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The Staten Island Historian is a publication of the Staten
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WINTER-SPRING 2002 VOLUME
19 NEW SERIES NUMBER 2
The Port Richmond Branch
of The New York Public Library
The First 50 Years: 1905-1955
By Andrew Wilson
The Port Richmond Branch of The New York Public Library is rich
with stories. It stands at 75 Bennett Street on the North Shore
of Staten Island, N.Y., two blocks from the Kill Van Kull. A gift
from the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, the historic red brick building
faces Veterans’ Park and P.S. 20 in the Port Richmond neighborhood.
The library’s history and its service to the people of Port
Richmond mirror the rapidly changing community life of Staten Island.
First Attempts
The Port Richmond library was built in an area that
had only received sporadic library service throughout the 19th century.
Staten Island interest in a public library began as early as 1833
when the Franklin Society established a social library in Factoryville
(now West New Brighton). A variety of small private library collections
and literary associations sprang up on the North Shore throughout
the century: The Young Men’s Free Reading Room, The Castleton
Free Circulating Library (in the Unitarian Church of New Brighton),
and the Young People’s Literary Association of Tompkinsville.
These groups tried, with only partial success, to fill the need
for library service.
Around the turn of the century two groups on the South Shore, The
Philomen Literary and Historical Society, a women’s group,
and their male counterparts, The Philo Debating Society, joined
with the Tottenville Library Association to make the first real
headway in establishing a permanent public library presence on the
island. They petitioned Andrew Carnegie for funds to construct a
library that would be chartered by the University of the State of
New York. This building is still in operation today as the Tottenville
Branch of The New York Public Library — a branch that began
a library-building boom on Staten Island. Next up: Port Richmond.
Mr. Carnegie’s Gift
Having amassed a fortune of about $300 million, Andrew Carnegie
was about to embark on the greatest library construction project
of all time. He sought to contribute his money to institutions that
he felt could help those who wanted to better themselves. In 1897
he offered to finance the construction of a library for any community
that petitioned him. Over the next several years, he would donate
$56 million for the creation of 2,509 public libraries.
The New York Public Library would be one of the first in line for
the money. Dr. John Billings, first director of The New York Public
Library, convinced Mr. Carnegie that New York City required a library
in every neighborhood, a revolutionary concept in its day. Mr. Carnegie
gave $5.6 million for the construction of 56 branches in New York
City. Only Port Richmond and Tottenville were originally slated
for Staten Island.
Controversy
One might expect a gift of free libraries to be immediately welcomed
by all, but some political peculiarities in the recently consolidated
city of New York embroiled the action in controversy. Those were
the days of the notoriously corrupt city government of Tammany Hall,
with many competing factions desiring control of the money as well
as credit for the creation of the new libraries. Several issues
fueled the controversy. The first was the source of the money. Mr.
Carnegie was not universally popular. The violent suppression of
a strike in his Homestead steel plant in 1892 led the author and
social critic Upton Sinclair to call the gift “blood money.”
A second issue was who would control the money, the not-for-profit
corporation of The New York Public Library (whose trustees were
almost all anti-Tammany men), or City Hall? Third: Disagreements
among the boroughs over how the money should be distributed. Fourth:
Mr. Carnegie attached a condition to his gift: The city must pay
the price of maintaining, staffing and stocking the shelves of the
new libraries. Library opponents charged that Carnegie was giving
the city a burden, rather than a gift. Fifth: What would be the
role of the new libraries? Most people today have fairly similar
notions about the role of a public library, but back then the whole
concept was new and yet to be defined. Some people wanted the libraries
to be strictly limited to book lending while others pushed for them
to be complete community centers containing social clubs, lecture
halls, classrooms, and even public baths.
City Support
Fortunately, overwhelming popular support for the new libraries
pushed New York City leaders to quick action. Unlike some cities
where debate raged on for years, the necessary compromises were
made with good speed. Control of the Carnegie money was given to
The New York Public Library, administered by The Astor, Lenox and
Tilden Foundations, for the boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan and
Staten Island. The Brooklyn Public Library was established to administer
Mr. Carnegie’s gift in Brooklyn and The Queens Borough Public
Library was born in Queens. The city agreed to pick up the cost
of operating the new libraries. The library’s role began to
emerge — no baths or social clubs, but classes and lectures
were OK. The main function was agreed to be book lending.
George Cromwell, first president of the newly created Borough of
Richmond, set up an advisory committee to determine how the Carnegie
money should be used on Staten Island. The committee included DeWitt
Stafford, Gugy Æ Irving, W.K. Johnston, I.K. Morris, W.C.
Kerr and J.M. Carrère, of the firm of Carrère and
Hastings, architects of The New York Public Library building on
Fifth Avenue, and Staten Island’s Borough Hall.
Two Libraries Are Not Enough
This committee determined that The New York Public Library’s
original plan for just two libraries on Staten Island was not enough.
Fortunately, the library found that it would be able to build more
branches with the Carnegie money than it originally estimated. An
average of $80,000 was projected for each library. Many Manhattan
branches came in at much higher prices. But Port Richmond’s
contracted cost came in at the bargain price of $25,398.92 for the
building and equipment — and only $5,000 to purchase the site
from its owner, Mr. José T.J. Xiques, a Staten Islander of
Cuban descent. The city approved the purchase on July 28, 1902,
and a contract was signed on Aug. 18, 1902. Arrangements were made
to condemn the building that stood on the site. The title was closed
on Oct. 20, 1902.
Thanks to cheap Staten Island real estate and pressure from Borough
President Cromwell’s committee, plans were made for additional
libraries to be built at Stapleton, St. George, West New Brighton,
and New Dorp. A library building boom had begun.
Design of the new Carnegie buildings was divided among three architectural
firms. Carrère and Hastings were assigned the Staten Island
branches of Port Richmond, Tottenville, Stapleton, and St. George.
They drew up a single design for the Port Richmond, Tottenville
and Stapleton branches, which could be adapted to each site. The
plan included wide-open, single-level public floors unlike the firm’s
Manhattan branch designs, which consist of several smaller floors
due to the scarcity of available land.
The Classical Revival design of the Staten Island branches is impressive.
These buildings can be viewed as monuments to learning and to civic
pride, rather than as book warehouses. They have tall ceilings (about
30’) and large arched windows that provide ample light. Outside,
tall pillars flank the entrances.
Construction of the new Port Richmond Branch Library was well under
way in 1904. The builder, E.E. Paul, simultaneously headed the construction
sites at both Tottenville and Port Richmond.
A Message in a Bottle
In the spring of 1904 two classmates at the Curtis High School Annex,
located in P.S. 20, were making nightly visits to the construction
site to check on the progress of the building. They were Edmund
Joseph Nolan and John Field. During these visits they became acquainted
with George Ballantine, a construction worker. The three men decided
to place a message in a bottle, a time capsule for future generations
to discover, in the foundation under the spot where one of the pillars
would be built. That time capsule still rests there today. Its contents
remain a mystery.
