And there’s much more to this generous donation! From board games of the 1870s, to 100-year old golf clubs of the Mosholu Golf Course, the Huntington Free Library will have some amazing items to showcase. Thank you Tom!
Since he was twenty-three years old, Bronx-born historian Tom Casey has been on a gigantic scavenger hunt. Since 1974 he has been collecting old postcards of the Bronx in all its glory and has amassed over 6,000 unique specimens in his collection. Many of them have been published in some popular books such as Northwest Bronx by Tom Casey and Bill Twomey, South Bronx by Bill Twomey, Bronx Views by Tom Casey & Gary Hermalyn, By The El by Lawernce Stelter and The Bronx Then & Now by Steve Samtur.
Tom is a Bronx thoroughbred. Raised in the South Bronx on East 151st Street, he and his family later moved to Baychester Avenue and 233rd Street in 1963. Tom Attended St. Anslem’s Grammar School (East 152nd Street) and John Philip Sousa JHS 142 (Baychester Avenue), Graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in 1969 (football & band) and graduated from Pace University in 1973 majoring in accounting and computer science. He later married Sharon Mahoney in 1979 after numerous dates at the Lowes Paradise theater and Jahn’s ice cream parlor, both located on the Grand Concourse. They lived with Tom’s parents at their 2-family home on De Reimer Avenue, until finally settling into a co-op in Riverdale.
Tom is a well-trained professional private investigator who has spent a lifetime career as a U.S. Special Agent with the Department of the Treasury. While on assignment from the detailed work at the IRS, Tom had the opportunity of being selected to protect Presidents Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Vice President Al Gore, First Lady Hillary Clinton, and numerous foreign dignitaries. He also volunteered his skills since 1993 as secretary and treasurer of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation (FLEOA).
Always the avid Bronx historian, Tom was one of the founders of the East Bronx History Forum in 2005 and has since been the Forum’s secretary and web master for bronxnyc.com. Since 2008, he has been a trustee of the landmarked Huntington Free Library and Reading Room at Westchester Square and served as its president from 2012 to 2019. He is also the past secretary and treasurer of the Kingsbridge Historical Society and the Taconic Postcard Club. He is a proud member of the Rockland – Bergen Postcard Club, which advocates the joys of postcard collecting.
Tom has given many free historical presentations at the Huntington Free Library, The Bronx County Historical Society, City Island Historical Society, Bartow-Pell Mansion & Museum (board member from 2015-2021), the Kingsbridge Historical Society, the Westchester Genealogical Society, New York Public Library and New York Public Schools. He’s also led numerous walking tours for these groups throughout the Bronx.
Since 2021, Tom and Sharon have retired and now reside in St. Augustine Florida where he is currently the treasurer of the Men’s Club of Our Lady of Good Council.
The postcard collection, along with the other artifacts included in the donation, are currently being categorized and digitized. Some of the items will be on display once the library opens this fall for free public lectures and research reservations. Please contact us to learn more.
Examples of other postcards in the collection:
