Blog Posts by Subject: Bronx

Hispanic Heritage Month is observed in the U.S. each year from September 15 to October 15. This year's national theme is "Diversity United, Building America's Future Today." At the Bronx Library Center - NYPL's premier Latino/Puerto Rican Heritage Center, we have a variety of programs and events to learn and celebrate the Hispanic experience. Listed below are just a few of them:

The City University of New York (CUNY) CareerPATH is a low to no-cost program supporting adult workers without jobs and adult workers looking to advance their careers by providing opportunities to earn both industry-recognized credentials and college credits and to find jobs in one of five sectors: Business, Education, Food Service and Hospitality, Healthcare, and Manufacturing.

I served on the grand jury of the Bronx County Court House from mid-September to mid-October this year. I have always wanted to serve on the jury, so I was thrilled to do so. I was questioned for possible juror services for a trial jury in Albany, NY in 2002, but I was in library school at the time, so I was glad that I was not selected. And I was called for grand jury service in August of 2010, but I was between libraries (I was transferring), so I was glad that I was not selected. The summertime is very busy for the Library, since the kids are not in school, so autumn is the perfect time.

Nestled on a small tree-lined side street just off Arthur Avenue in "the heart of Little Italy, the Bronx" rests the Belmont Library and Enrico Fermi Cultural Center, proudly celebrating 30 years of service this fall. "What the Hester and Mott Street corner is to Little Italy in Manhattan," wrote the New York Times in 1980, "the Arthur Avenue and East 187th Street corner is to the Italian shopping district in the Bronx. It is a central location." The anachronistic neighborhood radiates with old-world flavor: the yeasty smell of baking semolina bread, savory meats and cheeses, and percolating coffee. "Even if you've never lived there, if 

The Kingsbridge Library will soon be moving to a new building and as we start to plan for our move, I can't help but reflect on the long and rich history the Kingsbridge Branch has had through the years.

For 100 years, The New York Public Library's landmark Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street and its world-renowned collections have inspired people everywhere to find their futures. In honor of the Centennial Celebration, pioneering game designer Jane McGonigal helped the Library kick off its Weekend Festival with Find the Future: The Game, an all-night scavenger hunt in the Stephen A.

Did anyone else notice that the Bronx was hardly ever mentioned during our recent snowstorm?  We heard about streets not being plowed in Queens and Brooklyn, but I only heard the Bronx mentioned once. Sometimes it seems that we are the forgotten part of New York City. However, the humble Bronx has been the setting of many books, fiction and non-fiction alike, and it has been called home by such luminaries as Colin Powell, Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Regis Philbin and author Mary Higgins Clark.  Pictured above are library patrons waiting on line at the Westchester Square Library bookmobile in the Bronx.  The picture is from NYPL's digital gallery 

The New York Public Library’s premier Puerto Rican/Latino Cultural Center—The Bronx Library Center—kicks off Hispanic Heritage Month with Pioneros II: Puerto Ricans in New York City 1948–1998, an exhibit from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. The exhibit is based on the book by the same title by Virginia Sánchez Korrol (Professor emerita at Brooklyn College) and Pedro Juan Hernández (Archivist at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College).

They were all made in the Bronx. The New York Public Library Lions (1911) and the Abraham Lincoln statue (1923) at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington were carved by the Piccirilli Brothers in their studio on 142nd Street near St. Ann Avenue. The cast iron dome (1858) crowning the Capitol Building in Washington was cast by the James & Kirtland Foundry located in the vicinity of St. Mary's Park.

Seeking further enlightenment into the city we call home, I recently took a class on the literary and cultural history of New York City. Among the many themes common to New York City novels we discussed was the portrayal of the city itself as a character with power to shape the lives of its citizens.

For people not familiar with the Northwest Bronx, the name of the  Spuyten Duyvil Branch Library (\ˌspī-tən-ˈdī-vəl\) can be a tongue twister.  Dating back to the 17th century, the name Spuyten Duyvil originates from the Dutch settlers who gave the name to the creek that flowed around what is today the Marble Hill neightborhood.  The creek has since been filled in, but the name stuck, with several theories about its origin.

About 20 yards from the Bronx Library Center is the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage. Nestled quietly in a corner of the Poe Park, this small wooden farmhouse built in 1812 shows no sign of the great legacy of its occupant. It was here that Edgar Allan Poe spent the last 3 years of his life. Poe penned some of his famous poems in this cottage ( "Annabel Lee,” “The Bells” and “Eureka”). And it was in this cottage he experienced his greatest heartbreak - when Virginia died in 1847. Preserved by the Bronx Historical Society, the bed she died in can still be viewed by visitors as well as the armchair Poe sat in.

Looking for just the right music to get you into the holiday mood? This holiday season the Bronx Library Center will be featuring holiday music as part of its regular Saturday afternoon cultural performances. The following free performances are scheduled in the 150-seat auditorium located on the Concourse Level of this fabulous library.

Saturday, December 19 @ 2:30 p.m.

Members of the Bronx Symphony Orchestra will perform “Music Inspired by Christmas”
George Frederick Handel: Overture and Pastorale from Messiah
Arcangelo Corelli: Christmas Concerto Grosso op. 6 no.8
Four Traditional Christmas Carols (arr. by Bruce 

If you're like me, perhaps you started seeing a new word recently—Wifi-- and puzzled over it, then started seeing Wii, and thought somebody must be misspelling something, and what were all these annoying intruders into the lexicon, anyway??? Well, the former is pronounced like hi-fi, is usually hyphenated, and is a type of wireless Internet service. The latter is pronounced like "Wheeeee!," and I'm sure that interjection has escaped from the mouths of many who tried the Nintendo Wii videogaming products in public libraries or elsewhere. The Wii is a video game console that can be used with a wide variety of software products including Wii Sports, with which one can play 

They are all topics of programs or workshops for adults coming up at various New York Public Library locations over the next few months!

Leg warmers will be knitted at the Chatham Square Library in Chinatown. Wakefield Library in the north Bronx will host a useful series of free food preparation workshops by Cornell University Cooperative Extension Program. St. George Library Center on Staten Island will be the place to meet 6 wrestling champions, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem will present a live screening of the 2009 Inauguration Ceremony.

And there are over 400 other free programs and classes for adults listed. Flamenco, English Sword