June 14, 2024 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, our audience loved Kristin O'Donnell Tubb’s wonderful story from her historical fiction book John Lincoln Clem: Civil War Drummer Boy. So we asked if she would share another story with us. Here she is telling the story of the family that lived in the New York Public Library.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories.
John Fiedler had a better deal than most New York
City superintendents. He was the first super for the New
York Public Library main branch, the famous Schwartzman building on
Fifth Avenue and forty second Street. Their backyard was Bryant Park.
A nineteen thirteen article in The New York Times noted
(00:32):
that before moving into the library, Fiedler had worked as
a merchantman, dabbled in prize fighting, and studied engineering at Harvard. Notably,
the nineteen thirteen article focused on his new invention and
air purifier that promised to suck everything from arsenic to
iron particles out of the air. Our audience loved Kristin
(00:53):
O'Donnell Tubbs's wonderful story from her historical fiction book John
Lincoln Clem War Drummer Boy, so we asked if she
would share another story with us. Here she is telling
the story of the family that lived in the New
York Public Library.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Once upon a time a girl was born inside a library,
and not just any library, the New York Public Library. Yep,
the big famous building on Fifth and forty second, the
one with the lions out front. The date was May eighth,
nineteen seventeen. Two French dignitaries happened to be visiting the
(01:35):
library that week, Prime Minister Renee Viviani and Marshall Joseph Joffre.
The girl's parents were stumped for a name for their daughter,
and a guest at the party suggested combining these two dignitaries' names,
and so the girl born inside the NYPL became Viviani
(01:59):
Jeffevra Fiedler. Viviani was the first daughter and third child
of John and Cornelia Fiedler. John Fiedler was hired as
the building superintendent when the iconic library was under construction. He, Cornelia,
and their two sons, John Junior and Edward, moved into
(02:21):
the library in July nineteen ten, ten months before the
library opened to the public on May twenty third, nineteen eleven.
They lived in an eight room apartment on the mezzanine
level of the library. This apartment is where Vivianni was born,
and she's thought to be the only child ever born
(02:44):
inside the building. The footprint of the apartment is still
there today. Viviani, Edward, and John Junior had quite a
childhood inside those marble walls. They later recounted stories of
playing bass ball inside the library, using books as bases.
(03:05):
The library often hosted dignitaries at lavish parties inside the
stunning building, and when Viviani was six, she recited poetry
to Queen Marie of Romania in the children's collection. Because
they were not allowed to have pets, John Junior once
trapped pigeons on the roof until the American Society for
(03:30):
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals caught wind of this
and requested he free them. Viviani and her friends would
slide down the banisters and play hide and seek among
the library's priceless marble statues while her brothers played war
in the basement, and once a thief was caught trying
(03:53):
to steal a rare ten thousand dollars stamp collection from
a library display. John Senior was quite a character, and
to prevent his three children from getting into too much
mischief in the late night library, he told his kids
in his distinct Bowery dialect that the library was haunted
(04:17):
by a man killed during construction. Viviani later told The
New Yorker magazine that the library is quote like a
big marble grave at night after the cleaners are gone.
The idea that the NYPL is haunted is now quite
entrenched in the building's history, and the opening scene of
(04:41):
the original Ghostbusters movie pays homage to that belief.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Peter, at one forty pm at the main branch of
the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, ten people
witnessed a free floating full tarsol vapors apparition. It blew
books off shelves from twenty feet away and sc the
socks off some poor librarian. I'm very excited.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I'm very pleased.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I want you to get right down there, check it out,
and get back to me, to get right back on
me here, you're coming with us on this one. Spangler
went down there, he took pke valances, went right off
the top of the scale, buried the needle. We're close
on this one, I can feel it.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
John Junior told The New York Times years later, quote,
there was some basis for the legend. Ten men died
in the nine or ten years it took to build
the Central Library. The reading room ghost was one who
had fallen from the scaffolding when they were putting in
the reading room ceiling. At least that's the way father
(05:42):
told it. The elder John Fiedler, was also an inventor
and worked with Thomas Edison. His workshop in the basement
is still there today. He called it his private laboratory.
He was known to have quote dabbled in plas sticks
long before the word got into the dictionary. The Feedler
(06:05):
children had many friends in the area. Some of them
lived in the Algonquin Hotel, some in Roger's Peak Department store.
This group of friends truly had a unique playground. Viviani
lived in the library until she was fifteen years old,
leaving when she got married. John Junior took over as
(06:28):
the building superintendent from his father, retiring in June nineteen
forty nine. All told, the Feedlers lived inside the New
York Public Library for thirty eight years. You can read
more about the Feedler family and their adventures inside the
New York Public Library in two books about their lives,
(06:52):
The Story Collector and its sequel, The Story Seeker.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And a special thanks to Christian o'donald Tubb or Storytelling
and What a Gig, What a Beautiful way to grow up.
The reading room may be my favorite place in all
of New York City. I can't tell you how many
hours I spent there as a boy. Just love the
place and that reading room. Well, you're gonna read the
story of John Fiedler, the family that lived in the
(07:19):
New York Public Library here on our American story. Folks,
if you love the stories we tell about this great country,
and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that
all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation,
(07:41):
culture and faith, are brought to us by the great
folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all
the things that are beautiful in life and all the
things that are good in life. And if you can't
get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their
free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu
to learn more.
