their age cohorts. However, in the end, they are simply kids. So do not be surprised when a brainiac 3-year-old melts to the floor of a supermarket in a crying, screaming mess for whatever reason. These things are bound to happen on occasion.
Pura Belpre, la primera bibliotecaria latina de origen puertorriqueño contratada en New York Public Library.
Si no hubiera sido por los cuentos que mi madre me contaba antes de dormir, y las veces que ella me hacía leer en español a voz alta, lo mas seguro es que se me hubiese olvidado leer y hablar en español. Una de las mejores cosas de ser Latino criado en los EE.UU es tener la habilidad de aprender más de un idioma a temprana edad. Muchos padres quienes no saben hablar ingles regularmente vienen a nuestra biblioteca buscado libros en ingles porque piensan que el leerle a sus niños en español le afectaría el aprendizaje del inglés. Pero hay que recordarse que el amor a la lectura comienza a temprana edad y el niño cuye aprende a amar la lectura joven siempre quedara encantado.
Al ser una persona de origen caribeño a veces e sentido como que los libros que son traducidos del inglés al español no tienen la misma resonancia en comparación con los que son escritos en países latino americanos. Pero después de estar trabajando en la biblioteca de Francis Martin y comenzar el programa Cuéntalo en Español, (un programa de cuentos infantiles donde leemos libros bilingües en cual participan niños que hablan y no hablan español). Una de las cosas más bonitas que e notado es ver que tan fácil ellos captan el idioma y las canciones.
Con el deseo de que más padres y educadores lean en español, he compuesto una lista de mis títulos favoritos.
1.
Please, Mr. Panda | Por favor, Sr. Panda/ Steve Antony ; translated by J.P. Lombana
¿Quieres una doughnut o una rosquilla? Este oso panda esta por compartir pero los animales alreadedor no saben como convencerlo. Un gracioso libro sobre modales y buena etiqueta.
La autora Patty Rodriguez tiene varios libros pequeños donde ella representa figuras importantes culturales mexicanas como Frida Kahlo y Emiliano Zapata con pocas palabras y brillantes colores.
3.
Where is the green sheep? Dónde está la oveja verde? / Mem Fox ; [illustrated by] Judy Horacek ; translated by/traducido por Carlos E. Calvo
En este chistoso libro de colores, empezamos buscando un oveja perdida, pero mientras volteamos las paginas encontramos mas ovejas de differentes colores en differentes lugares. Este libro es bueno para practicar colores y platicar sobre las ilustraciones.
Besos para todos, este libro sencillo illustra una graciosa niña quien comparte besos con todos, la primera oracion esta en ingles y el libro culmina con una lista de traducciones de palabras sencillas en ingles y español.
6.
Canciones con beso para las buenas noches/ ilustraciones de Chiara Buccheri
BOOK/TEXT|Alfaguara|2015
"Asserin, Asseran las maderas de San Juan..." Aunque este libro esta completamente en español, lo agregre a la lista porque incluye la letra y un CD de canciones infantiles populares en Latino America.
Escrito por el Ganador del Honor Caldecott Mo Willems, esta es una de dos traducciones de el libro "Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus". Un libro interactivo donde una paloma tenaz insiste en conducir un autobus sin el permiso del conductor.
Originalmente publicado en 1975, este cuento sigue siendo uno de lo mas leidos en primarias. "Los elefantes son grises, los cerdos son rosados." Todos los animales tienen su proprio color sin embargo el camaleon no tiene color, cambia de color dondequiera que va. En esta pequeña historia aprendemos la importancia de amarse a si mismo y los demas.
Unos de los gatos mas cotizados en el mundo de libros infantiles americanos, por fin esta en español. Este cuento viene con una pegajosa cancion en ingles cual lo tendra cantando sobre zapatos blancos por mucho tiempo!
We are looking for volunteers to share memories of their time spent at the Mid-Manhattan Library. These memories will then be displayed in a curated gallery dedicated to the largest circulating library in Manhattan.
Image ID 1252850, The New York Public Library
Photographs, ephemera, written messages—if it relates to a fond memory of Mid-Manhattan Library, we'd love for you to share it with us. Please email Susen Shi at mmlprograms@nypl.org or call 212-576-0093 with details about your memory.
Additionally, if you are interested in recording a short video to talk about your MML experiences, we will be holding filming sessions every Friday from 12–1 starting June 9 and ending July 28. To participate, email the address or call the number listed above.
There is a T-shirt for sale that reads "Shaolin Yacht Club," the joke being "Shaolin" is the nickname given to Staten Island by native rappers Wu Tang Clan. The "yachts" are, of course, the municipal ferryboats. Though Staten Island does have a few small yacht clubs today it's hardly a major player on the international yachting scene. This was not always the case. In yachting's "golden age" the world repeatedly came to the Island's shores to challenge for the America's Cup but, for 50 years, was turned away empty-handed.
The America's Cup is the world's oldest international sporting trophy still in active competition. In the early days of the races its popularity was on a par with the Super Bowl or World Series today. Originally the Cup was known here as the 100 Guinea Cup or Queen's Cup (both American names disavowed by the Royal Yacht Squadronwhich prefers "The Cup of 100 Sovereigns"). It was first awarded in 1851 to the upstart schooner America which defeated the reigning British competitors off the Isle of Wight and was helmed by Sandy Hook Pilot Richard Brown.
Queen Victoria, upon witnessing the victory, asked "Who finished in second place?". She was told: "Your Majesty, there is no second." The cup became known as "America's Cup" after that. The America's owners eventually turned the cup over to the New York Yacht Club for future competitions.
No challenges were made for the cup until 1870, nineteen years after America's victory. At the time, The New York Yacht Club was not headquartered in its now famous digs at 37 W 44th Street in Manhattan. As of 1868 the clubhouse was located at 30 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, a neighbor of, the then four-year-old, and future pioneering photographer, Alice Austen. The clubhouse, a grand house with a broad front porch in a "Swiss-Italian style" was bought by James Gordon Bennett Jr. , the New York Herald editor and vice commodore of the NYYC. The club moved there from smaller quarters in Hoboken.
James Gordon Bennett, Commodore, New York Yacht Club.
" In the spring of 1868 the club purchased from Mrs. N. H. Wolfe, for a Club House, a property on Staten Island, near the lower landing, for the sum ot $24,000, paying $9,000 cash and the balance remaining on mortgage. It contained two acres of land, sloping down to a road which separated it from the shore, about one mile this side of the narrows. Sitting on the wide piazza of the Club House a large roomy cottage in the English style one sees every vessel coming into the port of New York. With a good glass we can distinguish the features of those on deck."
According to the Richmond County Gazette the sale was "of great importance to the Island as attracting so many people of wealth and high social position to our shores." At the time the Club had 278 members and a fleet of 42 vessels of all types.
The area waters were already a popular rallying point for major races, including the first Trans-Atlantic race between Vesta, Henrietta and Fleetwing . The boats were competing for a $90,000 purse. "The yachts anchored off Stapleton the night before the start and in the forenoon of [December] 11th [1866]they were surrounded by the largest fleet of excursion steamers and other craft that up to that time had been ever brought together in this country by a yacht race." Two, of the many Staten Islanders who formed the race crews of the big yachts, perished: Quartermasters C. H. Hazelton and David J. Wood were washed overboard while at the wheel. Henrietta took the prize.
The New York Yacht Club's "House Committee" was headed by the Rosebank clubhouse's next door neighbor, John H. Austen, an auctioneer and father of Alice Austen. The committee was responsible for upkeep of the clubhouse grounds. At least two regattas were held there prior to the first Cup defense. The first regatta was held there in 1869. Austen was in Paris at the time. Pre-regatta reports were that the grounds remained in good condition. He wrote "had the season been dry & the grass failed, there would no doubt been a great howl among the old fogies, who know nothing about such things." Though afterwards one of his visitors complained that in Austen's absence the other members had fallen behind in the upkeep. Austen wrote "They felt the want of me very much at the clubhouse on the day of the regatta, as the house committee had left everything to me it seemed to be nobody's business to take charge of things." At the second regatta in 1870 things went more smoothly and the attendance was such that the large crowd kept wandering on to the adjoining Austen property, forcing John Austen to assign a guard to turn back the trespassers.
The competing defenders and challenger gathered off the Narrows the night before the Cup race on August 7, 1870. The next morning they proceeded to the shore of the clubhouse for the start of the first defense. More than a dozen NYYC schooners, along with the original cup winner, America, were pitted against the lone Royal Thames Yacht Club's schooner Cambria.
In his book, America's Victory, author David Shaw quotesThe New York Daily Times on the exodus from Manhattan ahead of the race:
"Large crowds of people were seen hurrying to the docks for the purpose of embarking on vessels which were to convey them to the scene of the race. Women and children were especially numerous, and appeared to be as eager to see the yachts as their male relatives and friends. The majority of them presented a very respectable and genteel appearance, and it seemed as if the greater part of the middle and wealthy classes had, moved by a simultaneous impulse, turned out on the occasion, and had suddenly become warm patrons of the noble pastime, yachting...The excitement even invaded the most aristocratic portions of the City, and private carriages, filled with fair and gaily dressed inmates, were seen in large numbers on Fifth and Madison avenues, carrying their owners toward the river side."