Edmund Nolan, however, was not satisfied with leaving just one time
capsule inside the building. Without telling his friends, he came
back to the construction site on Easter Sunday, 1904, and stuffed
a second note in a citrate of magnesia bottle and placed it in the
foundation at the rear of the building. This note reads:
To Whom it May concern:
I, Edmund Joseph Nolan, residing at No. 7 Collage Place, Port
Richmond, place this paper in this building, hoping that in later
years it may be found and read. Port Richmond is but a country
village now, which by the time this is found may be a flourishing
town of many librarys. I am 19 years of age and hope to have the
good fortune to be alive to hear of its finding. If this is found,
please publish the contents of this letter in some New York Paper.
Santos Dumont of air-ship fame has not at this date completed
his invention, nor has the perpetual motion machine been discovered.
At this date Thomas Edison is our foremost inventor. Today is
Easter Sunday. It takes 40 minutes to go from Port Richmond to
Manhattan. A trolley line runs along the shore and one runs up
Richmond Ave. to Bulls Head. The Rapid Transit starts at Mariners
Harbor and terminates at St. George. Then it starts at St. George
and terminates at Tottenville. It takes 30 minutes to Tottenville.
Standing at the front of this building there are 18 houses in
sight. If this is found please publish the contents of this letter
and if it is returned again please give it to Andrew Carnegie
for exhibition. I bid you Good Bye this 3rd day of April 1904—4
O’Clock RM.
Edmund Joseph Nolan
Please advertise for the person bearing this name when this is
found and tell him where to come.
“Santos Dumont” and his “invention” are
references to the Brazilian-born inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont
and his airplane. The Wright brothers first flew their airplane
on Dec. 17,1903, well before Mr. Nolan wrote his note, but received
little publicity because few people believed their story. When Santos-Dumont
made his first airplane flight in Paris, in November 1906 in his
14-BIS, the world hailed him as the inventor of the airplane.
Santos-Dumont was eventually recognized as the first to fly an airplane
on the continent of Europe. Many Brazilians still credit him as
the airplane’s inventor. Later in his life, he became despondent
over the use of the airplane as a weapon of war. He committed suicide
in 1932.
The two notes were covered as construction continued on the building.
A tall pillar was mounted over the first note and the back wall
was built over the second.
The Library Opens
The library, the 29th branch of The New York Public Library’s
Circulating Department, opened for patron registration on March
1,1905, but did not circulate books until March 20.
The opening ceremonies began at 3 P.M. on March 18, 1905. The library
was filled with the sounds of a juvenile mandolin orchestra and
glee club from P.S. 20. The traditional gathering of politicians
was on hand, making speeches and giving thanks to Mr. Carnegie in
front of a large American flag. Charles Fornes, president of the
Board of Alderman, represented the Mayor of New York and acted as
master of ceremonies. George Cromwell promised that “four
other libraries” would soon be completed (a promise that was
not kept for many years). Representing The New York Public Library
were Dr. John S. Billings, Arthur S. Bostwick, Charles Howland Russell
Esq., and William W. Appleton, of the Circulating Department.
Edwin Markham
The nationally known poet and Staten Island resident Edwin Markham,
though unable to attend the opening because he was on a lecture
tour, contributed a work, “The Praise of the Poets,”
to be read on the occasion. On the 30th anniversary of the opening
the Staten Island Advance stated that this was “specially-written”
for the opening, but no work of this exact title is known to exist
today. However, it may have been “The Poet’s Praise,”
which appeared in the New England Magazine in May 1892. This poem
begins:
His blithe and cheery spirit goes,
A brother of the budding rose.
No creed to fetter: hour by hour
Truth opens to him like a flower
Markham’s best-known poem, “The Man with the Hoe,”
had become wildly popular after its publication in 1899. He was
hailed in print as “the dean of American poetry,” “the
foremost name in poetical literature since Tennyson and Browning,”
and “America’s greatest living poet.” In 1922
he was chosen to read his poem, “Lincoln, The Man of the People,”
at the opening ceremonies of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington,
D.C. He occasionally gave signed copies of his works to the Port
Richmond branch, including “The Man with the Hoe” and
the Lincoln Memorial opening poem. His wife and son would also maintain
contact with the library in the coming years. Markham’s name
has been given to a few Staten Island institutions, such as I.S.
51 and the Markham Houses, but he is little known today.
The library looked somewhat different then than it does now. There
was a backyard where the children’s and reference rooms stand
today. Tall glass partitions with glass doors divided the main reading
room into three sections. One side housed the Adult Collection,
the other the children’s. The center section contained a large
rounded circulation desk, with a small librarian’s office
jutting out of the back of the building. The woodwork was painted
white. Gas chandeliers with big glass globes hung from the ceiling.
The basement contained a coal storage area, heater, storeroom, workroom,
and two restrooms. Large candy-striped awnings were installed outside
over the big arched windows. A brass plaque was posted near the
front door commemorating Mr. Carnegie’s gift. Ivy soon grew
to cover the front of the building.
The Young Library
The New York Public Library sent Miss Gertrude Cohen to supervise
the organization of the new branch and its collection of about 5,000
books. This task was soon turned over to Port Richmond’s next
branch librarian, Miss Agnes Morland Campbell.
On March 20, 1905, Mr. Herman Osmer, of 1254 Castleton Avenue, checked
out the first book. The library was open every weekday and evenings
on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It was circulating about 100 books
per day by May 1905. Over two thirds of this was juvenile fiction.
Circulation for 1905 totaled 54,436 books. Some “best-sellers”
included Masquerader by Thurston, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom
Come, Handy Andy David Harum, Gentleman from Indiana by Booth Tarkington,
and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. The neighborhood boys would wait
in the library for hours for a chance to grab the next Horatio Alger
book as soon as it came in.
Circulation would hit a high point in 1906, with 73,571 books borrowed
that year. In 1907, the opening of the St. George and Stapleton
branches caused circulation to drop sharply, to 25,667. It remained
level through 1910, when the figure was 26,565. Also, a traveling
library had been established in 1906. Headed by a Miss Dean, it
set up collections in Sunday Schools, fire stations and other community
locations, providing access to people in outlying neighborhoods.
Staten Island had never had library service like this before.
By 1908 a new branch librarian, Julie E. Durnett, had taken over.
Mrs. ED. Shumway was in charge of the children’s room. Many
of the practices initiated during this period are still in effect.
Regular story hours were already being held. Audiences of about
30 children would gather about twice a month to hear librarians
tell such stories as “Snow White and Rose Red,” “Hans
and the Four Giants,” “Candy Country,” and “The
Happy Heart Family.” In March 1908, librarians were busy preparing
the new Reading Room collection of non-circulating books for children
to read in the library.
