Damnation Island is the title of a new book by author Stacy Horn about the history of our home here on Roosevelt Island.
According to the NY Public Library:
Before there was Rikers Island, there was Blackwell’stoday known as Roosevelt Island. Historian Stacy Horn’s newest book Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York is the first in-depth look at its dark past. In addition to a penitentiary, the small strip of land housed an almshouse, mental institution, and a number of hospitals for the poorwhich, as one can imagine, lead to disturbing outcomes for the city’s most disenfranchised people. From annual reports of the Women’s Prison Association to an unpublished autobiography of a survivor of the NYC draft riots, Horn walks us through some of her findings from the NYPL archives used to write this chilling story, and how it sheds light on the same issues of today.
Listen to this NY Public Library podcast interview with Ms. Horn discussing the dark history of Blackwell’s, then Welfare and now Roosevelt Island.
This week’s episode of The NYPL Podcast features @StacyHorn discussing her book, Damnation Island, which looks into the dark past of Blackwell’snow known as Roosevelt Island. Horn also walks us through the NYPL archives used to write this chilling story. https://t.co/c8ckY2R1aBNY Public Library (@nypl) June 6, 2018
Damnation Island is available for purchase at the Roosevelt Island Historical Society Visitors Center Kiosk or click here.