Brooklyn College Library

06/30/2024

As Pride Month winds down, with the annual parade taking place today in New York City, the Walter W. Gerboth Music Library of Brooklyn College pays tribute to singer-songwriter and LGBTQ+ activist Holly Near, who celebrated her 75th birthday this month. For the past half-century, Near has created memorable music that speaks to people from all walks of life, though the anthem “Singing for Our Lives” especially resonates with the q***r community, calling for universal understanding of our shared humanity. Near has worn many hats throughout her career – protest musician, founder of the Redwood Records label, actor, author of both a memoir and a one-woman show based on those writings – but no matter the medium, her unique voice shines through.

Please enjoy this selection of twelve songs from her catalog:
“Started Out Fine” (from A Live Album, 1974) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qhxkd6Gn0E
“It Could Have Been Me” (from A Live Album, 1974) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CadP4dRemYk
“Imagine My Surprise” (from Imagine My Surprise, 1978) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCGhLXaScBk
“Something About the Women” (from Imagine My Surprise, 1978) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ukRUZV6Ks
“Once or Twice” (from Fire in the Rain, 1981) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_61Ns7CCoz8
“Back Off” (from Speed of Light, 1982) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1yRlb8hsY
“Singing for Our Lives” (with Ronnie Gilbert) (from Lifeline, 1983) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8amcZCoycok
“Further to Fly” (from Edge, 2000) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi_M0CjKUv8
“I Am Willing” (from Show Up, 2006) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AkGk5maD8Q
“Swimming to the Other Side” (with Emma’s Revolution) (from We Came to Sing!, 2009) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv8sR1OOcoE
“Peace Becomes You” (from Peace Becomes You, 2012) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twRaGRvTg8I
“Nature” (from the album 2018, released the same year) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Z9O1JmgXg

02/20/2024

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02/20/2024

Illustrative: Pro-Hamas demonstrators are detained by police officers in New York during a protest at the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: Reuters/Shannon …

12/04/2023

Don't worry about finals, we've got you covered! 📚 The library will be open extended hours during finals week to help you ace those exams. 💯

December 11-14: 8am-9:45pm
December 15: 8am-8:45pm
December 16-17: 12pm-8:45pm
December 18: 8am-9:45 pm

11/17/2023

10/31/2023

The Brooklyn College Archives takes us into one of the many stories about the Library over the years, this chapter about the College\'s first Head Librarian.

09/25/2023

07/23/2023

Charles Farrell Actor, Businessman. He was a popular Hollywood leading man, first silent and then early talkie movies

06/01/2023

As Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month comes to a close, the Walter W. Gerboth Music Library of Brooklyn College pays tribute to Ethel Azama (1934-1984), the Honolulu-raised Japanese-American singer who livened up jazz-pop standards on two albums and in nightclub appearances throughout the 1950s and 60s. Although her recording career was brief, her work was wonderful, her voice as lovely as any of the greats among her peers. Please enjoy:

“The Gypsy in My Soul/All I Need Is You” (TV appearance, 1963): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI06bLdC9pw
“Lazy Afternoon” (1959): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kbw-sJsZkA
“Autumn Leaves” (1959, hapa-haole performance): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0hIkhVKG7Y
"Green Fire" (1959): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipqp5_Q3Afk
“Speak Low” (1959): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4QZ5q1exW8
"Like Someone in Love" (1960): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU33wFNGluE
“You’re Bad for Me” (1960): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1u-B-vpfBM
“My Ship” (1960): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAN_6YCouVM
“Daybreak” (1960): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGuwxWKtKzk
“Time After Time” (1960): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k4DOOuUQ7g

05/12/2023

Wonderful concert on May 11 at the Claire Tow Theater. Zifeng Michael Zheng won the Brooklyn College Conservatory Concerto Competition in March 2020, but because of the pandemic the public event was postponed until now. He gave an exciting, lyrical performance of the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 and Ryan Martin’s solo turn in the Arutiunian “Elegy” for trumpet was beautifully played. The program concluded with the seldom-performed Second Symphony by Saint-Saëns, a rousing work. Bravo to George Rothman and the Brooklyn College Conservatory Orchestra, a gem of an ensemble.

