Brooklyn Heights, South Africa, and Germany photograph album, circa 1890s-1930s

Call Number: V1986.245

Extent: 0.08 Linear feet, in one folder.

One photograph album, dated circa 1890 to 1939. The album contains 59 items, including photographic prints, illustrations, and picture postcards. Brooklyn images in the collection consist of interior views of two homes on Henry Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood. Also included are photographs and postcards of family voyages to Germany and South Africa, with group portraits, interior views of homes, churches, and cemeteries. Each image is accompanied by a description and identified by location.

Places:

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
  • Germany — Description and travel
  • South Africa — Description and travel

Subjects:

  • Cemeteries
  • Church buildings
  • Dwellings
  • Voyages and travels

Types of material:

  • Group portraits
  • Illustrations (layout features)
  • Interior views
  • Photograph albums
  • Photographs
  • Picture postcards

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Stock and Rettberg family papers, 1866 – 1906

Call Number: 1979.007

Extent: 0.1 Linear feet, in one folder

This collection contains the papers of the Stock and Rettberg families who rented a house at 61 Court Street, Brooklyn around 1872. Documents include legal documentation (leases, deeds, bonds, and receipts), the death certificate of Ernst Rettberg, the inventory of the estate of Ernst Rettberg, and a certificate of copyright for Lina Rettberg. The papers span the period 1866 to 1906.

Names:

  • Rettberg family
  • Stock family

Places:

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)

Subjects:

  • Families — New York (State) — Kings County

Types of material:

  • Bonds (legal records)
  • Death certificates
  • Deeds
  • Estate inventories.
  • Leases
  • Receipts (financial records)

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Stereoscope views of Brooklyn collection, circa 1865 to 1915

Call Number: V1978.024

Extent: 0.03 Linear feet, 7 items in one folder.

The Stereoscope views of Brooklyn collection is comprised of seven black-and-white stereographs documenting the built environment in Brooklyn, as well as several interior views of a home, circa 1865 to 1915. The collection includes two interior views of a home in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, located at 136 Joralemon Street. Also included is a view of Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights, a view of the statue of Henry Ward Beecher located in Borough Hall Park, a view of a drinking fountain in Prospect Park, an aerial view taken from the top of the 22-story World Building in Brooklyn looking down the Brooklyn Bridge across the East River at the cityscape of Manhattan, and a view looking down the length of the Iron Pier at Coney Island.

Places:

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Buildings, structures, etc. — Pictorial works
  • Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.) — Pictorial works
  • Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
  • Coney Island (New York, N.Y.)

Subjects:

  • Aerial photographs
  • Dwellings — New York (State) — Kings County

Types of material:

  • Exterior views
  • Interior views
  • Photographs
  • Stereographs

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Brooklyn Academy of Photography Blizzard of 1888 photograph album, 1888 – 1888

Call Number: V1974.040

Extent: 0.2 Linear feet, in one manuscript box.

The Brooklyn Academy of Photography Blizzard of 1888 photograph album dates from 1888 and contains 168 photographs. The album documents the effects of the blizzard in Brooklyn and Manhattan, showing street scenes, snow removal efforts, and different modes of transit hampered by the snowfall. Brooklyn neighborhoods represented in the collection include Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Park Slope, Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Williamsburg. The collection also contains images of Prospect Park, Fort Greene Park, the East River, and the Brooklyn terminal of the Wall Street ferry; Manhattan locations include Wall Street and Lower Manhattan. In addition to images of row houses, churches, and businesses buried in the snow, photographs in the collection also depict groups of laborers working to remove snowbanks, as well as horse-drawn streetcars and sleighs on Brooklyn streets.

All photographs in the album were taken by members of the Brooklyn Academy of Photography, though no individual photographers are identified. Some photographs in this collection are possibly the work of academy member Adrian Vanderveer Martense, as similar or identical images of the blizzard are also found in the Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection (ARC.191).

Names:

  • Brooklyn Academy of Photography

Places:

  • Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.)
  • Boerum Hill (New York, N.Y.)
  • Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
  • Downtown Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • East River (N.Y.)
  • Fort Greene (New York, N.Y.)
  • Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)
  • Park Slope (New York, N.Y.)
  • Prospect Park (New York, N.Y.)
  • Wall Street (New York, N.Y.)
  • Williamsburg (New York, N.Y.)

