Guide to African-American History Archival Material at Othmer Library
View Subject Guide as a PDF File
This guide is intended as an aid to researchers interested in archival material at Brooklyn Historical Society that relates to African-American history. Materials range from the slavery era (i.e., colonial period through the Civil War) to the post-Civil War period and through the twentieth century. Most materials concern the four Long Island counties (Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk), but other New York areas are also represented, as are other states. For the nineteenth century and earlier, documents commonly found in the guide are bills of sales of slaves; wills and estate inventories that include slaves; account books recording transactions with African-Americans; and journals, correspondence, local historian notes, reminiscences, and the like with references to African-Americans. In the twentieth century, collections of records from specific African-Americans or organizations closely associated with African-Americans can be found.
Although this guide is extensive and is expected to satisfy many research needs in this subject, researchers should be aware that this guide is not necessarily comprehensive. The guide includes only those archival materials that were identified as relevant and were documented over time by archivists in the course of their work. Further, this guide includes only those materials that hold an explicit reference to African-Americans. Materials that do not have such a reference, even if they are associated with African-American history, are not included on this guide; for example, collections of Civil War papers that do not explicitly refer to African-Americans are not included here. Accordingly, researchers may wish to review finding aids from collections not found on the guide to identify other materials potentially useful to their research.
The emphasis of this guide is on the text-based archival material within collections that are, generally, held uniquely by BHS. In addition to the archival material detailed in this guide, there are many other resources at BHS useful to research in African-American history. First, you can search BHS’s online catalog, Bobcat, for other relevant material such as books, maps, and other printed matter available in the library: http://www.brooklynhistory.org/library/search.html. The principal subject heading to search is African Americans. You can search on this heading alone or narrow your results by using African Americans with sub-headings such as biography, history, churches, economic conditions, social conditions, civil rights, etc. Among other related subject headings are Free African Americans, Slaves, Slavery, and Antislavery.
In Bobcat, you can also search by name of specific locations, either alone or with African American or other subject heading. Examples of locations include: New York, Brooklyn, Weeksville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Kings County, Suffolk County, and Long Island. You can also search by personal or corporate name. For example: Jackie Robinson, Bridge Street African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church (you do not need to search on an entire name to generate a result), and NAACP.
BHS has several resources that are useful for many areas of research, including African-American history. These includes city directories*, historical newspapers*, US census records*, Brooklyn city council records, atlases, maps, and almanacs. (Resources with an asterisk are on microfilm or fiche.) These resources include references to African-American individuals, institutions, neighborhoods, businesses, etc. As just one example, an 1855 almanac, the Brooklyn City and Kings County Record, includes information about the city’s Colored Political Association, an organization formed to advocate for equal rights for African-Americans.
BHS also has a collection on microfiche of slavery-related pamphlets and other material. A guide to the microfiche has been published: Henry Barnard, ed. Slavery, Part I: A Bibliography and Union List of the Microform Collection. (Sanford, NC: Microfilming Corporation of America) 1980. The guide is available in the library.
From 1939-1942, 1961-1969, and 1973-1982, BHS (then known as the Long Island Historical Society) published a periodic journal, called the Long Island Historical Society Quarterly in 1939-42 and, in the later years, The Journal of Long Island History. The journals include articles on historical topics concerning Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties. Some of these articles relate to African-American history. A list in PDF form of the articles in the journals can be found on Emma; use search term African-American in the document to find the relevant material. The journals themselves are available in the library.
Finally, in addition to text-based material, you can search a database in BHS’s library for images (e.g., photographs, postcards, etc.), objects, and other non-textual material. The key search term in this regard is African Americans (and variant forms, such as the singular African American and the hyphenated African-Americans). Personal, corporate, and neighborhood names can also be used as search terms.
The following archival collections are available by appointment for viewing in the library. To schedule an appointment or for further information about these collections, please contact the library via email at library@brooklynhistory.org.
Collections are presented in this guide in rough chronological order according to the earliest date of the relevant documents within the collection. The first section of the guide includes collections with material from the colonial period to the Civil War. The second section includes material from the Civil War period to the present. Each entry follows the format:
Collection name, date range of the collection
Call number
Extent in linear feet of collection. Indication of whether a finding aid is available or not.
Brief description of content in the collection relevant to African-American history.
Section 1: Colonial Period to Civil War (1600s to 1860)
(Rev.) William Chalmers papers, 1891-1898
1973.103; 1973.287; 1980.029
0.20 linear feet. No finding aid available.
A history of Congregationalism in Suffolk County (1640-1893) with passing reference to slavery.
Henry C. Murphy papers, circa 1830s-1860s
1973.207
2 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Includes Murphy’s translations of Dutch New Netherland and West India Company records, 1644-1664, which include notes on trading slaves and merchandise between Brazil, New Netherlands, Angola, and Amsterdam (pages 4-5 of Volume 4, accession 1973.207).
Gravesend town records and manuscript, 1942
1977.308
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Transcriptions of early town records of Gravesend (1646-1670) and a 100 page historical sketch of the town, with reference to a slave sale, prepared by Works Progress Administration researchers.
Manuscript Collection #1, 1648-1867
1974.002
0.25 linear feet. Finding aid available in library.
Division of slaves in estate of John Park Custis of Virginia, 1796 (folder 10); bill of sale, Dutchess County, 1766 (folder 16); will manumitting a slave, Oyster Bay, 1685 (folder 17).
J.W. Huntting manuscript, 1858
1973.182
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Copy of the records, 1694-1853, of the First Church of Christ in Southold, Suffolk County, with references to slaves and freemen (including communions, baptisms, marriages, and deaths; e.g. pages 185, 201, 235, 241, 265, 362).
Henry Lloyd papers, 1703-1744
1974.117
1.0 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Account books with references to African-Americans (Queens and Long Island).
Henry Onderdonk papers, circa 1790-1886
ARC.045
10 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Henry Onderdonk was a 19th century historian of Queens County, which included what is now Nassau County. Focused principally on Queens/Nassau, this collection includes Onderdonk’s manuscript writings; transcriptions and notes he took from private journals, church and local government records, and newspapers; correspondence regarding local history and genealogy; and scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. These materials refer at various points to African-Americans. Among the manuscripts (series 1) are: transcription of Quaker John Bowne’s account book with entries for slave purchases and sales (e.g., pages 62, 88) and clothing for African-Americans (e.g., page 76); list of marriages and baptisms at Huntington and Hempstead that includes at least three African-American couples (1820, 1821, 1822); “Supplement to Revolutionary Incidents of Suffolk and Kings County” which includes notices of rewards for runaways and notices of slave sales; a historical sketch of agriculture in Hempstead with references to slaves (pages 14, 29); “Long Island in Olden Times” with index referring to “negroes” and “slaves.” The correspondence (series 2) includes references to slavery in letter from E.B. O’Callaghan (in set 2.1, bound correspondence, item numbers 63, 106), Rachel Hicks (in set 2.2), and William Potts (in set 2.3). The Miscellaneous series (series 3) includes a doctor’s daybook with entries for services rendered to African-Americans (1729-1731). All seven of the scrapbooks have some material related to African-Americans but these are scattered throughout; among the items are runaway notices (Vol. 1), announcements of camp meetings (e.g., Vol. 4), annual beach parties (Vol. 6 and 7), various accounts of crimes, accidents or deaths, and other material.
Daniel M. Tredwell papers, circa 1917
1974.066; 1974.067; 1974.071; 1974.192; 1978.161
2 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Local historian’s manuscript concerning Long Island, including Brooklyn, with some references to free and enslaved African-Americans.
Northrup Collection on Brooklyn History, 1908-1955
1986.008
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Includes a history of Newtown with a list of local slaveowners, published in a local newspaper.
B. H. Huntington manuscripts, 1856-1864
1973.097
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Journal of folklore concerning East Hampton, including narrative of an African-American girl buried at the site of a church.
Cortelyou family notebook, 1698-1824
1974.137
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
In Dutch. Page [22v] includes the draft of a letter deposing of a “servant Neagro” “belonging to Jacques Cortelyou “if he Can gitt” another “Master.” Page [53r] lists important events in the year 1708, including the murder of a Willem Hallet along with his wife and five children by their slaves. Also, there is a list of births in 1796-1811 which, in its use of first names only, possibly refers to slaves.
William P. Hulst papers, 1702-circa 1950
ARC.135
0.25 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Tax document listing slaves, New Utrecht, 1709; bill of sale for slave, Kings County, 1728.