Professor Honora Raphael
Walter W. Gerboth Music Library

04/26/2023

View of the Library from the Lily Pond

03/27/2023

Sad News from BC's Prep Center director yesterday:

Unfortunately, there is sad news I must share with you. Today (3/25/2023) we have learned that our piano instructor Victoria Freyberg has passed away.
Victoria was an invaluable colleague and a highly respected and much loved instructor to countless students, leaving a tremendous legacy behind.
Victoria was a graduate of Brooklyn College’s Conservatory of Music (teacher Agustin Anievas) when she was invited to be one of the founding members of the piano program at the Preparatory Center, given her exceptional background and skills as a remarkable pianist. Since the Center’s opening 44 years ago, generations in our community have been fortunate to have Victoria train so many of our finest musicians.
If you saw Victoria around Roosevelt Hall in-between her classes, you have likely met her kind, familiar smile which blended remarkably with her serious image as a rigorous and no-nonsense piano teacher. Witnessing Victoria’s teaching process was a lesson in and of itself: always focused and driven, instinctively student-oriented, and admirably full of care, which explains her desire to teach up until last week, literally as long as she possibly could.
Victoria has also been the most thoughtful mentor not only to her students but also to any one of us in our community. I had the privilege to visit her home a number of years ago, and it was frankly not at all different from visiting a motherly figure from my own family. Knowing her priorities always lay with students’ excellence, I never hesitated seeking her guidance during these last seven years that we worked together, which she always shared wholeheartedly.
Victoria was very proud of her work at the Prep Center, quite evident in her joyful expression while accepting her 40th-year anniversary plaque in the photo below, taken just four years ago (2019).
Please join me in offering our condolences to the Freyberg family during this difficult time.
Sincerely,
Hasan Ozcan, Director
Preparatory Center for the Performing Arts
234 Roosevelt Hall

From Professor Honora Raphael, Music Librarian of the Walter W. Gerboth Music Library at Brooklyn College:

Mrs. Freyberg was a superb teacher not only because of her ability to share her pianistic excellence but also because she was sensitive to each student as a whole person and that lit the spark between teacher and student essential for learning to happen. May this kind and talented woman rest in peace.

03/15/2023

Libraries Filling Voids, Libraries Making Connections,
and Libraries Fostering Collaborations:
Perspectives from Three Innovators Invigorating American Culture

When: Monday, March 20, 2023 9:30-10:30 am
Where: The Brooklyn College Library
The Woody Tanger Auditorium

All are welcome!

03/09/2023

Pi Day Celebration on Tuesday, March 14, 1:59pm (3.14159).

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sharing-a-slice-of-pie-a-pi-day-celebration-tickets-515268450807

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nzt9mafts3ubp9y/Pi%20Day%20Flyer.pdf?dl=0

Shared with Dropbox

03/08/2023

In celebration of International Women's Day, the Walter W. Gerboth Music Library of Brooklyn College pays tribute to the short films of Mary Ellen Bute, whose abstract animated works utilized classical music to demonstrate the pairing of sound and illustration. With Ted Nemeth, Bute used pioneering technology to "paint with light," creating electronically-engineered images to depict the feelings that accompany the compositions, and the results are riveting every time. Here are some examples of her work:

Rhythm in Light (1934), using Edvard Grieg's "P*er Gynt Suite": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=850AmGWl-Ko
Synchromy No. 2 (1935), using Richard Wagner's "Evening Star" from Tannhäuser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylQRIf3a9IY
Parabola (1937), using Darius Milhaud's "Création du monde": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpWNFHcm4TA
Synchromy No.4 - Escape (1937-38), using J.S. Bach's "Toccata in D Minor": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRmu-GcClls
Tarantella (1940), using the music of Edwin Gerschefski: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1W-RNyjZa0
Abstronic (1952), using Aaron Copland's "Hoe Down" and Don Gillis's "Ranch House Party": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2tX3fGuZ4