One reporter described the event as though "New York emptied itself out through the Narrows until the offing was like a crowded port with pillars of steam and glimmer of sails, and the shores of Staten Island were like swarming cities." An estimated 50,000 people lined Staten Island's shores to watch. According to the papers "the banks of Staten Island were fairly alive with human beings who extended in a solid row from Vanderbilt's Landing [Stapleton}, just above the Club-house, all the way to Fort Richmond [Ft. Wadsworth]. The parapet of the later structure offered a good opportunity for viewing the start and the return of the racers, and were well crowded with spectators."
Another writer estimated the waterborne crowd at over 100,000:
"The writer was an eye witness and has no hesitation in describing it as a marine spectacle far ahead of the many succeeding races for the America's Cup. ... it was possible for even the smallest boat to be close to the racers at the start and finish. Almost everything that could float was there, large steamers, ferry boats, and sailing craft of all sorts, all black wdth people, estimated to be at least 100,000... There was practically no business in New York that day. The weather was beautiful, very hot on shore, but a refreshing breeze from the south made it comfortable afloat."
The McFarlane-Bredt house at 30 Hylan Boulevard, served for three years (1868-1871) as the second clubhouse of the New York Yacht Club. The club opened a second Island clubhouse by 1875. Financial difficulties forced the club's officers to vote 7-2 in favor of selling the Hylan Boulevard property on February 16, 1877. The house, designated as a landmark in 1969 and acquired by NYC Parks in 1975, is now part of the NYC Parks system but has fallen into disrepair. Funds for restoration have been sought for decades. Photo: Outing magazine, 1901. Drawing: Scribners Magazine, August, 1872.
Map of the New York Yacht Club and Austen house properties, 1846. The Staten Island Historian April-June 1967.
Note: The images below follow the racers draw from several representativeraces of the era. The early defenses were not visually well documented.
"The New Grounds and Club House of the New York Yacht Club on Staten Island, New York Harbor."Harper's Weekly July 4, 1868.
"The New York Yacht Club Regatta...Off the new club house and grounds Staten Island.
The Notorious "Inside Course"
With the bang of the gun, the fleet started out on its roughly 35-mile course from the clubhouse to Sandy Hook and back:
"The start was from off Stapleton, Staten Island, and with the strong ebb-tide under her lee, the Magic fetched in about half-way 'twixt Owl's Head [Brooklyn] and Fort Lafayette, and standing close in shore was able on the port reach to fetch well down along the West Bank, reaching almost to Dix's Island [now Swinburne Island], and getting a lead which could not be taken from her. The others worked down with the ebb, as best they might, splitting tacks in all directions, making as pretty a picture as can be imagined. "
This was the notorious "inside course" where boats hugged the Staten Island shore for much of the, down to buoys 8 1/2 and 10, the "Gob" to the local sailors, before turning east to round the Sandy Hook light ship. Local knowledge of shore winds, narrow channels and shifting currents counted as much as boat design and crew skill. This gave a distinct advantage to the defender (as well as front-row seats for Islanders.)
Cup historian Captain Roland Coffin wrote of the rounding: "The scene around the lightship when the yachts turned was one never to be forgotten. It would be difficult to estimate the number of people who witnessed the turning, but I know I shall be within bounds if I put it at 20,000."
The "Inside Course" in 1886. New-York Tribune, September 7, 1886. Though the course is shown consisting of straight lines, the maneuvering of the boats would bring them much closer to shore than indicated here. New York Tribune September 7, 1886. Romer Beacon in 1886, now Romer Shoal's lighthouse. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
Lightships on the America's Cup courses: The Wreck of Scotland and the Sandy Hook.
Caption in the New-York Daily Tribune of July 28, 1907 reads "The New Scotland Lightship. Stationed at the entrance to New York Harbor, where the America's Cup races start." reflecting the location's shift from mid-point of the race on the Inside Course to Starting area on the Outside Course. The picture of the lightship appears to be from the earlier era when the name was "Wreck of Scotland." The Wreck of Scotland marked the 1866 wreck site of the ship Scotland and served as a mark in several races
The 1887 race, Volunteer rounding the lightship Sandy Hook . Image:Wikipedia.
This painting by Antonio Jacobsen shows Vision and Dauntless off the Sandy Hook lightship in 1876. WikiArt.
The bluffs of the Island at the Narrows were particularly troublesome. Coffin noted " it happened frequently that a boat which had out-sailed her competitors for the whole day and had obtained a commanding lead of the whole fleet, would run under the Staten Island bluff, lose the wind and stop until all had run up to her." Thus the start of the inside course was moved down below the Narrows. The NYYC continued to use the inside course through the seventh defense in 1887 when the races were fully switched over to the more open "outside course" off Sandy Hook.
Spectators at Ft. Wadsworth observe a New York Yacht Club Regatta (race/date unknown.) Library of Congress.
Franklin Osgood's Magic finished first in four hours, 37 minutes—39 minutes ahead of 10th-place Cambria.
.
Announcement of Magic's victory in what was then called the "Queens Cup" in the NY Herald, August 9, 1970. The paper declared it was "The Most Exciting Yachting Event on Record."
"THE FINISH OFF STATEN ISLAND - 1870." Drawn by Staten Island marine artist Frederick Schiller Cozzens. American Yachts: Their Clubs and Races. c. 1884.
The Second Clubhouse seems to have been out of operation by the time of the second cup defense in the fall of 1871 but the racing continued from that location. Scribner's reported that following the closing "The starting point in all New York regattas, however, is at the Staten Island Club-House, or rather the Stake -boat which is always anchored in the Narrows opposite the old Club-House. It is from this boat that all yachts in regatta in New York Bay start and to it return. The course lies from this point across Sandy Hook bar out to ocean around the Light-ship and return to the Stake-boat. On regatta days both Light-ship and Stake-boat are gayly decorated with flags of all nations and all sorts and no more picturesque and enlivening scene can be imagined than the myriad small craft and excursion steamers when gathered to see the "start" or the "rounding".
Captain Coffin describes the arrival of the British challenger in 1871:
"The famous English yacht, the Livonia which arrived off the club-house of the New York Yacht Club at Staten Island at a late hour Saturday night, created a decided sensation among the passengers on the Staten Island ferry-boats yesterday, who not only freely commented on her model but on the prospect of her success in this country."
The Livonia, sponsored by Lord Ashbury and the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, was defeated by the NYYC defenders Columbia and Sappho. Lord Ashbury accused the NYYC of "unfair and unsportsmanlike proceedings" and departed under protest. The NYYC returned several trophies Lord Ashbury had donated to them.
The club did not officially decide to sell the Clifton property until 1877, due to financial difficulties.
Island Crews
While there hasn't been an analysis of where the racing yacht crews hailed from it seems very likely that a large percentage were from Staten Island. Even before yacht clubs became commonplace Islanders were out racing on their own. The Sailcraftblog quotes the William P. Stephens book “Traditions and Memories of American Yachting” (1942) on the Staten Island roots of NYC sailboat racing in the 1850s:
“along the Staten Island shore and in sheltered nooks on the East and North rivers, were boat shops, waterside saloons frequented by boat sailors, and fleets of cat-boats, jib-and-mainsail boats, and small cabin yachts, all of the centre-board type. It was not until well along in the [eighteen] sixties that yacht clubs became general, but from the first a strong community of interest and friendly rivalry united all these localities”.
Staten Island oysterman were professional sailors who knew New York Bay like nobody else. Many harbor races were open to anyone and oystermen would race their commercial sailing vessels against the racing yachts. In 1886 Selden Judson wrote of the Staten Island oyster fleet:
"The fleet of oyster vessels comprise numerous styles of marine architecture. There is the trim cat-boat, the serviceable sloop, the handy schooner and the jaunty yacht. These vessels, of various tonnage, cost from $500 to $7,000 each, and many of them were built on Staten Island; some were built purposely for the trade, and others were acquired by purchase. In the main, they are fast sailers; there are in the fleet, yachts as fast as the racers of the New York Yacht Club."
(On a personal note: my own great grandfather, a harbor pilot and oysterman, was employed on club yachts at Stapleton.)
Area waters were already a popular rallying point for major races, including the first Trans-Atlantic race between Vesta, Henrietta and Fleetwing in 1866 . The boats were competing for a $90,000 purse. "The yachts anchored off Stapleton the night before the start and in the forenoon of [December] 11th [1866]they were surrounded by the largest fleet of excursion steamers and other craft that up to that time had been ever brought together in this country by a yacht race." Eight days in a storm killed six on the Fleetwing. Two of them, were Staten Islanders: Quartermasters C. H. Hazelton and David J. Wood were washed overboard while steering the ship through the storm. Henrietta took the prize.