Lefferts family papers, circa 1650s-1970s
ARC.145
14.25 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Many items related to slavery; see Box 1, Folders 1, 7, 8, 9; Box 2, Folders 2, 4, 5; Box 3, Folder 9; Box 4, Folder 5; and Box 5, Folders 38, 40. Collection includes property lists that include slaves; letters concerning African-Americans in Charleston (1820s); wills both transferring and manumitting slaves (1808 and others); bills of sale for slaves (either 1711 or 1751-1818); slavery-related newspaper articles (late 19th and early 20th centuries); account books and other financial records with slave transactions (as well as payments to possibly free black men for manual labor); and manuscript of Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt’s writings on early Flatbush: “The New York Riots of 1863,” “The Pancake Roof” (includes description of an enslaved woman, Diana), and “Slavery Among the Dutch”; manuscript “It Would be Difficult to Find…,” which describes a “shanty” in the author’s district where a black woman and her aged mother lived, along with a mention of the draft riots.
Richard Lawrence estate inventory, 1717
1974.206
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Inventory with reference to slaves, Suffolk County, 1717.
Samuel Jackson will, 1728
1977.548
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Will with reference to a slave, Hempstead, 1728.
John Montgomerie brief, 1729-1730
1977.129
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Proclamation calling for charitable aid in response to a house fire in which three slaves, among others, were killed, East Hampton, 1729-1730.
Elbert Elbertse Stoothoff papers, circa 1642-1796
ARC.150
0.75 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Various papers of Flatlands family: 1782 bill of sale by Elias Hubbard to Peter W. Stoothoff (folder 17); Wilhelmus Stoothoff 1783 estate inventory including values of slaves (folder 25); Gerritt Stoothoff wills, 1728/9 and 1722, that include conveyances of slaves (folders 32, 33); Wilhelmus Stoothoff / B. Lefferts 1763 bill of sale for slave (folder 59); account book entries, 1731-32 (folder 95); account book entries, 1676-1714 (folders 114, 115).
Stryker-Rodda collection, 1734-1759, 1958
1977.303; 1973.258
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Typescript transcription of reminiscences of Peter Wyckoff of Bushwick (1828-1910) with references to slaves; newspaper clippings of extracts from Newtown records 1734-1759, some with references to African-Americans.
John Middagh papers, 1654-1789
1974.027; 1974.179
0.20 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Bill of sale (1737) and a (draft?) will (Flatbush, 1727) referencing enslaved African-Americans.
Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt collection, 1737-1818
1974.168
0.25 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Quit claim which includes deed for slaves, Flatbush, 1737 (folder 1); receipts referencing goods purchased for and by African-Americans on John Van der Bilt’s account, Flatbush, 1805-1818 (folder 4); estate appraisal with values of slaves, Brooklyn, 1792 (folder 5); bills of sale for a slave, New York, 1783 and 1816 (folder 6, 8).
Provost family papers, 1663-1813
1977.180
0.20 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Certified 1859 copy of a 1739 will (folder 1) and a 1767 will (folder 2), both referring to African-Americans, Bushwick.
American colonies deeds collection, circa 1600-1700s
1974.039
0.50 linear feet. No finding aid available.
The Virginia folder includes legal documents, 1746-1770, regarding complaints/suits about debts, inheritances, etc., involving land and/or slaves.
Slavery Bill of Sale Collections, 1751-1793
1978.010
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Six bills of sale for slaves, New Lots, Newtown, Jamaica, New York, 1751-1793.
Gerret L. Martense papers, 1675-1940
1994.003
0.50 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Ten bills of sale for slaves in folder 18 (1752-1812), principally Flatbush.
Helen Zunser Wortis papers, circa 1970s
1977.351
1.0 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Historian’s notes and copies of documents concerning Long Island slavery. Includes copy of a 1755 census of slaves in various New York counties.
Hulbert papers, 1698-1846
1974.041; 1974.042; 1974.043
1.0 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Correspondence concerning delivery of a slave from New York to Philadelphia, 1756.
Manuscript Collection #2, 1659-1861
1974.003
0.25 linear feet. Finding aid available in library.
Will (1789) and sale receipt (1758) in folder 12.
Brigantine Swan bill of lading, 1759
1977.447
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
A bill of lading for one slave to be delivered to the Port of Monto Cristo by Captain John Waddell, Jr. leaving from New York, 1759.
Stryker – Rodda Southern History Collection, 1710-1865
1985.076
0.80 linear feet. Finding aid available in library.
A bill of sale, two deeds, and a will from Georgia & Virginia in folders 2 and 5 (1761-1836).
Pelletreau family papers, circa 1662-1921
ARC.142
1.0 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Papers of Southampton, Long Island family. Slave bill of sale, 1767; wills; account book of Southampton silversmith with references to African-Americans, 1766-75.
