PORT JEFFERSON RECEIVES GIFT OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEMORABILIA
donation honors residents who incorporated village fifty years ago

“A rare collection of Port Jefferson photographs and memorabilia has been donated to the village,” it was announced by mayor Margot Garant.

“The gift,” continued Garant, “was given by village historian Kenneth Brady to honor the local residents who had the foresight to incorporate Port Jefferson fifty years ago.”

The acquisition includes thousands of photographs, negatives and slides showing Port Jefferson’s streets, beaches, homes, businesses, banks, post office, harbor, and fire department, the images ranging in time from the 1870s to the present.

The collection also contains scarce postcards, which capture life in the village over a century ago and depict scenes of churches, shipyards, schools, ferries, hotels, restaurants, and celebrations.

The newspaper portion of the collection features original copies of the weeklies that covered Port Jefferson in the nineteenth century, such as the INDEPENDENT PRESS, LONG ISLAND LEADER, PORT JEFFERSON COMMERCIAL GAZETTE, and PORT JEFFERSON COURANT.

A pen and ink of the “Oyster House” by Leon Foster Jones; an oil painting by Susan Bissell of Port Jefferson’s 1914 Summer Art School; drawings by Edward Lange of both “Port Jefferson from Cedar Hill” and “California Grove”; and a sketch by Raymond Tyler of the “Home of John Roe, Port Jefferson” are representative of the original art in the collection.

Valuable maps prepared by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, E. Belcher Hyde, Chace, Beers, Hulse, and Colton illustrate the village’s changing landscape. The vertical files contain pamphlets, newspaper clippings and other resource materials on topics as varied as Port Jefferson’s breakwater and light, the Biddle Fountain, Cedar Hill Cemetery, the Village Improvement Society, and the sloop EMPEROR.

Early editions of Tooker’s INDIAN PLACE-NAMES ON LONG ISLAND, King’s THE LAST SLAVER, Smith’s VOYAGE OF THE TWO SISTERS, Mather’s REFUGEES OF 1776, and Fuller’s GEOLOGY OF LONG ISLAND are included in the extensive library of research books and periodicals.

A menu from Teddy’s Restaurant; poster from an automobile show at Newcomb Brothers Garage; stock certificate from the Port Jefferson Milling Company; calendar from Mather and Wood Ship Builders; button from Old Home Week; thermometer from Loper Brothers Lumber Company; and ledger from the Port Jefferson Bathing Pavilion suggest the incredible breadth and depth of the collection.

Rolls of 16 mm film, showing bygone village parades and weddings; audio cassettes, featuring taped interviews with longtime area residents; and reels of microfilm, including the logs of the Scout Patrol vessels that were based in Port Jefferson during World War I, round out the holdings.

“This is a terrific acquisition,” continued Garant, “not only because of the quality and quantity of the items, but also because Ken Brady has already conserved the photos and memorabilia in archival albums and boxes and computerized the collection for ready access.”

The collection is stored in the Archive Room at the Port Jefferson Village Center, along with other historical records, and is open to students, scholars, researchers, and the public.

An Archive Committee, consisting of the mayor’s representative, the Port Jefferson Village Historian, the director of the Recreation Department, and one member of the Conservancy oversees the collections.

“It’s all about preserving, protecting and promoting Port Jefferson’s rich and varied history,” concluded Brady.