Information, News, and features from Montauk Library’s local history collection.
It’s Fashion Week in New York! In honor of this twice-yearly event, now called American Collections Week, we’re posting a photograph from the 1950s to show off Montauk’s own version of ingenuity and high design. We believe Bill’s Inn is the venue where this annual Montauk Fire Department dinner was photographed. To provide entertainment at… Read more »
Montauk lost cable television during the recent snowstorm. Before television, however, and long before cable, people played board games and cards to pass the time. In fact, an entire room at the Montauk Manor was dedicated to card-playing, with tables set up for guests and members of the community who booked bridge clubs and card… Read more »
Algot Olson was a carpenter. He moved from Sweden with his family to Montauk in the 1920s, presumably to work for Carl Fisher. His wife was born Anna Johannsen (Americanized to Johanson). The Olson family had a strong presence in the community, and were stalwart members of the Montauk Community Church. This beautifully printed baptismal… Read more »
That’s fisherman Harry Clemenz spearing eels off of Star Island. The year is 1979 and the month is February. During the 1970s, the winters were still cold enough to freeze the lakes and ponds around Montauk. In warmer months, fishermen dredged for eel, or set eel traps and pots to catch their quarry. Fishermen understood… Read more »
The Montauk Library’s archival collection includes stellar examples of aerial photography. This overview from the Al Holden Collection is undated, but if we research the motels and businesses that appear in the picture it seems certain it was photographed in the 1950s. In fact, this aerial view beautifully documents the early years of Montauk’s booming… Read more »
Hand-coloring was often employed on vintage postcards, done by the manufacturer during production. Like most early postcards, this particular view was originally transferred from a B & W photograph. However, since postcard buyers would almost always purchase the brighter image, as early as 1902 collotype-printed postcards in B & W would gain a painterly flourish. … Read more »
We don’t know if the gathering in this top photo took place on New Year’s Eve, but one thing we’re sure of is that Mary Williams Wood, the proprietess of the Shagwong Tavern, knew how to throw a good party. Kathleen Warren donated these two gems. She identified the celebratory group as “Nell (Wilson), Frances,… Read more »
John Gordon was a “Student Pastor” when he came to Montauk in 1936. He appears to have held that designation for about a year, until some time in 1937 when his name appeared in the “Churches” column of the East Hampton Star without the designation “Student.” The peaceful scene of cozy domesticity that emanates from… Read more »
A recent gift of Viking Fleet material to the archives at the Montauk Library felt like an early Christmas present bestowed by Santa himself. The donation includes important documents relating to the evolution of the fleet, such as a 1978 Certificate from the Department of State (N.Y.), stamped with the Great Seal of New York… Read more »
Nellie Windsor is the woman standing underneath the pointing arrow, one of the women involved with the American Women’s Voluntary Service in Montauk. It was important to AWVS members, like other female volunteers in organizations such as the Red Cross and the Office for Civil Defense, to participate in the war effort. Throughout World War II, writes… Read more »