Archives & Library Special Collections
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Call Number: 2005.031
Extent: 3.5 Linear feet, In 3 record cartons and 1 oversize flat box.
This collection holds the records of the Women’s Alliance, an organization operating under the agency of the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. The Women’s Alliance began as the Female Samaritan Society in 1838, several years after the Church’s founding. Members of the group took responsibility for all the physical housekeeping of the church, ran the church’s annual fundraising fair, and helped with parish duties such as visiting the sick and cooking for the congregation. After periods of inactivity in the twentieth century, the group was resurrected in 1973 as the Women’s Alliance, a primarily issue-oriented group concerned with social action and women’s rights matters.
The collection encompasses the period of the resurgence of the Women’s Alliance during the latter half of the twentieth century as a socially conscious and active organization. The inclusive dates span from 1922 to 2004, with bulk dates ranging from 1980 to 1998. The Women’s Alliance records consist primarily of organizational material, including meeting minutes, correspondence, and financial documents. There is also printed matter created or collected by the Women’s Alliance and material related to the causes of concern and group work of the Women’s Alliance. A number of records also reveal the group’s relationships with other female-oriented and religious organizations.
Names:
- First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). Women’s Alliance
- Campobasso, Miriam
- Hoogenboom, Olive
- Lazarus, Katherine
- Odessky, Marjory H.
- Sage, Doris
- First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). Samaritan Alliance
- First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Church history
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Religious life and customs
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Social life and customs
Subjects:
- Women’s work (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Feminism — New York (State) — New York
- Pro-choice movement — New York (State) — New York
- Social action — New York (State) — Kings County — History
- Unitarianism — New York (State) — Kings County — History
- Women and religion — New York (State) — New York
- Women’s rights and spiritualism — New York (State) — New York
Types of material:
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Minutes
- Newsletters
- Photographs
- Sermons
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Call Number: ARC.245
Extent: 4.0 Linear feet, in 5 manuscript boxes and 9 boxes of various sizes
The collection was compiled over time by the Brooklyn Historical Society (formerly the Long Island Historical Society). It principally contains the records of two major Brooklyn-based Civil War relief associations, the War Fund Committee and the Women’s Relief Association, including records of their various projects. A large portion of the collection documents one significant project undertaken by these organizations, the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair of 1864, also known as the Sanitary Fair. Documentation of the Fair covers both its financial aspects and the events and exhibits taking place there, and includes posters, broadsheets, printed matter, the Fair’s newspaper, subscription books, admission tickets, stereographs of the New England Kitchen exhibit, and more. Some artifacts exhibited at the Fair are included in the collection, notably an album of autographed writings with contributions by Hawthorne, Longfellow, and James Fenimore Cooper, among many others. Documents concerning other relief organizations are found in the collection, including the Brooklyn Bureau of the American Freedmen’s Friend Society and the Brooklyn and Long Island Christian Commission. Records of fundraising in Brooklyn for a Lincoln Monument Fund and in response to an 1866 fire in Portland, Maine, are also included. In addition, the collection holds other materials, primarily concerning the Civil War, relief efforts in cities other than Brooklyn, politics, commercial advertising, and other matters.
Names:
- Brooklyn and Long Island Fair in Aid of the United States Sanitary Commission. (1864)
- War Fund Committee (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Women’s Relief Association of the City of Brooklyn
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — History — Civil War, 1861-1865
- Kings County (N.Y.) — Newspapers
Subjects:
- Boatswain’s whistle
- Drum beat
- Our daily fare
- Sanitary fair bulletin
- Spirit of the fair (New York, N.Y.)
- Charities — New York (State) — Kings County
- Fairs — New York (State) — Kings County
- Mexican War, 1846-1848 — Correspondence
- Presidents — United States — Election — 1864
- United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865 — Civilian relief
- War — Relief of sick and wounded
Types of material:
- Admission tickets
- Advertisements
- American newspapers
- Autographs (manuscripts)
- Broadsides (notices)
- Correspondence
- Donor lists
- Lecture notes
- Ledgers (account books)
- Manuscripts (document genre)
- Minutes
- Poetry
- Printed ephemera
- Printing plates
- Receipts (financial records)
- Scrapbooks
- Stereographs
- Subscription lists
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Call Number: 1978.179
Extent: 0.1 Linear feet, in one folder
The collection includes constitution, reports, printed communications, newsletters, programs from the Knights of Columbus of Long Island, dated 1901 to 1966. Some Brooklyn material is included.