Hubbard family papers, 1770-1864
1974.044
0.80 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Bills of slave sales (folders 6, 9, 11): Flatlands, 1811; New Utrecht, 1794; Somerset County, NJ, 1770; will granting slaves (folder 12): Flatlands (?), undated; will referring to manumission of slaves (folder 13): Monmouth County, NJ, 1840.
South Carolina auction book, 1774-1776
1974.118
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Records of debt auction sales (including sales of slaves) in Charleston, SC, 1774-1776.
Gamaliel King account book, 1775-1786
1977.089
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Account book with references to African-Americans, Philadelphia.
Charles A. Ditmas papers, circa 1909-1915
1973.091; 1973.092; 1973.101; 1973.239; 1977.091; 1977.142; 1977.223
0.50 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Local historian’s manuscript “Church and State in Flatlands, 1783-1843″ with references to African burial ground.
Remsen and Schenk family papers, 1698-1837
1985.017
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Three wills referring to slaves, Brooklyn 1785 and 1794 (folder 1) and one unspecified (folder 2).
Terhune – Wyckoff family papers, 1747-1932
1974.158; 1974.173; 1977.075; 1977.192
1.0 linear feet. Partial finding aid available on Emma.
Bill of sale for slave, Flatlands/Gravesend, 1794, and receipt for sale, 1798 (folder 1); will, Gravesend, 1797 (folder 2); receipt for sale, New Utrecht, 1812 (folder 4).(all in 1977.192)
David Conkling papers, 1782-1797
1974.073; 1974.142; 1977.653
0.30 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Account book with reference to African-Americans, Southold, Suffolk County (1784-1797).
Kings County census records, 1786
1981.012
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Contains information regarding the number of families, males and females in various age groups, number of male and female slaves, and total number of white persons and slaves in Kings County. The data is also broken down by various townships. Compiled by Peter Vandervoort, Sheriff.
(Rev.) Peter Lowe papers, 1782-1818
1974.008
0.25 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
This collection of correspondence of the pastor of the Dutch Church of Flatbush includes a 1788 letter concerning ministering to slaves (in folder “Unidentified”).
Nicholas Cowenhoven papers, 1776-1803
1974.058; 1974.187
0.25 linear feet. No finding aid available
Receipt for sale of slave, 1792 (unspecified place).
Manuscript Collection #3, 1666-1924
1974.037
0.25 linear feet. Finding aid available in library.
Bill of sale for slave, 1793.
Rutgart A.Van Brunt papers, 1716-1881
1974.164; 1977.168; 1978.156, 1978.157
0.25 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Documentation of sales of slaves, New Utrecht, 1794-1819 (Series 1, folder 1 and Series 3, folder 1)
Anita Lott Cruikshank papers, circa 1618-1896
1974.126; 1974.215; 1977.284
1.0 linear feet. Partial finding aid available in the library.
Two bills of sale for slaves from Gravesend (1796) and New Utrecht/Flatbush (1806) in Jeremiah Lott and Van Brunt Magaw folders.
William A. Robbins papers, 1797-1882
1973.266; 1977.011; 1977.395; ARG63; ARG121
2.20 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Deaths, including those of African-Americans, recorded by Rev. Zechariah Greene, pastor of the Setauket Presbyterian Church, 1797-1848, as copied by genealogist Robbins.
Ditmas family papers, 1647-1900
1986.054
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Bills of sale for slaves, Flatbush, 1798 and 1816.
John R. Couwenhoven papers, 1783-1812
1973.167
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
The papers include an account book listing monetary transactions for goods and services dated 1783 to 1789, which includes an entry crediting an African-American’s labor as settlement against goods bought. The account book and other papers also include the records of the sale of Couwenhoven’s estate, including the sale at auction of five enslaved African-Americans (Brooklyn, 1798).
Augustus Griffin papers, 1792-1902
1973.143, 1973.144; 1973.181
0.30 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Journal (1792-1843) of Southold, Suffolk County resident with references to African-Americans, including a free African-American’s purchase of a relative’s freedom.
Frederick and Hetty Marquand scrapbook, 1761-1882
1977.219
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Scrapbook of Brooklyn residents with bill of sale for slave, Fairfield, Conn/Bergen County, 1799.
Susannah Bassett bible, circa 1800
1974.108
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Family Bible with record of five slave births, 1799-1808.
