Brooklyn Historical Society’s Traveling Exhibit at Brooklyn College Library

Brooklyn Works: 400 Years of Making a Living in Brooklyn in the Brooklyn College Library through October 16

The Brooklyn College Library is hosting a traveling exhibit of Brooklyn Works: 400 Years of Making a Living in Brooklyn. A joint research project of the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Public Library, the exhibit will be on display in the library’s gallery space near the circulation desk through October 16.

Part of a larger show that opened last fall at the society’s Brooklyn Heights headquarters, the interactive Brooklyn Works: 400 Years of Making a Living in Brooklyn showcases the working people of Kings County and how the local workforce contributed to shaping the nation.

The traveling exhibit is organized around four themes: Confronting Racial Bias; Women Breaking Barriers; Seeking a Better Life; and Changes in the Workplace. Historical photographs tell the story of the borough’s economic rise through the 1950s, its declining fortunes as factories and industries closed in the city through the 1980s, and the recent “Brooklyn Renaissance” with its focus on service and small-business jobs. A poignant part of the exhibit is the testimony of turn-of-the-century and present-day Brooklynites—audio recordings of ordinary people like seamstress Sadie Trowne, blackboot Rocco Corresca, and factory workers at the now-defunct Drake Bakery.