Subjects:

  • Blizzards — Atlantic States
  • Church buildings — New York (State) — Kings County
  • Local transit — New York (State) — Kings County
  • Row houses — New York (State) — Kings County
  • Snow removal — New York (State) — Kings County
  • Street photography — New York (State) — Kings County

Types of material:

  • Photograph albums
  • Photographs

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Kings County lien law, 1853 – 1853

Call Number: 1986.034

Extent: 0.06 Linear feet, in one folder

A booklet containing a Kings County lien law passed on June 8, 1853. The law permitted building contractors to place a lien on the owner’s building an/or materials or land on which the contractors worked.

Names:

  • Kings County (N.Y.)

Places:

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)

Subjects:

  • Real estate business — Law and legislation — New York (State) — Kings County

Types of material:

  • Booklets

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Samuel B. Ruggles abstract of title, circa 1674-1850

Call Number: 1978.092

Extent: 0.03 Linear feet, in one folder.

Abstract of title for New York City property owned by Samuel B. Ruggles, tracing the ownership of the land from 1674 to circa 1832. Included are copies of several wills, testaments, and maps of the property, which comprised the area between 15th Street on the south and 28th Street on the north, and the Bloomingdale and Old Post Roads on the west and First Avenue on the east.

Samuel Bulkley Ruggles (1800-1881) graduated from Yale College in 1814 and was a New York City lawyer. He was also a member of the New York State Legislature and a trustee of Columbia College.

Names:

  • Ruggles, Samuel B., 1800-1881

Places:

  • New York (N.Y.)

Subjects:

  • Decedents’ estates — New York (State) — New York
  • Land titles — New York (State) — New York
  • Real property — Ownership — New York (State) — New York
  • Real property — New York (State) — New York

Types of material:

  • Abstracts (summaries)
  • Maps

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Historic American Buildings Survey photographs of colonial era buildings in Brooklyn, 1940 – 1940

Call Number: V1974.044

Extent: 0.1 Linear feet, 47 photographic prints contained in five folders and 16 negatives housed in one medium format negative box.

The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) photographs of colonial buildings in Brooklyn is comprised of 47 black-and-white photographic prints, dating from 1940. The photographer, Stanley P. Mixon, was employed by the HABS project to document historic buildings throughout the United States. This collection documents four buildings located in Brooklyn, N.Y.: the Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead (1760), Erasmus Hall (1787), the Old Stone House (also known at the Vechte-Cortelyou House; 1699), and the Sands Mansion (1787). All photographs were taken within a two-day period, on either March 18, 1940 or March 19, 1940. Photographs of exterior views, interior views, and detail views are included in the collection. The prints are 5 x 7, though the collection contains one 7.5 x 10 print of Erasmus Hall, photographed by George B. Brainard. This photograph was not created as part of the HABS project.

 

Names:

  • Mixon, Stanley P.
  • Erasmus Hall
  • Old Stone House (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
  • Sands Mansion (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
  • Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead (New York, N.Y.)

Places:

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Buildings, structures, etc. — Pictorial works

Subjects:

  • Dwellings — New York (State) — Kings County
  • School buildings — New York (State) — Kings County

Types of material:

  • Black-and-white prints (photographs)
  • Detail views
  • Dutch Colonial
  • Exterior views
  • Interior views
  • Photographic prints
  • Photographs

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Morgan-Parry family papers, 1861 – 1909

Call Number: 1990.006

Extent: 0.8 Linear feet, in two manuscript boxes

The Morgan-Parry family papers include the official and personal papers of Henry C. Morgan and Augusta Parry. Materials of an official nature include documents and correspondence of Henry C. Morgan relating to his work as a 1st Lieutenant in the 12th infantry of the U.S. Army, and later as Captain in the 30th Regiment of the Infantry. Personal materials include correspondence and letters relating to Henry and Augusta, as well as their daughter Mary and Augusta’s father, Edward O. Parry. The collection also contains a contract for Henry and Augusta’s residence on Clinton Street dating from December 1870.

Henry C. Morgan was born in Brooklyn in 1842, was the son of N.D. Morgan, President of the North America Life Insurance Company in New York, and the nephew of Edwin Denison Morgan, who served as Governor of New York and later was a United States Senator. Henry worked as clerk for the Manhattan Life Insurance Company before being enlisted to serve in the Civil War as a Recruiting Officer on October of 1861.

While recruiting service in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Henry met his future wife, Augusta “Gussie” Parry. After being wounded in Virginia in 1864, requiring amputation of his left leg above the knee, Henry left service, and he and Augusta were married in April of 1865. The couple had three daughters and settled in Brooklyn on Clinton Street, later moving to Connecticut.

