Month: September 2014

Peter Cooper (1791-1883) may have chosen Green-Wood as his final resting place, but his legacy lives on throughout New York City especially in Manhattan’s Cooper Square, home to The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science. Established in 1859, Cooper Union was founded upon Cooper’s belief that opportunities for advancement should be available to all people. Cooper Union offered free practical education in the mechanical arts and science from 1859 through the 2013-14 academic year. The school now charges students approximately $19,000 in annual tuition. Cooper also built America’s first steam locomotive and supervised the laying of the first Trans-Atlantic cable in 1858.

Standing at the center of Green-Wood’s Bay Side Dell is a bronze monument to one of the most illustrious New Yorkers of the nineteenth century – DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828). As a New York City Mayor, New York State Governor and the visionary behind the Erie Canal, Clinton was one of the most popular statesmen of the 19th century. In 1850, Green-Wood arranged to have Clinton’s remains removed from the Little Albany Cemetery and brought to Green-Wood, where an impressive monument would mark his new home. It was a successful marketing tool to bring attention to Green-Wood during its strained early years. The bronze sculpture by Henry Kirke Brown was debuted in City Hall Park in 1853 and made the front page of New York’s Illustrated News on June 4 of that year.

The “Beau Brownie” box camera, pictured above, is one of many products designed by Walter Dorwin Teague for the Eastman Kodak camera company. A pioneer of industrial design in the United States, Teague brought his unique conceptual approach to a variety of special edition cameras for Eastman Kodak during the 1920s and 1930s. Teague believed that even simple household products should have a modern visual appeal. His designs, like that of the “Beau Brownie,” were often characterized by bright colors and art deco patterns. Teague’s restyling of consumer goods was a bold approach that helped to change the course of product design in the 20th century.

The P. Lorillard Tobacco Company, now known as Lorillard Inc., it is the oldest continuously operating tobacco company in the United States. Founded in 1760, the company greatly expanded over the second half of the 19th century under the leadership of Pierre Lorillard IV (1833-1901). The most popular tobacco products Lorillard manufactured were pipe tobacco, cigars, snuff, and chewing tobacco. “Tiger” Brand chewing tobacco was particularly popular during the late 19th century, marketed in colored tins with a faux wicker print and its iconic tiger logo.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), or “The Great Divine,” was a man of many talents – clergyman, orator, writer, social reformer. Simply put, he was as close to a celebrity as you could find in the nineteenth century. He was an ardent abolitionist and a proponent of both the temperance and women’s suffrage movements. Every week, Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights was filled to capacity with people eager to hear his captivating words. Beecher’s sermons were also published weekly under the title “Plymouth Pulpit.” This particular pamphlet, “The Nature of Liberty,” is indicative of Beecher’s religious philosophy emphasizing God’s absolute love. He speaks of a free religious condition as “a transfer from a life compelled by fear, through conscience, to a life that is inspired and made spontaneous by love.”