Archives & Library Special Collections
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Call Number: ARC.281
Extent: 2.4 Linear feet, in one manuscript box and one flat box
The Anita Lott Cruikshank collection (circa 1677-1892) consists of documents concerning various families, principally from Kings County (N.Y.) and principally concerning land and estate transactions. It is surmised that the materials were accumulated by various members of the Lott family, especially Jeremiah (1776-1861) and John A. Lott (1806-1878), of Flatbush (now part of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City) in the course of various private, public and professional activities. Many documents either concern a Lott as a party to the transaction or indicate a Lott performing an official responsibility or acting as estate executor, attorney, or in some other role as advocate. Accordingly, though many of the papers concern the Lott family, most of the collection concerns other families as well. The most important example of this is a set of papers concerning the Ludlow-Willink family of New York and Flatbush. These papers include documents regarding the commercial interests of Dutch merchant John Abraham Willink (died 1852) and his estate. Willink was married to Cornelia Ann Ludlow (1788-1865); documents from her family include estate, property, and professional papers for various Ludlows and related family ancestors, among these Charles Crooke and Anthony Rutgers of New York City. In addition to the towns of Kings County, documents in the collection refer to matters in New York City, Dutchess County (N.Y.), and Middlesex County (N.J.), among other places. Among the other surnames represented in the collection are Brownejohn, Cortelyou, Couwenhoven, Lefferts, Lloyd, Stryker, Van Brunt, Van der Bilt, and Vanderveer.
Names:
- Cruikshank, Anita Lott
- Cortelyou family
- Couwenhoven family
- Lefferts family
- Lott family
- Lott, Jeremiah, 1776-1861
- Lott, John A., 1806-1878
- Ludlow family
- Van Brunt family
- Vanderbilt family
- Vanderveer family
- Willink family
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Flatbush (New York, N.Y.)
- Gravesend (New York, N.Y.)
- Kings County (N.Y.)
- New York (N.Y.)
Subjects:
- County courts — New York (State) — Kings County
- Decedents’ estates — New York (State)
- Decedents’ estates — New York (State) — Kings County
- Families — New York (State) — Dutchess County
- Genealogy
- Lawyers — New York (State) — Kings County
- Real property — New York (State) — Dutchess County
- Real property — New York (State) — Kings County
- Real property — New York (State) — New York
Types of material:
- Bonds (legal records)
- Cadastral maps
- Correspondence
- Deeds
- Estate inventories.
- Family papers
- Indentures
- Leases
- Manuscript maps
- Receipts (financial records)
- Slave bills of sale
- Wills
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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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Secor, Flint and Cousins families collection, 1840-1971. 1.0 linear feet in 3 manuscript boxes and 3 boxes of special photographic formats.
Call number: ARC.192
This collection contains materials pertaining to the Flint, Secor, and Cousins families of New York from 1840-1971. Material types include correspondence, photographs, bound books, deeds, wills, indentures, marriage certificates, ephemera, and Civil War military passes and correspondence. Subjects of correspondence in this collection include travel, family health, and basic communicative efforts between family members over four generations. The photographs are primarily portraits of the Secor, Flint, and Cousins families during the turn of the twentieth century, though some images of the interiors and exteriors of homes are included.
Access Points:
Corporate Names
Geo. C. Flint & Co. (New York, N.Y.).
United States. Army. New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, 4th (1862-1865). — Correspondence
Family Names
Cousins family – Correspondence
Flint family – Correspondence
Secor family — Correspondence
Geographic Names
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
London (England) — description and travel
New York (State) — History — Civil War, 1861-1865
United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865.
Personal Names
Cousins, Cora L. Flint, 1850-1899
Cousins, Mary Lawrence Secor, 1862-1931
Egan, Cornelia Cousins, b. 1888
Flint, Alden, 1837-1872
Flint, Catherine M., 1810-1895
Flint, Cyrus, 1804-1869
Flint, George C., 1840-1924
Merrill, Mary L. Flint, 1848-1921
Secor, Cornelia A. Flint, 1836-1915
Secor, John G., 1833-1872
Subjects
Communication in families
Families — Health and hygiene
Family life
Furniture industry and trade — Louisiana — New Orleans
Furniture industry and trade — New York (State) — New York
Genealogy
Inheritance and succession
Voyages and travels
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Congregation Beth Elohim Oral History, 2010. Sound recordings: 6 digital audio WAV files (7hr, 14min)
2011.004
In 2010, the Brooklyn Historical Society partnered with Congregation Beth Elohim, a Reform synagogue founded in Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1861, to conduct an oral history with longtime member George Harris on the occasion of the Synagogue’s upcoming 150th anniversary (2011). The synagogue on 8th Avenue and Garfield Place was completed in 1910 and the Temple House across Garfield Place was completed in 1929.
In these interviews, George Harris talks about his childhood in Queens, lifelong friendships, his grandparents immigration experiences, education, religious education, his wife Katherine Harris’ conversion to Judaism, changes in Park Slope 1962-2010, and the community of Congregation Beth Elohim including influential rabbis and changes in ritual practice 1962-2010.