Queens General Session Court records, 1799
1977.106
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Decision concerning slave manumission.
Conover and Cowenhoven family papers, 1801-1831
1974.141
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Bond for sale of a slave, 1801 or 1808; bill of sale for a slave, 1826.
Joseph Sprague papers, 1810-1842
ARC.099
0.02 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Bill of sale for slave, Bushwick/Brooklyn, 1802.
Robert Doty deeds, 1803, 1805
1977.215
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Two indentures for sale of land from Jeremiah Tappen to Robert Doty, an African-American, Jericho, Oyster Bay, 1803 and 1805.
Jeremiah Tappin deed, 1803
1977.505
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Indenture for sale of land from Jeremiah Tappin (Tappen?) to Robert Doty, an African-American, Jericho, Oyster Bay, 1803.
Bushwick Overseers of the Poor invoice, 1806
No call number
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
List of abandoned African-American children in Bushwick in connection with invoice for payment from Overseers of the Poor, 1805-1806.
Nehemiah Denton papers, 1785-1844
1977.171
0.5 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Bill of sale for slave, Brooklyn/Gowanus, 1808 (folder 7).
Autograph collection, 1656-1868
1974.054
0.30 linear feet. Finding aid available in library.
Thomas Jefferson correspondence concerning imprisonment of a slave trader.
Brower v. Miller Court Decision, 1811
1977.617
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Court decision concerning daughter indentured by enslaved father, New York, 1811.
Bennet / Ryder family papers, circa 1670-2006
ARC.001
2.5 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Includes an 1812 indenture of a 10-year old African-American in Brooklyn.
William F. Wyckoff papers, circa 1735-1942
1978.002
1.75 linear feet. Finding aid available in library.
Wills and estate inventories referring to African-Americans: Jamaica, Queens (circa 1770, 1809), including one granting freedom to the enslaved (1746), New Lotts (1782), and Flatbush (1814); slave sale documents, Flatbush (1779, 1781, 1806, 1813, 1814); authorization for support payments to a free African-American, Flatbush (1807); invoice for doctor’s treatment of an African-American (1777) and other miscellaneous references (all in Eldert folder).
Seaman family papers, 1752-1838
1974.005
0.25 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Bill of sale for slave, New York, 1815.
Nicholas Holt bill of sale, 1817
1977.408
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Bill of sale for slave, Tennessee/North Carolina, 1817.
David Taylor letter, 1818
1977.450
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Letter from an Alabama territory resident to one in Mississippi concerning recovery of slaves, 1818.
Henry Wildhack Maryland Soldiers Memorial collection, 1869-1957
1973.232
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Correspondence of 1869 includes a recollection from childhood of an African-American burial ground near Third Avenue, Brooklyn.
John Baxter papers, 1790-1839
1973.096; 1988.010; 2005.001
0.75 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Journals with references to slavery in Flatlands.
Certificate Collection, 1809-1962
1977.307
1.0 linear feet. Finding aid available in the library.
Slave sale receipt from Virginia.
John Ditmars bill of sale, 1825
1977.583
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Bill of sale for slave, Flatbush, 1825.
Broadside Collection
3 flat boxes. Inventory of items available in library.
Bill of sale for slave, Albany, 1763 (item 1975.1138). Anti-Andrew Jackson broadside, directed especially to Quakers, with reference to, among other things, Jackson’s slave holdings, Queens County. (item 1975.837). Playbill for a play based on the Battle of Long Island, with an African-American servant among the cast (item 1975,1114). Runaway ad in newspaper “The Corrector” of Sag Harbor, 1825 (1975.1391). Recruitment poster for 20th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops (item 1975.387).
St. Peter’s Church records, 1832
1974.150
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Articles of incorporation of African-American Episcopal church, Brooklyn, 1832.
Dr. R. B. Alexander account list, 1832-1836
1977.614
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Doctor’s account with General A. Hunter, with references to visits to African-Americans.
David Kimberly papers, 1788-1845
1977.020
0.25 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Correspondence concerning the cotton trade between the South and New York City.
Gabriel Furman papers, circa 1815-1862
ARC.190
2.8 linear feet. Finding aid and subject indexes available on Emma.
Journals of a Brooklyn resident with references to free and enslaved African-Americans, slavery, and to Henry Ward Beecher’s sermons concerning abolition. Furman letter book includes reference to an African Society seeking a charter from the New York state legislature (1824).
