A Message from the Bronx Borough Historian Emeritus
This website contains some valuable information about Bronx business and its role in the growth and development of the borough. Most of it comes from the records of the Bronx Board of Trade, an organization of Bronx businessmen. Here you will find excerpts from the Minutes of the Board’s meetings at which certain matters were discussed and approved. Many of these items became reality. Here, also, are excerpts from articles that appeared in the Board’s magazine, Bronxboro. These articles discuss aspects of the borough’s past, a few of the major firms in the Bronx, and plans for the future. In addition, there are a few excerpts from the scrapbooks of newspaper articles clipped and preserved by the Board that provide useful information about businesses and the effect that public projects were expected to have. Except for the historical articles, all of these materials are primary sources — materials written at the time when events actually took place. They are the stuff that historians must use to write the history of any time period. Of great use is another primary source, photographs. The photographs collected by the Board of Trade capture the images of the borough at different points in time and help give you a sense of what it was like to stand in that location, then seeing what is pictured. Included with this website is a series of activities and educational projects for children and young adults using this material. These are useful for active learning and in exploring primary sources, in order to discover and organize historical information useful for our own time. There is also a bibliography of books to consult and web links to other sources.
Lloyd Ultan
Bronx Borough Historian Emeritus
Bronx County Historical Society
3309 Bainbridge Avenue
Bronx, New York 10467