02/17/2023

For , check out our three-part blog on African American student activism at Brooklyn College from 1930 to 1945. Discover how these early alums fought for racial equality on and off campus and advocated for a class in African American history and the hiring of Black faculty. Become inspired by the stories of Augusta Jackson ‘34, Fitz Squires ‘47, and Dorothy Challenor Burnham ’36 (who will be 108 on March 10th!). https://countdown2030.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-1940s/african-american-activitism-to-1945-part-i/

02/10/2023

The Walter W. Gerboth Music Library of Brooklyn College celebrates the birthday of Leontyne Price, the legendary soprano who turns 96 today. A trailblazer among Black opera singers, who broke new ground in the mid-to-late twentieth century with her worldwide success (especially as a performer of works by Giuseppe Verdi), Price's vocal skills are a gift to experience.

Here are a few examples of her extraordinary talent:

1. "The Lord's Prayer" (1961) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJKCP4OVcO4
2. "D'amor sull'ali rosee" (from Verdi's Il trovatore, 1963) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_saAIrRxUP8
3. "Libera me" (from Verdi's Requiem, 1967) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d86QHlsHwI
4. "What I Did for Love" (from Hamlisch & Kleban's music for A Chorus Line, 1980) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lt0t6arjeE
4. "Summertime" (from the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, 1981) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42o8Noz8jW4
6. "Un bel dì, vedremo" (from Puccini's Madama Butterfly, 1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwkMxz2nEdc
7. "Ave Maria" (as arranged by Gounod from Bach, 1982) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30eNxYjmEqU
8. "La vergine degli Angeli" (from Verdi's La forza del destino, 1984) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbyiKfpk8xw
9. "O patria mia" (from Verdi's Aida, 1985) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_56dQteAIY
10. "God Bless America" (a ca****la, 2001) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jJjsQGUU-8

12/06/2022

We have Extended Hours for Finals Fall 2022
s://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu/library/about/hours/
Dec 13 - 15 (Tue-Thurs) Regular Hours + 9PM-midnight (FFO)
Dec 16 (Fri) Regular Hours + 5PM-8PM (FFO)
Weekend Dec 17 & 18 + 6-8pm (FFO)

Dec 19- 20 (Mon-Tue) Regular Hours + 9PM-midnight (FFO)
December 21 Regular Hours

11/11/2022

On Veterans Day, we pause to honor the men and women who have served our country. Fitz Squires '47 was one of approximately 7000 BC students, faculty, staff, and alums who served during WWII. Squires took a military leave of absence from his studies in 1942 and joined the Tuskegee Airmen, for which he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Read more about Squires and early BC African American activists in our Countdown to 2030 blog: https://countdown2030.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-1940s/african-american-activitism-to-1945-part-i/ 2030.

10/03/2022

Attention new and first-semester transfer students! The Nation Presents "The Library in a Nutshell" this Thursday at 12:30pm!

Learn about the Library's resources and services!

Register here: tinyurl.com/PMNationF22

09/15/2022

In light of this summer’s US Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization decision on abortion rights, please join The Wolfe Institute for:

Reproductive Justice: Global Perspectives
A Conversation inspired by Barbara Smith, 2023 Hess Scholar-in-Residence

When: Monday September 19, 1-2:30pm (online via Zoom)

For over four decades, the work of Barbara Smith has addressed the issues of reproductive justice and drawn on a vision of international solidarity among feminists of color across the Global South and North. African American, Asian American, Latina, and immigrant women know that feminists in the Global South have much to teach their Northern sisters and this continues to be powerfully true in the current moment, as the US faces a resurgent Far Right committed to the destruction of bodily autonomy for all but a privileged few. This panel opens a year-long engagement with the work of Barbara Smith, this year’s Hess Scholar-in-Residence, by bringing together feminists from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and the US in a shared conversation about ongoing struggles for reproductive justice.

