Essay 6

When first hearing we were going to the Brooklyn Historical Society to look at maps I was very skeptical at the whole idea that it would be even the least bit interesting; but to my surprise it was actually pretty fun. It was amazing getting to view the way the city use to be compared to how it is now. Finding things that are familiar was the best part. I really enjoyed the subway system maps the most because it was the most relatable. Things have changed so much so with so much variation its nice to know you actually know something about the maps your analyzing. One thing that was really cool about the map I took the most time viewing, Map of the New York city subway system with call number 1955.Fl (in case anyone wants to find it) is that i was relatively familiar with almost ll the subway lines and it truly amazed me being that this map was first made and revised between 1940-1955 I felt like i knew so much history, but really its just that the lines haven’t changed very drastically. A very unpleasant shocker for the day was the group speeches we only had ten minutes to prepare for. It was especially horrible for someone like me who thinks public speaking is absolutely dreadful, but all around i think everyone did extremely well. All in all I had a great experience at the Brooklyn Historical Society and I would love to go back.Our last visit to the Brooklyn Historical Society was truely bitter sweet. I’ve enjoyed our visits there from our walking tour, to learning about maps and analzying documents. My group members and I got to view the trains tickets that were really cheap it would seem now but really interesting because we were familair with one of the train the ticket was being used for which is the Long Island Railroad (LIRR). We also reviewed a document bout advertising where the newpaper was trying to get advertisements in their paper about all the new tunnels and bridges. So at our first table where we viewed our first set of documents it was really about the new means of transportation in the 1900s and celebrating change and new ways of travel, whereas at our second table filled with documents it was a bit different; still envoloving what seems to be very low amounts of money for what was being given we viewed a proposal for land being sold and the response to this agreemnet between two me being made. One thing that found so amazing when I was viewing these documents was not the actual agreement but I was obsessed with the paper it was written on. I had never seen a watermark before so to hold the paper up in the light completely by accident and disscover that; it really was just the highlight of my trip. I’ve enjoyed experiencing BHS and might go there on my own one day to do some research of my own.