Second Staten Island Clubhouse of the New York Yacht Club
The third station of the New York Yacht Club, and second on Staten Island, was built on a dock at Stapleton replaced the Rosebank Clubhouse and operated into 1876. In 1876 Madeline defeated the Canadian yacht Countess of Dufferin of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto. After the races The Countess of Dufferin would end up being seized by the authorities at Staten Island for non-payment of debts, stripped of much of her gear, and hauled off to Queens.
Unlike the Rosebank clubhouse the Stapleton clubhouse was also a club anchorage and an active spot for on-water activities.
New York Yacht Club station at Stapleton, Staten Island Exterior: The Staten Island Historian, Jan-July 1979. Interior stereogram: Collection of Historic Richmond Town .
A description of the interior, after it had ceased being used by the New York Yacht Cub and became Starin's Glen Island resort off New Rochelle, survives and may give some idea of how the Stapleton house looked inside:
"This pavilion is three stories high,..The lower portion is divided into three separate compartments. ... On the side overlooking the Sound is the ladies' and gents' toilet rooms and parlor. Opposite is the reading room, barber shop and bar. On the second floor, over the dining room, are private supper rooms and parlors for special guests. Above this floor are tables for refreshments."
Tragedy at the Stapleton Anchorage
"The Yacht Mohawk Just Before the Disaster" and "Scene at the Wreck-The Diver Preparing to Search for Bodies." Chicago Sunday Tribune May 14, 1899.
The Stapleton anchorage is most remembered for the sinking of Vice Commodore Garner's yacht Mohawk, "the greatest catastrophe in American Yachting". Garner was one of the nation's leading fabric printers and cotton mill owners employing about 7,000 to 8,000 workers in New York State. The 140 foot Mohawk was then the largest racing yacht in the world. She could carry 32,000 square feet of sail and had a 7 ton centerboard. Garner had hopes of competing for the Cup but she fell twice to the 1876 defender Madeleine - once in the 1875 Cap May Cup and again in a match race at the end of the club's 1875 season.
On the afternoon of July 20, 1876 Mohawk was just lifting her anchor, with sails raised, when a sudden squall hit the Stapleton anchorage . Over two decades later, on May 14, 1899 the Chicago Sunday Tribune retold the story which had been revived in the public mind following the death of the prominent society lady Edith May (Randolph) Whitney on May 6, 1899.
The Mohawk was the largest and costliest of pleasure vessels belonging to the New York Yacht Club. It was the property of William T. Garner,...residing near New Brighton, Staten Island, and was sumptuously furnished and appointed...
The Mohawk was the pride of the bay, and was manned by Captain Rowland and a crew of about 20 men. It lay a short distance off Stapleton, Staten Island, abeam of its clubhouse, when the Commodore and his guests went on board shortly after 4 o'clock.
The day had been bright, as the anchor went up and all sails were set a black cloud swept up from the eastern horizon and the seamen and old salts lounging along the shore saw a ripple creeping over the smooth waters of the bay followed by serried ranks of tiny white caps.
Then all eyes on shore were focused on the Mohawk. The anchor was tripped and every Inch of canvas was spread with the exception of the Jib topsail. The watchers saw with alarm that the centerboard had not been lowered and no move was made to shorten sail.
There was a spit of rain and the guests went below, while Sailing Master Rowland stood at the wheel. By this time hundreds of anxious eyes were watching the yacht and a murmur that swelled to a roar swept along the beach when there was still no sign on board of shortening canvas or dropping the centerboard..."The man is mad" said Captain Stillwell to his friend, Captain Silvey, as they watched the yacht from the wharf at Clifton.
"The yacht will never weather that squall unless they shorten canvas." said the captain of the Countess of Dufferin, a Canadian yacht that was lying In shore and had been stripped of even Its awnings to meet the blow.
The Countess of Dufferin was credited with the rescue of Edith May, the only female survivor, as the women went below decks on the Mohawk as soon as the rain hit:
When Miss May was passed up the companionway to Mr. Rowland [he] sprang into the water with the girl and kept her afloat until they were picked up by a boat sent out from the yacht Countess of Dufferin. This boat, however, had become damaged while on its way to the wreck and the rescued were transferred to one of the [yacht] Dreadnaught boats and safely landed on Staten Island...
The blame for the disaster was unanimously laid at the door of Captain Rowland, and his behavior indicated that he concurred In the popular verdict. When he was landed on Staten Island he took to the woods, but was subsequently arrested and locked up at Stapleton to await the action of the Coroner's jury. Crowds of men had searched for him with the avowed intention of lynching him, but he was found by the police and kept under guard until the Coroner had finished his Inquiry. One of his sailors declared that he had begged the Captain to allow him to cut away the main sheet, but the latter had ordered him forward and told him to mind his own business. All of his crew, in addition to all of the yachtsmen and old sailors who had witnessed the disaster from the shore, declared that the Captain had been criminally negligent....
Five died in the sinking. The body of William Garner was found in the sunken hull with his wife in his arms. Two female guests and the cabin boy also perished.
The coroner had a different view than the eyewitnesses. He "blamed the schooner's design for the tragedy. Her broad beam, shallow draft and dependence on unsecured internal ballast for stability was deemed the cause of the yacht's capsizing." At his trial, held in the Village Hall of New Brighton, Captain Oliver Rowland was acquitted of the criminal negligence charge brought against him. The jury stated only that he had not been "prudent". Rowland never found steady work again and lived his final years at Sailors Snug Harbor in Livingston where the old salts spent their leisure time making nautical crafts and racing pond yachts. One of the Snugs recalled the aged Rowland lamenting "I was forty-three years old at time time of the accident and for all these twenty-seven years I have told every one who would listen that the blame should not be placed on my shoulders."
1876 was the last year schooners were raced in the America's Cup and the sinking caused the general demise of the large centerboard schooner as a yacht design. The submerged Mohawk was towed to the shallow flats off Bayonne, raised at low tide, and renamed Eagre serving as a Coast Survey ship. Commodore Garner's mansion at Castleton and Bard Avenues is now part of Richmond University Medical Center and has long been under consideration for historic landmarking. After the death of Commodore Garner the Stapleton station was abandoned and sold to a resort on Glen Island near New Rochelle. The New York Yacht Club had no waterside facilities for several years, though they did maintain landings on the Island and other locations.
William T. Garner mansion at Castleton and Bard Avenues, New Brighton. It became St. Austin's school in 1883 before being purchased as part of the St. Vincent's hospital property in 1903, now RUMC.
Continued in Part 2: A Tompkinsville NYYC Station, Lipton in America's Cup, An Island Catamaran, and the Rosebank Clubhouse today.
On September 27, 1887 the NYYC defender Volunteer beat the challenger Thistle in the last race held on the Inside Course. Staten Island's shore was no longer a Cup destination after that. The large audience all had to head out to sea on spectator boats. Though patrol boats fought to keep the course clear competitors had to navigate steamboats packed with fans vying for the best views. By 1895 the spectator fleet was estimated at over 200 vessels carrying 60,000 people, mostly large steam powered vessels that could handle the rougher seas outside of Sandy Hook. A big part of the attraction was gambling. Much like today's Kentucky Derby, bets were taken across the nation on the outcome. Cities from Manhattan to San Francisco held live events with model yacht courses provided with up-to-the-minute racing positions telegraphed in from Sandy Hook. The toy boats were then pulled by wires across their model courses to provide near real-time re-enactments of the races.
A packed sidewheel excursion boat at the races of 1903. NY Tribune, August 23, 1903.
Alice Austen's party observing the Cup Races from the Staten Island Ferry, 1893. Third America’s Cup race between the American yacht Vigilant and Lord Dunraven's British challenger Valkyrie II on October 9, 1893. Vigilant won the race that day. Vigilant was owned by a syndicate, which included one of the Island's yachting Vanderbilts, this time Cornelius II. Apparently Island ferries were chartered for the occasion as this one appears to be out at sea. Photo by Alice Austen. Her notation reads "fine day... windy...2:40PM" Collection of Historic Richmond Town.
The Vanderbilt Campaigns
The great Vanderbilt fortune was born when young Cornelius purchased an old sailboat to operate as a Staten Island ferry. The original "Commodore" passed away in 1877 but the heirs of the crotchety old ferryman sponsored and/or skippered a record six of the New York Yacht Club's 25 consecutive Cup victories in Vigilant, Defender, Reliance, Enterprise, Rainbow, and Ranger.
Cornelius Vanderbilt (III?)was part of a syndicate that built Vigilant (skippered by the great boat designer Nathaniel Hereshoff) and defeated Lord Dunraven's Valkyrie II of the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1893. William K. Vanderbilt's Hereshoff-designed Defender defeated Lord Dunraven's Valkyrie III in 1895. William was the son of Staten Island Railroad owner William H. Vanderbilt (whose estate later became Miller Field). William K. is buried in the Vanderbilt Mausoleum in Moravian Cemetery.
In 1903, Reliance, built by a syndicate including Cornelius Vanderbilt III, defeated Thomas Lipton's Shamrock III.
