The Long Island History Project

On this bonus episode, NASA astrophysicist emeritus Daniel Gezari talks about his research, his studies at Stony Brook, his meeting with Albert Einstein and more.

What's a summer bungalow without a machine shop, a kiln and a working loom in the living room? Add in piles of beach stones waiting to be sculpted, framed pictures of Albert Einstein on the walls and various collections of insects and you're starting to get an idea of life at Zvi and Temima Gezari's home in Rocky Point.

The De La Salle Christian Brothers moved their all-boy Christian military academy to Oakdale in 1926 and graduated their last class in 2001. On today's episode we'll here from alum Denis McGee about two decades in that storied history. Denis graduated in 1974 during the tail end of the Viet Nam War. His father, Arthur McGee, graduated in 1943 and went on to serve in World War II with the 94th Infantry Division. This interview is part of an oral history project being conducted by the Oakdale Historical Society and the Connetquot Public Library. If you are a an alum of La Salle or worked or taught there and would like to be a part of this project, please contact Diane Haberstroh at the Connetquot Public Library: dhaberst[at]connetquotlibrary.org.

Mark Rothenberg oversees the Celia M. Hastings Local History Room at Patchogue Medford Library. On this episode he relates the story of the Queen City of the South Shore, from mill town to resort destination. Along the way we encounter members of the Culper Spy Ring, Confederate sympathizers and proponents of the bicycle-driven monorail.

When an athletic, thrill-seeking millionaire builds a mansion hideaway on the outskirts of the city, stocking it with a technologically advanced fleet of cars, boats and airplanes along with trophies of his exploits, there's a good chance he's either Batman or a Vanderbilt. Meet William K. Vanderbilt II circa 1910. Just after the turn of the last century, William (or Willie K.) was heir to the Vanderbilt fortune and all the pressures that went with it. Reeling from a public relations disaster in Lake Success, he diverted his attention to Centerport and created Eagle's Nest, an idyllic private retreat with space for a public museum housing his collection of marine specimens and cultural artifacts. On today's episode we speak with Stephanie Gress, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, the institution formed when Vanderbilt willed his estate be perpetuated as a museum. Our discussion uncovers Willie K.'s scientific pursuits, his connections to the American Museum of Natural History, golfing with Sam Snead and the probabilities of Vanderbilts in space. We also talk about the challenges of preserving such a unique museum collection and how generations of school kids on Long Island have thrilled to the only Egyptian mummy between Brooklyn and Great Britain.

Rob Boehm, past president of the Puppet Guild of Long Island, walks us through the world of puppetry and puppet theater since the 1950s, including his early interests and later experiences as a puppeteer. Both he and our own Connie Currie studied with Carol Fijan, the Great Neck-based master puppeteer who greatly influenced the development of puppet theater. They discuss Carol's teachings and writings, her early days with the WPA and the enduring challenges of bringing puppets to life.

Bill Colson was a stand-out basketball player from Sayville High School ('47). In the Korean War he served as an Air Force cryptographer until, stricken by polio, he returned to the States paralyzed from the waist down. That's where his story begins.

Women in most states could still not vote at the turn of the last century. The suffrage movement was stalled and icons such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were dead. So what turned things around? How did the movement revitalize itself to the point that, by 1920, the 19th Amendment was passed and women's suffrage was the law of the land? Part of the answer lies with two women from Long Island.

Genealogist Rhoda Miller and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Long Island recently published Jewish Community of Long Island from Arcadia Press. The book tracks the development of Jewish communities across Long Island from the late 19th century through the 1970s. Throughout the book Rhoda not only documents the rise of specific communities but also uncovers many personal stories. On this episode you'll hear about aviation pioneer Chalres A. Levine, Rabbi Lehrer and his work with Jewish patients in Long Island's state hospitals and the threatening presence of the Ku Klux Klan on the Island along with the German American Bund's Camp Siegfried in Yaphank. Save

George Davies' younger days would be the envy of any boy. During the Great Depression in Oakdale, he and his brothers had the run of Pepperidge Hall, a giant 19th-century mansion in walking distance of a swimming hole and the Great South Bay. Plus they had a pet duck. On this episode you'll hear excerpts […]