In October 1910, Mrs. Shumway, on a suggestion from the Hudson Park
branch librarian, produced the first issue of the Current Events
Bulletin for the Port Richmond branch. Events lists the activities
at the branch each month and continues to this day. It has been
expanded to a system-wide publication and is available on the Internet
at www.nypl.org.
A popular item in the branch was the stereoscope, a 3-D picture
viewer, which was left on a table with a collection of pictures
(stereographs) for readers’ amusement.
What Is Suitable for Children?
The question of what materials are appropriate for children has
probably been around since the first children were allowed in libraries.
For many years, The New York Public Library banned children from
using the adult room, not only to shield the adults from any misbehavior,
but also to protect the children from reading things they were not
“supposed” to read. Once children reached seventh grade,
however, they were allowed in the adult room.
Librarians were very careful about what they allowed children to
take out. In 1908 Mrs. Shumway noted, “7th and 8th grade girls
will take nothing but fiction, the latest questionable novel if
possible. What can one do when the girl presents her mother’s
card...and says the book is for her mother, when you are quite sure
it is for herself?” She asked Anne Carol Moore, The New York
Public Library’s supervisor of work with children, “Do
you approve of children looking at the newspapers?”
Discipline was another issue for the children’s librarian.
Children who arrived at the Port Richmond branch with dirty hands
were greeted with a wash basin and soap. “Candy apples are
dealt with severely,” Mrs. Shumway declared.
Edwin Markham’s son Virgil was a regular visitor to the Port
Richmond children’s room. In 1910 Mrs. Shumway noted, “Virgil
is one of our boys.... He owns a large number of the best books,
beautiful editions, lives in a highly literary atmosphere and his
reading has been directed on strictly classic lines.... Yet, he
has confided to me that he did not like any of his own books. He
couldn’t tell why but he didn’t.”
Young Markham was interested in some of the less classical offerings
of the Port Richmond children’s room, such as the St. Nicholas
children’s magazine and books about animals. Mrs. Shumway
suggested Howard Pyle’s Men of Iron. Upon returning it to
the library he told her, “It was one of the best books I have
ever read.”
Virgil’s mother, Mrs. Anna Catherine Markham, was also a regular
visitor to the branch. Mrs. Sbumway complained, fairly or not, “She
often spends the whole day...she has never glanced at the children’s
room nor showed the slightest interest in what her boy was reading....
I suspect the child’s mind has been forced.... I am now plotting
to introduce [him to] Robin Hood.” (Virgil presented his own
version of his literary upbringing in “Literary Tradition
on Staten Island,” a three-part article beginning in the October-December
1956 issue of the Staten Island Historian, Vol. XVII, No.4, p.33.)
The Atalanta Clubs
In 1912 Mrs. Shumway began the Atalanta Club, a kind of literary
society for high school girls. The name “Atalanta” comes
from the swift-footed Greek goddess — and from the first steam-powered
ferryboat on Staten Island’s North Shore. Only fragments of
the club’s minutes remain. These come from their initiation
ceremony, which may have resembled a college sorority’s:
After the first fright was over all took to it very well. When
Frances Hargreaves came she was so strong that, I am afraid, the
others received more of the initiation than she for some even
ran into corners behind chairs for protection from those enormous
muscles. Now came the best part of all. We all gathered on chairs,
windowseats, stairs and every place available, when we received
the most delicious ‘eats.’ Oh! Such cake! And sandwiches
and homemade ice cream.
Members of the club, which usually consisted of about 15 girls,
would answer roll call by stating the name of a book they had just
read. They recited poems and stories, attended plays, and staged
debates. One debate topic was: “Resolved: The Public Library
is harmful to schoolgirls.” It is unclear who carried the
day on this one. The younger girls eventually formed their own club,
“The Junior Atalanta Club.” The Atalanta clubs continued
until 1919.
World War I
The coming of World War I changed the Port Richmond branch in many
ways. Because the local shipbuilding firms were expanding to meet
wartime needs — about 12,000 Staten Islanders worked in shipyards
at the height of the war — the branch stocked many highly
technical shipbuilding manuals. Text-book of Theoretical Naval Architecture,
Rudimentary Treatise on Masting and Rigging of Ships and Oxy-acetylene
Welding Practice were just a few of the selections one might encounter
while browsing the shelves.
One librarian lamented that many of the technical shipbuilding titles
were only printed in England and were very difficult to obtain.
Many of the books the branch ordered never arrived. Three separate
transport ships carrying the books were sunk crossing the Atlantic.
But by the end of the war, the librarians felt “the [shipbuilding]
collection excelled that of any other library in greater New York
and vicinity.”
The war brought a boom to the Port Richmond economy. The Staten
Island Advance reported in December 1917: “The month just
ending marks the close of the busiest year in the history of the
Port Richmond Library. Whether due to the influx of residents brought
here by new industries or some other reason, the circulation is
larger by several thousand than that of last year.”
Much of this influx was coming from Scandinavia. According to the
Advance, “At the Port Richmond Branch is one of the best collections
of Norwegian and Danish Books to be found in this vicinity, one
reader coming all the way from Jersey City to make use of it.”
The Port Richmond librarians visited English classes for the new
immigrants to explain “the opportunities which the library
offers in learning our language, history and government.”
Easy English-language books on these subjects were gathered for
use by the classes.
Although the local economy was on an upswing, there were wartime
shortages. Lectures at the branch instructed residents on how to
“economize and substitute for those foods they are asked to
send to the Allies.” Books such as Wheat Substitutes and Household
Organization for War Service were stocked for this purpose. Seed
catalogs and books on vegetable gardening were offered to “answer
almost any question that puzzles the beginner in this patriotic
activity.” Outbreaks of disease were another community problem,
sometimes forcing the branch to close. One especially bad outbreak
of “infantile paralysis” forced the branch to close
for most of July 1916.
In November 1917 the Staten Island Advance headlined, “Port
Richmond Branch issues list for our new citizens.” These new
citizens were not immigrants. They were all women who had just received
the right to vote in New York State. The article continued, “Women
who are eager to fit themselves for their new responsibilities as
voters will find the following books at the Port Richmond Library....”
and went on to list various civics books. It would be another three
years before women were guaranteed the right to vote by the U.S.
Constitution.
Gift Books for the Troops
The branch aided the war effort by selling War Service Stamps (the
World War I version of government savings bonds) to its readers.
Librarians requested that local residents owning books on the war,
learning French, aviation, telegraphy, fiction and other subjects,
label them “War Service” and bring them to the branch
for distribution to the troops. The Advance noted, “Gift books
should be selected with care, for they are to serve virile, impressionable
young manhood.” Residents donated over 1,500 books that were
then given to soldiers and sailors through a program sponsored by
the American Library Association. General Pershing had secured room
for 50 tons of books per month on ships leaving for Europe. Upon
arrival the books were distributed by army chaplains, the YMCA and
Red Cross units.
