The Fifties Were Nifty at 154

 Judy Brown, who lived in Windsor Terrace for over half a century, went to PS 154 from 1948 through 1956. She offers the following reminiscences to the Fifth Graders working on an oral hisory of PS 154:

“I remember meeting my Grandmother for lunch at the little candy store on 10 ave across the street from the school. She worked at the Pilgrim Laundry, neither exist any more.

“I remember young soldiers (Korean War) stopping by to visit the school and ‘Hello’ to their teachers. I remember the boys had “shop” They learned to make book ends, lamps, bird house.

“The girls had cooking. Adjacent to the cooking room was a room set up like a bedroom. We learned how to make a bed, dust etc. We were learning to be good housekeepers/wives. For the cooking class, there were about 4 or 5 kitchen set ups–stove, sink, refrigerator–with a work station for each 4 or 5 girls. We learned to boil water. Girls also learned how to sew, by hand, starting with an apron made out of handkerchiefs, [and then] a slip, skirt, blouse and finally, by the 8th grade, we had to make our own graduation dress.

“I remember during release time in the backyard we’d play hand ball..It was my turn up but we had to go in …I never did get my turn, ever…

“I remember singing during auditorium. The tall wooden box on stage that was only opened once as long (8years) as I was there…The box held chimes.

“ There were two eighth grade classes. I remember Mrs.Williamson, who taught me grammar. For some reason–the 8th grade graduating class did something bad?–and she wouldn’t sign graduation autograph books, but she did write myself and another girl a note. Ignoring the notes, we secretly asked for her autograph. She was a little annoyed and said, ‘I wrote you a note!’ We didn’t even think how lucky we were.

“[My] first grade teacher [was] Miss Griffin, 6th grade Mrs. Bradley. who told us Venice smelled and they throw garbage out their windows She also said something once about her ‘hills and valleys’ which made the boys hysterical because she had very big breasts. Go figure.

“There was a girl Rosa from Italy who would burst into tears once every day or so. The teacher would get annoyed with her. Who knew post traumatic war syndrome. I remember air raid drills, ‘duck & cover’ under the desks or in hall ways..

“For a brief moment hoop skirts hit the scene but were stopped very fast. That’s all I can think of at the moment… .”

If you were interviewing Ms. Brown, is there anything else you would like to ask her? Would you like to ask her for more information about something she did talk about? Did Ms. Brown say anything about your school that you found surprising? Did you learn anything from this reminiscence? Did anything make you sad, or make you laugh?

PS 154 Students in 1908

Elsie, Alice and Herbert Brabander, of 14 Horace Court, are shown in front of PS 154 in 1908

Maureen Neville has been kind enough to share this photograph of her mother, aunt and uncle with us. The Brabanders lived at 14 Horace Court and attended PS 154.

One hundred years after this snapshot was taken, children are sitting in the same classrooms, eating in the same lunchroom, and playing in the same schoolyard as the Brabander children. Children may dress differently in 2009, but do you suppose they play some of the same games or tell some of the same jokes these kids did in 1908?

This is the oldest photograph of PS 154 we’ve seen. Can you or your parents or grandparents dig up an older one?

A PS 154 Memory Project: Oral History

Mrs. Theodorakis shares a primary source from PS 154's history.

The fifth graders of PS 154–the Centennial graduating class–are working on an oral history project to learn more about the history of their school. They are looking for people who went to PS 154 who would like to answer questions about their experience here. This project offers students the opportunity to create primary sources (the transcripts of their interviews) and to interpret primary sources.

What are primary sources anyway? As the fifth graders learned, they are the raw material of history. They are records of enduring value created by people or groups during the course of their activities. They include written records such as report cards, attendance records, diaries, and even PTA newsletters, like the one (above) from 1987 that Mrs. Theodorakis brought in to show the students.

Photographs are historical records that can bring up a lot of emotions.

Photographs and videos are also primary sources. Looking at staff photos from the 1980s (above) reminded Mrs. Theodorakis of former colleagues, including a principal who was well-loved and respected but, sadly, died young.

An oral history interview is another type of primary source. Answering questions about the past can sometimes stir emotions, just as looking at her old photographs touched Mrs. Theodorakis. The students were told that the people they interview may become emotional when speaking of the past. That’s okay.

A student examines an old public school doorknob.

Artifacts are also primary sources and can give us information about the past. The fifth graders handled some historic objects, including an ornately-carved brass doorknob from a public school in Brooklyn (above) and a laundry bag from the Pilgrim Laundry (below), which was located two blocks away from PS 154. Many people from Windsor Terrace worked there before it was closed in the 1960s. Sometimes objects, like photographs, can jog people’s memories and help them describe their past in greater detail.

Students learn to handle objects gently and evaluate them.

The first part of this oral history project involves the students splitting up into groups of two or three in order to interview one another.

An interview team has a question about the project.

The students questioned one another about their own experiences at PS 154, and that led to a question about the project: What if your interview subject says, “I don’t remember”? Well, they were told, that’s an answer, but they should follow up with another question. If the person being interviewed doesn’t remember his or her first day of school, for example, the interviewer can then try asking, “What is the first thing you do remember about going to PS 154?”

The students put a lot of thought into what to ask one another.

Interviewing one another is not just practice: it is genuine oral history. The recorded memories of the Class of 2009 will be as interesting to future historians as the memories of the Class of 1909 are to us.

Student interviewers hone their skills on one another.

If you are interested in learning more about oral history, please read this.

The New Kid

When P. S. 154 opened, the neighborhood was already served by P. S. 10 on Seventh Avenue and P. S. 130 on Fort Hamilton Parkway. To fill up the new school, every child in Windsor Terrace starting kindergarten in 1908 was assigned to The Windsor School.

Mario George Balassi was born in 1903. He lived on Prospect Avenue, across the street from P. S. 130. There were no apartment buildings and no Prospect Expressway back then. Mario’s older brothers and sisters crossed the street to 130, but little Mario had to walk all the way up to Eleventh Avenue every day.

In an interview in 1980, he remembered that there was no school lunch. All the children walked home to eat. By the time he got home, all of his brothers and sisters had already eaten. He wolfed lunch down, and ran right back to school, while his brothers and sisters still had plenty of time to play.

First Day of School

According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac of 1909, P.S. 154 welcomed 495 new students in the fall of 1908. There were nine teachers for 14 classes.

The first principal was Margaret Robertson Laing, a native of Canada. She earned $1750 a year–if she had been a man, her salary would have been $2750! A woman teaching for the first time earned $600, while a man who was new to the job made $900. Both men and women were paid an extra $50 a year if they had to teach boys!

Ms. Laing was the principal of The Windsor School, as it was known then, for 25 years. By the time she retired in 1933, there were over 1000 students in the school, and 27 of the teachers who had worked for her had gone one to become principals and assistant principals of other schools.

100 Years and Counting…

It has been 100 years since Public School 154, The Windsor School, first opened. The PTA is planning a 100th anniversary celebration on April 3rd. Alumni are invited to attend and celebrate and share memories, photos, even report cards!