Speakers:
Veronica Cruz Sanchez, Las Libres, Mexico
Olabukunola Williams, Akina Mama Wa Afrika, Uganda
Dora Barrancos, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Erin Matson, ReproAction, US
Moderator: Naomi Braine, Sociology, Brooklyn College, US

TO ATTEND ONLINE: Please pre-register for the event at:
https://brooklyn-cuny-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArdu2rqTMvH9eDE5cEgmTvc59U6-iPKyLc

TO ATTEND AN IN-PERSON LIVE STREAMING OF THE EVENT: The Brooklyn College Women’s Center will be hosting a live streaming of the event for students, staff and faculty who prefer to participate through an in-person setting on campus. Lights refreshments will be served courtesy of the Women’s Center. 227 Ingersoll Hall Extension. Same date and time as the event.

09/05/2022

Raymond Burr

06/15/2022

On June 15, 1940, 82 years ago today, BC students attended their All College Formal. For $2.50 per couple, students danced and mingled with their special guests: the 1940 Brooklyn Dodgers! Future Baseball Hall of Famers at the event included Leo Durocher, Joe Medwick, and P*e Wee Reese. And, as a bonus, you could stroll with your date on “Flirtation Walk.”

06/10/2022

The Walter W. Gerboth Music Library of Brooklyn College is happy to celebrate Judy Garland’s centennial today, honoring one of the twentieth century’s greatest entertainers. Words don’t do justice to her exceptional vocal technique and her ability to emote as both a singer and an actor, so these recordings and TV appearances will surely speak for themselves.

“Carolina in the Morning” (from the album Miss Show Business, 1955) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmU6w_PwBHY
“Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” (Judy, 1956) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW_SG0Jvh2M
“Me and My Shadow” (Alone, 1957) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi34-XS2Csw
“More Than You Know” (Judy in Love, 1958) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtA9_0BvXNU
“Who Cares (As Long as You Care for Me)” (That’s Entertainment!, 1960) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3-iPZNRM8k
“The Man That Got Away” (Judy at Carnegie Hall, 1961) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B01SprdhOaw
“That’s Entertainment!” (Judy at Carnegie Hall, 1961) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HXJkoO_cbs
“Over the Rainbow” (Judy at Carnegie Hall, 1961) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfq12giLJp4
“After You’ve Gone” (Judy at Carnegie Hall, 1961) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxphQ2tA_pA
“Comes Once in a Lifetime” (The Garland Touch, 1962) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mKFLaaj3Mk
“Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe” (The Garland Touch, 1962) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpMBqXJ2vu0
“Medley: We Could Make Such Beautiful Music Together/The Best Is Yet to Come/Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)” (with Liza Minnelli on The Judy Garland Show, 1963) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9-0oq6Zz5g
“Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy” (with Barbra Streisand on The Judy Garland Show, 1963): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFVxX3RtyhQ
“As Long as He Needs Me” (on The Judy Garland Show, 1964): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT0ms9UdxcE
“For Once in My Life” (on The Mike Douglas Show, 1968): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnjTgQMeUQ

05/31/2022

A year ago today: these are photos from the memorial concert and tribute for Marguerite Iskenderian in front of the Old Stone House in Park Slope. The string sections of the New York Repertory Orchestra conducted by David Leibowitz performed. There were poignant and humorous but above all heartfelt memories shared by friends and colleagues, including Ruth Henderson and Bruce MacIntyre (in the photos) and Harry Saltzman. The picture of the cello section was taken by Gus Weinstein, who also did a superb job of delivering my eulogy — asked by me at the very last moment to do so — in a voice that projected beautifully.
- Professor Honora Raphael, Walter W. Gerboth Music Library, BC