Archives & Library Special Collections
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Extent: 83 bound volumes.
This weekly magazine chronicles the social and economic life of Brooklyn from 1890 to 1931. Looking through the issues one can see in the early issues the importance of bicycles, but at the turn of the century the emphasis turns toward the automobile. Other topics of the magazine include fashion trends, advertisements by Brooklyn businesses, real estate developments in up-and-coming neighborhoods like Flatbush and Ditmas Park, photographs of the then new construction in those areas, documentation of the move from Brownstone Brooklyn into as yet undeveloped Brooklyn.
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Call Number: ARC.116
Extent: 4.6 linear feet, in one manuscript box and flat file storage.
The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building photographs and architectural drawings span the years 1888 to 2001, with bulk dates of 1927 to 1929. The collection documents the design, construction, architectural and infrastructural features, and daily work life in the now landmarked building at One Hanson Place in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene, particularly between its opening and the early 1960s. The collection is arranged into two series: Photographs and Architectural drawings.
Names:
- Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y. : Hanson Place)
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) |x Buildings, structures, etc.
- Fort Greene (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Art deco (Architecture)
- Bank buildings |z New York (State) |z Kings County
- Buildings |z New York (State) |z Kings County |x Design and construction
- Holidays |z New York (State) |z Kings County
Types of material:
- Architectural drawings
- Black-and-white prints (photographs)
- Color prints (photographs)
- Color slides
- Drawings (visual works)
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View Collection Photographs
Call Number: ARC.223
Extent: 2.09 linear feet, in one manuscript box and one oversize box.
This collection includes various materials relating to Abraham & Straus throughout the period 1865 to 1995. The majority of the items date from 1964 and 1965 and were compiled by Abraham & Straus employee Juli Daves in preparation for the store’s centennial celebration. These items include newsletters, a history of Abraham & Straus, news clippings, and correspondence between Juli Daves and Mrs. Kenn Stryker-Rodda, Archivist at the Long Island Historical Society (later the Brooklyn Historical Society), regarding research for the centennial. Other materials in the collection include store directories, souvenir shopping bags, employee newsletters, various printed ephemera, and a catalog dating from 1886, when the store was known as Wechsler & Abraham. A small number of photographs are also included and depict Abraham & Straus founder Abraham Abraham; Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Sidney L. Solomon; President Walter N. Rothschild, Jr.; and the Wechsler & Abraham store at its original Fulton Street location. The photographs have biographical and historical information attached to their versos. There is also an oversize print showing an aerial view of the flagship Abraham & Straus store at its location on Fulton and Hoyt Streets, along with other parts of Downtown Brooklyn, circa 1893. This print is housed separately in an oversize box.
Abraham & Straus was a major department store founded in Brooklyn by Abraham Abraham and Joseph Wechsler in 1865. Originally called Wechsler & Abraham and located at 285 Fulton Street, the store was so successful that it moved to a new and larger location at the corner of Fulton and Hoyt Streets in 1885. The name of the store changed to Abraham & Straus in 1893 when the Straus family, partners of Macy’s department stores, bought out Wechsler’s interest in the store. By 1965, Abraham & Straus had become the third largest department store in the United States, with several branches in and surrounding the New York City area in addition to its flagship location at Fulton and Hoyt Streets. The store became part of Macy’s department stores in 1995. As of 2011, the original Abraham & Straus location on Fulton and Hoyt Streets continues to operate under the Macy’s name.
Names:
- Abraham & Straus
- Wechsler & Abraham
- Daves, Juli
Subjects:
- Business enterprises — New York (State) — Kings County
- Centennial celebrations, etc.
- Department stores — New York (State) — Kings County
- Department stores — New York (State) — Kings County — History
- Retail trade — New York (State) — Kings County
- Shopping centers — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Catalogs
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Directories
- Histories
- Newsletters
- Photographs
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Call Number: 2008.042
Extent: 0.83 Linear feet, in 2 manuscript boxes
The American Sugar Refining Company operated a refinery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for nearly 150 years and employed, at its height, over 4,500 people at a time. Founded in 1807 as Wm. and F.C. Havemeyer, the company went through many name and ownership changes, eventually incorporating as American Sugar Refining Company in 1891, and is today known as Domino Foods, Inc. This collection includes annual reports describing the business operations of the firm and publications featuring photographs and stories about some of those workers.
