Posts by Valerie Wingfield

John H. Fedeler accepted the position to manage The New York Public Library's "Central Building" in 1910. This would be a 24/7 job. With Fedeler's living quarters inside the Library, the question to ask is, "How did Fedeler handle his job during the early years?"

The New Federal Theatre was founded in 1970. From its inception to today, the Theatre is as an iconic performance space for many widely recognized African-American actors, directors, and playwrights.

The Northeasterners was founded as a social organization for African American women in 1930 by Agatha Scott Davis (d. 2002), the wife of Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.  

Agatha Davis was inspired to form this club after visiting African American debutantes in different northeastern cities. She felt their similar interests would be met in a club.  Davis would serve one term in office from 1929 to 1931.

Membership is by invitation only. Resumes for entree 

Find celebrity Seventeen interviews from 1946-1988 in the Manuscripts and Archives Division at The New York Public Library.

During the Elizabethan era, traveling troupes of actors would perform in different towns throughout the United Kingdom. Inspired by these theatrical artists, Horace Bushnell Cheney and his wife Alice Keating Cheney established the Jitney Players in the United States in 1923.

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is synonymous with luxurious accommodations. Guests expect excellence in surroundings, room service, food and entertainment. One hundred years ago, white glove service was also expected by guests at the first Waldorf-Astoria's Hotel located on 5th Avenue and 33rd Street.

Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury Indian folk dance is a very broad term used to describe South Indian dance styles. There are many websites that give information about Indian folk dances and their interpretations.

Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury was one person who achieved a high level of success as an Indian folk dancer. Chowdhury was also an actor, choreographer, author and painter.

Chowdhury was born on February 11, 1930, in Madras, India (now Chennai, India) into a family of Indian royalty. He was the son of Devi Prasad Roy 

Today, the word adagio is rarely used to describe ballroom dancing. If you told someone that you were going adagio dancing, most likely, this would draw a blank stare. Substitute the words adagio dancing with ballroom dancing, the recognition factor would increase tenfold.

The widely accepted definition of adagio is acrobatic balance with counterbalance. It is 

World War II Posters Collections. Published by the U.S. Government Printing Office, public domain. Northwestern University LibraryDuring the month of November 1941, three organizations, the American Library Association, the American Red Cross and the United Service Organizations (USO) formed the Victory Book Campaign (originally named the National Defense Book 

credit: Charles Kyriazos (onwatersedge on flickr)The Whispering Column of Jerash sounds very intriguing and mysterious. What does this mean, many will ask. Are you whispering to the column or is the column whispering to you? And, more importantly where exactly is this column located...

The Whispering Column of Jerash stands quietly in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens. Many people walk pass this ancient treasure not realizing that it dates back to 120 A.D. Many do not know that this column is the second 

The aftermath of the sinking of the PS Slocum radically altered the German-American community of the Lower East Side.

The weather from March 11-14th, 1888, pounded the northeast with howling winds and bone chilling temperatures. The aftermath of the blizzard left New York with a paralyzed transit system, non-existent communications, two hundred dead in New York City from an estimate of four hundred casualties in the East.

115 East 14th Street. March 1933. credit: Robert Byrnes Collection of Automat MemorabiliaAsk anyone about the "Big Mac" and immediately one imagines an image of a double hamburger on a sesame seed bun. The golden arches are everywhere.  On Broadway and 42nd Street, New York City boasts one of the largest McDonald's in metropolitan America. 

Say the words "Horn & Hardart," you will probably get a different reaction.  Go back thirty years or more...

Horn & Hardart Automats were a common sight around the city.  

"Get out," he said. "I'm staying." "I don't need you." "Don't be a fool. You need someone." "Not you." The boy lifted his head from the table. "Don't you talk like that to this nice lady," he slurred.

A decision had to be made.  This argument occurred during the United States Civil War, 1861-1865, in the historical fiction My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira.  Her protagonist, Mary Sutter is a young midwife determined to become a surgeon in 

The Brown Pelican (Pelcanus Occidentalis) is described on many web sites as one of seven or eight species of pelicans with a wing span over 7 feet...

It is the smallest of all the pelicans. One of the features that make this brown bird so distinctive is its large bill; when resting, the neck bends in two places. Standing out from the pack, the Brown Pelican dives directly into the water, beak first, for its food. The habitant of the Brown Pelican is along coastal waterways.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology captured the sights and sound of the