Despite the increased demands the war placed on the library, branch
funding was cut for other war needs. According to the Advance:
No department has suffered more on account of inadequate financial
funding during the war period than The New York Public Library.
At a time when books cost far more than ever before the fund from
which books can be purchased has been reduced. Not being paid
a living wage [a] large number of assistant librarians have been
driven out of the service. A junior assistant in the circulation
department can only be paid — the highest — $65 per
month.
In 1918 the Advance reported that Mrs. Shumway, by then the branch
librarian, resigned her position at Port Richmond and accepted “a
much better one” at Mount Vernon, N.Y.
The 1920s
Unfortunately, very few branch records from the 1920s have survived.
The Advance, however, described Port Richmond’s 20th anniversary
celebration in 1925. Over 100 schoolchildren attended a lantern
slide show about spring flowers. The highlight of the show was when
the staff of the Staten Island Museum brought in a live owl that
had been captured at the Moravian Cemetery.
Story hour attendance averaged about 40 children during this period.
All second graders as well as first-year students at Port Richmond
High School Annex in P.S. 20 were given instruction in the use of
card catalogs during their first week of school. The library also
provided deposit collections for schools, churches, and clubs. Book
stock had risen to 12,000 by 1925, more than double its original
5,000 volumes.
A community event of note during this period was the construction
of the library’s next-door neighbor, the Scandinavian Lutheran
Church, in 1921.
Langston Hughes
The summer of 1922 brought another noted poet to
Staten Island: Langston Hughes. He had dropped out of Columbia University
and was unable to find work. In The Big Sea (1940) he wrote:
I finally got work at a truck-garden farm on Staten Island. The
farm belonged to some Greeks [two brothers and their wives], who
didn’t care what nationality you were just so you got up
at five in the morning and worked all day until it was too dark
to see the rows in the field. …There was something about
such work that made you feel useful and important—sending
off onions that you had planted and seen grow from a mere speck
of green, that you tended and weeded, had pulled up and washed
and even loaded on the wagon—seeing them go off to feed
the great city of New York. Your onions! …Sunday afternoons
we had off. …Sometimes some of the fellows went into Port
Richmond to find girls and wine.
Helen Anagnostis, whose husband Timothy Anagnostis (1917-2000)
farmed the Staten Island Island Historical Society’s Decker
Farm for many years, remembers two sets of brothers, the Chrampanis
and Chanasoulis families, who had farms on Richmond Avenue near
Rockland Avenue in New Springville. It may be that Langston Hughes
worked at one of them.
Langston Hughes is known to have visited New York Public Library
branches in Manhattan, but it is not known if he ever visited the
Port Richmond branch.
The year 2002 marks the centennial of Langston Hughes’s birth.
His fame looms large at Harlem’s renowned Schomburg Library
(officially named The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture),
which has dedicated its auditorium and an adjacent atrium to him.
His ashes are interred there.
The 1930s
“Every day the staff hears of a family without food, another
without a home, others living on practically nothing and dozens
without any jobs,” wrote the branch librarian, Helen Wessells,
in 1932. “It seemed proper that we should offer moral encouragement
by means of the atmosphere of the branch and cheerful service.”
Requests for books on vocational guidance, woodworking, and home
repair began to rise. “Many more high school and college students
have registered and continue to use the library after graduation.
Too many of them have been unable to get positions, therefore they
use the library for their higher education.”
In the early 1930s many of the shipyards closed down. Some of the
Norwegian population, unable to find employment, returned to Norway
to live with relatives. The library suffered a “barometric
fall” in circulation during the Great Depression. Book appropriations
were cut “drastically.” By 1932 the entire branch staff
consisted of only four people. Port Richmond’s librarians
had to hitchhike or walk several miles to visit local schools because
they could not afford carfare. In 1933 Isabelle Kershaw, the children’s
librarian, wrote:
Many families have migrated to outlying areas of Staten Island,
and to New Jersey. The book wagon has taken care of some of those
distant families. ...So many of the men had been employed in the
shipyards, and when they were closed the men were adrift, knowing
no other trade and at a loss to know where to turn. The staff
has known welfare workers, church workers and teachers who have
told us of appalling conditions, but we have seen for ourselves
tragic instances of poverty and illness which could not be alleviated.
...In many families, mothers have been able to secure work where
fathers were not able to, and consequently quite small children
assumed the care of the home and preparation of the meals for
those children still younger.
Still, even in the most troubled times, the library provided moments
of relief. Fifty to 100 children gathered for the weekly story hours
down in the basement to hear stories by Kipling, Pyle, and others.
Librarians would take the children on trips to the American Museum
of Natural History, tour the fireboats docked at St. George, and
visit the zoo. Two library clubs, one for boys and one for girls,
were active with guest speakers, storytelling, and soap carving.
Visitors to the library during this period were greeted by a deep-sea
diver’s suit, which was stuffed and standing in a corner.
Children dubbed it the “Invisible Man.” The gift of
a retired navy diver, the suit, surrounded by cables, charts, and
seashells, posed a great challenge to the librarians, who had to
figure out a way to decorate it at Christmas.
The branch garden was at its peak during this time. A large willow
tree in the backyard provided shade for readers on hot summer days.
Cuttings from the yard combined with readers’ own flowers
to fill the branch with “armloads of apple blossoms, lilies
of the valley and peony buds.”
Some hopeful economic signs began to appear around 1934. A few of
the shipyards began to reopen. Government jobs’ programs provided
“CWA men” to help the overburdened staff shelve books
and do general maintenance.
New economy measures were taken to stretch the budget. Referring
to the new sharing of resources between branches, branch librarian
Helen Wessells wrote, “Union! It seems to be the word for
Staten Island libraries.” Joint book ordering with the West
New Brighton and Stapleton branches was undertaken to avoid duplication
of materials. Circuit collections, which rotated books between the
branches every few months, were initiated to provide readers with
a greater variety of books at each branch. A North Shore Readers’
Association was formed, with a West New Brighton-Port Richmond Unit,
to aid the library. Work on a Staten Island Union catalog was begun
at the West New Brighton branch and soon moved to Port Richmond
to aid readers in locating the books that could no longer be found
at their local branch.
A popular spot in the branch was a “Men’s Shelf”
that held such books as Zane Grey’s westerns and a variety
of nonfiction and technical manuals. “Books about ships and
sailing and airplanes continue to be prime favorites with the boys
of all ages,” wrote the children’s librarian, Eleanor
Townsend. Honk the Moose was a big children’s hit as well
as Mary Poppins, known to the smaller children as “Mary Pumpkins.”