Then, after the cup was moved to Newport, Harold Stirling "Mike" Vanderbilt, a great grandson of the "Commodore" would skipper three winners including Enterprise (1930), Rainbow (1934) and Ranger (1937). William K. Vanderbilt, who had bested Lord Dunraven in 1895, was also a financier of the 1930 campaign along with others in the family.
William K. Vanderbilt's Defender (left) vs. Valkyrie III (right), 1895. Collection of the Library of Congress. Puck magazine pictured Lord Dunraven as the rag doll in this cover cartoon of October 9, 1895. Uncle Sam is carrying the America's Cup and other sporting awards following the victory over Valkyrie III. Collection of the Library of Congress.
The NYYC Casts Off
There was some criticism of the club giving up its waterfront Island locations. In 1887 the nation's leading yachting writer, Captain R. F. Coffin, wrote "I think it may be safely assumed that if a yacht club has no headquarters and anchorage it will drop astern of its sister organizations. The New York Yacht Club may be cited as an exception to this rule, but that club has not progressed as it should have done, since its house on Staten Island and its anchorage at Stapleton were given up, and, therefore, the rule holds good even in regard to that organization."
Two Staten Island Yacht Designers
While Staten Island shipyards worked on existing America's Cup boats, no defenders were actually designed or built on the Island. However, Islanders did achieve notoriety in early New York yachting scene and local shipyards produced winners in many other sailing races. Here are the stories of two of the leading Island designers:
1. Jake Schmidt
Jacob "Jake" Schmidt of Tompkinsville was noted sandbagger, the dominant harbor class of from about 1850-1885. He's remembered as the second best skipper of the type, behind the Brooklyn ferry captain Ira Smith. Schmidt was a former Brooklyn hatter who, in 1879, partnered with Arthur Panick to open the legendary Tompkinsville boat shop and saloon "The Good Success Anchorage." The establisment stood on Bay Avenue about half way down to Stapleton. Outside "a flaring sign invited old salts to come to anchor, and where such as did come shivered their timbers over many a good yarn spun by the host." Schmidt's constant companion was a mastiff who wore a sign on his collar reading: "Touch me not, but let me jog, for I am Jake Schmidt's dog: Sailor." On at least one occasion, race officials ejected Sailor from Jake's boat as an illegal "extra crew member" for his habit of riding on the high rail, boosting the speed of the boat.
Schmidt's most famous designs included the yachts Parole, a sloop owned by C. E. Van Name of the West Brighton Yacht Club, Pluck And Luck, andDare Devil owned by 3-time America's Cup skipper and syndicate leader, the banker Charles Oliver Iselin. Iselin ordered Dare Devil after Pluck And Luck defeated his boat Mary Emma. Schmidt won $500 in a bet with Iselin on the round-trip race from New Rochelle. Iselin later purchased Pluck and Luck as well.
Schmidt served as a Vice Commodore of the Williamsburg Yacht club and sailed a mark boat for many years for different yacht clubs, including Seawanhaka and the New York Yacht Club. He managed their start lines along with Sailor the dog.
Jake Schmidt's famous sandbaggers Pluck And Luck and Dare Devil.Motor Boating, October 1939. Standings of the First Union Regatta of the National Yachting Association with Dare Devil in first and Parole in 7th. Top captain Ira Smith placed 8th. NY Times August 10, 1880. Jake Schmidt's design for Parole. Motor Boating September 1939.
2. Ralph Munroe
As a child Munroe's family knew both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. His father's younger brother was Alfred Munroe a classmate of Throeau who wrote the book Concord Sketches about his hometown. His father, Thomas Munroe, lived in the Staten Island home of fellow Concordian, and Richmond County Judge William Emerson, brother of Ralph Waldo Emerson, during the Civl War. In 1843 Henry David Thoreau had spent a year at William's original house, "the Snuggery" which burned in 1855. William then built a second home up the hill from his original residence. Emerson left Staten Island in 1864 which is probably when Thomas Munroe moved in. Ralph Munroe was sent to Concord Massachusetts during the Civil War along with his mother and sister (possibly because of the commotions of caused by the draft riots and many Union army encampments on the Island. )
L-R Ralph Munroe at the wheel of the yacht Wabun, Alice Austen blowing a conch shell, Thomas Quincy "Butterball" Browne Jr. in the "H"arvard sweater and Ellen "Nellie" Munroe Austen, Ralph's sister and Alice's aunt (by marriage to Peter Townsend Austen). The Wabun was built at A. C. Brown in Tottenville and she sailed down to Biscayne Bay, Florida where she became the flagship of the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, the largest yacht club south of Philadelphia. The papers reported "They had a very pleasant trip all the way, doing a little fishing and duck-shooting occasionally." Alice and her aunt disembarked at Annapolis, Maryland. Photo by Alice Austen. October 24, 1892. Collection of Historic Richmond Town.
Ralph married Eva Amelia Hewitt in Clifton in 1879 and the family built their Great Kills estate at about this time. Ralph's daughter Edith was born on the Island in 1881. Eva contracted tuberculosis and Ralph brought her to what would later become Miami, Florida in hopes the warmer climate would cure her. Eva died in 1882 and Ralph returned to the Island only to find that his daughter Edith had died of influenza. He spent the next four years living in Great Kills and summering in Miami before moving there permanently in 1886. He established the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and set up his house, The Barnacle, there. It is the oldest standing house, in its original location, in Miami-Dade County and is now a five acre historical site open to the public.
Ralph later became a close friend of Nat Herreshoff, who was a frequent house guest at the Barnacle, spending the last summers of his life there. Herreshoff's son Francis wrote of his father "It was doubtful that anyone but Commodore Munroe ever influenced him." Munroe's most famous designs were "sharpies" shallow draft oyster and fishing boats. A. C. Brown was Munroe's primary shipyard on Staten Island.
Ralph's most famous boat design was the Presto. The 41 foot sharpie launched in 1885. When its Staten Island builder, "Uncle" Chris Brown, stepped aboard the newly constructed boat he nearly buried the rails. Munroe wrote “he at once condemned her,” and then added 4.5 tons of ballast to her and set off to “see a cup race off Sandy Hook, where, in a fresh breeze she handled perfectly and showed no signs of tenderness.”
Ralph Munroe and Breezy Knoll, the Munroe family estate at Great Kills, Staten Island. Great Kills was the home of another giant in the world of boating. William H. Aspinwall, President of Howland and Aspinwall, the company which owned the Sea Witch, the sailing ship which still holds the China to New York speed record. Aspinwall then formed the Pacific Mail Steamship Company fueling the American Gold Rush with speedy passenger service to the West Coast. He owned the first American steam pleasure yacht, Firefly, an 1854 sidewheeler built specifically for cruising. He used the Firefly as his own private ferry for the commute to Manhattan. University of Miami Libraries.
Staten Island Shipyards
At one point there were seventeen shipyards on Staten Island. The best known of the wooden boat builders was the A. C. Brown yard in Tottenville. A. Cary Smith, twenty first member of the New York Yacht Club and designer of the Cup winner Mischief in 1881, lived across the Kill Van Kull in Bayonne, New Jersey. He had several schooners built at A. C. Brown shipyard including the schooner Uncas. Uncas was still afloat until 1990. Several other wooden vessels from this shipyard are still operating today, including a Munroe design, the Carib II, built in 1924 and the Virginia, built in 1916. The Virginia was constructed for William K. Vanderbilt with instructions by the Cup winning yacht firm (Weatherly 1964) Cox & Stevens, to model her after the America's Cup boats of the day.
The New One design schooners p. 407 Outing; Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction, Volume 32
On the North Shore Shooter's Island was a great yachting center. On March 18, 1905 the Richmond County Advance reported:
"The management [of the Townsend Downey Shipyard on Shooter's Island] turned their attention to yacht building, and with Messrs. A. Cary Smith and others for designers they successfully turned out the schooner yachts Thistle, Elmina and Mariel (two of the fastest boats of their kind), Ontariow, Sculpin II , Corona, Egress, Teckla, Resolute, Cornell, the three-masted schooner yacht Shenandoah (the only one of its kind in the world), the Atlantic (which with the Thistle, will enter the great ocean yacht race in May), and the Meteor (built for the German Emperor). "
The three masted schooner Atlantic, which set a Tran-Atlantic crossing speed record in 1905 with three-time America's Cup winning skipper Charlie Barr at the helm. Her twelve day, four hour record stood until 1980. Other famous yachts were produced on the North Shore at Burlee, later the Staten Shipbuilding Company, including John Jacob Astor's Noma, later the U.S.S. Noma, financier David G. Reid's Rheclair and NYYC Commodore Robert E. Todd's three masted schooner Karina.
A Corinthian Yacht Club of New York publication with the dates "Organized 1886" and "Incorporated 1887" when the club was at Tompkinsville. It is available in an online edition.
