Series 2: Donated materials, 1950-1994, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Series 2: Donated materials, 1950–1994, includes materials donated to the Crown Heights History Project for the exhibitions at the institutions collaborating on the project: BHS's Crown Heights: Perceptions and Realities, Brooklyn Children's Museum's Crown Heights: The Inside Scoop, and the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant's Crown Heights: The African Diaspora, all opening in spring of 1994.
Materials were donated by Crown Heights residents and religious, cultural, and professional organizations and businesses that operated within the neighborhood or catered to neighborhood residents. These materials include Chabad Lubavitch literature, advertisements, and ephemera, records from community associations and businesses, family photographs, letters, event flyers, newspaper clippings and newsletters, and materials related to the West Indian American Day Parade Carnival.
Arrangement
Series 2: Donated materials, 1950–1994, is arranged into ten sub-series by donor:
Sub-series 2.1: Essa Abed papers, 1990-1994
Sub-series 2.2: Esther Goldman papers, 1981-1987
Sub-series 2.3: Carlos Lezama papers, 1971-1993
Sub-series 2.4: Empire Press records, 1984-1993
Sub-series 2.5: Bronya Schaffer papers, c.1970s
Sub-series 2.6: Roslyn Tanzman papers, 1994
Sub-series 2.7: Wladimir Thomas papers, 1973-1983
Sub-series 2.8: Moshe Zaetz papers, 1990-1994
Sub-series 2.9: Crown Heights Taxpayers and Civic Association records, 1955-1988
Sub-series 2.10: Unknown donor, 1990-1994
Sub-series 2.1: Essa Abed papers, 1990-1994, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-Series 1.1: Essa Abed papers, 1990–1994, consists of materials donated by Essa Abed, including records, memos, informational literature, and ephemera created by the Graham-Windham Services to Families and Children and the Coalition of Brooklyn Preventive Service Directors, as well as clippings and photographs of Abed and Graham-Windham staff.
Arrangement
Sub-Series 1.1: Essa Abed papers, 1990–1994, is arranged chronologically.
Biographical / Historical
Essa Abed, a Palestinian-American, was a community leader, Director of the Graham-Windham Family Service Center in Crown Heights, a branch of Graham Windham Services to Families and Children, and Director of the Coalition of Brooklyn Preventive Service Directors.
[Graham-Windham Services to Families and Children donation envelope], c.1990s
Our Children... Our Future brochures, c.1990s
Neighborhood Family Service Center brochures, c.1990s
[Brooklyn service maps], c.1990s
[Photocopy of Child Abuse & Maltreatment Forum program], c.1990s
[Photocopy of employee performance appraisal form], c.1990s
[Photocopy of sample Crown Heights Consortium Alliance letter], c.1990s
[Blank Graham-Windham Services to Families and Children letterhead], c.1990s
[Holiday event photos], c.1990s
[Photocopy of National Association of Social Workers Nassau Division program agenda], April 11 1992
Record newsletter, April 1992
[Mission statement poster], 1992
[Clippings], 1992-1994, inclusive
[Annual staff meeting program], March 5 1993
[Photocopy of The Consortium of Central Brooklyn/Crown Heights Human Services Providers and Community-Based Organizations attendance sheet], April 28 1993
[Photocopies of letters from politicians], 1993
[List of accomplishments for fiscal year], 1993
[Photocopy of note from Essa Abed about second Annual Legislative Breakfast], 1993
[Photocopies of Agency for Consortium Meeting agendas], 1993-1994, inclusive
On-Site Social Service Project program, 1994-01-22
[Photocopy of Coalition of Brooklyn Preventive Service Directors letter], 1994-02-28
[Photocopy of staff appreciation location memo], 1994-03-01
Staff Recognition Day flyer, 1994-04-08
[Photocopy of Consortium of Central Brooklyn & Crown Heights Human Services Providers & Community-Based Organization letters], 1994
Healthy Families Make Healthy Communities program, c.1994
[Director Essa J. Abed business cards]
Total Quality Management Program brochure
Sub-series 2.2: Esther Goldman papers, 1981-1987, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.2: Esther Goldman papers, 1981-1987, consists of materials donated by Crown Heights resident Esther Goldman, including personal photographs and prayer booklets.
Arrangement
Sub-series 2.2: Esther Goldman papers, 1981-1987, is arranged chronologically.
[Photograph of woman holding baby], c.1950s
[Photograph of family], c.1960s
[Wedding photograph], c.1970s
[Photograph of two young boys wearing yarmulkes], c.1970s
[Bencher prayer booklets], 1981-1987, inclusive
[Photograph of man wearing Tefillin and Tallis]
Sub-series 2.3: Carlos Lezama papers, 1971-1993, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.3: Carlos Lezama papers, 1971–1993, consists of materials donated by Carlos Lezama, including brochures for the West Indian American Day Carnival Association brochures, programs, and pamphlets.
Arrangement
Sub-series 2.3: Carlos Lezama papers, 1971–1993, is arranged chronologically.