Names:
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Long Island (N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Catholics — New York (State) — Kings County
- Catholics — New York (State) — Long Island
- Fraternal organizations — New York (State) — Kings County
- Fraternal organizations — New York (State) — Long Island
Types of material:
- Constitutions
- Programs (documents)
- Reports
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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: 1981.001
Extent: 0.33 Linear feet, in five folders
The collection includes material from throughout the life of the Brooklyn Armstrong (1906-1920) and Hampton (1920-1943) Associations. A scrapbook (1906-1939) includes clippings about events and meetings (notably a visit to Brooklyn by Booker T. Washington and Secretary of War Taft), solicitations, meeting invitations, announcements, reports, membership lists, Hampton Institute publications, and the like. There are some annual reports in the collection. There are minute books (1906-1943) for the Executive Committee and Annual meetings. There is a small amount of correspondence, principally from 1943, concerning the final days of the organization.
Names:
- Brooklyn Armstrong Association
- Brooklyn Hampton Association (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Hampton Institute
- Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (Va.)
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
- African Americans — Education — History
- Charitable giving
- Charity organization — New York (State) — Kings County
- Race relations — United States
Types of material:
- Annual reports
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Minutes
- Scrapbooks
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Call Number: 1977.313
Extent: 0.2 Linear feet, in 8 folders in one manuscript box and one flat box
The collection primarily includes records concerning the determination of eligibility for claim payments. Records include lists of survivors and seamen lost from the Cumberland and Congress; certifications of claimants regarding their identity and service on the frigates; acknowledgements of funds received (often called “ovation funds”); and correspondence regarding the relief funds. Much of the correspondence comes from Stillman B. Allen, a lawyer from Boston, Mass. The collection also includes donor lists and bills related to the fundraising effort.
Names:
- Committee of Reception to the Crews of the Frigates Cumberland and Congress
- Allen, Stillman B.
- Congress (Frigate : 1841-1862)
- Cumberland (Frigate)
Places:
- New York (State) — History — Civil War, 1861-1865
Subjects:
- Charitable giving
- Charities — New York (State) — New York
- Hampton Roads, Battle of, Va., 1862
- United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865 — Civilian relief
- War — Relief of sick and wounded
Types of material:
- certification
- Correspondence
- Donor lists
- Receipts (financial records)
- Rosters
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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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Call Number: 1978.137
Extent: 3.0 Linear feet, in five manuscript boxes and one flat box.
The collection consists of the personal and business papers of Richetta Randolph Wallace (1884-circa 1971), an African-American woman having a longstanding engagement with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Harlem (New York City), African-American literary and arts culture, and matters of race relations, racial justice and civil rights. Documents include correspondence, pamphlets and other published print matter, event programs and other ephemera, photographs, receipts, manuscripts, and newspaper clippings. Commonly known by her maiden name, Randolph was office manager for the NAACP until the mid-1940s and personal secretary to Mary White Ovington and James Weldon Johnson. The collection includes correspondence with Ovington and Johnson as well as other NAACP principals. including Walter White, William Pickens, and others. The collection includes a full typescript draft of Johnson’s Black Manhattan, with notes, and a galley proof (1930) of the book. Much of the collection consists of print matter, which centers on matters of race in the United States, including discrimination, lynching, justice (or injustice), and civil rights. Other print matter includes programs, sermons, church newsletters, and other materials, principally concerning Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. Correspondence documents Randolph’s activities on behalf of Mt. Olivet over the years. There are a small number of photographs in the collection including, among others, those of Randolph, of Johnson and his wife in Great Barrington (1929), of Ovington, and stock images of NAACP principals.
Names:
- Wallace, Richetta G. Randolph
- Johnson, James Weldon, 1871-1938
- Ovington, Mary White, 1865-1951
- Mount Olivet Baptist Church (New York, N.Y.)
