About Archives & Special Collections
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New York City and Brooklyn Directories
The Brooklyn Historical Society’s collection of city directories includes copies of both New York City and Brooklyn directories, available to researchers on microfilm and/or microfiche, with a very small portion of the collection available in print. The New York City directories include information pertaining to the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, spanning the years 1786-1934, and are largely available only on microfilm (76 reels). The collection does include physical copies of New York City directories for the years 1915-1917 and 1925.
Brooklyn city directories are available on 28 microfilm reels for the period 1847-1913, or on microfiche for the period 1822-1861. The collection also includes one physical copy of a Brooklyn city directory covering the years 1933-1934, as well as four Brooklyn classified telephone directories spanning the years 1932-1938. Finally, the collection also includes separate directories for the city of Williamsburgh prior to its annexation as a part of the City of Brooklyn, which are available on microfiche and cover the years 1847-1854.
The collection of directories serves as a valuable resource of information pertaining to residential, municipal, and commercial life in both New York City and Brooklyn during from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Directories are quite extensive and regularly include features such as registers of public departments and institutions, street and avenue directories, purchaser’s guides, general directories (including occupations and businesses of local residents), and advertising indexes, while also occasionally featuring illustrated city plans, maps of transit lines, and information pertaining to public parks, ward boundaries, freight depots, locations of piers, cabs and taxicabs, and borough histories.
There is no appointment necessary to view this collection.
Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital Records, 1868-1976. 9 boxes (3.8 cubic feet).
AccNo 1985.005
Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital was established in 1868 by prominent Brooklynites as a philanthropic clinic, and opened on April 20th, 1869. Increasing demands for patient space necessitated the purchase of a Juvenile High School building c. 1881. In 1930, a new building was begun to accommodate growing staff, but the onset of the Depression made it difficult for the hospital to recover its large construction costs. Financial difficulties continued to plague the hospital’s operations until it was eventually forced to close in 1976.
The Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital Records contain mostly administrative and financial documents reflecting the various aspects of the hospital’s operations, such as the minutes of the Board of Directors, Superintendent reports, minutes of the Board of Surgeons, and minutes of the Ophthalmic Committee. Other items include a two-volume history of the hospital’s first one hundred years, a medical manual, a report on emergency room sanitary conditions, and a sub-committee directory.
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Women’s Exchange of Brooklyn Collection, 1863-1964. 3 manuscript boxes (1.5 cubic feet).
AccNo 1988.018
The Women’s Exchange of Brooklyn was founded in 1854 as the Brooklyn Female Employment Society and, like earlier predecessors in other U.S. and European cities, was a labor cooperative that furnished simple employment to women whose circumstances - physical or economic - impelled them to work from home. The Exchange instructed women and marketed their work. The Brooklyn Exchange, which acquired its present name in 1936, is now the oldest among the twenty-five members of the Federation of Woman’s Exchanges in the United States.
The dates of this collection range from 1863 to 1964, with the bulk of material dating from the 1920’s to the 1940’s, and is made up of four series. Series 1 contains the monthly meeting minutes of the Board of Managers, accompanied by a treasurer’s report on the previous month’s activities. Series 2 consists of financial documentation, annual reports and audits, and legal documents. Series 3 is primarily comprised of correspondence, most of which relates to various properties owned by the exchange. Series 4 is chiefly made up of materials related to public relations and development, including donation requests, advertising efforts, and newspaper articles.
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William Richardson Papers (1853-1896). 5 linear inches.
ArMs 1977.169
William Richardson (1822-1893) was a prominent post-Civil War resident of Brooklyn. He owned the Atlantic Avenue Railroad Company, was active in the Republican Party, was an Alderman for the Twenty-Second Ward, and was involved in many civic causes.
The William Richardson Papers document the personal and business affairs of this Brooklyn businessman. The collection includes correspondence, railroad documents, family items, political and governmental documents, ephemera, and miscellaneous items concerning civic issues.
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The William Patton Griffith Papers, 1861-1937. 1 document box, 0.5 cubic feet.
