Dwight B. Demeritt, Jr. graduated from the University of Maine in 1951 and has since published several books including Maine Made Guns & Their Makers (2003) and Brooklyn Gunsmiths and Gunmakers (1966), among other titles. As an amateur photographer, he has photographed scenes in Brooklyn, including the buildings and grounds at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. His father, Dwight Burgess Demeritt (1898-1972), was a Professor of Forestry at various universities throughout the United States and served as Head of the Forestry Department at the University of Maine (1933), from which he earned a BS following his service in the United States Navy during WWI.
The origins of the Brooklyn Navy Yard (officially known as the New York Naval Shipyard) date back to 1801, when the United States Navy acquired what had previously been a small, privately owned shipyard in order to construct naval vessels. By the time the Department of Defense ceased shipbuilding activities at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1966, 88 vessels had been manufactured at the facility. In 1967, the Brooklyn Navy Yard was acquired by the City of New York and was converted for private commercial use.
From the guide to the Dwight B. Demeritt, Jr. Brooklyn Navy Yard photographs and negatives, 1989, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
