Archives for white plains collection

Local History: Peter Kanze Collection

Local History: Peter Kanze Collection

Next time you come across old photographs at an estate sale or garage sale, stop and take a closer look to make sure someone is not discarding valuable historical records! Thanks to Peter Kanze's visit to an estate sale in White Plains some years back, we have an incredible collection of photographs of White Plains from the 1950s through the 1970s. Kanze can't remember now where the sale was or who owned the pictures, but it is likely they are the work of someone in the insurance business who was employed to document the condition of various businesses and locations
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November 4, 2016 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: fore n' aft, home savings bank, local-history, loew's theater, parking history, peter kanze, photographs, Reporter Dispatch, Urban Renewal, white plains collection, 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.

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.

Everyone’s a Historian: Community History Day

Everyone’s a Historian: Community History Day

At White Plains Public Library, we believe in sharing historical authority with the community.  So last Saturday, we created a space in which everyone was a historian.  No one person has a monopoly on the past and no single narrative could possibly tell all our stories.  We all have knowledge of the past, it's just a matter of sharing and using it! Several community members brought items from their personal collections to be digitized and added to our online collection.  We had a diverse group of people, from life-long White Plains residents to current and past members of government to
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December 15, 2015 10:04 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, community history, digitization, local history, oral history, People & Stories, postcards, Urban Renewal, white plains collection, and white plains history.

June History Roundtable: Dr. Collymore’s 1964 Speech

June History Roundtable: Dr. Collymore’s 1964 Speech

The next White Plains History Roundtable will take place on June 17 at 7:00 pm in the Auditorium at the White Plains Public Library!  The Roundtable will feature a reading of Dr. Errold Collymore's 1964 Howard University Alumni Award Speech by White Plains resident Ted Lee, Jr. and Errold Collymore's son, James L. Collymore. Dr. Errold Collymore was a prominent black professional and trailblazing civil rights leader in White Plains from the 1920s to the 1970s.  When he first arrived in White Plains, he recalled that it felt like “living in some southern town.”  Black residents in White Plains faced
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June 2, 2015 11:30 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: civil rights, collymore, history roundtable, local history, and white plains collection.