1977 Blackout slide collection
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
138 color 35mm slides depicting the aftermath of the 1977 blackout in Bushwick.
Historical Note
The blackout of 1977 led to looting and fires throughout New York City. The worst hit areas were in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and one of the most devastated was a thirty block stretch of Broadway in Bushwick. The damage here was particularly severe not only due to looting but also because of the comparatively high incidence of arson. Curvin and Porter state that "of the 134 stores looted in that section, 45, or 33 percent, were damaged by fire; many of these were burned to the ground." Despite this, the looters across New York City were relatively peaceable, showing little violence either towards the police or towards each other. Instead they worked together to reach their aims and even gave away their looted goods to those less fortunate. Their ability to decimate a street of businesses and escape with so many goods was aided by the slow pace of police response. At the start of the blackout, there were 189 officers on duty for the 1,000,000 residents of Brooklyn North (Williamsburg, Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill, Brownsville, Crown Heights, and East New York). Off-duty police had to come into the neighborhood from Queens, Staten Island, or even further afield. By the time they arrived and were in uniform and on the streets, the first and most serious wave of looting had already passed. The looting in Bushwick was also notable as it extended on into the day on the 14th, while most neighborhoods calmed with the coming of daylight. The fires also extended into the 14th, in fact growing worse on the second day. Curvin and Porter attribute this continuation to "the confusion of fire trucks and the darkness caused by the elevated tracks." These images were taken during the aftermath of the blackout, some showing firemen still fighting fires. Most showing the burned remains of stores and homes which were destroyed in the night and the slow process of rebuilding and recovering.
Curvin, R. and Porter, B. (1979). Blackout Looting! New York City, July 13, 1977. New York: Gardner Press, pp. 135, 26, 42-43, 44, 60, 69, 64, 135, 45.
Biographical Note
Sister Elizabeth "Betty" Nickels was a Dominican nun in Bushwick, Brooklyn. In December 1981, she founded Independence House in Bushwick, a home for young women in need. In February 1983, she was honored by the Committee for New York City as a "New Yorker for New York" (New York Times, February 14, 1983).
Arrangement
The slides were originally in a slide carousel and that order has been maintained. There are, however, development dates printed on the slide casings that indicate a different chronological order.
Scope and Contents
138 color 35mm slides depicting the aftermath of the 1977 blackout in Bushwick. These images were captured in the months after the July 13th Blackout of 1977. They were taken by two photographers and cover various locations in the neighborhood of Bushwick. They are predominately potographs of burned-out houses, apartments and stores. Some of the images show the fires being fought while others show the subsequent destruction or the reconstruction of the ruins.
The slides were taken on multiple dates by two unidentified photographers, one of whom may or may not be Ric Curtis, chair of the anthropology department at John Jay College. As a result, they are scattered around the neighborhood and occasionally feature the same location on a different date or from a different perspective. Some street signs are visible and other locations can be determined based on proximity to images in other slides or to prominent landmarks. The dates associated with the slides are determined by the development process, and not the capture of the image. There were at least three developments in July of 1977, at least two in August of 1977, one in June of 1978, and one more which is not dated. The slides, in all but the undated development, are successively numbered. The images predominately depict structures which suffered damage during the looting and fires which occurred during the blackout. Frequently there are groups of people within the scenes and occasionally these people are the focus. Item level description is available.
Subjects
Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restriction. The collection may only be used in the library and is not available through interlibrary loan. Requests to view the collection must be made at least 48 hours in advance of visit.
Conditions Governing Use
As the photographers are unidentified, there is no clear evidence that the intellectual rights to the collection have passed to the Center for Brooklyn History. As a result, we must assume that copyright is still in the hands of the creators. These images will enter the public domain in 2097 and 2098 according to the development dates listed on the casings.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, 1977; 1977 Blackout slide collection, 2007.042; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Material Specific Details
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Sister Elizabeth "Betty" Nickels, 2007, who apparently received them from the photographers.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
The digital surrogates that exist for this collection should be used in place of the originals whenever possible.
Existence and Location of Copies
Item-level description and a sample of digital versions of images from the collection are available for searching via the online image database. The images were assigned object IDs V2007.042.1 - 139.
Other Finding Aids
Item-level description is available in the Image Database for use in the library.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Collection arranged and processed by Katherine Christensen in March 2009 under the supervision of Julie I. May. Collection information entered into Archivists' Toolkit by Julie I. May in 2009.