Administrative Information
Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers with varied restrictions according to narrator agreement. Many oral histories can be accessed onsite at the Brooklyn Historical Society's Othmer Library and online on the Oral History Portal. Unprocessed exhibition research materials are open to researchers upon request and are accessible onsite at the Othmer Library.
Conditions Governing Use
Use of the oral histories other than for private study, scholarship, or research requires the permission of BHS. Please see the Oral History Note for guidelines on using Brooklyn Historical Society's oral history collections. For assistance, contact library@brooklynhistory.org.
Preferred Citation
[Narrator Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer First name Last name], [Month day, YYYY], Crown Heights History Project collection, [Object ID]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Oral History note
Oral history interviews are intimate conversations between two people, both of whom have generously agreed to share these recordings with the Brooklyn Historical Society archives and with researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. Researchers will understand that: 1. The Brooklyn Historical Society abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association (2009) and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics. 2. Every oral history relies on the memories, views and opinions of the narrator. Because of the personal nature of oral history, listeners may find some viewpoints or language of the recorded participants to be objectionable. In keeping with its mission of preservation and unfettered access whenever possible, BHS presents these views as recorded. 3. Transcripts created prior to 2008 serve as a guide to the interview and are not considered verbatim. The audio recording should be considered the primary source for each interview. It may contain natural false starts, verbal stumbles, misspeaks, repetitions that are common in conversation, and other passages and phrases omitted from the transcript. This decision was made because BHS gives primacy to the audible voice and also because some researchers do find useful information in these verbal patterns. 4. Unless these verbal patterns are germane to your scholarly work, when quoting from this material researchers are encouraged to correct the grammar and make other modifications maintaining the flavor of the narrator's speech while editing the material for the standards of print.
Oral history interviews are intimate conversations between two people, both of whom have generously agreed to share these recordings with the Brooklyn Historical Society archives and with researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. Researchers will understand that:
1. The Brooklyn Historical Society abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association (2009) and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
2. Every oral history relies on the memories, views and opinions of the narrator. Because of the personal nature of oral history, listeners may find some viewpoints or language of the recorded participants to be objectionable. In keeping with its mission of preservation and unfettered access whenever possible, BHS presents these views as recorded.
3. Transcripts created prior to 2008 serve as a guide to the interview and are not considered verbatim. The audio recording should be considered the primary source for each interview. It may contain natural false starts, verbal stumbles, misspeaks, repetitions that are common in conversation, and other passages and phrases omitted from the transcript. This decision was made because BHS gives primacy to the audible voice and also because some researchers do find useful information in these verbal patterns.
4. Unless these verbal patterns are germane to your scholarly work, when quoting from this material researchers are encouraged to correct the grammar and make other modifications maintaining the flavor of the narrator's speech while editing the material for the standards of print.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Recordings and transcripts were collected through the Crown Heights History Project, undertaken by a partnership of cultural institutions led by Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) in 1993.The curator of the project, Jill Vexler, retained the project records. Brooklyn Historical Society acquired the collection from Ms. Vexler in 2012.
Processing Information
Recordings and transcripts were digitized by BHS in 2015. Bulk of Series 1: Oral histories was processed to the item level. Due to privacy concerns, the specific dates of birth of all narrators or other named individuals were redacted from the digitized transcripts and audio recordings. Series 2: Exhibition files is unprocessed. The Crown Heights History Project oral histories were processed by Brett Dion, Nilaja Troy, Joe Teutonico, and Harunobu Coryne.
Historical note bibliography
Conaway, Carol B. "Crown Heights: Politics and Press Coverage of the Race War That Wasn't," Polity 32 (Autumn 1991): 93-118.
Girgenti, Richard H. A Report to the Governor on the Disturbances in Crown Heights: An Assessment of the City's Preparedness and Response to Civil Disorder 2 vols. Albany: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, 1993.
Glaberson, William. "Judge Accepts a Guilty Plea in '91 Crown Heights unrest." New York Times (New York, NY), April 13, 2002.
Goldschmidt, Henry. Race and Religion Among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006.
Gregor, Alison. "Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Where Stoop Life Still Thrives." New York Times. (New York, NY), June 17, 2015.
McCarthy, Sheryl. "Crown Heights Question: What About Charles Price?" Newsday. (Melville, NY), January 9, 2002.
McFarland, Stephen & Nelson, Katie "Timeline: How Crown Heights Riots Unfolded." New York Daily News. (New York, NY), August 14, 2011.
Shapiro, Edward S. Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2006.
Waldrep, Christopher. Racial Violence on Trial: A Handbook with Cases, Laws and Documents Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2001.