Archives for local-history

Local History: Ghost Stories

Local History: Ghost Stories

The Hudson Valley seems to have been created with autumn in mind. During October and November, the area's increasingly hostile weather and abundant cultural history blend, creating a potent sense experience. The skittering of dead leaves behind you too easily becomes the footfalls of a disgruntled spirit and the bare tree branches resemble skeletal fingers grasping for diminishing portions of daylight. Even with these natural advantages, our imaginations need fuel, and that is where ghost stories come in. Westchester's most famous ghost story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is known around the world. Less well-known, but no less spooky, is
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October 28, 2016 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: charles pryer, dutch history, ghost stories, halloween, Halloween Books, hudson valley history, huguenots, local-history, new rochelle, October, Spooktober, the legend of sleepy hollow, washington irving, and white plains history.

Local History: The Racial Balance Plan

Local History: The Racial Balance Plan

In the 1960s, northern as well as southern communities were forced to desegregate their schools to achieve educational equity between races. The White Plains Collection contains a number of sources for learning more about the desegregation that took place here under the Racial Balance Plan. Multiple reports issued by the Board of Education as well as a report from a committee of citizens provide statistical and administrative assessments of the plan. For a more sociological view, the slim volume Children In The Balance does a remarkable job of revealing what classrooms were like in the years after the plan was
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October 21, 2016 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: carroll f johnson, education, elementary education, local-history, race relations, racial balance plan, schools, and white plains history.

Local History: Biography Scrapbooks

Local History: Biography Scrapbooks

The White Plains Collection is home to one of the few remaining card catalogs that is made up of actual cards. Yes, the very same typewritten index cards so many people ask about when they enter the library. Librarians at White Plains Public Library started maintaining a card index for materials of local interest as early as 1926. In addition to organizing newspaper articles by subject, they also created an index for nearly one hundred biography scrapbooks. I've never come across material explaining whose idea the scrapbooks were, nor who is responsible for all the cutting-and-pasting required to construct them.
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October 14, 2016 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: biography, bootlegger, historical research, local-history, louie pope, mamie haynes, margaret sanger, planned parenthood, prohibition, scrapbooks, white plains collection, and white plains history.

Local History: Religious History

Local History: Religious History

Some of White Plains' longest standing buildings are religious institutions of one kind or another. The Presbyterian Church on North Broadway was built in 1824, but the congregation was established in the early 18th century. Our Lady of Mt Carmel on Lexington Avenue is a reminder of pre-urban renewal White Plains. The Silver Lake Preserve contains ruins of the ancestor of today's Mount Hope AME Zion Church. The quiet history of these architectural sites is complemented by pictures and documents from the White Plains Collection. Below are a few representative items pulled from the collection. Current members of congregations are
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October 7, 2016 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: catholics, christianity, church history, Jewish History, local-history, religion, religious history, synagogues, white plains collection, and white plains history.

Local History: Slum Clearance

Local History: Slum Clearance

The words “urban renewal” are never far from the lips of anyone familiar with White Plains' history over the past 60 years. But what exactly do we mean when we use the phrase “urban renewal?” Most people use the words to describe the transformation of the area bordered on the east and west by Mamaroneck Avenue and the train tracks and on the north and south by Barker Avenue and Post Road, respectively. The term itself comes from the mid-1950s when the language of policy, legislation, and city planning took on a progressive tone that left behind the moralizing sensationalism
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September 30, 2016 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Uncategorized.
Tags: Brookfield Street, chamber of commerce, city planning, daily reporter, downtown, local-history, slum clearance, urban development, urban planning, urban redevelopment, Urban Renewal, water street, white plains collection, white plains history, and winchester street.

Local History: Woman’s Club Trolley Tour

Local History: Woman’s Club Trolley Tour

Welcome to the White Plains Public Library's local history blog. While the library is undergoing renovations and we are unable to host as many in-person local history programs in the library, this blog will be the place to learn about White Plains history and discover interesting items from the White Plains Collection. Of course, you can still contact me to set up research appointments! I want to use this post to highlight a creative and well-researched project put together by two White Plains residents, Woman's Club of White Plains Past-President Mary Ann Boustead and Publicity Chairperson Colleen Fay. To commemorate
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September 23, 2016 10:39 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: community history, historical research, history, local-history, trolley tour, white plains collection, white plains history, and Woman's Club.

The Art of Local History: Collage Night 9/21

The Art of Local History: Collage Night 9/21

Help us put some old local history books to good use at a family night/local history event in the Trove on Wednesday, September 21, from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM! We'll provide all the supplies you need to create a collage using historical pictures from books that tell the story of White Plains. Part arts and crafts, and part local history, we'll use both sides of our brains to learn while creating. Special thanks to the White Plains Historical Society for the donation of books. Check out their website here.
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September 10, 2016 10:03 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Kids, and Local History.
Tags: arts & crafts, collage, local-history, The Trove, white plains historical society, and white plains history.

