Archives & Library Special Collections
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Charles A. Ditmas collection, 1687-1935. 0.4 linear feet in one manuscript box
Call number: ARC.196
The Charles A. Ditmas collection contains manuscripts, correspondence, programs, images, and ephemera pertaining to Ditmas’s work at the Kings County Historical Society as a historian and genealogist. While the collection spans from 1687-1935, the bulk of the collection is dated between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to manuscript materials, this collection also contains a souvenir album entitled Brooklyn’s Garden Views of Picturesque Flatbush, photographs, and a transcription of a 1664 deed for Barrian Island between the Native Americans and John Tilton Senil and Sammuell Spicer of Gravesend. The majority of the research, notes, images, and manuscripts in this collection pertain to historic homesteads and families in Kings County (N.Y.).
Access Points:
Personal Names
Cortelyou family
Ditmars family
Ditmas, Charles A., 1887-1938
Lefferts family
Lott family
Martense family
Martense, Adrian V., (Adrian Vanderveer), 1852-1898
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 – Correspondence
Stillwell family
Story, William H.
Van Brunt family
Van Nuyse family
Van Pelt family
Vanderveer family
Voorhees family
Subject Organizations
Kings County Historical Society
Subject Places
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Flatbush (New York, N.Y.)
Flatbush (New York, N.Y.) — History
Flatlands (New York, N.Y.)
Subject Topics
Deeds — New York (State) — New York
Families — New York (State) — Kings County
Historic buildings — New York (State) — Kings County
Historic districts — New York (State) — Kings County
Historic preservation — New York (State) — Kings County
History — Societies, etc.
Indians of North America — New York (State)
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Daguerreotype collection, 1839 – 1865. 4 boxes (3 linear feet)
 DAG.10: This daguerreotype has a beautiful and ornate case. The Daguerreotype 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.
Daguerreotypes are photographs printed directly on copper plates that had been coated with silver and exposed to iodine vapors. They are generally considered to be the first successful photographic process, and were in common use from 1839 to 1850. Because the exposure time for early daguerreotypes could be between 5 and 70 minutes, they were primarily used for portraiture. Daguerreotypes are often difficult to view and photograph, because the silver plate is highly reflective. They were often hand-colored, and usually 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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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.
Walter O’Malley Brooklyn Dodgers Papers, 1946-1957. 1 cubic foot in 1 record carton.
Accessions 2004.003 and 1997.471
This collection of documents and news clippings is a selected portion of the papers of former Brooklyn National League Baseball Club (Brooklyn Dodgers) president Walter O’Malley. The bulk of the collection comprises correspondence and memoranda from 1946-57, covering the period of O’Malley’s roles as counsel to, and vice president of, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and afterward his ascension to the presidency of the organization in 1950.
The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, and reports, chiefly typewritten, some original letters and many carbon copies as typed by office staff. Other items include stadium plans, city committee and consulting engineers’ reports, press releases, and clippings from New York City and Brooklyn newspapers that cover the 1946-57 period. The material chiefly relates to the Dodgers’ efforts to secure a site and build a new stadium in Brooklyn to replace Ebbets Field, and failing to do so, the team’s move to Los Angeles in 1957. Included in these records is correspondence with such notable figures as city construction coordinator Robert Moses, Mayor Robert F. Wagner, New York State Governor Averell Harriman, Brooklyn Borough President John Cashmore, and architect/engineer Buckminster Fuller.
A number of documents includedin the collection are available for viewing on the Walter O’Malley website.
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The Dick Family Papers. 1 folder.
ArMs 1985.1
Archibald L. Dick (c.1793- 1856) of Brooklyn worked as an engraver, while his son, James L. Dick (c.J.833-l868), was an artist. James was also one of the founding members of the Brooklyn Art School and Academy of Design.
The Dick Family Papers consist of 26 items concerning the business affairs and careers of both Archibald and James Dick. Included in the collection are business documents, deeds, mortgages, wills, correspondence, engravings by Archibald Dick, James Dick’s obituary notice, and a photograph of James Dick in Civil War-era uniform, among other items.
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Nehemiah Denton papers (1785-1844). 0.5 linear feet in 1 manuscript box and 1 oversize flat box.
Call number ArMs 1977.171
Nehemiah Denton (1773-1844) was born in Jamaica, N.Y. His family were descended from Rev. Richard Denton who came to Hempstead, L.I. in 1650. He was related to Daniel Denton, one of the first settlers of Jamaica. Nehemiah Denton was a miller in Gowanus and a merchant in New York, and also owned land in Brooklyn. He attended the Dutch Reformed Church in Brooklyn and was appointed Elder in 1824. He was the director of Brooklyn’s first bank, the Long Island Bank, and was an assessor for the Town of Brooklyn in the 1820s and 30s.
