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Doc Chat Forty-Two: The Brooklyn Battery Bridge and the Fight to Save New York

Julie Golia, Curator of History, Social Sciences, and Government Information, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, February 17, 2022

Old map of NYC
Triborough Bridge Authority, Map of New York City with proposed Brooklyn Battery Bridge Project in red, 1939; NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 5729305

A weekly series from NYPL's Center for Research in the Humanities, Doc Chat pairs an NYPL curator or specialist and a scholar to discuss evocative digitized items from the Library's collections and brainstorm innovative ways of teaching with them. In Episode Forty-Two,NYPL curators Ian Fowler and Julie Golia examined maps proposing the construction of the Brooklyn Battery Bridge, a development project that would have decimated the built environments of downtown Manhattan and South Brooklyn, and that helped spark the city's modern preservation movement.

Doc Chat Episode 42: Version 1

Doc Chat Episode 42: The Brooklyn Battery Bridge and the Fight to Save New York from The New York Public Library on Vimeo. A transcript of this episode is available here. Spoiler Alert: this version uses the `videoId` and `videoType` props.

Doc Chat Episode 42: Version 2

Doc Chat Episode 42: The Brooklyn Battery Bridge and the Fight to Save New York from The New York Public Library on Vimeo. A transcript of this episode is available here. Spoiler Alert: this version uses the `embedCode` prop.

Below are some handy links to materials and sources suggested in the episode.

Episode Forty-Two: Primary Sources

In addition to the map above, Ian and Julie examined the following:

  • Manhattan
  • The Bronx
  • Queens
  • Staten Island
  • Long Island
  • Upstate

The following maps are also discussed.

Map of proposed Brooklyn Battery Bridge
Map of Brooklyn-Battery Bridge Project proposed by Triborough Bridge Authority, 1939; NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 5729304

Both maps are from the Robert Moses papers, held in the Library’s Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division.

Two Views of Battery Park
“Two Views of Battery Park,” 1939; NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: psnypl_mss_1000

This document is from the Albert Sprague Bard papers, held in the Library’s Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division.

Edwin McDowell, “Moses Files Are Opened,” The New York Times, November 4, 1987, C27.

Episode Forty-Two: Unrelated Audio Stream

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Episode Forty-Two: Readings and Resources

Hillary Ballon and Kenneth T. Jackson, eds.
Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York (W.W. Norton & Co., 2007).
The Brooklyn Battery Bridge
"The Brooklyn Battery Bridge," New York Preservation Archives Project.
Robert Caro
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (Vintage Books, 1975). 
Anthony Flint
Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City (Random House, 2009).
Roberta Brandes Gratz
The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs (Nation Books, 2010). Also in e-book format.
Jane Jacobs
The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Vintage Books, 1963).
Stuart Marques
The Brooklyn Battery Bridge,” New York City Department of Records blog, September 27, 2019.  
Suleiman Osman
The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York (Oxford University Press, 2011). Also in e-book format.
Kara Schlichting
New York Recentered: Building the Metropolis from the Shore (University of Chicago Press, 2019). Also in e-book format.
Mason Williams
City of Ambition: FDR, La Guardia, and the Making of Modern New York (W.W. Norton & Co., 2013). 
The My Day Project
“The My Day Project,” The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, George Washington University. 

Join the Doc Chat Conversation

Doc Chat episodes take place on Zoom every Thursday at 3:30 PM. Check out upcoming episodes on NYPL's calendar,  and make sure you don't miss an episode by signing up for NYPL's Research newsletter, which will include links to register. A video of each episode will be posted on the Doc Chat Channel of NYPL's blog shortly after the program. There you can also explore videos and resources for past episodes. See you at the next Doc Chat!

View all posts by Julie Golia

Dates and Times

DayTimePresenterTopic
DaySundayTime7:00 PMPresenterTom NookTopicManhattan
DayMondayTime7:00 PMPresenterTom NookTopicThe Bronx
DayTuesdayTime7:00 PMPresenterTom NookTopicQueens
DayWednesdayTime7:00 PMPresenterTom NookTopicStaten Island
DayThursdayTime7:00 PMPresenterTom NookTopicBrooklyn
DayFridayTime7:00 PMPresenterTom NookTopicLong Island
DaySaturdayTime7:00 PMPresenterTom NookTopicUpstate

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  1. All text was read
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  1. All text was read
  2. The two videos were watched
  3. All images were reviewed
  4. Notes were taken on a small notepad
  5. You enjoyed yourself
  • All text was read
  • The two videos were watched
  • All images were reviewed
  • Notes were taken on a small notepad
  • You enjoyed yourself