Attendees
Joan Salome-Rodriguez (Facilitator), Katia Kelly, Louis Kleinman, Peter Reich.
Guests: Aaron Kaufman (Gowanus Remediation Team), Irene Baker (National Grid).
Agenda
- Discussed getting more material for Michael & Rachel’s Instagram account to get eyes on what we have: https://www.instagram.com/gowanus_archaeology/.
- Asked the committee for more material such as photos of old Gowanus that he can share.
- Discussed with Aaron Kaufman getting clearance for posting GRT material to the account. He responded 7/9/2025 that we have clearance and just need to send a notification when we post their material.
- Discussed status of the Storyboard which is not yet finalized. Aaron will try to get an ETA on completion. He thinks a few months more. He will also confirm whether it can be used freely by this CAG group and/or on the Instagram.
- I had wanted to reach out to Johnny Thornton (Arts Gowanus), Sasha (Proteus Gowanus), Andrea (GCC), Gowanus Dredgers, and Emily (also of Arts Gowanus) for a meeting in the fall for us to continue to conduct curated exhibition planning. Peter will follow up with Johnny Thornton to see what is going on in terms of opportunities for more exhibits, but right now there are QR-code walking tours posted about the Gowanus. He thinks Johnny would be interested in materials we could assemble for the walking tour. I asked for how-tos. We can put together photos of whatever we’d like added. Peter indicated he’d like to see 234 Butler Street added. Aiming for the fall because of summer doldrums and my upcoming surgery. Katia suggested maybe our committee could do the tour, but right now it is completely virtual. We asked Joseph if the photos in his book were open-source. He thinks yes. Also suggested the Brooklyn Eagle’s archive.
- Also, we can use language “courtesy of …….”
- Joan will reach out to Brooklyn College Museum Studies Program and to Pratt’s archaeology team to see if there is any opportunity there in the fall. Surgery in August will delay Joan’s ability to chase these things down. Also will check with Union Street Library.
These items from the February meeting should be kept in mind.
- Explore grants (can this work with Sasha’s work?).
- Explore funding possibilities (can our City Council member fund a space like the Coignet Building?).
- Explore walking tours with Johnny Thornton & Emily Chiavelli for spaces on the esplanades.
- Keep thinking about spaces for exhibits (temporary or permanent) including Arts Gowanus, new Gowanus Canal Conservancy space, Thomas Greene Park community center, Brooklyn Public Library.
- Approach Department of Cultural Affairs and/or Department of Arts.
- We have good intellectual control because we have all the history of the objects that have been retrieved.
- Work on provenance, ownership.
- Safe storage (fundraiser?). Some storage conditions currently are good, others need work.
- We need to have a way to ensure physical security of the objects both on exhibit and when not on exhibit (this combines storage issues with fundraising).
- Digital is easy and there is a market for that. Mary wishes there were more history of the Canal out there but we do have Joseph who is the historian for Gowanus’s long and important history.