NYPL Researcher Spotlight: Carlos Calderon

This profile is part of a series of interviews chronicling the experiences of researchers who use The New York Public Library's collections for the development of their work.

Carlos Calderon is a high school senior at The John Cooper School in The Woodlands, Texas, where he is heavily involved in both theater and academics. He plans to study engineering at Cornell University in the fall. For the past two years, Carlos has been researching the history of the Brighton Beach Hotel, a long-gone Victorian-era hotel in Coney Island.

When did you first get the idea for your research project?

My inspiration came on a late night about two years ago. I couldn’t sleep and was on my phone trying to pass the time and stumbled on a photo of the Brighton Beach Hotel. My first reaction was just thinking how beautiful the building was, and as I started Googling more about it I realized just how little information was accessible online about the structure. At the time I had been thinking a lot about the idea of information loss and I remember wondering whether if someone were to dedicate themselves completely to learning everything they could about the building, if some of that information could be regained. I decided there was only one way to find out, and the project was born. At that point I didn’t really know what research was or how far the project would take me, so it’s really been a learning process all the way through.

What brought you to the Library?

The vast majority of my research has taken place in my bedroom on my laptop, but I always knew I wanted to make a trip out to New York to view some of the undigitized collections and to talk to some of the experts in local history. I was fortunate enough that this last spring break I was able to make it up to the area and do some of this research in person at the Library!

What's your favorite spot in the Library?

I think I most enjoyed Room 121 in the Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy.

Describe your research routine.

I’ve been very fortunate that the majority of the sources I would need for my project are already digitized, which is what has allowed me to conduct it all the way from Texas on my laptop. Because of this, I’ve reveled in the fact that I can work on it just about anywhere and anytime, whether at school in between classes, at the doctor’s office, or anywhere else there is wifi.

What research tools could you not live without?

This project would straight-up have not been possible were it not for the time and money The New York Public Library and lots of other libraries and organizations have invested into digitization. I realize that if it were even a decade earlier I would have had a much harder time finding the sources I needed to complete this project.

What’s the most unexpected item you encountered in your research?

A “profusely illustrated” history of Coney Island in rhyme published in 1878 with remarkably outdated material.

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

As background for this project I read a lot about hotel architecture trends of the era and I remember reading that before elevators were popular, the lowest floors of hotels used to be the most desirable. After the introduction of elevators there was an awkward swap to what is more common now with the highest floors of the hotels becoming more sought after.

Describe a moment when your research took an unexpected turn.

When I was working on an analysis/recreation of the building’s original floor plan, there were these photographs from the Library’s collection that showed the building during its 1924 demolition, and I just stared at these photos for hours and hours and was so confused because they seemed to contradict every other photograph of the building’s structure. It was about a week until I realized I had failed to account for the fact that the photographs had been taken during the demolition so part of the structure was missing.

How do you maintain your research momentum?

The excitement of the hunt gets me through a lot of the tedious parts of this project. It’s so rewarding spending all day scrolling through a resource looking for a specific name and finally finding it. The long-term nature of this project means there are ebbs and flows in the amount of work that gets done, and I think accepting that as a necessary part of keeping myself motivated was a key breakthrough.

After a day of working/researching, what do you do to unwind?

I like to call my friends and update them on the project, as well as just watch YouTube videos.

What's your guilty pleasure distraction?

I love musical theater so I’ll often put on a cast recording in the background to keep myself going. For this project I’ve listened to a lot of Company.

What tabs do you currently have open on your computer?

The FOIL request I made to the New York City Department of Buildings for this project… Hope they get back to me.

Is there anything you'd like to tell someone looking to get started?

I know this is obvious but keep track of your sources. When I first started out I didn’t realize my casual Googling would turn to actual research so I was sloppy with my sources… It was not fun when I had to basically start over.

Who makes the best coffee in the neighborhood?

I don’t drink coffee, so I guess… McDonald’s?

Have we left anything out that you’d like to tell other researchers?

I know most of the people reading this will probably be people older than me and with a lot more research experience, but if there’s any other high schoolers out there, I want you to know that you can do this too! With the way facts are often presented in class and the accessibility of the internet, I know for a long time I thought research was completely inaccessible because I presumed we knew everything already. I was unbelievably wrong and there are so many things all around us that are just begging to be researched in-depth. With the increasing digitization of collections, it’s easier than ever to get started. So if this sounds like something you would find interesting, I implore you to open up your laptop, find a subject that intrigues you, and go add to the sum of all human knowledge. I promise you won’t regret it.