In Episode 27 of Brooklyn Historical Society’s podcast Flatbush + Main, co-hosts Zaheer Ali and Julie Golia are joined by guest Joshua B. Freeman, author of Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World. They consider the impact of factories on Brooklyn's social and economic history, and discuss the experiences of factory workers that worked and lived in Brooklyn.
For complete show notes, go to bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/flatbush-main.
We hope you're enjoying our podcast! Please subscribe, rate, and review us at brooklynhistory.org/fm-itunes. And share the news of Flatbush + Main far and wide using the hashtag #FlatbushandMain.
We hope you're enjoying our podcast! Please subscribe, rate, and review us at brooklynhistory.org/fm-itunes. And share the news of Flatbush + Main far and wide using the hashtag #FlatbushandMain.
Episode Transcript
Index
02:58 Histories and Ideas with Joshua B. Freeman
26:27 Into the Archives
39.44 Voices of Brooklyn
Segment 1: Histories and Ideas
In segment 1, Zaheer and Julie welcome guest Joshua B. Freeman, Distinguished Professor of History at CUNY Graduate Center and Queens College, and author of Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World. They consider the historical development of the factory, its impact on global commerce as well as local places like Brooklyn, and its changing role in the American popular imagination.
Get Josh Freeman's important book here.
Segment 2: Into the Archives
Are factories always "behemoths," like the massive complexes that Josh Freeman describes in his book? How do we categorize the smaller sites of production that dotted Brooklyn's neighborhoods in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries? In this segment, we look at documents from the Wellmade Glove records (ARC.224), a manufactory and store that operated in the neighborhood of Park Slope in the mid-20th century.
You can access the finding aid to this manuscript collection here. And here are pictures of the documents we examined:
Segment 3: Voices of Brooklyn
Zaheer and Julie listen to excerpts from the March 20, 1989 oral history of Ida Pollack from the Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection, 1995.005.005. The complete interview can be accessed onsite at Brooklyn Historical Society's Othmer Library.
02:58 Histories and Ideas with Joshua B. Freeman
26:27 Into the Archives
39.44 Voices of Brooklyn
Segment 1: Histories and Ideas
In segment 1, Zaheer and Julie welcome guest Joshua B. Freeman, Distinguished Professor of History at CUNY Graduate Center and Queens College, and author of Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World. They consider the historical development of the factory, its impact on global commerce as well as local places like Brooklyn, and its changing role in the American popular imagination.
Get Josh Freeman's important book here.
Segment 2: Into the Archives
Are factories always "behemoths," like the massive complexes that Josh Freeman describes in his book? How do we categorize the smaller sites of production that dotted Brooklyn's neighborhoods in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries? In this segment, we look at documents from the Wellmade Glove records (ARC.224), a manufactory and store that operated in the neighborhood of Park Slope in the mid-20th century.
You can access the finding aid to this manuscript collection here. And here are pictures of the documents we examined:
Segment 3: Voices of Brooklyn
Zaheer and Julie listen to excerpts from the March 20, 1989 oral history of Ida Pollack from the Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection, 1995.005.005. The complete interview can be accessed onsite at Brooklyn Historical Society's Othmer Library.