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories.
John Fiedler had a better deal than most New York
City superintendents. He was the first super for the New
York Public Library main branch, the famous Schwartzman building on
Fifth Avenue and forty second Street. Their backyard was Bryant Park.
A nineteen thirteen article in The New York Times noted
(00:32):
that before moving into the library, Fiedler had worked as
a merchantman, dabbled in prize fighting, and studied engineering at Harvard. Notably,
the nineteen thirteen article focused on his new invention and
air purifier that promised to suck everything from arsenic to
iron particles out of the air. Our audience loved Kristin
(00:53):
O'Donnell Tubbs's wonderful story from her historical fiction book John
Lincoln Clem War Drummer Boy, so we asked if she
would share another story with us. Here she is telling
the story of the family that lived in the New
York Public Library.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Once upon a time a girl was born inside a library,
and not just any library, the New York Public Library. Yep,
the big famous building on Fifth and forty second, the
one with the lions out front. The date was May eighth,
nineteen seventeen. Two French dignitaries happened to be visiting the
(01:35):
library that week, Prime Minister Renee Viviani and Marshall Joseph Joffre.
The girl's parents were stumped for a name for their daughter,
and a guest at the party suggested combining these two dignitaries' names,
and so the girl born inside the NYPL became Viviani
(01:59):
Jeffevra Fiedler. Viviani was the first daughter and third child
of John and Cornelia Fiedler. John Fiedler was hired as
the building superintendent when the iconic library was under construction. He, Cornelia,
and their two sons, John Junior and Edward, moved into
(02:21):
the library in July nineteen ten, ten months before the
library opened to the public on May twenty third, nineteen eleven.
They lived in an eight room apartment on the mezzanine
level of the library. This apartment is where Vivianni was born,
and she's thought to be the only child ever born
(02:44):
inside the building. The footprint of the apartment is still
there today. Viviani, Edward, and John Junior had quite a
childhood inside those marble walls. They later recounted stories of
playing bass ball inside the library, using books as bases.
(03:05):
The library often hosted dignitaries at lavish parties inside the
stunning building, and when Viviani was six, she recited poetry
to Queen Marie of Romania in the children's collection. Because
they were not allowed to have pets, John Junior once
trapped pigeons on the roof until the American Society for
(03:30):
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals caught wind of this
and requested he free them. Viviani and her friends would
slide down the banisters and play hide and seek among
the library's priceless marble statues while her brothers played war
in the basement, and once a thief was caught trying
(03:53):
to steal a rare ten thousand dollars stamp collection from
a library display. John Senior was quite a character, and
to prevent his three children from getting into too much
mischief in the late night library, he told his kids
in his distinct Bowery dialect that the library was haunted
(04:17):
by a man killed during construction. Viviani later told The
New Yorker magazine that the library is quote like a
big marble grave at night after the cleaners are gone.
The idea that the NYPL is haunted is now quite
entrenched in the building's history, and the opening scene of
(04:41):
the original Ghostbusters movie pays homage to that belief.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Peter, at one forty pm at the main branch of
the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, ten people
witnessed a free floating full tarsol vapors apparition. It blew
books off shelves from twenty feet away and sc the
socks off some poor librarian. I'm very excited.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I'm very pleased.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I want you to get right down there, check it out,
and get back to me, to get right back on
me here, you're coming with us on this one. Spangler
went down there, he took pke valances, went right off
the top of the scale, buried the needle. We're close
on this one, I can feel it.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
John Junior told The New York Times years later, quote,
there was some basis for the legend. Ten men died
in the nine or ten years it took to build
the Central Library. The reading room ghost was one who
had fallen from the scaffolding when they were putting in
the reading room ceiling. At least that's the way father
(05:42):
told it. The elder John Fiedler, was also an inventor
and worked with Thomas Edison. His workshop in the basement
is still there today. He called it his private laboratory.
He was known to have quote dabbled in plas sticks
long before the word got into the dictionary. The Feedler
(06:05):
children had many friends in the area. Some of them
lived in the Algonquin Hotel, some in Roger's Peak Department store.
This group of friends truly had a unique playground. Viviani
lived in the library until she was fifteen years old,
leaving when she got married. John Junior took over as
(06:28):
the building superintendent from his father, retiring in June nineteen
forty nine. All told, the Feedlers lived inside the New
York Public Library for thirty eight years. You can read
more about the Feedler family and their adventures inside the
New York Public Library in two books about their lives,
(06:52):
The Story Collector and its sequel, The Story Seeker.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And a special thanks to Christian o'donald Tubb or Storytelling
and What a Gig, What a Beautiful way to grow up.
The reading room may be my favorite place in all
of New York City. I can't tell you how many
hours I spent there as a boy. Just love the
place and that reading room. Well, you're gonna read the
story of John Fiedler, the family that lived in the
(07:19):
New York Public Library here on our American story. Folks,
if you love the stories we tell about this great country,
and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that
all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation,
(07:41):
culture and faith, are brought to us by the great
folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all
the things that are beautiful in life and all the
things that are good in life. And if you can't
get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their
free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu
to learn more.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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