Berfrois

nypl:

Political cartoons of Hamilton Fish (1808-1893), state senator, Governor of New York (1848-1851), and Secretary of State under President Grant (1869-1877).

We couldn’t say what all these cartoons are about, but we know that at least one has to do with American response to the Cuban rebellion against Spain during the 10 Years’ War.

The Library’s Hamilton Fish Park branch on East Houston Street was named after the nearby park, which was named in Fish’s honor. (NY history trivia: The Hamilton Fish Park Gymnasium was designed in 1898 by Carrère & Hastings, architects of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue!)

The original Hamilton Fish Park branch was built in 1909, with funds from Andrew Carnegie. When Houston Street was widened for an approach to the FDR Drive, that building was demolished and replaced with the current library, on East Houston near Columbia Street / Avenue D.

The library has a lot of fun family programs but also things like internet classes for seniors (want to learn about cloud computing? Come to the library!).

We would love to see a program about Hamilton Fish — he had a long and interesting career serving the people of New York and the United States — and maybe someone could explain these cartoons…