Names:
- American Sugar Refining Company
- Havemeyer, Frederick C., 1807-1891
- Havemeyer, Henry Osborne, 1847-1907
- Havemeyer, Horace, 1886-1956
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Williamsburg (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Food supply
- Sugar
- Sugar factories
- Sugar trade
Types of material:
- Annual reports
- Financial statements
- Publications
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Call Number: 1974.027
Extent: 0.04 Linear feet, in one folder
This collection consists of one item: the account book of John Middagh, hatter and merchant of Brooklyn. The account book contains the autograph signatures of Middagh’s business associates in both Brooklyn and New York City, with their notations for dates of payment, amounts, and items or services purchased by Middagh for the period, 1773-1810. It also records the collection of Middagh’s taxes. Many prominent early Brooklynites set their hands to this book, including John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) and his agents.
Names:
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Commerce
Subjects:
- Businessmen — New York (State) — Kings County
- Merchants — New York (State) — New York
Types of material:
- Account books
- Receipts (financial records)
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Call Number: 1974.005
Extent: 0.25 Linear feet, in 16 folders in one manuscript box
The Seaman family papers (1752-1838) principally concern merchant John Seaman and Willet Seaman, though several other Seaman family members are also represented. The bulk of the collection consists of deeds and other documents concerning land transactions. Several of these deeds relate to land in North Hempstead, Long Island, acquired to establish a manufactory for woolen goods, circa 1816. Other legal documents related to this business are also in the collection, such as partnership agreements and an insurance policy. An indenture for an apprentice from the Overseers of the Poor of Brooklyn and a bill of sale for John Seaman’s purchase of an enslaved African-American also relate to the manufactory, known as Seaman and Cock (the Cock referring to partners John Cock and Townsend Cock). Other land transactions concern Seaman properties or interests on Long Island, New York City, other New York State counties, and other states. Other documents include John Seaman’s will, Seaman’s conditions for the eventual manumission of the slave he purchased, and correspondence from Willet Seaman supporting quarantine laws to prevent the spread of yellow fever.
Names:
Places:
- Long Island (N.Y.)
- New York (N.Y.) — Commerce
- North Hempstead (N.Y. : Town)
Subjects:
- Commerce
- Genealogy
- Indentured servants — New York (State) — New York
- Merchants — New York (State) — Kings County
- Merchants — New York (State) — New York
- Real property — New York (State)
- Real property — New York (State) — Long Island
- Slavery — New York (State) — Long Island
- Woolen goods industry — New York (State) — Long Island
Types of material:
- Agreements
- Cadastral maps
- Correspondence
- Deeds
- Indentures
- Legal documents
- Manuscript maps
- Slave bills of sale
- Wills
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This collection also has an item inventory provided with the collection by the donor:
View Item Inventory, pages 1-2
View Item Inventory, pages 3-4
View Item Inventory, pages 5-7
Call Number: ARC.284
Extent: 0.25 Linear feet, in seven folders in one manuscript box
The collection includes documents principally related to members of the Conkling family of Southold, Suffolk County, Long Island (N.Y.). Among these are three day books of merchant David Conkling (1784-1785); a ledger of an unknown person for transactions in farm labor and goods (1791-1798); a journal of Jacob Conkling for a journey through northern New Jersey and into the forests beyond the Delaware Water Gap; correspondence to David from Jacob and from David to Capt. David Landon (both Jacob and Landon at Guilford, Connecticut) concerning health, business matters, and damages incurred during the British occupation of Long Island during the American Revolution (circa 1782-1784); and a Brooklyn to New York ferry pass (1782).
Names:
- Conkling, David, d. 1787?
- Conklin family
- Conkling family
- Conkling, Jacob
Places:
- Connecticut — History — Revolution, 1775-1783
- Long Island (N.Y.)