One reference title, Biology, edited by Port Richmond’s old
friend Edwin Markham, was very much in demand.
Not all the popular titles were in English, however. In addition
to the Norwegian and German collections there were a small Spanish
collection, a Polish collection, and an Italian circuit collection
that was “growing in popularity.”
Morning English classes for Italian women and evening English classes
for Norwegian women were held at the branch. “Here is a very
interesting collection of nationalities,” wrote librarian
Katherine Love. “There are fair-haired Scandinavians, Scotch,
English, Irish, Italian, Greek and Negro children and perhaps other
nationalities which I have not noticed.” The branch was sometimes
referred to as the “Port Richmond League of Nations.”
The 30th anniversary of the branch was celebrated in 1935. A special
invitation list of early readers, including Herman Osmer, Port Richmond’s
first reader, was compiled for an informal reception. An exhibit
of 1905 best-sellers and pictures of the first year’s activities
was put on display.
The New Addition
After several false starts, the Works Progress Administration began
construction of an addition to the rear of the building in 1938.
This included a new children’s room, reference room, auditorium,
and custodian’s apartment.
As the workers began excavating, they uncovered a citrate of magnesia
bottle with Edmund Joseph Nolan’s time capsule in it. As Mr.
Nolan had requested, the Staten Island Advance published an article
announcing the discovery.
Mr. Nolan no longer lived on Staten Island but his two partners
in placing the notes did — George Ballantine and John Field.
John Field told the Advance the story of the time capsule’s
placement in the library’s foundation. He hoped that Mr. Nolan,
who would be 53 years old, would hear of its discovery wherever
he was, and that this would bring about a reunion of the old friends.
There is no record that Mr. Nolan ever heard of its discovery.
Construction of the new addition created the expected havoc in the
branch, but it remained open despite having large holes ripped in
the back walls. Inside, the old circulation desk and dividers were
removed. Workers came in double shifts from early morning until
10 PM.
When the addition was completed in November 1939, the branch was
described as a “miracle of transformation.” Large fireplaces
glowed with warmth during the winter. High arched windows flooded
the new rooms with light in the summer. Reference books that had
at times been stored in the basement and in offices little bigger
than closets now had a room of their own.
Downstairs, the new Chimes Playhouse provided a home for performers
and public meetings. The name “Chimes” comes from the
electric chimes that signaled the beginning of each program. The
opening attraction was a performance of On Borrowed Time by the
101 Players.
Librarian Laura Hulse described the local youngsters’ reaction
to the new children’s room: “Singly or in small groups
the children drifted in.... They liked its shape and size, they
liked its shiny floor and new furniture, and the shelves that they
could reach and see.... They liked being away from the restrictions
imposed by grown-ups. But for them the room was simply a background
for the more important thing — the books.”
Port Richmond Improves
Things were improving in many ways for Port Richmond. The staff,
which had been cut down to four members in 1932, rose to 19 members
(plus numerous WPA workers) by 1937.
That year the Directory of New York State Manufacturers listed 34
medium and large concerns in the Port Richmond area. In 1938 the
librarians noted, “Technical book circulation is definitely
increasing [due to the] influx of workers brought to the Island
by Bethlehem Steel to work in the former United Ship Yards.”
The number of shipyard workers on Staten Island would soon equal
the high of 12,000 that had been reached during World War I.
Children would gather at the branch to listen to The New York Public
Library’s weekly radio storytelling broadcasts on WQXR. Several
drama groups and glee clubs were holding regular rehearsals in the
Chimes Playhouse, which hosted over 100 performances annually. One
highlight was the premiere of a promotional film, The Staten Island
Library Movie. It was shown to members of the joint West New Brighton-Port
Richmond Readers’ Association. Edgar and Ingri D’Aulaire,
Caldecott Medal-winning illustrators and authors, paid the children’s
room a visit, bringing their baby with them. During the winter,
Christmas stories and caroling were conducted in front of fir-trimmed
fireplaces with Yule logs crackling.
World War II
Because of its large immigrant communities from Norway, Italy, and
Poland, Port Richmond began to feel the effects of the war even
before Pearl Harbor. Looking at world events in 1940, librarian
Laura Hulse wrote:
...so much of disaster and tragedy has occurred, that civilization
seems almost to have vanished. If it were not for the new generations
constantly arising, there would seem indeed, to be very little
hope for the future.... If one small children’s room of
one branch library can, in its stock taking, find excuse for its
being; if it has in any way helped to make more normal the home
life of the children in the community it serves, even in a year
of wars and injustice, then it must have done its part.
Port Richmond was swept up in war mobilization. The 1942 Branch
Annual Report described the conditions: “Ship yards along
the Kill Van Kull from Bement Avenue to the huge Bethlehem Steel
Plant in Mariners Harbor are working a twenty-four hour period.”
The librarians visited the classes in shipfitting conducted by the
Training Division at the Bethlehem yard to make the workers aware
of the branch’s shipbuilding collection. The report continued:
One is conscious of the sea and the part it plays in the lives
of many readers in this branch. For many women whose husbands or
sons are aiding the war effort as merchant seamen, days are filled
with anxiety, and a book ‘to take my mind off what may have
happened to his boat, he hasn’t been home for six months now’
was a recent request.
Fuel shortages reduced service to three days a week and put a stop
to the traveling library service. Early in the war, children from
P.S. 20 had to be escorted directly home after school due to a fear
of air raids, preventing them from visiting the library. The 1943
Branch Annual Report noted:
The draft of the younger men beginning earlier in the year and
continued and increasing pressure of war jobs and volunteer work
have contributed to diminished use of the branch. Also the thousands
of service men stationed on Staten Island or passing through enroute
to overseas duty...have meant that organizations and individuals
are kept busy providing a great variety of services for these men.
The most popular topics for the branch during the war were the
“practical arts” of cooking, sewing, poultry raising,
and gardening. This emphasis led to a shortage of some of the best-selling
fiction of the day, causing one reader to complain, “You have
books on how to win the war, how to raise poultry, what to know
about the Merchant Marine, but what about a good book to read?”
The Chimes Playhouse was busy with meetings of volunteer groups
like the North Shore American Women’s Voluntary Service, the
Staten Island Community Chest and War Fund, the Red Cross, and the
Bethlehem Craftsmen organization that supported Halloran Hospital.
One program, “Poland Fights On,” attracted an audience
of 75 persons. There was also time for non-war-related groups, like
the Westerleigh Players and a couple of jazz orchestras that rehearsed
there.
Norway Lives!
In 1943 Dr. Carl J. Hambro, President of the Norwegian Parliament-in-Exile
and past President of the League of Nations, spoke at the opening
night of a month-long library exhibit, Norway Lives! He attracted
an audience of 200 Norwegians.
