Teaneck Library Program Celebrates Women's History Month

In celebration of Women's History Month, Storyteller Carol Simon Levin portrays Emily Warren Roebling, the groundbreaking woman who oversaw the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, accompanied by a "lantern slide show" (PowerPoint) presentation, at the Teaneck Public Library on Friday, March 28, as part of the Isabelle and Sol Hermalyn lecture series.

Built between 1869 and 1883, without modern machines or even electric light, the Brooklyn Bridge was the one of the most amazing technological achievements of its time. Yet few people know that a woman helped supervise much of its construction.  After her husband became bedridden, Emily Roebling became his liaison to the project – eventually communicating with the engineers and suppliers so well that it was rumored that she had become the Chief Engineer herself! Later she helped design the family mansion in Trenton, studied law, organized relief for returning troops from the Spanish American War, attended the coronation of the Tsar of Russia and even took tea with Queen Victoria. At her death, she was called “the most famous woman in New Jersey” and “one of the most noted women in the country,” yet today almost no one knows her name!

Carol Simon Levin is a Youth Services Librarian, author, storyteller and program presenter based in Bridgewater. She has always been particularly fascinated by the history of technology and women’s history and is currently writing two books on Emily Warren Roebling.  Carol Simon Levin is a member of the New Jersey Storytelling Guild, the New Jersey Library Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. 

The public is welcome to attend this free program to be held in the library auditorium and to the coffee and socializing session that precedes it at 10 a.m. The library is located at 840 Teaneck Rd. at the corner of Cedar Lane in Teaneck.

Submitted by the Teaneck Library