Recordings of these interviews and accompanying transcripts are available in the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library and at Congregation Beth Elohim.
Arnie Goldwag Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) collection. 20 boxes (13 document boxes, 5 record cartons, and 2 artifact boxes), 13.75 linear feet
Call number: ARC.002
The Arnie Goldwag Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) 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. In addition to Brooklyn CORE-related material, the collection includes material related to other 1960s activist groups, including those involved with civil rights, Vietnam War opposition, and draft resistance, among others.
Access Points:
Personal Names
Goldwag, Arnold
Lynn, Conrad J.
Mitchell, David Henry
Owens, Major R., (Major Robert Odell)
Subject Organizations
Alliance for Jobs or Income Now (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn Civil Rights Defense Committee (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Committee for Peace Organization
Congress of Racial Equality. Brooklyn Chapter
Congress of Racial Equality
End the Draft Committee
Freedom and Peace Party of New York State
Harlem Parents Committee
Metropolitan Council on Housing (New York, N.Y.)
New York World’s Fair (1964-1965)
Peace and Freedom Party (U.S.)
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
Youth Against War and Fascism.
Subject Places
Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) – History – Archival resources
Harlem (New York, N.Y.)
New York (N.Y.)
New York (N.Y.) — History – Archival resources
Subject Titles
Children’s rights reports
Downdraft
Ergo
Subject Topics
African Americans – Civil rights – New York (State) – New York
African Americans – Education – New York (State) — New York
African Americans – Employment – New York (State) – New York
African Americans – New York (State) – New York
Civil disobedience – New York (State) – New York
Civil rights demonstrations – New York (State) – New York
Civil rights movements – New York (State) – New York
Civil rights workers – New York (State) – New York
De facto school segregation – New York (State) — New York
Discrimination in employment – New York (State) – New York
Discrimination in housing – New York (State) – New York
Discrimination in public accommodations – Cambridge (Md.)
Government, Resistance to – New York (State) – New York
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., 1963
Minorities – Civil rights – New York (State) – New York
Police patrol – Surveillance operations
Race discrimination – New York (State) – New York
Rent strikes – New York (State) – New York
Reunions
Tenants’ associations — New York (State) — New York
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Crown Heights Oral History – Listen To This, 2010. Sound recordings: 22 CDs (80 minutes each)
2010.020
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.
Bennett family collection of Civil War correspondence and other material, 1832-1909. 0.25 linear feet in 1 manuscript box
Call number: ArMs 2009.012
This collection contains twenty-nine letters written by members of the Bennett, Tandy, and Van Winkle families between the years of 1832-1909. Twenty-two of the letters are written to or by soldiers while they served in the American Civil War. The content of the letters relates to the lives of Union soldiers regarding naval battles, camp life, and family matters. Other topics include the secession of the South, Lincoln’s candidacy, and family businesses. Some letters refer to New York’s 84th Regiment from Brooklyn, also known as the 14th Militia. Most of the letters were written to or by Winant Bennett while he served for the Union during the Civil War. transcriptions of the letters, though incomplete at points, are available. Several of the letters are on various forms of letterhead and some envelopes are included. Also included in the collection is a United States Treasury form, a certificate of membership to the Order of American Firemen for Abram Van Winkle Tandy, and a picture postcard of a bungalow at Laurel, Long Island.
Access Points:
Personal Names
Bennett family
Bennett, Harman, b. 1840
Bennett, Winant, b. 1829
Tandy family
Tandy, Abram Van Winkle
Tandy, Catharine M. Bennett, 1835-1892
Van Winkle, Frank
Corporate Names
United States. Army. New York Infantry Regiment, 84th (1861-1864).
Subject Places
United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865
United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865 — Health aspects
United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865 — Hospitals
United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865 — Social aspects
Subject Topics
Secession — Southern States
Soldiers
Soldiers — Family relationships — United States
Soldiers — United States — Correspondence
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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.
Records of the Central Congregational Society and Church (now Cadman Memorial Church), 1845-1945. 5 record cartons, 3 over-size.
ArMs 1989.003
The Central Congregational Society and Church was founded in 1858. In 1939 it was re-named in memory of Dr. Samuel Parkes Cadman (1864-1936), the church’s highly respected pastor and the leading Congregational clergyman in the US, as well as the first US radio preacher. In the 1950′s the church merged with the Clinton Avenue Congregational Church at the latter’s location, and afterward came to be known as “Cadman Memorial Congregational Church.”
This collection includes papers, correspondence, account books, deeds, bills, and publications from the Central Congregational Society of Brooklyn and its affiliates. Also included are member lists and baptism records that may be of particular interest to genealogists.
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Crown Heights Oral History – Bridging Eastern Parkway, 1993-1994. Sound recordings: 40 cassettes (90 minutes each)
ArMs 1994.006
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; we anticipate that recordings will be available for researchers to listen to in the library in the Spring of 2010.
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