Dr. Hambro explained that, even though Norway had been occupied
and had already lost 375 ships, Norwegian ships still carried 40
percent of the fuel and 30 percent of the provisions reaching the
Allies in Europe. (The Port Richmond branch supplied the New York
Orthopedic Hospital with Norwegian books for the wounded Norwegian
sailors recuperating there.) The children from the library’s
two Norwegian classes, conducted by Mrs. Holm Hansen, participated
in the program dressed in traditional Norwegian outfits singing,
dancing, and playing the piano and accordion. The shelves upstairs
displayed Norse crafts.
The Advance wrote: “The opening night, with bright fires blazing
on the hearths and the auditorium filled with people listening to
the concert of the Norwegian Glee Club of Port Richmond, was an
inspiring community event.”
Three of Port Richmond’s librarians volunteered to work at
the Fort Wadsworth Post Library on Sunday afternoons. The branch
librarian, Mrs. Mary Jane Bowles, was especially active, serving
on the Staten Island Council for Democracy, a group of community
leaders called together by Borough President Palma to promote better
interracial and interfaith understanding on Staten Island. She also
served on the Inter-Racial Committee of the Staten Island Council
of Social Agencies, the Mayor’s Committee for the Wartime
Care of Children, and a committee for the Women’s Division
of the 6th War Loan, and chaired the committee for the Markham Houses’
Nursery School.
Peace Returns
The end of the war brought new challenges to the library. One challenge
was the return of readers who had been unable to visit during the
war. Mrs. Bowles reported that the “Port Richmond Branch has
shared in the general upsurge in circulation and reference use since
V-J day.”
One of the greatest challenges was to help returning veterans adjust
to civilian life again. Mrs. Bowles recalled seeing one veteran
looking over the help-wanted ads in Library Journal. She told him,
“I certainly wish you good luck in whatever decision you make
about your future.”
“Thank you,” he replied, and then, pausing for a moment
before going out the door, added, “And about that good luck,
well, I am here, am I not?”
Trade-related books, such as those on auto mechanics and refrigeration,
began to replace shipbuilding manuals — whose circulation
had already been in decline before the end of the war. (As local
shipyards completed their tooling-up period, they did not require
the same number of training materials.)
Recreational reading also increased, resulting in a higher demand
for books on sailing, photography, rabbit-raising and painting.
The most popular fiction works at the branch in 1944 were The Razor’s
Edge, Strange Fruit and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The children’s
room was the busiest on Staten Island in the postwar years.
Circulation rose by several thousand in both the adults’ and
the children’s rooms, reaching 103,911 volumes in 1947, but
was still below the peak of 172,117 reached in 1932. In 1948 the
traveling library returned, expanding library service to Willowbrook,
Westerleigh, and Mariners Harbor, as well as Port Richmond.
The Chimes Playhouse saw performances by Marie and Her Harmony Boys,
The Nansen All-Girl Chorus, The Westerleigh Players, and several
glee clubs. Amateur actors, musicians and tap dancers from the Bethlehem
shipyards rehearsed there for revues to be presented at Halloran
Hospital. The Staten Island Poetry Society, founded in 1947, held
its meetings at the branch along with the Youth Council of The National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the United Nations
Forum, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Decker Avenue Civic Association,
the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts and a Great Books group.
In 1948 Phyllis Whitney, the best-selling Staten Island author,
spoke to a girls’ group. A lesser-known author, Mrs. Frances
Tysen Nutt, stopped in to discuss her book Three Fields to Cross,
an historical romance set on Staten Island during the American Revolution.
One librarian noted that if not for the consideration of the custodian,
the playhouse would be in use every night of the week.
The 1950s
The 1950s brought a new challenge to the library: television. In
1951 Mrs. Bowles wrote optimistically, “There does seem to
be some indication that the novelty of television is wearing off
for some of the people who forsook their usual reading habits in
its favor. Former readers who have been conspicuously absent are
now returning with the explanation that they have gotten tired of
too much television.” However, she did recognize that “...the
question of how many potential readers will be lost to the libraries
because of this new and exciting competitor for all leisure-time
activities is a serious one.”
One type of television show, the quiz show, actually brought people
into the library to research potential questions. The librarians
regarded these people with some suspicion. Mrs. Bowles wrote, “...quiz
program hopefuls are a persistent lot, although most of them seem
to be strangers to the library. Our policy with these is [to] indicate
sources of information, refrain from doing [their] research and
to keep a watchful eye on the dictionaries and encyclopedias.”
But in at least one instance she noted that their research at Port
Richmond paid off. “A war bride returned Durant’s Story
of Baseball with the good news that it had provided the correct
answers for a television quiz program in which she had won $3,000
in prizes.”
The postwar period began the exodus of the Norwegian community.
By 1955 the Norwegian collection was largely unused and its remnants
were transferred to the Donnell Branch foreign-language collection
in Manhattan. New readers were added from the Darrow Homes in Mariners
Harbor.
Shigeo Watanabe
One highlight of 1955 was the arrival of Port Richmond’s most
famous librarian, Mr. Shigeo Watanabe. The noted children’s
author came to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship to study
library science. Though he only stayed a few months, Mrs. Bowles
noted that “Port Richmond children took him into their hearts
as have other children on Staten Island who have had the privilege
of knowing this gifted Japanese children’s librarian. The
staff too has been enriched by having him in the branch and we are
happy that this part of his American experience could be acquired
here.”
In June 1956 Mr. Watanabe wrote to Mrs. Frances Lander Spain, superintendent
of work with children:
‘Hello, Mr. Tokyo. I still remember your stories,’
said a little girl....
Even though I am not ‘Mr. Tokyo’ (have you ever been
called as Miss New York?) but humble Mr. Watanabe (Mr. Smith in
Japanese), there is nothing more encouraging when one starts his
work with children than their welcoming attitude.
These were questions new friends of mine asked when they approached
me for the first time —two first grade boys with twinkling
eyes, full of curiosity:
‘Mister, are you a Puerto Rican?’
I said, ‘No, I am not,’ with a bit of a Spanish accent.
‘Oh, you are a German then?’
(I only wish I had known how to say in German), ‘Oh, no,
I don’t think so,’ answered I.
‘But you can’t be a Chinese, because you have not
a pig tail.’
(Do I have to answer for this?)
However, it did not take a long time for them to know who I was
and what I was — I do not believe that any one of them had
seen a male children’s librarian anyway.
In 1956 Mr Watanabe was chosen as one of the Outstanding Storytellers
at the American Library Association Conference in Miami Beach. In
1957 he returned to Japan, where he became a major force in introducing
American and English children’s literature, with over 100
translations to his credit. His “I Can Do It All by Myself”
books were very popular with American preschoolers in the 1980s.
To be continued at the completion of the Port Richmond Branch Library’s
second 50 years in 2005.
