The Bronx is up and the Battery's down...
Dec. 12th, 2007 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ink_n_impAnd I've been looking high and low for a German brewery.
This week I started working in the office again; the digging season is officially over, and I'm done with the nomadic lifestyle until the spring, thank GOD. I was sent on a quest to the Bronx Historical Society, round about where Fordham University lies. Paula send me forth with the instructions to comb the archives for any and all information about Ebling's Brewery, a brewery that was located between St. Ann's Ave and Eagle Ave. in the Bronx, which was established in 1868 by the Ebling brothers, and was closed in 1951. Now it's just an empty block, and we've been hired to poke around the property to see how historically significant/sensetive the site is.
Over all, a good day today! I got to sleep in, because my appointment to fondle their research library wasn't until 1:30. Considering that my mornings begin at 5 am, which--TRUST ME ON THIS--is well before the ass crack of Dawn shows up, it was a WELCOME change of pace.
HOWEVER--twenty minutes before I reached the Historical Society, my phone rings. It's their librarian, calling to tell me that, oh so sorry, but the microfilm machine is broken.
Businesses are a trick and a half to research, because businesses have the nasty habit of throwing ALL their paperwork away. This place was one of the biggest, wealthiest breweries in the New York boroughs, even got majorly busted in 1922 for hiding beer in the caves under Eagle Ave (OMG CAVES OH PLEASE LET ME GO SPELUNKING PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE) and smuggling the goods out to Long Island (oh, and the keyword was "Brooklyn")--
And YET, no one knows ANYTHING about it, aside from the oral histories that have been collected from people who worked there before it closed in 1951. The only leads I've got is to comb through the microfilms of the Bronx Daily News and the Bronx City directories...which I couldn't. On account of broken microfilm machines and all.
True, I did find some good photos of the building, as well as a few articles about events that happened there, so my day wasn't a total waste...but it looks like I'll be heading to the New York Public Library this week to get my hands on their microfilm collection. To browse through the Bronx Daily News. From 1915 to 1951. *HEAD DESK*
*growls in frustration* I want to know more about this place, damnit!! I WILL uncover the truth! *heroic pose!!*
...Oh, and the official historian of the Bronx has given me an open invitation to call him whenever I have questions/I find something new and exciting. He sounded so excited when I told him about what we were researching, it was adorable. ^_^
This week I started working in the office again; the digging season is officially over, and I'm done with the nomadic lifestyle until the spring, thank GOD. I was sent on a quest to the Bronx Historical Society, round about where Fordham University lies. Paula send me forth with the instructions to comb the archives for any and all information about Ebling's Brewery, a brewery that was located between St. Ann's Ave and Eagle Ave. in the Bronx, which was established in 1868 by the Ebling brothers, and was closed in 1951. Now it's just an empty block, and we've been hired to poke around the property to see how historically significant/sensetive the site is.
Over all, a good day today! I got to sleep in, because my appointment to fondle their research library wasn't until 1:30. Considering that my mornings begin at 5 am, which--TRUST ME ON THIS--is well before the ass crack of Dawn shows up, it was a WELCOME change of pace.
HOWEVER--twenty minutes before I reached the Historical Society, my phone rings. It's their librarian, calling to tell me that, oh so sorry, but the microfilm machine is broken.
Businesses are a trick and a half to research, because businesses have the nasty habit of throwing ALL their paperwork away. This place was one of the biggest, wealthiest breweries in the New York boroughs, even got majorly busted in 1922 for hiding beer in the caves under Eagle Ave (OMG CAVES OH PLEASE LET ME GO SPELUNKING PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE) and smuggling the goods out to Long Island (oh, and the keyword was "Brooklyn")--
And YET, no one knows ANYTHING about it, aside from the oral histories that have been collected from people who worked there before it closed in 1951. The only leads I've got is to comb through the microfilms of the Bronx Daily News and the Bronx City directories...which I couldn't. On account of broken microfilm machines and all.
True, I did find some good photos of the building, as well as a few articles about events that happened there, so my day wasn't a total waste...but it looks like I'll be heading to the New York Public Library this week to get my hands on their microfilm collection. To browse through the Bronx Daily News. From 1915 to 1951. *HEAD DESK*
*growls in frustration* I want to know more about this place, damnit!! I WILL uncover the truth! *heroic pose!!*
...Oh, and the official historian of the Bronx has given me an open invitation to call him whenever I have questions/I find something new and exciting. He sounded so excited when I told him about what we were researching, it was adorable. ^_^
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-13 04:31 pm (UTC)umm....
Date: 2007-12-18 05:47 am (UTC)i love you.
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Date: 2007-12-19 08:21 pm (UTC)