Joseph Ditta

Joseph Ditta is a native New Yorker whose Italian immigrant ancestors moved in 1922 from Manhattan to Gravesend, Brooklyn, the historic neighborhood where he has resided since birth and which he chronicles in his book, GRAVESEND, BROOKLYN. This title in Arcadia Publishing's "Then & Now" series was released on July 20, 2009.

Frequent visits to the Gravesend Cemetery (New York City's oldest surviving burial ground, established circa 1650) piqued his desire to learn about the area's original settlers, whose surnames grace many Brooklyn street signs. To satisfy this curiosity, Ditta collects Gravesend-related images and information in myriad formats: photographs, postcards, lantern slides, stereoscopic views, engravings, paintings, textiles, artifacts, manuscripts, books and maps. Exploring the background of each piece he acquires has honed his knowledge of the early families of southern Brooklyn.

A two-time graduate of the Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Ditta later obtained a master's degree in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute. Despite plans to find work as a music librarian, in 1998 he was hired serendipitously by the New-York Historical Society, where he happily assists others with their own local history research. He is currently documenting the ties of family and community among 133 individuals whose names appear on a quilt pieced by the Sewing Circle of the Gravesend Reformed Dutch Church in 1879. He invites you to share your stories of Gravesend by writing to joseph DOT ditta AT gmail DOT com.