Sources
The quotations by librarians in this article were taken from their
monthly and annual reports, housed in the Manuscripts and Archives
Division of The New York Public Library’s Center for the Humanities,
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, N.Y. Other sources include:
Atalanta Club minutes.
The Big Sea, by Langston Hughes (1940).
Biography Resource Center at www.nypl.org
The Edwin Markham Collection at the Horrmann Library, Wagner College,
Staten Island, N.Y.
“Historical Foundations of Public Library Service on Staten
Island, New York,” by Lisa De Palo. Current Studies in Librarianship,
Spring/Fall 1999, Vol. 23, Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 4-15.
The History of The New York Public Library Astor, Lenox and Tilden
Foundations, by Harry Miller Lydenberg. New York: The New York Public
Library, 1918.
Interview with Marjorie Johnson
Interview with Kay Lande Selmer
Staten Island Advance, 1905-2002.
Staten Island Chamber of Commerce.
About the Author
Andrew Wilson is a Supervising Librarian at The New York Public
Library. He works with the Connecting Libraries and Schools Program.
CLASP does outreach work with public and private schools throughout
New York City. Last year over 30,000 Staten Island schoolchildren,
teachers and parents participated in CLASP programs, including storytelling,
“Stump the Librarian,” The Harry Potter Quiz Show, and
technology workshops.
Andrew joined The New York Public Library in December 1987 as a
Children’s Librarian at the Todt Hill-Westerleigh Regional
Library. Later he worked at the Ottendorfer Branch in Manhattan.
Before joining CLASP, he was a Senior Children’s Librarian
at the Port Richmond Branch, from 1988 to 1996.
One of his current responsibilities is working on The New York Public
Library’s “Staten Island on the Web” page, which
provides information about Staten Island history, cultural groups,
education, environment and government on the Internet at www.nypl.org/branch/staten
He is on the Executive Board of the Staten Island Reading Association
and was honored this year at the Literacy Leadership Luncheon of
the Staten Island Historical Society (see photograph on Page 15).
Andrew received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Lafayette
College, Easton, Pa., and a Master’s Degree in Library Science
from the University of South Florida in Tampa. He lives in West
New Brighton with his wife, Nobuko, also a librarian with The New
York Public Library. They have two young sons.
PORT RICHMOND’S BRANCH
LIBRARIANS AND THEIR YEARS
OF SERVICE, 1904-1959
Compiled by Andrew Wilson
Miss Gertrude Cohen
(December 1904)
Miss Agnes Morland Campbell
(Exact dates unknown)
Mrs. Julia E. Durnett
(April 19057-July 1917)
*Mrs. ED. Shumway
(1918?)
Miss Ethel Savacool
(August 1917?-April 1922)
Miss Bessie McGregor
(April 1922-September 1925)
Miss Florence Normile
(October 1925-February 1929)
Mrs. Helen E. Wessells
(March 1929-August 1941)
Mr. Edwin C. Jackson (acting)
(September1941 -July 1942)
Mrs. Mary Jane Bowles
(August 1942-April 1959)
*Library archives do not list Mrs. E.D. Shumway as branch librarian,
but she is credited with title of “head librarian” in
the Staten Island Advance article about her resignation in May 1918.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ON STATEN ISLAND:
BRANCHES AND DATES
Compiled by Andrew Wilson
Tottenville
7430 Amboy Road
NYPL opening: Nov. 26 1904
Opened as Tottenville Free Library, with a collection of 230 books,
on Feb. 6,1899, in two rooms of a clapboard house at 137 Johnson
Avenue (now 204-206 Johnson Avenue). Chartered by the State University
of New York. Present building: Carnegie gift, 1904. Full renovation:
June 1991. Designated NYC Landmark: May 1995.
Port Richmond
75 Bennett Street
NYPL opening: March 18. 1905
Carnegie gift. Designated NYC Landmark: Oct. 13,1998.
Stapleton
132 Canal Street
NYPL opening: June 17. 1907 Carnegie gift.
St. George
5 Central Avenue
NYPL opening: June 26. 1907
Carnegie gift. Reopened as a Regional Headquarters on June 6, 1952.
Full renovation 1985; at St. Mark’s Place during renovation.
West New Brighton
976 Castleton Avenue
NYPL opening: June 17. 1917
Opened as a “home station” in 1913 at 1006 Castleton
Avenue. Opened as a “sub-branch” on June17, 1917, at
998 Castleton Avenue. Also mentioned in 1917: “Travelling
Library Station” at 1195 Castleton Avenue. 1918: 85 State
Street. Present building opened on Feb. 1, 1933.
Great Kills
56 Giffords Lane
NYPL opening: ca. 1921
Opening may have been earlier. A second opening, on Jan. 2,1927,
is recorded. In 1935, a “portable wooden sub-branch with a
brick addition” is described. Located on Hillside Terrace
during the 1940s. Rented quarters at 3936 Amboy Road, Sept. 8, 1952.
Ground broken for current site on March 30, 1953. Present location
since Sept. 24, 1954.
New Dorp
309 New Dorp Lane
NYPL opening: Nov. 4. 1926
1907: Community library in Trinity Parish House. 1909: Receiving
books from traveling library. 1910: Moves to real estate office
of James Watson Hughes on Rose Avenue. 1916: In garage of Emil Peterson
on Sixth Street. 1920: Becomes NYPL “sub-station.” 1925:
New Dorp Board of Trade assumes responsibility for the library building.
1926: Moves to 155 Third Street, becomes NYPL “sub-branch”
known as “James Watson Hughes Memorial Library” after
the late husband of Isabella Hughes, donor of the land and $30,000.
1954: Becomes full NYPL branch. Present location since March 23,
1972. Full renovation: September 1998.
Huguenot Park
830 Huguenot Avenue
NYPL opening: 1929
Opened in a small white building measuring only 13’ x 15’,
NYPL’s smallest branch. Had originally operated in 1902 as
part of a variety store. Ran with volunteers until 1926. 1929: NYPL
takes over books and service. 1964: Became full NYPL branch. Jan.17,
1976: Temporarily closed due to budget cuts. March 22, 1977: Destroyed
by fire. April 4,1978: Reopened. Jan. 2,1985: Opened in present
building.
Prince’s Bay
Dates: 1929-1983/1984
A station was sponsored by the Prince’s Bay Women’s
Club in 1915. In 1929, NYPL took over books and service at 6054
Amboy Road, quarters donated by the South Shore Veteran Fireman’s
Association. A librarian was shared with Huguenot Park. Closed 1983/1984.
Todt HiII-Westerleigh
2550 Victory Boulevard
NYPL opening: 1950/1 951
Bookmobile stop in late 1940s. In 1950/1951 opened in the Todt Hill
Houses, New York City Housing Authority, at 255 Westwood Avenue.
Moved in 1963 to 1891 Victory Boulevard. In present location since
Nov. 5, 1984. April 1991: Additional story added.