ArMs 2006.030
William Patton Griffith was born in Washington, PA., on July 22, 1843. He worked at The Washington Reporter as a reporter, editor, and poet, and during the Civil War he enlisted in the Union Army. After the war Griffith served as New York State Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) and was involved in a wealth of other veteran and civic organizations, such as the Society of Old Brooklynites. He also continued his career in journalism, serving as editor at The Pittsburgh Dispatch, The New York Herald, The World, The Brooklyn Eagle, and The Brooklyn Press. Later in life Griffith enjoyed a successful career in public service in Brooklyn and, at the age of 76, became a practicing chiropractor. He died on February 17, 1936.
The William Patton Griffith Papers consist primarily of correspondence, writings, speeches, and clippings relating to all aspects of Griffith’s participation as Grand Marshall in the Grand Army of the Republic and the Society of Old Brooklynites, among other civic activities in Brooklyn, with most of the collection focusing between the 1890s - 1930s. There are also some black and white photographs of Griffith attending a variety of public ceremonies and a few items representative of Griffith’s personal life, such as poems, programs, certificates and a swatch of flag bunting from the flag that flew over General Ulysses Grant’s tomb in 1897.
Access Points:
Subject Topics
Freemasons –Brooklyn
War Memorials –United States
Subject Places
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Social life and customs
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) –Politics and government
United States, Army, Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, 102nd (1861-1865)
United States –History –Civil War –Veterans
Corporate Names
Big Brothers of America
General Slocum (Steamboat)
Grand Army of the Republic
Society of Old Brooklynites (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Union Veteran Legion of the United States
Personal Names
Griffith, William Patton, 1843-1936
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945
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Independence Community Bank Oral History, 2006-2007. Sound recordings: 18 wav files
2008.032
Independence Community Bank was founded in 1850 as The South Brooklyn Savings Institution and in 2006, it was bought out by a larger bank (Sovereign Bancorp, itself owned by Banco Santander). The Brooklyn Historical Society, with the support of the Independence Community Foundation (now Brooklyn Community Foundation), conducted 16 extended interviews with past and present employees of Independence Community Bank to document the end of the Bank’s 155 years based in Brooklyn.
Recordings of these interviews may be listened to in the library. An index of these interviews may be read in the library.
Newell Dwight Hillis Papers (1883 - 1964). 4 record cartons, 2 boxes (60 linear inches).
ArMs 1985.004
Newell Dwight Hillis (1858 -1929) was a noted clergyman of his day. After several pastorates in the midwest, Hillis was called to the Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn in 1899. Plymouth Church was then well known as the Church of Henry Ward Beecher and Lyman Abbot, whom Hillis succeeded. While at Plymouth Church Hillis gained in reputation as a preacher, lecturer and author. Among Hillis’s activities outside of Plymouth Church were his involvement in plans for the beautification of Brooklyn, his extensive lecture tours, and his articles and publications on spiritual matters and current topics.
The Newell Dwight Hillis Papers consist of Hillis’s correspondence and writings, business and financial records, ephemera, newsclippings, scrapbooks and family papers. The major activities of Hillis’s career which are well documented by the collection are his work in creating the Henry Ward Beecher Memorial and Plymouth Institute at Plymouth Church and his involvement in World War I which included two Liberty Loan tours and numerous articles, sermons and lectures on the events of the War and its aftermath.Correspondence and papers of Hillis’s children, Richard Hillis and Marjorie Hillis Roulston, and clippings and ephemera presumably collected by them make up a small part of the collection which post-dates Hillis’s death in 1929.
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Marcy Avenue Baptist Church Records, 1872-1939. 2 Record Carton boxes and 3 scrapbooks in custom enclosures (3.5 cubic feet).
ArMs 1985.081, ArMs 1977.206
The Marcy Avenue Baptist Church, which began as an outgrowth of the Washington Avenue Baptist Church, was formed in 1872 and located in the Beford-Stuyvesant area. The church experienced rapid growth and underwent several expansions in the 1870’s and 1880’s. By 1900 Marcy Avenue Baptist Church was the largest Baptist church in Brooklyn. It was dis-banned in 1939.
This collection contains the Marcy Avenue Baptist Church’s administrative and organizational records, which include Membership Rolls, Registers, and Marriage Stubs as well as Deacons reports, Ladies Aid Society reports, Sunday School Superintendent Reports, Benevolent Society reports, Reports of the Board of Trustees, and general Church Statistics.
Access Points:
Personal Names
Jeffery, Reuben, Rev., D.D.
Rhoades, W.C.P., Rev., D.D.
