On my third visit to the BHS, I looked at some funeral notes (Call Number ArMs 1977.049 Box 2 of 3) detailing the gruesome details of the who and how many died in the Brooklyn Theater fire. The documents even went on to show that an entire family of four adults perished together that night. This puts into perspective how indiscriminate the fire was in the lives it took. Something also included in the funeral costs was the amount of money that the weddings cost compared to the wages these people earned. On average, funeral costs were about $200-$250, while the city provided about 50% -80% of the costs, depending on the wages both the dead family members made, and their surviving family makes. Compared to the wages people made at this time ( $10 a week), even paying $100 would take a long time to pay. Times then, were just as difficult for someone making the average, or minimum wage as it is today for such people.
Afterwards, we saw some pictures showing the area before and after fire. The building had stood majestically, and left such a massacre behind in it’s place after the fire was quelled. The picture help to further the picture of how severe the fire really was.