Dongan Hills
1617 Richmond Road
NYPL opening: Dec. 9. 1957
Opened in storefront at 1576 Richmond Road, closed on July 19, 1974.
March 20, 1975: Reopened at present location.
South Beach
21-25 Robin Road
NYPL opening: March 1950
Opened in the recreation area of the South Beach Houses, New York
City Housing Authority, at 155 Norway Street. June 1953: “Sub-branch”
moved to 100 Sand Lane. 1989: Destroyed by fire. Dec. 19, 1990:
Reopened. At present location since Feb. 8, 2000.
Richmondtown
200 Clarke Avenue
NYPL opening: Oct. 9. 1996
Opened in the former Gateway Cathedral building with staff transferred
from Great Kills, for which it was originally planned as a replacement.
Community action kept Great Kills branch open.
Traveling Library/Bookmobile
Dates: 1906-1983
The Staten Island Extension Office, headquartered at the St. George
Branch, ran the “Book Wagon” or bookmobile, which serviced
deposit collections at numerous community agencies. According to
a S.I. Chamber of Commerce publication, in 1926 there were three
sub-branches, three community stations and 50 deposit stations at
public and parochial schools, firehouses, homes and factories, including
Police Headquarters, the U.S. Army base at Miller Field, U.S. Marine
Hospital, S.S. White Dental Works and American Linoleum Manufacturing
Co. These collections ranged in size from 25 to 250 volumes.
During World War II, fuel shortages caused suspension of service,
which was resumed in 1948.
Several different bookmobiles were used over the years. One was
purchased from Gertenslager and put into service on Dec. 15,1950.
It was then making 18 stops and traveling about 200 miles each week.
Another was purchased in 1964. It was 35 long and carried 5,000
volumes. Service was discontinued in fall 1983.
A REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
By John W. Guild
I want to thank you for your continued support of the Staten Island
Historical Society. Your friendship has been a key element in sustaining
all our efforts through the turmoil of the past year.
While the Society has changed as a result of the events of Sept.
11, 2001, it remains committed to keeping Historic Richmond Town
alive with the best traditions of the past and full of expectations
for the future.
To achieve this, the Board of Directors and staff have begun to
develop goals for the next three to five years, with a plan of action
to implement them. This new strategic plan will examine the Society’s
mission and provide a vision with a set of core values to guide
us. It will undoubtedly result in change that will allow the Society
to remain an important, viable cultural resource for Staten Island
and all of New York City.
The Board is working to address many long-standing issues, such
as funding. In March, we signed an agreement that will retain operational
control of the Decker Farm while transferring title to New York
State. The proceeds from this transfer will permit the Society to
add significantly to its modest endowment.
Two capital projects are moving forward. We have been working with
the City of New York’s Department of Environmental Protection
to restore the millpond. This work should begin later this year.
Reconstruction of streets and infrastructure in Historic Richmond
Town is another priority. I expect the first phase of that project
to begin in late 2003.
New public programs are being planned and developed. This summer
the Christopher House has become an area of interpretation as well
as restoration. Visitors observe firsthand the Society’s restoration
efforts.
A committee of staff, board and community members is completing
a review of the Society’s collections, looking for strengths
and weaknesses, and identifying possible future exhibitions and
programs. This was made possible by the long-awaited relocation
of artifacts to the Edna Hayes Collections Storage Facility and
a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.
This is only a part of what is happening. I hope to see you this
summer at Historic Richmond Town. See for yourself all that is happening.
Thank you again for your support.
MARJORIE JOHNSON PROFILED
Marjorie Johnson was the subject of an excellent in-depth article
by Tamara Coombs in the Winter 2002 Preservation League News, a
publication of the Preservation League of Staten Island.
Marjorie has been of inestimable help to many researchers in her
regular volunteer work at the Staten Island Historical Society library.
She is a frequent contributor to the Staten Island Historian.
We are proud to recognize Marjorie as a tireless worker in the historic
preservation movement and as a member of the Staten Island Historical
Society.
STEPHENS-PRIER HOUSE GARDEN LISTED
The garden of the Stephens-Prier House at Historic Richmond Town
is listed in a newly published book. It is Garden Guide: New York
City, by Nancy Berner and Susan Lowry, published on June21, 2002,
by The Little Bookroom, 5 St. Luke’s Place, New York, N.Y.
10014. $19.95.
This book describes 100 gardens in all five boroughs of New York
City. It is a 400-page paperback with ten maps and 100 color photographs
by Joseph De Sciose. Gardens are listed by borough and neighborhood.
All are open to the public; most are free. Horticultural and historical
information is provided for each site, along with directions, accessibility
by public transportation and by wheelchair, and amenities like restaurants
and restrooms.
Extensive listings by category include child-friendly gardens, church
gardens, community gardens, herb gardens, historic house gardens,
native plant gardens, rock gardens, and rose gardens.
Members of the Staten Island Historical Society may save shipping
and handling charges by ordering this book directly from the publisher.
In placing your order, please mention the Staten Island Historian.
Telephone: 212-691-3321. Fax: 212-691-2011. editorial@littlebookroom.com
Staten Island Historian
Claire Regan, Editor
Nick Dowen, Editorial Assistant
Subscription
$9.00 per year; free to members
single issue, $5.00
The Society assumes no responsibility for statements by contributors
to this
publication.
©Staten Island Historical Society, 2002 Printed by Alpha Printing,
S.I., N.Y.
THE
STATEN ISLAND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
441 Clarke Ave., S.I., N.Y. 10306
Telephone: (718) 351-1611
Fax: (718) 351-6057
Web site:
www.historicrichmondtown.org
Officers and Directors
President: James R. Coyle
First Vice President: Laura Patrick
Vice President: Jack Furnari
Treasurer: James R McCabe
Assistant Treasurer: Margaret Robinson
Secretary: Margaret Galligan
Assistant Secretary: Claire Regan Anthony N. Correra, Angela Curty,
Arthur W. Decker, Toni J. Elliott, Mark Irving, Brien Kelley, Kevin
Mahoney, Michael F. Manzulli,
Frank S. Muzio, Francis H. Watson
Executive Director: John W. Guild
Staff
Chief Curator: Maxine Friedman
Supervisor of Restoration:
William McMiIlen
Director of Research and Interpretation:
Elisabeth W. Sommer
Remember to include the Society when you prepare your will. You
can do so with this simple statement: “I give and bequeath
to the Staten Island Historical Society, located at 441 Clarke Avenue,
Staten Island, New York, the sum of $_________
Historic Richmond Town is a joint project of the Staten Island
Historical Society and the City of New York, which supports part
of its operations with public funds through the Department of Cultural
Affairs. The Society also receives support from the New York State
Department of Education, the New York State Council on the Arts,
the Office of the Borough President, corporations, foundations,
and individuals.