The Nehemiah Denton Papers consist of more than 300 items in manuscript relating to the personal and business concerns of Denton. The time period covered is from 1785 to 1844, with the major portion of the collection dating from the late 1830s to 1844. The bulk of the material in the collection is in the form of legal papers, deeds, bills, receipts and account books. Items of special interest in this collection include a license to use the patented milling machinery designed by Oliver Evans, with a diagram of the machine on the back; and a bill of sale dated 1808 showing the purchase of a sixteen-year-old African-American boy for $80. Also, among the account books is one detailing the names and amounts paid by pew renters of the Dutch Reformed Church in Brooklyn from 1819 to 1826. Finally, Denton’s brother, Samuel, as well as a cousin named William Skidmore, are also briefly represented.
Access Points:
Corporate Names
Dutch Reformed Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.).
Subject Places
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Gowanus (New York, N.Y.)
Kings County (N.Y.)
Subject Topics
Bankers — New York (State) — Kings County
Church finance — Accounting
Community banks — New York (State) — Kings County
Genealogy
Mills and mill-work
Millers — New York (State) — Kings County
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Dutcher Family Papers, 1853-1909. 9 boxes (3.5 linear feet).
ArMs 1977.282
Silas B. Dutcher occupied various political appointments in New York City and Brooklyn during the period of 1861-1883. They included: Supervisor of Internal Revenue, Pension Agent, Appraiser of the Port of New York and New York Supervisor of Public Works. During the same period of time he worked in mercantile and financial positions such as director of Metropolitan Life Insurance, president of Union Dime Savings and the Hamilton Trust Company.
Beside his active public life, Dutcher was also deeply involved in his family and religious life. In 1859 he married Rebecca Jacobs’ Alwaise. They had eight children over the next twenty years: Dewit Parcefor, Edith, Malcolm, Elsie, Myra, Jessie, Eva and her twin Edna.
The Dutcher Family Papers are composed of materials in a variety of formats. They include the contents of four letter books (1868 – 1880) and eight letter copy books (1868 – 1884). Most of the correspondence involves Dutcher in either a political or business capacity. There are some family letters, as well as business correspondence never “filed” (i.e. glued into letter books). The loose letters span most of Dutcher’s public career, 1861-80.
Another major aspect of the collection are the assorted newspaper clippings kept by either Mr. or Mrs. Dutcher or their daughter Jessie. The subjects run the full gamut of political and social issues and cover the years 1853-1909. Other materials included are speech texts, manuscript and typewritten and printed versions delivered by or to Dutcher on various professional, political or personal occasions, business and financial documents and a variety of ephemera.
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Downtown Brooklyn Development Association, Inc., Records, 1929-1971. 9 document boxes (3.75 linear feet)
ArMs 1979.21
This collection comprises the subject files of the Downtown Brooklyn Development Association. The association was founded in 1929 as a civic group concerned with the problems of the business and shopping center in downtown Brooklyn. The papers are news clippings, correspondence, brochures, newsletters, pamphlets, legislative documents, photographs, city plans and maps, and other items relating to organizations and causes with which the association was involved. The majority of the documents were produced by external bodies or individuals but were integral the association’s activities. The three subjects most comprehensively addressed are the development of the Brooklyn Civic Center (Cadman Plaza), the redevelopment of Fulton Street, and traffic and transportation.
Subjects
- Abraham & Straus
- American Red Cross
- Better Business Bureau of New York City
- Blum, Robert E.
- Bourke-White, Margaret, 1904-1971
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)–Transit systems
- Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn Borough Hall (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn daily eagle
- Brooklyn Law School
- Brooklyn Public Library
- Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company
- Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (New York, N.Y.)
- Central business districts
- Citizens Budget Commission (New York, N.Y.)
- Citizens Union Foundation (New York, N.Y.)
- Citizens’ Zoning Committee, Inc.
- City planning
- Community centers–New York (State)–New York
- Courthouses New York (State)
- Davenport, Henry J.
- Downtown Brooklyn Development Association, Inc.
- Ebbets Field (New York, N.Y.)
- George Washington Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
- Holland Tunnel (New York, N.Y.)
- Independent Subway System
- Interborough Rapid Transit Company
- Lincoln Tunnel (New York, N. Y.)
- Local transit–New York (State)–New York
- Moses, Robert, 1888-1981
- New York (N.Y.). City Planning Commission
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Commerce and Industrial Development
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Correction
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Parks
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Public Works
- New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Traffic
- New York (N.Y.). Landmarks Preservation Commission
- New York Naval Shipyard
- Parks–New York (N.Y.)
- Post office buildings–New York (State)–New York
- Pratt Institute
- Railroads, Elevated
- Regional Plan Association (New York, N.Y.)
- Roscoe, Andrew S.
- Stamm, Godfrey A.
- Swift, Thomas A.
- Throgs Neck Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
- Transportation
- Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority
- Urban renewal–New York, N.Y.
- Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
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