About Archives & Special Collections
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Brooklyn Voter Registries (1872-1897, 1930-1937)
The Brooklyn Historical Society’s collection of voter registries represents the voting population in Brooklyn both before and after its consolidation as part of the City of New York. Registries reflecting Brooklyn as an independent city prior to consolidation span the period 1872-1897, while post-consolidation registries only cover the years 1930-1937. Currently, all registries are available to researchers in their original physical format.
The organization of the voter registries is mainly a numerical scheme, with the broadest level of arrangement being contingent on ward number (or, in the case of the post-consolidation registries, assembly district number). Each ward or assembly district is further broken down numerically by election district, then alphabetically by street. Finally, within each street listing, individual voters are listed by their residence numbers. Some registries, particularly those dating from the earlier periods, are also accompanied by an alphabetical index to street numbers, as well as a description of election district boundaries.
Each registry also contains specific personal information regarding every registered voter that may be helpful to researchers. For example, all registries include such details as a voter’s age; how long each voter has lived in the state, county, and district; as well as any special remarks deemed useful by the Board of Elections, such as whether a voter is an African American, and whether a voter is illiterate or disabled. Some registries include further descriptive information, such as a voter’s height, weight, hair color, and distinguishing features.
This collection is an especially excellent resource for researchers interested in Brooklyn’s housing history and/or genealogy. While there is no appointment necessary to view the collection, please be advised that the majority of the registries are in extremely fragile condition and should be handled with the utmost care.
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 Historical Atlases, 1846-1932
The Brooklyn Historical Society possesses a collection of historical atlases of Brooklyn spanning the years 1846-1932. The atlases included in the collection were generated for various purposes, i.e., for insurance purposes, for use by real estate brokers and/or lawyers, for the mapping of farm lines, or for the use of government officials. The intended purpose of each atlas reflects which features of the surveyed area are emphasized.
As the atlases advance chronologically, so too do they advance in technical sophistication. Depending on the level of detail, atlases can include information such as the material content of every building, house and block numbers, content and condition of pavement, street status and usability, locations of sewers and water mains, locations of subway and rail lines, plate boundaries, section and ward division lines, and original farm lines, among further information.
This collection is an excellent historical resource for researchers looking to map the changes that have occurred to the neighborhoods of Brooklyn over time. Collectively, the atlases present a nearly exhaustive survey of the borough of Brooklyn as it existed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Most atlases are physically represented in the collection, but some are only available on microfiche. The collection is accompanied by a navigational index. For each atlas, the index lists the atlas number (and location within the collection); microfilm reel; date of publication; author/surveyor; title, including the townships and/or wards surveyed; and neighborhoods included.
Click here to view the atlas index.
There is no appointment required to view this collection.
Brooklyn and Long Island Scrapbooks, ca. 1860-1960
This collection is an accumulation of clippings from numerous Brooklyn and Long Island newspapers and magazines during the period ca. 1860-1960. The original clippings were assembled by staff members of the Brooklyn Historical Society. Due to the deterioration of the original clippings, they now exist only on microfilm. The collection numbers a total of 168 volumes, and its exhaustive scope makes it an excellent account of daily life in Long Island and Brooklyn from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries.
The collection is accompanied by a navigational card index, which is separated into two sections, one dedicated to Long Island, the other to Brooklyn. Within each major division, the catalog is organized alphabetically by subject, individual, or business/organization. Each card lists the volume and page numbers on which its described contents can be found.
Newspapers and magazines represented in the collection include The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Brooklyn Times, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s Weekly, Suffolk County News, The Long Island Forum, The Long Island Press, The World-Journal Tribune, and The New York Mirror, among many others.
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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Bishop Family Papers (1828-1879)
ArMs 1977.316
The Reverend Alexander Hamilton Bishop was pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Astoria, Long Island. His wife, Susan Holmes (1817-1847), was the daughter of Obadiah Holmes (1790-1867) and Sarah Van Wyck (1793-1825), who descended from two well-known Long Island families.
The Bishop Family Papers are a collection of two play scripts written by Reverend Bishop, a family almanac with added pages noting weather conditions, family correspondence, and a journal kept by Susan Holmes during a trip to Europe, Asia Minor, and Africa before her marriage to Reverend Bishop.
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Records of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1843-1979. 14 manuscript boxes and 3 record cartons (10 cu. ft.)
Accession Numbers 1985.073 and 2005.054
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences is a multidimensional cultural education institution located in the heart of Brooklyn, N.Y. near Prospect Park. It started as a library in 1823, but grew to include museums, botanical gardens, and artistic education programs, most of which were added between the years 1890 and 1911. In the face of financial restraints brought on by the Depression, the Institute began narrowing its focus, and the different branches became more and more independent. Some, such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, are now independently operated.
The Records of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences contain publications, correspondence, and financial records. The publications, both hard and softbound, make up roughly 85% of the collection and include programs and exhibition catalogs. The collection is organized by four different divisions, which are based on the different thematic functions of the Brooklyn Institute, including General Administration, Education, Museums, and Botanic Gardens.
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Bedell and Conklin Family Collection, 1839-1917. 1 record carton (1 cubic foot).
ArMs 2005.021
Ebenezer Conklin was an employee or associate of the Peter Cooper glue factory and millworks, as well as a landlord and property owner. He and his wife Sarah Aletta Clowes had five children, two of whom are represented in this collection. Nathaniel Augustus, their third child, served in the Civil War. Sarah, the eldest, married George Bedell, the son of William Bedell, chief proprietor of a straw and feed company. William Bedell may also have been Ebenezer Conklin’s business partner for a time.
The Bedell and Conklin Family Collection contains financial records, family correspondence, and a small collection of ephemera. The financial records of Ebenezer Conklin make up the greatest part of the collection and pertain to all aspects of Conklin’s financial life. The financial records of his descendants and relatives generally concern only building repairs and tax records pertaining to various properties. The collection also includes two account books of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Bushwick spanning the years 1876-1884, correspondence reflecting Nathaniel Augustus’ experience in the Civil War, letters from Nathaniel Augustus to his father, and ephemera such as business cards and promotional materials. See the full finding aid for descriptions of additional items.
Access Points:
Personal Names
Bedell Family
Conklin Family
Conklin, Ebenezer
Conklin, Nathaniel Augustus
Bedell, Elbert
Bedell, George
Bedell, Sarah
Topics
Church records and registers-Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Land titles-Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Real property-Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Retail trade-Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
United States-History-Civil War, 1861-1865
Geographic Terms
Bushwick (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)-Social life and customs
Camp Russell A. Alger (Va.)
Williamsburg (New York, N.Y.)
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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.
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Oral History, 2007-2008. Sound recordings: 60 wav files.
2008.030
The 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.
Audio clips from these oral history interviews were included in the exhibit Reflections on Community Development: Stories from Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (BHS 2008, Restoration 2009).
Recordings of these interviews may be listened to in the library.
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