Biographical Note
Carlos Lezama was born in 1923 in Coro, Venezuela. He grew up in Trinidad but later returned to Venezuela, where he was an auto worker for General Motors and Chrysler, as well as a mechanic in Caracas specializing in dental machinery. After that, he departed for a job as a merchant mariner. It was during his travels as a seaman that he first visited the United States and eventually resolved to move to New York City, which he did, alone, in 1954. He had lived in Manhattan for about two years when he moved to Crown Heights after noticing the greater movement of Caribbean people into the neighborhood. While living in Crown Heights he became a prominent figure in the cultural life of the neighborhood's West Indian residents.
Along with Rufus (Lionel) Gorin, he was a key organizer of the first Carnival parade on Eastern Parkway, now commonly known as the West Indian American Day Parade, in 1969. When Gorin died, Lezama was elected the first president of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), a position he held until his retirement in 2002. He died in 2007.
West Indian-American Day Carnival Association Dimanche Gras brochure, 1971
West Indian-American Day Carnival Association Dimanche Gras brochure, 1979
West Indian-American Day Carnival Association Carnival Festival program, 1984
West Indian-American Day Carnival Association "Introducing WIADCA" pamphlet, 1992
West Indian-American Day Carnival Association Carnival Festival program, 1993
Sub-series 2.4: Empire Press records, 1984-1993, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.4: Empire Press records, 1984-1993, consists of materials donated by Empire Press, a commercial printer in Crown Heights, including assorted invitations, seforim, and bencher booklets.
[Assorted invitations], 1984-1993, inclusive
Sub-series 2.5: Bronya Schaffer papers, c.1970s
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.5: Bronya Schaffer papers, c.1970s, consists of materials donated by Bronya Schaffer, including Lubavitch Youth Organization materials, Tefillin blessing brochures, and Hebrew calligraphy.
Arrangement
Sub-series 2.5: Bronya Schaffer papers, c.1970s, is arranged chronologically.
[Lubavitch Youth Organization booklet of newspaper ads], c.1970s
Blessing for Tefillin brochure
[Graph paper with Hebrew calligraphy]
Sub-series 2.6: Roslyn Tanzman papers, 1994
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.6: Roslyn Tanzman papers, 1994, consists of two copies of Tanzman's book, Love before the Storm, donated by the author.
"Love Before the Storm" by Roslyn Tanzman, 1994
Sub-series 2.7: Wladimir Thomas papers, 1973-1983, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.7: Wladimir Thomas papers, 1973-1983, consists of materials donated by Crown Heights resident Wladimir Thomas, including family photos, Haitian newspapers, personal letters, church booklets, and a Haitian Creole translation of Romeo and Juliet.
Arrangement
Sub-series 2.7: Wladimir Thomas papers, 1973-1983, is arranged chronologically.
[Photograph of Haitian family], c.1970s
[Photograph of children in front of St. Matthew's church], 1973
[Photograph of child receiving communion at St. Matthew's Church], 1976
Haiti Observater, February 10-17 1978
[Letter from Alfred Plines], August 15 1979
[Letter from Jaqueline Clarke], August 17 1983
St. Matthew's Church guidebook
"Roméo et Juliette" Librairie Hatier édition
Sub-series 2.8: Moshe Zaetz papers, 1988-1994, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.8: Moshe Zaetz papers, 1988-1994, consists of materials donated by Moshe Zaetz, a Crown Heights resident who ran the Tvios Hashem store, including religious bumper stickers, stickers, and calendars.
Arrangement
Sub-series 2.8: Moshe Zaetz papers, 1988-1994, is arranged chronologically.
We Want Moshiach Now! bumper stickers, c.1988
[Sheet of Army of Hashem stickers], c.1990s
[Mounted Army of Hashem sticker], c.1990s
5754 Jewish Art Calendar, 1993-1994
Sub-series 2.9: Crown Heights Taxpayers and Civic Association records, 1955-1988, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.9: Crown Heights Taxpayers and Civic Association records, 1955–1988, consists of materials donated by the Crown Heights Taxpayers and Civic Association, including Association memos, flyers, and programs. The majority of materials in this sub-series are photocopies.
Arrangement
Sub-series 2.9: Crown Heights Taxpayers and Civic Association records, 1955–1988, is arranged chronologically.
[Photocopy of memo to Crown Heights homeowners], October 11 1955
[Photocopy of In Opposition to the Designation of Crown Heights as a "Poverty District" memo], February 26 1968
[Photocopy of anniversary luncheon and cultural fair program], May 15 1971
[A Brief History flyer], 1988
[Photocopy of Myrtle G. Whitmore business card]
[Biographical sketch of Myrtle G. Whitmore]
[Crown Heights cleanup campaign flyer]
Sub-series 2.10: Unknown donor, 1990-1994, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Sub-series 2.10: Unknown donor, 1990–1994, consists of materials from unknown donors, including flyers and posters for local concerts, classes, and businesses, religious newsletters and booklets, and a Tzach directory of Crown Heights.
Arrangement
Sub-series 2.10: Unknown donor, 1990–1994, is arranged chronologically.
