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New York Shitty Day Ender: Presenting The Brooklyn Diggers & A Very Nifty T-Shirt!
Emily Gallagher (a lady behind this collaborative endeavor) writes:
Hi Heather! …Basically I started a group with Ryan from NAG, our artist friend Gillian, Jason Gaspar (an artist and food justice guy who worked at the Wyckoff Farmhouse with me) and Mary B. from Kill Devil Hill. Our mission is to bring Brooklyn’s working class history– and thus, social justice history and issues– to the attention of residents who live in the neighborhoods presently. We call ourselves the Brooklyn Diggers, in reference to the Diggers in England in the 1600s (and of course also that we are digging up history.) This is our first project, so hopefully it goes well! We won 2nd place at FEAST this past summer so we are filling in the extra money that we need to pull it off. I am planning on reaching out to the Monitor Museum and inviting them to table…
Even though we are using the USS Monitor as our springboard, the event will really be more about imagining life in Greenpoint in the 1860s. We’re also hoping to make it hands-on, engaging and fun for all ages. I’m working with some historians I know from the Tenement Museum and costumed interpreters from another program I worked for, called Live-In Theater. I think it’s pretty wild that the age of the workers in many of the shipbuilding facilities in the neighborhood were essentially the same age as many of the newcomers in the neighborhood today. And life was rough! To think who might have lived in the tenements and houses we sit in presently…! You can check out our rarely updated blog at www.brooklyndiggers.wordpress.com (read the about section for our manifesto) and our proposal is up there. Let me know of any questions you have!
If you want to help make this really neat project happen (and get a really cool souvenir commemorating a great piece of American history), head over to Kill Devil Hill and pick up one these t-shirts!
U.S.S. Monitor Commemorative T-Shirt
$25.00 each
Kill Devil Hill
170 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222
Something Neat: Monitor Arms
Ever since I wrote the post about John Alexander’s fence I have been paying a lot more attention to the cast ironwork that graces many a building in north Brooklyn. Most of it is more or less identical. There is, however, a real gem to be found at 680 Manhattan Avenue.
Lest you cannot read the text above the door (which is obstructed by a fire escape) it reads “Monitor Arms”.
When the opportunity presents itself, dear readers do check this out in person. Not only is the “Monitor Arms” a really neat piece of living history but it is also helluva lot more attractive than its namesake!
Miss Heather
NYS Flickr Pool
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