Names:

  • Morgan, Henry C.
  • Mogan-Parry family
  • United States. Army
  • Morgan-Parry family

Places:

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865
  • United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865 — Equipment and supplies

Types of material:

  • Correspondence

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Pierrepont family papers, 1761-1918

Call Number: ARC.263

Extent: 94.55 Linear feet, in 7 manuscript boxes and 85 flat boxes

The Pierrepont family papers (1761-1918) document the intersection of commercial, civic and personal interests across three generations of one of the most prominent and influential families of nineteenth century Brooklyn, New York. The bulk of the collection concerns the business dealings of Henry Evelyn Pierrepont from 1838 to his death in 1888. This especially includes an extensive set of accounting and transactional records concerning the Pierrepont Stores, the family’s warehouse on Brooklyn’s East River waterfront; these include records of ships arriving at the Stores and their cargoes delivered. Additionally, there are substantive correspondence, legal documents and other materials concerning the Union Ferry Company, of which Henry was an officer. In addition to commerce and shipping, a major theme of the collection is that of land acquisition in Brooklyn Heights and at the adjacent waterfront in the early nineteenth century, and the development of that property over the course of the century. Included in the collection are correspondence, deeds, indentures, leases, accounting records, diaries, maps, invoices, receipts, business proposals, legal filings, clippings, and historical and genealogical manuscripts.

Names:

  • Pierrepont family
  • Pierpont, Hez. B., 1768-1838
  • Pierrepont, Henry Evelyn, 1808-1888
  • Pierrepont, Henry Evelyn, 1845-1911
  • Pierrepont, John Jay, 1849-1923
  • Brooklyn Heights Railroad Company
  • Covered Tube Cable Railway Co. (Brooklyn, New York, NY)
  • Long Island Historical Society
  • Nassau Cable Railway Company of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, New York, NY)
  • Pierrepont Stores (Brooklyn, New York, NY)
  • Union Ferry Company (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)

Places:

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Maps
  • Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
  • East River (N.Y.)

Subjects:

  • Bonded warehouses and goods — New York (State) — New York
  • Business enterprises — New York (State) — New York
  • Ferries — New York (State) — New York
  • Imports — New York (State) — New York
  • Landowners — New York (State) — New York
  • Real estate development — New York (State) — New York
  • Real property — Ownership — New York (State) — New York
  • Shipping — New York (State) — New York
  • Waterfronts — New York (State) — New York

Types of material:

  • Account books
  • Cadastral maps
  • Clippings (information artifacts)
  • Correspondence
  • Daybooks
  • Deeds
  • Diaries
  • Indentures
  • Invoices
  • Journals (accounts)
  • Ledgers (account books)
  • Manuscript maps
  • Manuscripts (document genre)
  • Scrapbooks

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Brooklyn Voter Registries (1872-1897, 1930-1937)

Brooklyn Voter Registries (1872-1897, 1930-1937)

The Brooklyn Historical Society’s collection of voter registries  represents the voting population in Brooklyn both before and after its consolidation as part of the City of New York.  Registries reflecting Brooklyn as an independent city prior to consolidation span the period 1872-1897, while post-consolidation registries only cover the years 1930-1937.  Currently, all registries are available to researchers in their original physical format.

The organization of the voter registries is mainly a numerical scheme, with the broadest level of arrangement being contingent on ward number (or, in the case of the post-consolidation registries, assembly district number). Each ward or assembly district is further broken down numerically by election district, then alphabetically by street.  Finally, within each street listing, individual voters are listed by their residence numbers.  Some registries, particularly those dating from the earlier periods, are also accompanied by an alphabetical index to street numbers, as well as a description of election district boundaries.

Each registry also contains specific personal information regarding every registered voter that may be helpful to researchers.  For example, all registries include such details as a voter’s age; how long each voter has lived in the state, county, and district; as well as any special remarks deemed useful by the Board of Elections, such as whether a voter is an African American, and whether a voter is illiterate or disabled.  Some registries include further descriptive information, such as a voter’s height, weight, hair color, and distinguishing features.

This collection is an especially excellent resource for researchers interested in Brooklyn’s housing history and/or genealogy.  While there is no appointment necessary to view the collection, please be advised that the majority of the registries are in extremely fragile condition and should be handled with the utmost care.