- Southold (N.Y.)
- Suffolk County (N.Y.)
- Suffolk County (N.Y.) — History — American Revolution 1775-1783
Subjects:
- Merchants — New York (State) — Suffolk County
Types of material:
- Correspondence
- Daybooks
- Ledgers (account books)
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Call Number: 1977.646
Extent: 0.08 Linear feet, in one folder
This collection consists of two letters from Jacob Schermerhorn of Schodack, New York to J & R Dikeman, addressed New York City. The letters concern an undisclosed situation in which Schermerhorn requires money.
Names:
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Types of material:
View Finding Aid
Call Number: 1979.021
Extent: 3.75 Linear feet, in 9 document boxes.
This collection comprises the subject files of the Downtown Brooklyn Development Association. The association was founded in 1929 as a civic group concerned with the problems of the business and shopping center in downtown Brooklyn. The papers are news clippings, correspondence, brochures, newsletters, pamphlets, legislative documents, photographs, city plans and maps, and other items relating to organizations and causes with which the association was involved. The majority of the documents were produced by external bodies or individuals but were integral the association’s activities. The three subjects most comprehensively addressed are the development of the Brooklyn Civic Center (Cadman Plaza), the redevelopment of Fulton Street, and traffic and transportation.
Names:
- Downtown Brooklyn Development Association
- Blum, Robert E.
- Bourke-White, Margaret, 1904-1971
- Davenport, Henry J.
- Moses, Robert, 1888-1981
- Roscoe, Andrew S.
- Stamm, Godfrey A.
- Swift, Thomas A.
- Abraham & Straus
- American Red Cross
- Better Business Bureau of New York City
- Brooklyn Borough Hall (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn daily eagle
- Brooklyn Law School
- Brooklyn Public Library
- Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company
- Citizens Budget Commission (New York, N.Y.)
- Citizens Union Foundation (New York, N.Y.)
- Citizens’ Zoning Committee, Inc
- Independent Subway System (New York, N.Y.)
- Interborough Rapid Transit Company
- New York (N.Y.). City Planning Commission
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Commerce and Industrial Development
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Correction
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Parks
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Public Works
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Traffic
- New York (N.Y.). Landmarks Preservation Commission
- New York Naval Shipyard
- Pratt Institute
- Regional Plan Association (New York, N.Y.)
- Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (New York, N.Y.)
- George Washington Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
- Holland Tunnel (New York, N.Y.)
- Lincoln Tunnel (New York, N.Y.)
- Park Slope (New York, N.Y.)
- Prospect Park (New York, N.Y.)
- Throgs Neck Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
- Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Central business districts
- City planning
- Community centers — New York (State) — New York
- Courthouses — New York (State) — New York
- Ebbets Field (New York, N.Y.)
- Local transit — New York (State) — New York
- Parks — New York (State) — New York
- Post office buildings — New York (State) — New York
- Railroads, Elevated
- Transportation
- Urban renewal — New York (State) — New York
Types of material:
- Blueprints (reprographic copies)
- Brochures
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Legislative hearings
- Maps
- Negatives (photographic)
- Newsletters
- Pamphlets
- Photographs
- Press releases
- Resolutions (administrative records)
- Speeches
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Call Number: 1981.015
Extent: 0.1 Linear feet, in one folder
The Charles Turnbull correspondence spans the period 1778 to 1791 and measures 0.1 linear feet. The correspondence consists of a letter copybook containing correspondence between Charles Turnbull and his family members and friends. Turnbull’s letters focus on international commerce between the United States, London, and India.
Charles Turnbull (b. circa 1754) served as a captain in the Pennsylvania militia during the Revolutionary War and was held as a British prisoner on Long Island. After being paroled, Turnbull became a Major of Artillery in the Continental Army. Following the war, he bought a 150 acre farm in Bedford, Long Island (later part of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn). Turnbull was appointed High Sheriff of Kings County in 1789.
Names:
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — History — Revolution, 1775-1783
- Long Island (N.Y.)
- Long Island (N.Y.) — History — Revolution, 1775-1783
- United States — History — Revolution, 1775-1783
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