Legend of Zelda, Lone Turkey in the Big City

This summer I was introduced to Battery Park's very own resident turkey, Zelda. I spotted her one afternoon, hanging out with some pigeons, allowing tourists to snap her photo. (As I did.) Evidently, Zelda has lived in Battery Park since 2003. As a single gal in the big city, she seems fine going about her business, making occasional sojourns to SoHo, Tribeca, the West Side Highway. She has also been profiled in the New York Times, NY Daily News, and NPR.

Yes, Zelda, you look good walking away too.

I think Zelda's probably in hiding for Thanksgiving. Or eating Chinese Food in protest. Still, I think she's a welcome reminder of nature in the concrete jungle. On this, most American of holidays, The Preservator wants to honor Zelda.  The humble American turkey was, after all, what Benjamin Franklin thought should be our national symbol, not the bald eagle. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin wrote that as compared to an eagle (a predator of ill moral character), "the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on."



Photos by The Preservator

A Glad Thanksgiving: Digitized

Among the good people, fortune, and places The Preservator will give thanks for this year, we wanted to take an especially nerdy moment to thank the good people of the world who work digitizing amazing collections, so that pieces of history can see the light of day on the internet. This is a big task and small armies of people help bring so many incredible resources to our fingertips.

I'm looking at you, PhillyHistory.org, the City Archives website, as well as your blog. I get lost in your geocoded image collections, culled from public agencies and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, mining the city's history. 

And you, Library of Congress, where to even begin? I am thankful for the digitized HABS/HAER/HALS "Built In America" collection and, my personal favorite,  "By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA 1936-1943 alone. That barely scratches the surface. 

This year, I've also loved falling down the rabbit hole of Flickr photostreams by powerhouse institutions like the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, U.S. National Archives, and DC Public Library, where public domain images have become even easier to find. 

On a more local note, Brooklyn Public Library, your Brooklynology blog makes me smile with images and strange tales of ephemera from your archives.

The Preservator will have a Glad Thanksgiving indeed. 

To see more of the NYPL's Vintage Thanksgiving Postcards, click here.


"A Glad Thanksgiving", Published by Whitney Valentine Co.
Vintage Holiday Postcard, NYPL
Image via New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Library / Picture Collection Digital ID: 1588314