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Subjects:
- African American churches — New York (State) — New York
- African American women
- African American women civil rights workers
- African Americans — Civil rights — History — 20th century
- Civil rights movements — New York (State) — New York
- Civil rights workers — New York (State) — New York
- Minorities — Civil rights — New York (State) — New York
- Women in church work — New York (State) — New York
- Women — New York (State) — New York
Types of material:
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- galley proofs
- Pamphlets
- Photographs
- Printed ephemera
- Programs (documents)
- Publications
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Call Number: 2005.001
Extent: 0.04 Linear feet, in one folder
The account book includes the record of financial transactions conducted by the Overseers of the Poor of Flatlands, Kings County, N.Y., from December 1807 until the Overseer position was abolished in April 1831. The journal includes both receipts and expenditures, which typically include reference to the recipient’s name and the amount of cash or goods provided by the Overseers.
Names:
- Baxter, Garret S.
- Flatlands (New York, N.Y.). Overseers of the Poor
- Lott family
- Wyckoff family
Places:
- Flatlands (New York, N.Y.)
- Kings County (N.Y.) — History — 19th century
Subjects:
- Poor — Services for — New York (State) — Kings County
- Public welfare — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Account books
- Journals (accounts)
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Call Number: ARC.212
Extent: 28.0 Cubic feet, in 75 boxes: 32 manuscript boxes, 38 flat boxes, and 5 small boxes.
The Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims and Henry Ward Beecher collection traces the career of the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, the well known 19th century preacher, and the history of Plymouth Congregational Church, of which Beecher was the first pastor. Plymouth Church was a major institution in 19th century Brooklyn, first gaining recognition on national and international levels as Beecher’s pulpit. Beecher was well known for his oratorical ability and for his vocal opposition to slavery and support of the Northern cause during the Civil War. He also spoke out on subjects ranging from women’s suffrage and evolution to organized labor and temperance. Beecher was a popular figure despite controversy that surrounded his activities, including a charge of adultery that resulted in a widely reported trial in 1875.
The collection relates principally to Beecher’s pastorate at Plymouth Church from 1847 until his death in 1887. Other materials, ranging through 1980, concern the church’s other pastors and the history of Plymouth Church itself, which consolidated with the Church of the Pilgrims in 1934. The papers provide insight into the church congregation’s various activities, illustrate the history of Beecher’s influence on his congregation and on 19th century congregationalism, and shed light on both the public and private life of a major American personality of the 19th century.
Names:
- Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887
- Abbott, Lyman, 1835-1922
- Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1897
- Beecher, William Constantine, b. 1849
- Durkee, J. Stanley, 1866-1951
- Fifield, Lawrence Wendell, b. 1891
- Hibben, Paxton, 1880-1928
- Hillis, Newell Dwight, 1858-1929
- Hunt, Rose Ward
- Tilton, Elizabeth M. Richards, b. 1834
- Tilton, Theodore, 1835-1907
- Bethel of Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). Sunday School
- Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Henry Ward Beecher Literary and Debating Society (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Henry Ward Beecher Missionary Circle (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). Sunday School
- Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Institute (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Ellinwood, T. J., 1830-1921
- King, Horatio C., 1837-1918
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Church history
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Religious life and customs
- Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- United States — Religion
Subjects:
- Plymouth chimes (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Abolitionists — New York (State)
- Adultery — New York (State) — Kings County
- Antislavery movements — United States
- Authors, American
- City clergy — New York (State) — New York
- clergy as authors
- Congregational churches — New York (State) — Kings County — Clergy
- Congregationalists — New York (State) — Kings County
- Lectures and lecturing — New York (State) — Kings County
- Pews and pew rights
- Reformers — United States
- Religious education of children — New York (State) — Kings County
- Religious institutions — New York (State) — Kings County
- Sunday schools — New York (State) — Kings County
- Trials (Adultery) — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
- Church newsletters
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- cylinder phonographs (phonographs)
- Photographs
- Picture postcards
- Scrapbooks
- Sermons
- typescripts
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