White Plains Trivia Night: March 30 @ 6 PM

White Plains Trivia Night: March 30 @ 6 PM

Join us on Wednesday, March 30, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM for the first White Plains Trivia Night, the March edition of the White Plains History Roundtable. We will have food, White Plains history-based trivia, and prizes. No prior experience with or knowledge of White Plains history is necessary! You can come with a team of 4-6 people or come solo and we will put you with a team. Everyone from newcomers to longtime residents will be able to participate, learn something, and possibly win…. In the mean time, brush up on your local history with visits to our local
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March 22, 2016 5:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events and Local History.
Tags: events, local-history, trivia night, and white plains history.

A Sense of Place: Research Workshop

A Sense of Place: Research Workshop

January's edition of the White Plains History Roundtable will be A Sense of Place: Research Workshop on Wednesday, January 20, from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM. Ever wondered what the layers of history and human experience are that combine to create White Plains? Join Librarian Ben Himmelfarb and student of White Plains history Cliff Blau to learn how to research the history of any address, building, business, house, or spot in White Plains. Maps, directories, photographs, and online resources from the White Plains Collection will be available for everyone to use. Come prepared with a favorite place to research and
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January 17, 2016 5:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events and Local History.
Tags: adults, all ages, families, historical research, local-history, teens, white plains centennial, white plains collection, and white plains history.

White Plains Collection Now Online!

White Plains Collection Now Online!

We are happy to announce the launch of the White Plains Collection on the Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York!  This project was a partnership between the White Plains Public Library, the Metropolitan New York Library Council, and Culture In Transit. The White Plains Public Library is a prime site for community memory and we hold a rich set of materials in the White Plains Collection. We have fascinating and informative photographs of buildings, people, events, and landscapes. Many are part of special collections like the John Rosch Collection, featured here. Rosch owned a photography studio in White Plains and
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November 7, 2015 9:41 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News, Local History, and Research.
Tags: collection, digital collections, John Rosch, local-history, photographs, and white plains history.

Meet the Author: Edythe Ann Quinn and “Freedom Journey”

Meet the Author: Edythe Ann Quinn and “Freedom Journey”

Join us on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:00 PM as Dr. Edythe Ann Quinn shares from her new book Freedom Journey: Black Civil War Soldiers and The Hills Community, Westchester County, New York. Through wonderfully detailed letters, recruit rosters, and pension records, Quinn tells the story of thirty-five African American Civil War soldiers and the United States Colored Troop (USCT) regiments with which they served. The men all came from The Hills, an African American community near present-day Silver Lake. Their ties to family, land, church, school, and occupational experiences at home buffered the brutal indifference of boredom and battle,
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September 23, 2015 6:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, and Local History.
Tags: African-American History, author event, Black History, civil war history, local-history, military history, silver lake, the hills, and white plains history.

August History Roundtable: Affordable Housing

August History Roundtable: Affordable Housing

Join the Librarian for White Plains History and a panel of local housing advocates for the White Plains History Roundtable on Wednesday, August 26th, at 7:00 pm. August’s Roundtable is called Affordable Housing: Past, Present, and Future. The Roundtable is an educational, participatory, and social event where participants learn about events from White Plains' past, examine primary source materials from the White Plains Collection, and engage in discussion with others.
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August 19, 2015 2:28 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Events and Local History.
Tags: affordable housing, city history, housing, local-history, panel discussion, public housing, white plains history, and White Plains History Roundtable.

Out of the Swamps: A History of 100 Martine Ave.

Out of the Swamps: A History of 100 Martine Ave.

Join us on Sunday, May 17, at 2:00 p.m. for Out of the Swamps: A History of Downtown White Plains Told Through 100 Martine. The Friends of the White Plains Public Library have partnered with the Librarian for White Plains History and the City Archivist to present a program filled with stories, photographs, and maps that will enrich your perspective on White Plains. This program is presented in memory of Kay Conroy. 100 Martine hasn't always been the site of the public library, nor has it always been 100 Martine Avenue! Before White Plains was settled by Europeans, the Weckweeskeck
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May 14, 2015 6:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events and Library News.
Tags: adults, Friends, history, local-history, and white plains.

Then and Now — A Virtual Exhibit

Then and Now — A Virtual Exhibit

Then and Now is an online exhibit in celebration of the American Library Association's Preservation Week, observed by libraries nation wide, April 21-27. Preservation Week was created in 2010 because some 630 million items in collecting institutions require immediate attention and care. Eighty percent of these institutions have no paid staff assigned responsibility for collections care; 22 percent have no collections care personnel at all. Some 2.6 billion items are not protected by an emergency plan. As natural disasters of recent years have taught us, these resources are in jeopardy should a disaster strike. Personal, family, and community collections are
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April 22, 2013 7:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: all ages, collection, local-history, and services.