Fox, William B. (Brownell)
Fox, Emily Parker, Mrs.
Banta, Theodore M. (Theodore Melvin), 1834-1910
Hudnut, James Monroe, 1844-
Elliott, Emma Payne, Mrs., “Mother Elliot”
Snow, Charles Thompson
Stout, George Corwin
Corporate Names
Marcy Avenue Baptist Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Long Island Baptist Association
Washington Avenue Baptist Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Marcy Avenue Baptist Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.) — History.
Marcy Avenue Baptist Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.) — Anniversaries, etc.
Topics
Baptists - New York (State) - New York
Geographic Terms
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Church history.
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) Religious life and customs - 19th century
Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.)
Marcy Avenue (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
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Brooklyn Ephemera Collection (1814-1998). 19 manuscript boxes and 2 oversize boxes (9.8 cubic feet).
The Brooklyn Ephemera Collection contains materials of mixed provenance accumulated over decades by the Long Island Historical Society (now the Brooklyn Historical Society). It is comprised of 12 series: Businesses, Churches, Civic Organizations and Celebrations, Clubs, Entertainment, Military, Schools, Sports, Transportation, Miscellaneous, Comic Books, and Calendars/Oversized Materials. The materials relate to a variety of Brooklyn-based institutions and events spanning a period of time from 1814 to 1998. Examples of the encompassed materials include correspondence, announcements, pamphlets, special events programs and notices, note papers, tickets, newspaper clippings, trade cards, ads, receipts, invoices, tour maps and information, postcards and certificates.
Access Points:
Personal and Corporate Names
Pierrepont, John Jay, 1849-1911
Grant, Ulysses S. [Ulysses Simpson], 1822-1885
Adelphi College
Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.). Commissioners of Prospect Park
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.). Park Commissioners
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Athenaeum
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn Club (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn Dodgers (Baseball team)
Brooklyn Dodgers (Football team)
Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company
Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn Tabernacle (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn Union Gas Company
Erasmus Hall High School
First Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Historic Districts Council (New York, N.Y.)
National Railway Historical Society
New York City Transit Authority
New York Naval Ship Yard
New York Transit Museum
St. Francis College (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Subject Headings
African Americans
American Revolution Bicentennial, 1976
Baseball - New York (State) - New York
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) - religious life and customs
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) - social life and customs
Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
Brownstone - New York (State) - New York
Prospect Park (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn Trust Company Building (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) - Songs and music.
Armed Forces - New York (State) - New York
Clubs - New York (State) - New York
Entertainment events - New York (State) - New York
Racing - New York (State) - New York
Railroads - New York (State) - New York
Sports - New York (State) - New York
Theater - New York (State) - New York
Williamsburg Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
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Junior League of Brooklyn Records, 1910-2002 (Bulk dates: 1930-1999). 41 cubic feet, 30 records boxes, 11 oversize boxes.
ArMs 2005.064, 2007.037
The first Junior League took shape in New York City in 1901, when women were finally able to take on greater responsibilities toward their communities. Young women were encouraged to actively volunteer and to find useful outlets for their skills and interests. The success of the New York League led to the creation of the thirty Leagues established in six U.S. regions by 1921. The Brooklyn Junior League formed in 1910 as a response to social and health problems facing certain Brooklyn communities, and presently remains an organization of women dedicated to voluntarism, social advocacy, and improving communities through the leadership and charitable action of trained members.
The collection consists of a variety of organizational records including meeting minutes, membership files, annual reports, board manuals, documents pertaining to the Junior League of Brooklyn’s relationship with the Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (CASA) of New York as well as the Association of Junior Leagues International, and printed material. In addition, a large volume of scrapbooks, photographs, committee and volunteer activity records illustrate the League’s involvement in recognizing and dealing with social issues of inequity and economic hardship.
Access Points:
Personal Names
Rumsey, Mary Harriman - 1881-1934
Laughlin, Dona
Montague, Neita Loy Blondeau
Nevins, Christine
Schlesinger, Karen
Smallwood, Debra
Corporate Names
Association of Junior Leagues International
Court Appointed Special Advocate Program (New York, N.Y.)
Junior League of Brooklyn
Subject Headings
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) - Social life and customs
Social action - New York (State) - New York - History - 20th century
Women - New York (State) - New York - Societies and clubs - History
Women in charitable work - New York (State) - New York - History
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