Robert Beattie was many things: an architect, a designer of iconic public buildings on Long Island, and a decorated World War II veteran. But most importantly, he was the father of today’s guest, Richard Beattie. So we’re celebrating Father’s Day by celebrating the life and work of Robert Beattie.

As an architect, Beattie’s specialty was mid-century modern architecture. Working with clean lines, natural light, and an appreciation of the surrounding landscape, he designed many iconic buildings in our area. If you live in the town of Islip, you’ll know his MacArthur Airport terminal, the core buildings of Suffolk County Community College’s Ammerman Campus, and St. Lawrence Church in Sayville.

Richard takes us on a tour of his father’s buildings and details his life. Robert was part of the Greatest Generation, earning a Silver Star as an Alamo Scout in the Philippines. He got his start in architecture with the firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in New York City. Robert then founded his own firm, Dobecki & Beattie, and embarked on a storied career on Long Island. We discuss the changing architectural landscape of Long Island in the 1960s, the Beattie family’s connections to Oakdale, and Robert’s devotion to being a father and an architect.

Further Research

• Robert Beattie, Architect (Facebook Memorial page)
• Church of St. Lawrence the Martyr
• AIA Long Island
• “Pockets of Long Island Once Went Crazy for Modernism. Why?” (Metropolis)
• Audio Footnotes
  • Episode 192 Jones Beach Theater with Richard Beattie
  • Episode 34 Old Mansions (Oakdale) with George Davies
  • Episode 94 Flying on Long Island with Walter Winnicki and Bob Mott
• Music
  • Intro music: https://homegrownstringband.com/
  • Outro music: Capering by Blue Dot Sessions CC BY-NC 4.0

There’s a rough stretch of water between Australia and Tasmania called the Bass Strait. Within the strait there’s a group of islands called the Furneaux Group. Within the group lies Long Island, a small, mostly-uninhabited stretch of grass and trees that attracted the attention of Madeleine Bessel-Koprek and her colleagues.

We’re traveling far afield on today’s episode, discussing paleoecology with Madeine, a Ph.D. student at Australian National University. Along with Simon Graeme Haberle, Stefania Ondei, Stephen Harris, and David MJS Bowman, she recently published a study unraveling the ecological history of their Long Island. It’s a fascinating combination of diligent field work – digging through mud and picking through moss- and meticulous lab work – pouring through microscopic samples and digitally deciphering aerial photographs.

Their scientific detective work uncovers a natural world that has in some ways persisted since the last Ice Age and helps inform our understanding of the impact of aboriginal and colonial activities in the area.

Further Research

• Madeleine Bessell‑Koprek
  • at Australian National University
  • at LinkedIn
• Bessell-Koprek, M., Haberle, S. G., Ondei, S., Harris, S., & Bowman, D. M. (2025). Reconstructing the long-term ecological history of Long Island, Furneaux Group (Bass Strait), Lutruwita/Tasmania. Regional Environmental Change, 25(1), 1-15.
• The Land Bridge: A World Beneath the Sea (A Wind & Sky Project)
• Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas
• Music
  • Intro music: https://homegrownstringband.com/
  • Outro music: Capering by Blue Dot Sessions CC BY-NC 4.0

The voices of the past are all around us, if you know how to listen. And sometimes those voices are trapped on small thin strips of tape wrapped in cheap plastic. That’s where Robert Anen comes in. As project archivist for the Long Island Library Resources Council, he works with historical collections across Nassau and Suffolk counties. Specializing in audio preservation and digitization, he’s rescued a number of collections – copying them to digital media and making them publicly available online.

Today we focus on Robert’s work with one of the oldest oral history collections on Long Island at the Manhasset Public Library. Library director Maggie Gough introduces us to the scope and depth of their oral history collection while Antonia Mattheou, their consulting archivist, helps us unpack the history contained on the recordings.

Special shout out to Manhasset’s first librarian Ruth Cowell who conducted most of the oral history interviews. Her foresight, along with a committed group of patrons, means that we get to listen to memories of the Blizzard of 1888 and the Vanderbilt Cup Races from those who experienced them. Recorded in 1953 on a reel to reel recorder, the interviews were converted to cassette tapes sometime in the 1980s before Rob digitized them in the 21st century,

On today’s episode you’ll hear from these Manhasset residents:

• Ernest Willets
• Herbert Fish
• Laura Schneider
• Ernest Willets
• George D. Smith

Further Research

• Manhasset Public Library Oral History Collection (1953-1988)
• Manhasset Public Library History Center
• Long Island Library Resources Council
• The Whitney Greentree Estate
• Spinney Hill, the African American History of Manhasset and Great Neck
• Intro music: https://homegrownstringband.com/
• Outro music: Capering by Blue Dot Sessions CC BY-NC 4.0