Besides being the home to the NYYC the Island was also the on-water home of the (Seawanhaka) Corinthian Yacht Club in Tompkinsville "adjoining the ferry landing" beginning in 1881 and was active for there for at least a decade. According to the club's website, the club had a series of firsts in NY Harbor:
"The first open Corinthian race (in NY bay) ...Prohibition of professionals on the helm in most local races...The first spinnakers flown in a race (off Staten Island)"
The club moved activities from Oyster Bay to New York Harbor in 1875 but lacked an on-water headquarters. Social events were held at Delmonico's restaurant while sailing was administered from the club's flagship. In 1881 the club leased a yacht basin and clubhouse at Tompkinsville. It was at Staten Island when the Seawanhaka club added "Corinthian" to their name becoming Seawanhaka Corinthian. "Corinthian," in this sense means "amateur", and was generally used as a term of derision by yachting professionals. Though an "anti-Corinthian" sentiment is understandable considering the complexity, cost and safety concerns around of the big yachts of the day. The NYYC also sponsored Corinthian racing almost from the beginnning, but America's Cup racing remains one of the few races primarily for professionals. Members of the Seawanhaka Corinthian would go on to become influential in the racing world, including the yacht designer A. Cary Smith.
Apparently, the club occupied two locations, the first at William St. by the old U. S. Navy homeport in Stapleton. In 1887 the British challenger Thistle used the Tompkinsville site as a site for shore operations. It was reported: "Everything in the shape of weight that could be dispensed with was taken on shore and stored in the storehouse of the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tompkinsville and the yacht will come to the line in perfect racing condition." The Seawanhaka Corinthian club remained at Tompkinsville for about a decade before finding a new home at Oyster Bay, Long Island in 1892.
Several accounts of the day seem to draw distinctions drawn between the Staten Island Corinthians and the Seawahaka Club writing of"Corinthian Yacht Club of New York" without the name "Seawanhaka." One account of the founding states there was a committee to acquire the Tompkinsville location "previously occupied by the Seawanhaka club and to report on designs for a distinguishing burgee." Members of the Corinthians also belonged to the New York Yacht Club and races included America's Cup boats such as the 1886 challenger Galatea. August Belmont was an "Admiral" of the Corinthian Club and his steam yacht Ituna served as flagship.
Model-room of the Corinthian Yacht Club of New York, at Tompkinsville, Staten Island
"Under the lee of Staten Island's majestic hills lies the little club-house and basin of the Corinthian Yacht Club. This spot is known among yachtsmen as the “cutter nest," for here the believers in narrow and deep craft have their winter and summer home. Even the undisputed successes of the beamy centreboard sloop have not shaken for one instant the faith of this organization in the cutter type. The club and its successful administration owe much to Admiral Tweed and his efficient secretary, M. Roosevelt Schuyler. The model-room of the Corinthians is similar to that of the New York and Seawanhaka Clubs, and is visited in the winter principally by those members who live on Staten Island in the vicinity of Tompkinsville. " "The Illustrated American, Volume 5 DECEMBER, JANUARY, FEBRUARY 1890–1891.
"The premises secured at Tompkinsville for the use of the club are particularly suitable for its purposes, consisting of a picturesque frame building, two stories high, built like an ancient lake-dwelling on piles, at some distance from the real shore of Staten Island. The the lower story contains bathrooms, lavatories, a large reading-room, and
living apartments for the store-keepers. Above there is a commodious veranda commanding a magnificent view of the harbor, and a large model room which, in one respect at least, is unique and promises at one distant date to rival in interest, if not in size, the famous collection of the NEW YORK YACHT CLUB."The Yachts and Yachtsmen of America
The New York Yacht Club (briefly) at Tompkinsville
While Staten Island may have been a prime location for sailing it was not a convenient party spot for Manhattanites. The club would re-appear briefly on Staten Island shores in 1899. The July issue of Outing (No. 4) reported that year: "Station #1 of the New York Yacht Club has been removed from Bay Ridge L. I. to Tompkinsville, S.I. It is still in charge of Mr. William H. Thomas, of the club." Thomas was the owner of the noted yacht Zinga. This was a much smaller house designed for support of the boats, not the parties. It seems likely the move was related to the America's Cup competition. Sir Thomas Lipton made his first challenge in Shamrock that year and would anchor off Tompkinsville. At the third general meeting of the NYYC on May 16, 1901 "The matters of the new station on the East River and the removal of Station 1 from Staten Island to Bay Ridge were referred to the Committe on Uniform and with power to act."
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on August 20, 1899:
"Tompkinsville and its neighborhood was even livelier than South and Midland Beach yesterday afternoon. The shore was crowded all afternoon with people curious to get a view of the Shamrock and the waters literally swarmed with craft of ail sort, which, in their eagerness, crowded closer than real safety warranted." Then on September 3, 1899 the story continued: "Upon his arrival at Tompkinsville, Sir Thomas at once went aboard the Erin, where he was joined shortly by [his own] Captains [Archie] Hogarth and [Robert] Wringe the first he had seen of them since his arrival. The entire party then proceeded to the Shamrock, which was carefully inspected inside and out, and a long consultation was held. It is believed to have resulted in an agreement to make Sandy Hook the future anchorage of the challenger."
Shamrock I and II fell to Columbia in 1899 and 1901. Tompkinsville was designated in the club's signal code with the letters U N.
New York Yacht Club's Station 1 established at Bay Ridge in 1894 was briefly at Tompkinsville in 1899. Image: Wikipedia. "Broadside View of the Cup Challenger as She Lay at Anchor off Tompkinsville Yesterday Afternoon." New York Journal and Advertiser, August 19, 1899.
Lipton in America's Cup
"Shamrocks at Tompkinsville" reads the headline of the New-York Tribune, June 15, 1903. Thomas Lipton arrived at Tompkinsville in his personal yacht Erin, towing Shamrock III. Lipton brought along more than one Shamrock for practice competitions.
Despite what Queen Victoria may have been told, there is a second-place in the races and one man made a rather successful career out of being second. His name was Thomas Lipton. The Scottish/Irish grocery chain owner and tea magnate made five challenges for the Cup from 1899 to 1930. He numbered his boats Shamrock I - V and they came in second every time. Lipton joked "I drank my tea from the saucer for the reason I could not lift the cup"
One NYC mayor dubbed him "the world's most cheerful loser" but that's understandable as the cost of his second-place finishes, tens of millions of dollars in today's money, was far below what he would have had to pay in advertising fees for the same kind of publicity.
Historians credit the rise of his tea company in America to, among other things, the public grace with which he handled his losses. His image, in full yachting uniform, appeared prominently on many of his tea products into the 1990's - long after much of the American public had forgotten his connection to the America's Cup. Though he truly tried to win one has to wonder if his company would have been as successful in America had Sir Thomas actually taken the America's Cup away with him. In 2016 Lipton Inc. sold more than $275 million worth of tea bags in the U.S., more than $100 million in front of the next competitor.
A modern Lipton tea box illustration and a vintage Lipton cigar box label featuring the America's Cup.
Unlike many of his fellow yachtsmen Lipton was not born into wealth. He grew up a poor boy, of Irish descent in Glasgow, Scotland. At 14 he sailed to America where he spent 5 years, part of that time working as a New York City grocery store assistant and a New Jersey farmhand. He went on to build a chain of several hundred grocery stores in Britain. He raced on behalf of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club. He was blackballed by the more prestigious Royal Yacht Squadron, the original Cup host. Squadron members objected to his common work "in trade," until finally admitting him two years before his death. Lipton's marketing efforts were also boosted by the American press portraying him as the "world's most eligible bachelor," though it is now believed he was a gay man with a life partner.
Many of Lipton's fans were on Staten Island. Lipton visited Lewis Nixon, the famed naval architect of Ward Hill, aboard Nixon's yacht Loudoun. Lipton even joined an Island yacht club, which regularly sailed the waters of the Cup course - The Clifton Boat Club. It would surely have been a good source of local knowledge about the Cup's course waters.
"Sir Thomas Lipton is a member of the club." Advance, August 08, 1903. The “Clifton Boat Club” was organized in 1881. The pointed roof of the clubhouse can be seen on the left side of the photo above taken from the Alice Austen House lawn, looking north, in 1887. It was a an active New York rowing and sailing club with over 200 members at one point. "The club house is charmingly situated at Clifton, and is a delightful place to visit during the boating season. The house is 60 feet deep by 35 feet wide, with a plaza 12 feet wide on 2 sides, facing the Narrows." Collection of Historic Richmond Town.
One Island couple, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Bergner, admired Lipton so much they asked him to be godfather of their son. They named the boy "Sir Thomas Lipton Bergner." The couple was inspired by a series of coincidences between Lipton's American arrival dates (for three Cup races) and the birth dates of their three children. Though unable to attend the christening at St. Peter's Church in New Brighton, Lipton accepted the offer and sent each of the Bergner children their own shamrock stick pin. Lipton's recounting of this story to the Chicago White Sox in Ceylon, as the team travelled on their world tour of 1913-14, is described in the book The Tour to End all Tours by James E. Elfers:
After the game Lipton hosted a ball for all the players. He was a gracious host autographing all of their menus. ..and inviting them all to visit him on his yacht when he challenged for the America's Cup later in the year...One of [Lipton's] favorite tales involved his beloved yachts. When the first Shamrock was anchored off the coast of Tompkinsville...a local man was blessed with a son. In honor of the famous yacht's arrival, the German farmer gave his son the first and middle names of Thomas and Lipton. A few years later Shamrock II weighed anchor off Tompkinsville, and again the farmer's wife delivered a son. Sure enough when the Shamrock III arrived in Tompkinsville, so did another German baby boy. When Lipton heard of this amazing coincidence, he invited the couple to tour his yacht, and they in turn sincerely wished that he would win the cup.
Announcement of the Bergner Christening, Richmond County Advance, July 18, 1903. Local stores also featured Lipton's races in their advertising. Pictured above is a 1903 Advance advertisement for Tompkins Department Store, West New Brighton.
Patrol Boats at Tomkpkinsville
In addition to managing the lightships which served as marks for the course, the Lighthouse Depot served as the center for the support ships for the races in 1903 (and possibly other years as well.) Lead by Treasury Service Revenue Cutters, the yachts of America's wealthiest were "deputized" into service by hoisting a Treasury flag. The patrol boats kept the course clear while also providing the best viewing for their owners and onboard guests.
One of these patrol boat guests, Mark Twain, wrote a parody of a 1903 race featuring his yacht's owner, Henry H. Rogers. Rogers, besides being a major stockholder of Standard Oil, was the owner of a Staten Island trolley system. Twain, the former steamboat captain, had some familiarity with the Lighthouse Depot having previously done a reading on behalf of the Blue Anchor Society, a charity for shipwreck victims, located on the depot grounds.
The New York Times reported on the cutter deployment on August 21, 1903:
“The line of cutters formed just off Tompkinsville and went steaming down the bay at 9 o’clock. The yachts assigned to assist in the work dropped into their places when the line separated into two wings near the Hook.”
However, the man who oversaw the Treasury Department's procession that year, Treasury Secretary Leslie M. Shaw, went missing. Mr. Shaw's secretary, Mr. Edwards,had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of his boss dockside in Manhattan. Edwards had with him a “wagon load of provisions and several waiters to care for the Secretary and his guests.” They were scheduled to depart at 9 AM aboard the cutter Onandoga at Tompkinsville. Unable to wait any longer Mr. Edwards finally departed [for Tompkinsville] with provisions and waiters on the last available Revenue Cutter, Manhattan, at 8:45. Edwards left word for the Secretary of the Treasury “to take the Staten Island Ferry and to hurry or the boat would go from Tompkinsville without him." When Mr. Edwards arrived at Tompkinsville he found his supervisor waiting for him. Secretary Shaw had taken an earlier train and had already crossed to Staten Island. "The Manhattan was notified and went about her assigned work somewhat late.”
Revenue cutters at the 1903 America's Cup. Library of Congress.
The 1914 America's Cup races were scheduled to begin just after Germany declared war on Britain. Thomas Lipton was crossing the Atlantic for New York in his personal steam yacht Erin accompanied by Shamrock IV when he received the news by radio. "Mike" Vanderbilt had already dispatched his personal sailing yacht Vagrant to Bermuda to meet Lipton before the news broke. The Vagrant carried no radio and found that upon its arrival in Bermuda all navigational aids had been removed from the local reefs so as not to aid a German attack. The shore battery met their arrival with a warning shot. Vagrant was eventually allowed to enter the port and the next day met Lipton there. The 1914 races were cancelled and Lipton made his yachts available to various medical organizations for the transport of doctors and medicine, even travelling to some hard-hit locations personally.
By the time of the next challenge, in 1920, the NYYC wanted to move the race Newport, Rhode Island. However, as sailing historian John Rousmaniere explains: "The only person who wanted to have it in New York was Sir Thomas Lipton...All the people from his club and the New York Yacht Club wanted to have it in Newport where there was better wind, cleaner water and better sailing. But Lipton had a lot of followers and friends in New York and he made the decision." NYC hotels were filled to capacity for the event and special trains had to be commissioned from as far away as Canada to handle the incoming crowds.
Prepping at Port Richmond
The Island's shipyards provided maintenance and last minute modifications to the competitors going back at least to the British challenger Countess of Dufferin in 1876 and continuing on until 1920 when the last races were held in New York Harbor.
Daily Advance headline July 22, 1920 announcing the arrival of both Resolute and Shamrock IV at the Staten Island Shipyard Co. docks in Port Richmond.
1920's defender and challenger in the dry docks at Port Richmond. Port of New York Annual. Port Richmond had been a work site for America's Cup boats dating back to 1876 when the British challenger Countess of Dufferin had her hull worked on. Shamrock II is known to have had her sails fitted out at Tompkinsville and likely had hull work done at Port Richmond in 1901.
Staten Island Shipbuilding Company, 1919. Port of New York Annual. In this Staten Island Advance graphic, Lipton embraces a wooden American eagle, from the original Cup-winner America as his mascot for Shamrock IV in the races of 1920.
Shamrock IV put a scare into the Americans that year, taking a 2 race to 0 lead, before Resolute came from behind, winning 3-2.
New York to Newport and Beyond
After half a century in New York Harbor, the races were finally moved to Newport in 1930. While the move made for better racing it was a blow to the city's economy and the thousands of local fans. Thomas Lipton made his final unsuccessful challenge in Shamrock V there. He was again defeated, this time by Mike Vanderbilt.
Racing continued for 53 years at Newport until Australia II, sporting a revolutionary winged keel, ended the New York Yacht Club's record-setting 132 year winning streakin 1983. The Cup then traveled between the U.S., New Zealand and Switzerland for several years. America regained the Cup in 2010 when Team USA defeated the Swiss in the 33rd competition, bringing the Cup to San Francisco for the first time. In 2013, at San Francisco Bay, Team USA trailed New Zealand 8 races to 1 in the 34th series and seemed destined to lose the cup for a second time. Then, one of the greatest comebacks in all sports history occurred. Team USA came roaring back, defending the Cup 9 - 8.
After a 96 year absence Cup racing returned to New York Harbor on May 7 & 8, 2016 when qualifying races for the 35th competition were held off the shores of Manhattan. Organizer Harvey Schiller described the Cup staff's first meeting with NYC officials: "When we had the original meeting, the one thing they said was, 'Don't interfere with the Staten Island Ferry,' The races were moved to a new, "way-inside" course, from the mouth of the Hudson down to the Statue of Liberty, with plenty of good viewing for members of the Shaolin Yacht Club. Schiller said: "The harbor's ability to bring fans so close to the action is what made New York the mecca of sailing 100 years ago and an ideal home for the America's Cup..."
Cup racing isn't nearly as popular as it once was. Still, the sight of the speeding boats commands everyone's attention. The new boats have turned an ancient art on its head, capable of sailing at over 50 mph in a 20 mph breeze. The competitors' twin hulls ride above the water like hydrofoils. The Lipton-style yachting cap has been traded for a crash helmet. Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill called the sport "NASCAR on water." While this may not please some traditionalists, the origins of this "new" style racing can be traced back to Staten Island in the 1870s.
Team USA "flies" past lower Manhattan. Image: americascup.com
The first, and most famous New York racing catamaran was Nathaniel Hereshoff's Amaryllis. She raced her innaugural, and only race , the 1876 U.S. Centennial Regatta, from Stapleton. Though not a NYYC race, the start was from the NYYC's Stapleton clubhouse. The World reported on June 24, 1876:
From an early hour yesterday morning the little vessels that were to compete for the honors of the day began to arrive at the rendezvous, near the New York Yacht Club House on Staten Island, and each ferry-boat that arrived brought large numbers of people from the city to witness the race, which evidently attracted quite as much, if not more, interest than the one of the previous day between the large vessels...The bay in front of the club-house was all alive with craft of every description, and them all none attracted more attention than the schooner-yacht Magic, the winner of more annual regattas than any other schooner of the New York Yacht Club. She has been restored as near as possible to her old appearance when she raced for the Queen's Cup, in 1871, and has been put in perfect order...As the time drew near for the start of the yachts several excursion steamers arrived from the city literally packed with passengers to witness the race... A small stake-boat was anchored just off from the club-house, and it was arranged that the start should be from a line drawn between this boat and the club house. Outside of this stake-boat was the yacht of Vice Commodore Kane, of the New York Yacht Club, dressed off with long lines of bunting, extending from trucks to sails, and here the starting gun was fired.
The Rudder magazine summed up the race in one line: "One Hereshoff hailing from Bristol Rhode Island, crossed the starting line of the Centennial Regatta at the helm of the little catamaran Amaryllis, and he sailed through the fleet like a greyhound through a drove of cows."
After the victory of the Amaryllis, the captain of the boat Clara S. protested her design because she was not a "yacht" without sleeping quarters. Hereshoff objected that she had a tent and "the tent affords sufficient shelter". The race committee disqualified Amaryllis. Her consolation prize was a certificate declaring Amaryllis "the world's fastest sailing vessel." The winner of the class was declared to be Jake Schmidt aboard Pluck and Luck.
