Archives & Library Special Collections
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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: 1974.004
Extent: 0.01 Linear feet, in one folder
The collection includes one item, the 1672 judgment of British colonial New York governor Edmond Andros (1637-1714) concerning the estate of the late Captain John Underhill (circa 1597-1672) of Oyster Bay, Long Island. In his will, Underhill had left his estate to his wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth died intestate. Andros’s judgment named Underhill’s eldest son, John, administrator of the estate.
John Underhill (circa 1597-1672) was a colonial military leader and magistrate. In the 1640s he moved from New England to Flushing, Long Island. After his second marriage, to Elizabeth Feake in the late 1650s, he moved to Oyster Bay, L.I., establishing an estate called Killingworth. Underhill helped the English gain control over New Amsterdam in 1664, became a surveyor of customs for Long Island, and eventually high constable and under-sheriff of North Riding, Yorkshire (L.I.).
Names:
- Andros, Edmund, 1637-1714
- Underhill, John, d. 1672
- New York (Colony)
Places:
- Long Island (N.Y.)
- Oyster Bay (N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Decedents’ estates
- Executors and administrators — New York (State) — Queens County
- Governors — New York (State)
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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
View Finding Aid
Ambrotype collection, 1851 – 1881. 2 boxes (1.5 linear feet)
 AMBRO.22: Lavinia Longmire with Walter and William Longmire The Ambrotype collection is made up of individually accessioned photographs from the Photography Collection, items from the Archive & Manuscript Collections, and items found in the collection. The photographs are portraits depicting Brooklyn residents of the 19th century.
Ambrotypes are an application of the wet collodion process. A faint negative image was printed onto glass, which was then backed with a black material to make the image appear positive. They were much cheaper than daguerreotypes, and were most popular in the U.S. in the 1850s. Some ambrotypes were colored by hand, and many were kept in small cases.
Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, and Diane Vogt-O’Connor. 2008. Photographs: Archival Care and Management. Chicago: Society of American Archivists.
Subjects:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Photographs
- Commercial portraiture
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