The History of World War II in 20 Brooklyn Objects
Taught by Andrew Gustafson
Andrew is the Vice President of Turnstile Tours, a tour and consulting company that works with non-profit and cultural institutions around New York City to research, develop, and operate tours and public programs that highlight sites and stories that are underrepresented in the public record. Founded in 2012 by Andrew's wife Cindy VandenBosch, Turnstile currently operates tour programs of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn Army Terminal, New York City's public markets, and the street food industry. Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, Andrew studied early American history as an undergraduate at Middlebury College and political geography and criminology at the University of Colorado-Boulder graduate school. Prior to working at Turnstile, Andrew lived in Moscow and Irkutsk, Russia, where he studied geography and worked as a reporter, editor, and translator for a number of media outlets. After moving to New York in 2009, he worked at the International Coalition of Historic Sites of Conscience, a worldwide network of museums and historic sites that use difficult histories to promote positive social change, coordinating their programming in the former Soviet Union. Andrew is fascinated by military and maritime history and the contemporary workings of New York Harbor, and he is an avid shipspotter, birdwatcher, and paddler. He has led the research and development of the World War II tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which launched on Veterans Day 2012, and tour programs at the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
The history and legacy of the Second World War can be seen all around us in Brooklyn. Once home to hundreds of factories, shipyards, and warehouses, and responsible for sending millions of soldiers, sailors, and marines off to the front lines, Brooklyn was arguably one of the most important communities in waging and winning the war.
This talk by Andrew Gustafson of Turnstile Tours, developer and operator of tours of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Brooklyn Army Terminal, will examine the borough as an historical tapestry of the wider history of World War II – not just on the homefront, but across the globe and through the centuries that led to this enormous conflagration.
Using 20 objects found hidden in museum collections and archives or standing in plain sight on the city streets, this talk will attempt to give a comprehensive history of the war through these fascinating objects – all in a very short period of time. These pieces will include obscure war memorials, game-changing technologies, massive buildings, and seemingly mundane personal artifacts. While it is ultimately a tragic story of death and devastation, it is also one of survival and perseverance, woven together through these objects. So grab a beer, listen to some stories, and learn how, as the Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote in 1945, "Brooklyn helped win the war and make America the most powerful country on earth."