The disqualification of Hereshoff's Amaryllis from the Centennial race did not sit well with many who feltshe had won fairly. The World editorialized on this fact and included a warning to those who sought to block disruptive designs from racing:
So the owners of racing-machines have really no reason to complain that somebody should invent a racing-machine to beat them. This the inventor of the Amaryllis has done. It behooves the owners of the large schooners, however, to take counsel together lest somebody should build an Amaryllis a hundred feet long and convert their crafts into useless lumber. It is a matter quite as important as keeping the America's Cup...
It did not take long for two NYYC members to do exactly what the World predicted.
A banker from West New Brighton, Charles Meigs also followed with his own "double huller" built in Brooklyn. Meigs was a member of the original "Hoboken Model Yacht Club", circa 1840, which later changed its name to "The New York Yacht Club" after a misunderstanding was discovered. The club's boats were actually small sailboats, in which members sailed, rather than the toys that formed the fleets of their namesakes, the European "model yacht" clubs.
The book Legends, Stories and Folklore of Old Staten Island tells the story:
It is claimed for Charles Meigs, who at first lived in the Beckerman house on First St., but later removed to Davis Avenue, that he was the first man on Staten Island to construct a catamaran, those twin hulled boats which originated in the southern seas, and that he sailed it with considerable success, while Anson Phelps Stokes of New Brighton was a close second. The latter's vessel, however, had a disconcerting way of taking a header — as the landlubber who told the story put it — and tossing its occupants into the sea with a splash. In fact, she appears to have been more in the nature of a bathing machine than a boat.
"An old salt gives his recollection of this pleasing diversion as follows: "Remember the catamarans well, and Nat. Herreshoff was the first to revive their use and the first successful designer of them, and the ball and socket attachment of the hulls to each other. This feature was patented, and very many, not realizing its importance, tried to evade royalties by making rigid attachments, among them the parties you mention. The Stokes one, plans of which were submitted to me by a bidder on construction, I condemned and was not mistaken. Her remains were for a long time on the beach in Mulford's Basin, opposite the Commodore Vanderbilt home on Bay Street, Stapleton. She was quite a ship with under deck cabins in both hulls, and must have cost a pretty penny. Never heard of her performing any serious stunts, simply wouldn't go fast. The under water act was peculiar to all styles when over-crowded with sail. The lee hull would take a dive and fetch up while the weather one would somersault over it. Fred Hughes, of the old Cremorne Gardens, [at 14th St & 6th Ave.] New York City, was the great exploiter of catamarans. He spent many thousands on them, and his craft, sailing rings around the Staten Island ferry boats, which were by no means slow, was a common sight every favorable breeze ."
Anson Phelps Stokes in 1873. The former Stokes mansion in New Brighton near Daniel Low Terrace.
Anson Phelps Stokes of New Brighton was the NYYC Vice Commodore. At first the other members objected to his catamaran but a special meeting was held and it was decided a double hulled schooner would be permitted to race. Unlike Amaryllis Stoke's boat had sleeping quarters.
Stokes yacht was the Nereid (a sea nymph in Greek mythology ). She was built by Islander Captain Louis Towns with hulls 3 feet wide and five feet deep and 10 feet apart. Unlike modern catamarans the single rudder was located in between the two hulls. The Nereid became known as "Stokes' folly." She raced unsuccessfully for a time but Stokes felt she was not the total failure others portrayed her to be as "she proved herself well able to accompany the squadron."
Monohulls continued to be the Cup standard until 1988 when Dennis Connor's catamaran Stars and Stripes went up against New Zealand's enormous monohull KZ 1, nicknamed the"Aircraft Carrier". The catamaran won easily on the water but, just as in 1876 and 1877, there was much disagreement over the legality of the twin hull design. Court battles ensued in the New York courts, first awarding the 1988 Cup to KZ 1 and then giving it back to Stars and Stripes.
The vessels have changed since the old races but much of the original the spirit has been renewed. 2016 ferry riders enjoyed the show just as Alice Austen and her party did in 1893. The city shorelline was again a prime viewing spot, for the first time since the days of the inside course. Cup racing had come back as a spectator sport for all New Yorkers.
The home of the first Cup defense still stands. Its exterior is mostly boarded though a few upper windows still provide views of the passing boats to the empty rooms. The broad front porch is now gone and weeds surround the building. The building was stabilized in 2013 and awaits restoration and remind us of the glory days when Shaolin ruled the waves.
The NYYC Clubhouse on Staten Island today.
The 2017 Cup Finals are scheduled for Bermuda on June when Team USA will face off against the top qualifying challenger. (I will be presenting a talk about the material presented here at the National Lighthouse Museum, at the old U.S. Lighthouse Depot, next to the ferry terminal on Staten Island. The event starts at 12 PM. Afterwards we will revive the old Island tradition of the America's Cup viewing party, this time via video, on Sunday, June 25, 2017. Check their website for details.)
The City and the Sea
The sea is the great wilderness of New York City. 165 square miles of the City are water. Within the city limits the sea occupies mores space than Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn combined. It is our "sixth borough",
Now the usual talk of the sea in New York is in terms of rising water levels, pollution, super storms and spending millions keeping it all in check. Venturing out in anything smaller than a ferryboat or cruise ship is becoming a rarity. Once the sea was a more welcome part of our city. A century ago average New Yorkers not only watched the magnificent racing yachts, in numbers that would make today's Yankees or Mets envious, but they also sailed themselves. Old pictures of Staten Island beaches are filled with small boats, resting at anchor or on the sand, waiting for someone to shove off on a sunny day. With the City's old commerical and industrial waterfront fading away we now have unique opportunities to enable many more people to return to the water.
New York Yacht Club(at Clifton 1868-1870, Stapleton c1876, Tompkinsville 1899-1901)
Staten Island Athletic Club, Yachting Department (1871, boat house constructed 1881 between York and Franklin Avenues in New Brighton then destroyed by a passing tow in 1886, moved to "the old Campbell mansion in 1887, yachting deparment active in 1892 in the NY Yacht Racing Association)
New York Canoe Club (sailing-canoe club at Tompkinsville, 1871. It later became the North Shore Yacht Clubin Port Washington, Long Island.)
Stapleton Yacht Club (10 member vessels in 1872)
Hesper Boat Club (1870s, later merged with the Staten Island Athletic Club. The founding meeting of the SIAC was held in the Hesper boathouse.)
Excelsior Yacht Club station(a Brooklyn club at Great Kills, 1874)
West Brighton Yacht Club (1879?)
Clifton Boat Club(The new boat house was started in 1880, and was finished far enough for habitation the following season, so the club moved what few boats, etc., it had to its new quarters, and thus boating was added to the already many attractions of this club. This fine house started a boom in the membership, as the roll room ran up to 260, while a year before but 60 names were enrolled in all. The boat house is one of, if not the finest around New York, and the members are always delighted to show their friends and visitors around at any time. - Richard M. Bayles 1887)
Ocean Yacht Club, (Front Street, Stapleton 1891- present, the oldest existing yacht club on Staten Island, 60 members in 1900)
Kill Von Kull Yacht Club(founded November 25, 1890. colonial clubhouse at Sharp Ave., boathouse at John St., Port Richmond, 1892. 150 members in 1900.)
Knickerbocker Canoe Club station (at Stapleton 1892)
Staten Island Yacht Club (organized 1891, incorporated 1896/7, at Dock Street, Stapleton, 1897, 90 members in 1900, 150 members in 1901 and 28 vessels. Station at Shrewsbury River, Highlands N. J.)
Elizabeth Yacht Club station (Chelsea S.I., c. 1915)
Bentley Yacht Club(Named for Christopher Billopp's home / boat, Bentley, which legend (?) says won Staten Island for the New York Colony, in a dispute with New Jersey, in 1675, by circumnavigating the Island in under 24 hours. At 5372 Amboy Rd., Tottenville,1909)
North Bentley Yacht Club(at Tottenville 1920s)
Yvette Yacht Club (named for a French hairnet designer by the Yvette Company owner, Henry Salomons. He ran a chain of "Barber Bill" children's barber shops featuring hobby-horse barber chairs and founded the club atGreat Kills, 1923. In 1926 the club got national attention by christening a yacht by showering "its bow with talcum from a huge powder puff instead of wine from a bottle of old vintage." The Yvette became the Richmond County Yacht Club in 1929.)
Princess (Prince's) Bay Yacht Club(atPrince's Bayc. 1929)
The Staten Island Model Yacht Club (at Port Richmond was active until at least 1940. The founding date is another question. Scribner's Monthly of August 1872 announced the formation of a model yacht club on Staten Island:
"These clubs were common in Paris in the last 10 or 12 years, and lately one has been organized on Staten Island."
