Gertrude Finkel (1898-1994) was a librarian with The New York Public Library, associated for many years with the Library's Hamilton Fish Park Branch on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Branch opened in 1909 at 388 East Houston Street, serving...
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Gertrude Finkel (1898-1994) was a librarian with The New York Public Library, associated for many years with the Library's Hamilton Fish Park Branch on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Branch opened in 1909 at 388 East Houston Street, serving a predominantly immigrant population. It closed in 1958 to prepare for removal to a new location, reopening at 415 East Houston Street in 1960. The collection consists of a scrapbook (1 volume, disbound), dated 1931-1963, containing watercolor drawings and pasted photographs and clippings depicting activities at the Hamilton Fish Park Branch Library, accompanied by some loose items and personal correspondence of Gertrude Finkel, dated 1940-1970. Content focuses on reader services and community programs at the Branch, mainly during the 1930s and 1940s, evoking the ethnic makeup of the Lower East Side, especially its Jewish heritage. A few later staff photos mark the transition from the "old HF" to the new location.
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