John C. Bergen papers, 1827-1873
1974.114; 1974.174
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Diary of farmer with references to African-American farmhand, Flatlands, circa 1840s-1850s.
Landon Family papers, 1665-1864
1977.025
2.5 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
This collection includes the papers of two lawyers/ judges from Cutchogue (Southold, Suffolk County). References to African-Americans appear throughout the collection, including in account books, wills, estate debtor records, as members of Cutchogue’s religious society, and records of court cases. Also included are articles of incorporation of the Suffolk County Anti-Slavery Society.
Southampton School District 11 records, 1819-1862
1977.063
0.40 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Some of the periodic district censuses include reference to African-American children.
(Rev.) Edward Harris papers, 1872
1979.006
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Methodist preacher’s memoir referencing slavery.
Arthur S. Wardwell papers, circa 1932
1973.264; 1973.265; 1973.271; 1974.098
0.25 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Transcriptions made by Wardwell of various records of St. George’s Church, Hempstead, Long Island, including a coffin list (1834-1855) with references to African-Americans.
Colonization Society of the State of New York, 1849
1985.029.
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Certificate recognizing the donation and life membership of Rev. A. Hamilton Bishop of the Reformed Dutch Church, Astoria, 1849.
Robert Haviland correspondence, 1850
1974.253
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Letter from slave in Georgia to his owner in New York seeking to buy his freedom, 1850.
Francis V. Morrell manuscript, 1915
1973.084
0.10 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Recollections of circa 1850s Williamsburgh with reference to specific African-Americans.
Brooklyn correspondence and miscellaneous documents collection, 1757-1968
1977.321; 1977.322
0.50 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Pass from Brooklyn Navy Yard commandant for transport to a steamer in North Carolina that includes an African-American intended as a servant to that steamer’s commander, 1862 (Dawson folder); correspondence from Newton, Mass to Joseph Sprague, former mayor of Brooklyn, with political commentary, including on slavery, 1850 (Sprague folder).
Brooklyn Brush Manufacturing Association articles of association, 1855
1978.191
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Rules for Association of black-owned business, Brooklyn, 1855.
Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims – Henry Ward Beecher Collection, 1847-1980
1985.002
28 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
The collection includes much material on Beecher, the abolitionist preacher, and his Brooklyn church, including hate mail directed at Beecher and documentation of his staged auction of Sally Maria Diggs (“Pinky,” who took the name Rose Ward, later Rose Ward Hunt). The collection includes documentation of Hunt’s 1927 visit to Plymouth Church, including a brief audio cylinder recording of her greetings to the Plymouth congregation. Other items include an 1819 tax return of Charlotte Collins of Charleston, South Carolina reporting slaves as taxable property and 1895 correspondence from Irene H. Ovington referring to the Underground Railroad.
Henry F. Minton scrapbook, 1847-1887
1977.271
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Scrapbook concerning Henry Ward Beecher and Plymouth Church.
Joseph Arthur Burr, Jr. composition book, 1860-1866
1973.108
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Composition book with brief reference to African-American children attending a school event, Williamsburg, 1860.
William Coleman collection, 1860
2005.010
0.70 linear feet. No finding aid available.
1860 pro-slavery sermon of Rev. Henry J. Van Dyke, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, entitled “The Character and Influence of Abolitionism.”
Henry R. Stiles papers, 1860-1870
1977.038
0.20 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Correspondence concerning “Public Schools for Colored Children” from William J. Wilson, principal of Brooklyn’s Colored School 1, to Stiles.
(Rev.) Edwin Warriner papers, 1860-1899
1977.255
7.25 linear feet. Partial finding aid, for the collection’s photographs, is available in the library.
Notes on Long Island’s Methodist Episcopal churches, including those of African-Americans.
Section 2: Civil War to Present
First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, 1790-1970s
ARC.109
50 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Trustee minutes/reports of 1865-1966 refer to the congregation’s donations to the Freedmen’s Association. The collection also includes the records of Second Unitarian Church, which was led in the 1850s to 1860 by anti-slavery minister Samuel Longfellow; the collection includes at least one of his anti-slavery sermons and correspondence from a congregant declining to renew his pew rental because of Longfellow’s stance.
Secor, Flint, and Cousins family papers, circa 1800s
1992.019
0.50 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Pass for a family, with an African-American, to proceed from New Orleans to New York, 1862.