If so, Staten Island definitely had one of the first, and *possibly* the first, model yacht club in America. The Prospect Park Model Yacht Club, the oldest American club in operation today, was founded July 4, 1872. That was probably close to the founding announced by Scribner's in August 1872 - depending on the specifics of " lately one has been organized on Staten Island." and the date the article was first written.
A 1939 publication titled "Recreation" states that "In America, New York and San Francisco compete for the honor of having organized the first model yacht club in the early seventies...Central Park lake and lakes across Staten Island lay claim to model sailors at about the same time." San Francisco Model Yacht Club was founded in 1898 and Central Park Model Yacht Club was founded in 1916.
The Staten Island Model Yacht Club competed in the Eastern Division of the Model Yacht Racing Association of America against clubs from Philadelphia, New Jersey, Brooklyn and Long Island.Sailors' Snug Harbor was also a well-known early model yachting center and theClove Lakes Park Model Yacht Club was active around 1940 and probably earlier.
Staten Island Yacht Club burgee.
Princess (Prince's) Bay Yacht Club, Staten Island
Great Kills Yacht Club, Staten Island
The July 3, 1890 issue of Field & Stream includes the "Mariposa" in a list of competitors that sailed in a Staten Island Athletic Club race on June 28: "The Yachting Department of the Staten Island Athletic Club sailed a very successful regatta on Saturday on New York Bay, the start being off Robbin's Reef Light. The wind was strong and puffy from the west...." Alice Austen photo. Collection of Historic Richmond Town.
"Yacht and Boat Clubs of Staten Island in the the Nineteenth Century" an article by Anita Jacobsen can be found in the Staten Island Historian , Jan-March issue, 1979. An article on the "Hesper Boat Club" can be found in the Oct. - Dec. 1977 issue. "The Austen Family and Their Home and the Former NYYC" is in Apr.-June 1967 issue.
Thanks to the Historic Richmond Town for the use of their images.
2017's Summer Reading theme: Build a better world through reading!
As usual, we had a fantastic Summer Reading kickoff celebration this year on June 8, 2017. At the Harlem Library, which was festively decorated with balloons, many staff and patrons alike gathered, many with fantabulous blue Summer Reading t-shirts. We celebrated the beginning of warm weather with a focus on literacy and kids maintaining their reading skills during the upcoming summer vacation. We want to prevent the "summer slide," which is the cause for kids falling behind academically when they return to school in the autumn. If kids read regularly during July and August, teachers will not need to spend as much time reviewing material that they learned the previous year in order to get kids back into the learning groove. We want kids learn continuously, and books are the key to this goal. Books can be read anytime, anywhere, and people can learn on their own from the great literature that populates the shelves of our numerous and abundant public libraries. Pursuing our shelves for treasures can be barrels of fun. We also have many other recreational and artistic programs and parties for kids in July and August.
Reading Is Exciting & Enlightening
Tony Marx, President of The New York Public Library, started off the event by declaring that reading is the most important thing that people can do. You can learn so much about yourself, your family, your neighborhood, and everyone else by delving into the intriguing world of books. It is especially important that everyone learns and lives peacefully together. NYPL has beautiful buildings, collections, and computers for the residents and tourists of New York City.
Great People Learn in Libraries
One of our libraries, the Harry Belafonte 115th Street branch, was recently renamed to honor Harry Belafonte, who is a musician and political activist. He has done so much for humanity, and he grew up utilizing his local public library. There, he learned to read and be who he is today. Senator John Lewis, author the March series, concurred about the importance of reading. Our future depends on what kids do with their lives. Libraries are inclusive for all New Yorkers. We welcome residents and tourists alike to our facilities and programs, regardless of immigration status or any other difference protected by law.
Marx once had the pleasure of once meeting someone who literally grew up in the Washington Heights Library. In the old days, our facilities had custodial apartments. This gentleman, whose dad was the custodian, used to sneak down to the library at night to read. He loved having access to all of the books, and the space was completely his. He was the first person in his family to graduate from high school and college, and he became an administrator of a city health agency. Now, as a retiree, he remembers the books that helped him build such an incredible life that he had never dreamed of. All of this was because of what he learned from the books that he read as a child. Kids need to read about other worlds and make the world what it ought to be. Libraries are here to serve our residents and visitors and partner with other agencies.
The Library is so grateful for its Summer Reading private sponsors, including HBO, Sesame Street, HSBC Bank and the Yankees Foundation, as well as anonymous donors. Ray Johnson from HSBC Bank spoke about joining together to discover a love of reading. There is an abundance of amazing literature in the public library.
More to Celebrate
The Library is thrilled to have recently received baselined funding for operational costs as well as $110 million for capital projects that is going to fulfill a dire need to repair existing infrastructure in the libraries and build new amazing facilities in the five boroughs of our great city. For this, we thank Mayor De Blasio, Speaker Mark-Vivierto, Finance director McKinney, Finance committee chair Ferreras-Copeland, Libraries and Cultural Institutions committee chair Van Bramer, Libraries subcommittee chair King, and the entire city council and staff. All of these wonderful people worked tirelessly on the budget for FY 2018 of the city of New York, and the libraries are very grateful that the administration and council was able to make possible the capital projects that we are so eager to embark upon for the benefit of library-goers throughout the five boroughs.
Council member Bill Perkins, who represents the 9th district of the city of New York, which includes the Harlem Library, also spoke of the importance of reading. He declared that kids can be giants in terms of their brain power. He encourages kids to take care of their communities. He grew up in the housing projects, and he is a product of the public library system. Libraries opened up his eyes to opportunities that he was not previously aware of. People can enrich their opportunities through books. Perkins informed kids that if they can read, they can lead.
Drag Queen Story Time
We had a drag queen, who was adorned in a lovely burgundy dress, read to a group of pre-school aged children a picture book about a boy who likes to wear dresses called Jacob's New Dress. Boys and girls alike enjoyed the story. The presenter assured the kids that boys can wear dresses too. I quite enjoyed the story, and I wrote a blog about it. I love that the Library is actively supporting alternative gender expression and is trying to break down gender stereotypes.
The Jumbies Defense Program
Tracey Baptiste, author of The Jumbies, gave a mythological presentation that relates to her work. She grew up in Trinidad; she loved fairy tales, and her mother told her stories about the jumbies before she went to bed. These were monsters that it was best to stay away from. She told the story of these creatures using child volunteers from the audience with props. Her presentation was very interactive and quite entertaining.
Read All Summer Long!
Everyone needs to read more over the summer! Being interested and informed in what is going on around our city, country, and the world is vital to making our lives and those of our neighbors the best that it can be. Enjoy the Library's materials this summer as well as our amazing educational, vocational, recreational and entertaining programs. Thank you to all who make Summer Reading and libraries possible. Happy Summer Reading 2017!
Actors (L-R) Leonard S. Nimoy and Alan Sues in a scene from the touring production of the play "Sherlock Holmes." (Detroit) | Image ID swope_1334266, The New York Public Library
Dorothy Sayers is one of the masters of the detective story. Born in 1893, the British author wrote in nearly every format under the sun: prose, poetry, plays, essays, short stories, translation, and even advertising jingles. She's best known for her mysteries, particularly the creation of the sleuths Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, who helped shape our modern conception of what it means to be a detective.
And Sherlock Holmes is, of course, one of the quintessential detectives. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote more than 50 tales about the super-sleuth, and his story has continued in a myriad of ways since Conan Doyle launched the Sherlock into the world. Right now, for millions of readers and viewers, he's embodied in the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the popular BBC/WGBH series.
So, we've put a master of detective stories up against a master of detectives. Even though the words were written more than a century apart, Sherlock and Sayers' characters share a similar sensibility and a wicked sense of humor. Test your skills below—and check out Sayers, Sherlock, and original Conan Doyle from the Library's collections.
Quotes culled from Wikipedia (Sherlock) and Goodreads (Sayers). Thanks to Courtney McGee for the Sherlock expertise.
Poetry is perfect for the youngest readers—great for developing vocabularies and fun for adults to read out loud. Check out some newly published books, all of which can be found in the Library's nonfiction section, that have the members of our Best Books for Kids committee feeling jazzed.
Names you've heard of -- Pura Belpré, Tito Puente, César Chávez -- as well as several you probably haven't populate the pages of this book of poems and portraits.
Sartore is a National Geographic photographer on a mission to showcase every animal in the world. This book showcases his portraits together with poetry that calls for kids to protect the animals they see on its pages.
This book is: educational, realistic, thought-provoking.
Yolen, author of the iconic Why Do Dinosaurs...? series, turns her eye below the surface. This collection of poems explores what it means to be underground -- beneath the soil, in the subway, in animal burrows, and more.
This book is: attention-grabbing, detailed, full of wordplay.
Grimes combines her own words with those of the most famous poets from the Harlem Renaissance, paired with vibrant art from prominent African-American illustrators.
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!
!["The New York Yacht Club Regatta...Off the new club house and grounds Staten Island."](http://d140u095r09w96.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/nyyc_regatta_currier.jpg ""The New York Yacht Club Regatta...Off the new club house and grounds Staten Island."")