Lefferts family papers, circa 1650s-1970s
ARC.145
14.25 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Includes manuscript of Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt’s on “The New York Riots of 1863,” and “It Would be Difficult to Find…,” which describes a “shanty” in the author’s district where a black woman and her aged mother lived, along with a mention of the draft riots. (This collection also includes many items related to slavery; see reference to the collection in Section 1 above.)
Emancipation Proclamation, Leland-Boker Authorized Edition, 1864
M1986.257
0.10 linear feet. Image of document available on Emma.
Folio broadside of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of State William H. Seward, and John G. Nicolay, Private Secretary to the President. One from an edition of 48, it was offered for sale as a souvenir at the Great Central Sanitary Fair in Philadelphia, June 1864.
Edwin P. Hopkins Civil War Collection, 1804-1865
1977.200
1.0 linear foot. Finding aid available on Emma.
Includes broadsides and other print matter related to the Colored Regiments, the National Freedmen’s Relief Association, and the American Freedmen’s Friend Society (New York).
Abraham Lincoln autographs, 1862-1865
1974.076
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Pass for agent of National Freedmen’s Relief Association to Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah, 1865.
Bedell-Conklin-Wahlberg collection, 1839-1917
2005.021
1.0 linear foot. Finding aid available on Emma.
Correspondence (1865) from a soldier in the 173rd Regiment, New York Volunteers, based in Georgia, expressing objections to attempts to grant suffrage to African-Americans.
Alden Spooner family papers, 1810-1867
ARC.098
0.71 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Ballot from Georgetown, Virginia with correspondence presenting it as having been cast by an African-American in the first election held under universal suffrage, 1867.
Kings County Commission for Collecting Evidence of Fraud and Outrages, 1871
1977.019
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Testimony concerning electoral fraud committed by Democrats against Republicans, including African-Americans.
Charles E. Scriven papers, 1895-1914
1973.254
0.80 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Materials compiled by an early 20th century local historian relate to Flatbush generally, with some reference to African-Americans, including transcription of an article from the “Rural” concerning an investigation into an 1872 murder of an African-American.
(Rev.) Epher Whitaker, 1864-1900
1973.224, 1973.228; 1973.283
0.20 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Recollections concerning African-American preachers on Long Island in the late 19th century.
Brooklyn Young Republican Club and Republican Party of the 1st Ward collection, 1881-1883
1977.077
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Scrapbook with First Ward voter registry, including African-American voters.
John Dayton papers, 1885-1901
1978.099
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Note with reference to African-Americans in connection with a vote taken on naming the town of Speonk (Southampton, Long Island), circa 1890s.
Charles D. Hall correspondence, 1886
1978.097.
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Letter requesting Reverend Hall of Brooklyn to speak at the 70th meeting of the American Colonization Society, Washington, D.C., 1886.
New York State census returns for the 15th election district, 1892
1973.231
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Brooklyn election district enumerator’s blotters with demographic data, including “color.”
Brooklyn Home for Aged Colored People collection, 1892-1897, 1916
0.1 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Annual reports.
Brooklyn Howard Colored Orphan Asylum collection, 1906-1913
0.1 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Annual reports.
Armstrong Association of New York records, 1890-1944
1981.001
0.4 linear feet. No finding aid available.
The collection contains records of the Brooklyn organization devoted to promoting African-American and Native American education and the Hampton Institute. The collection includes minutes, 1906-1944; correspondence; and scrapbooks containing flyers, clippings, brochures, and circulars.
Brooklyn Historical Pageant records, 1914-1915
1977.143
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Performances including depictions of African-Americans, and the pageant benefited Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, among other organizations.
Gates Avenue Association records, 1922-1944
1977.177
0.10 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Records of the organization concerned, in part, with movement of African-Americans into the neighborhood.
Richetta G. Randolph papers, 1906-1971
1978.137
2.5 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
The papers contain material about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its prominent leaders as the organization emerged and developed over the first half of the twentieth century. At the time Ms. Randolph (a New York City/Brooklyn resident) became associated with the NAACP (circa 1910), it was just being established and several items in her collection shed light on how the organization began. The collection contains material about critical court proceedings pertaining to the struggle to secure civil rights for African Americans and to eliminate Jim Crow laws and lynching in the United States.
Bridge Street African Wesleyan (Methodist) Church collection, circa 1950s
0.25 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Programs for services.
First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church program, 1952
0.1 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Tenth anniversary program for church.
Concord Baptist Church of Christ collection, 1957, 1977
0.1 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Two programs.
John Howard Melish, William Howard Melish and Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity collection, 1904-1985
ARC.050
8.0 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Reel-to-reel audio tapes of a memorial service held in Ghana in 1963 for W. E. B. Du Bois at which William Howard Melish spoke, and Melish’s recollections of civil rights activism. (The condition of the tape and the lack of the correct equipment at BHS precludes the tape from being played at present.)
Mary Sobers papers, 1945-2002
2005.053
0.50 linear feet. Finding aid available in library.
Materials concerning the track career of an African-American athlete from Brooklyn who later became coach and adviser to the Queens Trailblazers Track Club.
Arnold Goldwag / Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) collection, 1943-2007
ARC.002.
13.75 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Collection consists principally of the subject files concerning 1960s civil rights activism maintained by Arnie Goldwag, an officer of Brooklyn CORE during the first half of the 1960s. These files include correspondence, newsletters, event announcements (e.g., fliers), directions for demonstrators, photographs, press releases, clippings, and other documents related to many of the actions conducted by Brooklyn CORE, particularly for the period 1961-1965. Actions represented in the collection include those protesting discrimination in employment, housing, schools, and the like, including the controversial initiative to block traffic in connection with the opening of the 1964 World’s Fair. The collection also includes reminiscences by Goldwag and other CORE members looking back from the 1990s and 2000s.
Amote Sias papers, 1945-1993
2008.017
3 linear feet. Finding aid available on Emma.
Papers of Brooklyn (Carroll Gardens) African-American activist. The majority of the collection focuses on the political environment in Brooklyn from the mid 1970s and 1980s through newspapers, magazines and other publications. The collection is rich with programs, bulletins and manuals from Sias’s involvement in various political organizations focusing on social justice, women’s rights and Black Nationalism. The collection also documents Sias’s political campaign for a seat on the New York City Council in 1989 and her involvement in the Committee to Elect Jesse Jackson for President.
Eastern Parkway Coalition records, circa 1965-2000
2007.016
15.0 linear feet. No finding aid available.
Community activist organization.
West Indian Carnival Documentation Project, 1993-1996
2010.019
3.0 linear feet. Partial finding aid available in library.
The collection includes photographs and other material related to Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade/Carnival.
Crown Heights Oral History – Bridging Eastern Parkway, 1993-1994
1994.006
24 interviews No finding aid available.
In 1993-1994, the Brooklyn Historical Society collected interviews with residents of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. Thirty-three interviews were conducted by Craig Wilder, Jill Vexler, and Aviva Segall. The subtitle, Bridging Eastern Parkway, refers to racial tensions expressed during the 1991 Crown Heights riots. Narrators are of African American, Caribbean, Jewish, Polish, and Russian descent and include members of the Lubavitch community. Transcripts of 24 interviews from this collection may be read in the library. Recordings are not currently available to researchers.
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Oral History, 2007-2008
2008.030
56 interviews. No finding aid available.
Brooklyn Historical Society and Restoration partnered on the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Oral History project in 2007-2008 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Restoration’s founding as the first community development corporation (CDC) in the United States. 56 interviews were conducted with founding Board members, supporters, activists, artists, tenants, and other community members. Many of the interviewees were involved with Weeksville and Ocean Hill-Brownsville, and civil rights, black power, and other African-American movements. There are no transcripts of the interviews, but recordings of the interviews can be heard in the BHS library.
Crown Heights Oral History – Listen To This, 2010
2010.020
43 interviews. Finding aid available in the library.
This collection of 43 oral history interviews with Crown Heights residents was donated to the Brooklyn Historical Society by project director Alex Kelly. The interviews were conducted in 2010 with the help of the Crow Hill Community Association and five students from Paul Robeson High School who came to the project through the Brooklyn College Community Partnership (BCCP). Recordings of these interviews and an accompanying guide are available in the library.
* * *
Acknowledgements
This guide was developed, in part, with grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural (URR) Program. The guide was initially compiled in September 2010 by Project Archivist Larry Weimer in connection with In Pursuit of Freedom, a multi-faceted project memorializing the history of abolitionism, anti-slavery and the Underground Railroad in Brooklyn. In Pursuit of Freedom is a partnership among three Brooklyn cultural institutions: Brooklyn Historical Society, Irondale Ensemble Project, and Weeksville Heritage Center. Since the initial compilation, updates to the guide have been made, and will continue to be made, from time to time by BHS archivists. Much of the material related to slavery was identified and originally compiled by archivist Leilani Dawson in 2005-2008.