Archives & Library Special Collections
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Call Number: ARC.212
Extent: 28.0 cubic feet, in 75 boxes: 32 manuscript boxes, 38 flat boxes, and 5 small boxes.
The Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims and Henry Ward Beecher collection traces the career of the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, the well known 19th century preacher, and the history of Plymouth Congregational Church, of which Beecher was the first pastor. Plymouth Church was a major institution in 19th century Brooklyn, first gaining recognition on national and international levels as Beecher’s pulpit. Beecher was well known for his oratorical ability and for his vocal opposition to slavery and support of the Northern cause during the Civil War. He also spoke out on subjects ranging from women’s suffrage and evolution to organized labor and temperance. Beecher was a popular figure despite controversy that surrounded his activities, including a charge of adultery that resulted in a widely reported trial in 1875.
The collection relates principally to Beecher’s pastorate at Plymouth Church from 1847 until his death in 1887. Other materials, ranging through 1980, concern the church’s other pastors and the history of Plymouth Church itself, which consolidated with the Church of the Pilgrims in 1934. The papers provide insight into the church congregation’s various activities, illustrate the history of Beecher’s influence on his congregation and on 19th century congregationalism, and shed light on both the public and private life of a major American personality of the 19th century.
Names:
- Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887
- Abbott, Lyman, 1835-1922
- Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1897
- Beecher, William Constantine, b. 1849
- Durkee, J. Stanley, 1866-1951
- Fifield, Lawrence Wendell, b. 1891
- Hibben, Paxton, 1880-1928
- Hillis, Newell Dwight, 1858-1929
- Hunt, Rose Ward
- Tilton, Elizabeth M. Richards, b. 1834
- Tilton, Theodore, 1835-1907
- Bethel of Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). Sunday School
- Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Henry Ward Beecher Literary and Debating Society (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Henry Ward Beecher Missionary Circle (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.). Sunday School
- Plymouth Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Plymouth Institute (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Ellinwood, T. J., 1830-1921
- King, Horatio C., 1837-1918
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Church history
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Religious life and customs
- Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- United States — Religion
Subjects:
- Plymouth chimes (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Abolitionists — New York (State)
- Adultery — New York (State) — Kings County
- Antislavery movements — United States
- Authors, American
- City clergy — New York (State) — New York
- Clergy as authors
- Congregational churches — New York (State) — Kings County — Clergy
- Congregationalists — New York (State) — Kings County
- Lectures and lecturing — New York (State) — Kings County
- Pews and pew rights
- Reformers — United States
- Religious education of children — New York (State) — Kings County
- Religious institutions — New York (State) — Kings County
- Sunday schools — New York (State) — Kings County
- Trials (Adultery) — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
- Church newsletters
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Cylinder phonographs (phonographs)
- Photographs
- Picture postcards
- Scrapbooks
- Sermons
- Typescripts
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Call Number: 1977.180
Extent: 1.6 Linear feet, in two folders and one oversize flat box
The Andrew J. Provost collection of Bushwick, N.Y., family papers includes documents compiled by Provost and his son likely in connection, at least in part, with their genealogical research and writings. The documents include deeds, indentures, wills, and property maps ranging from 1653 to 1835, some with certifications and other official notations ranging to 1859. The earliest original document is 1709; documents dated from the 1600s are nineteenth century certified copies. The materials concern Bushwick (Kings County, N.Y.) families and property, including that in the Greenpoint section (now part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn). Surnames appearing in the collection include Arundius, Bennet, Calyer, Cappoens, Meserole/Miserol, Praa, Provost, and Volckertsen, among others.
Names:
- Provost, Andrew J., 1834-1925
- Bennet family
- Calyer family
- Meserole family
- Praa family
- Provost family
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Bushwick (New York, N.Y.)
- Bushwick (New York, N.Y.) — Manuscript maps
- Greenpoint (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Genealogy
- Real property — New York (State) — Kings County
Types of material:
- Cadastral maps
- Deeds
- Family papers
- Indentures
- Manuscript maps
- Wills
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Call Number: ARC.282
Extent: 0.5 Linear feet, in one manuscript box and one flat box
The Luquer and Payne families papers (1822-1980) center on the Reverend Lea Luquer (1833-1919) and his wife, Eloise Elizabeth (nee Payne) (1834-1894), with material related to earlier and later generations of their family and related families, including Low, Lynch and Pierrepont. The collection includes Eloise’s journal of her 1874 travels in Western Europe with Lea. There are several editions of “The S.S.S.S. Gazette” (1876-1879), handwritten collections of poems and stories authored principally by the children of Lea and Eloise Luquer. There are nineteenth century indentures and other agreements concerning property in Brooklyn Heights, New York City, and Westchester County (N.Y.). Many of these relate to the estates of Nicholas Luquer (1810-1864) and Thatcher Taylor Payne (died 1863). The collection includes Payne and Luquer family genealogical documents compiled in the twentieth century, and records of burial plots at Green-Wood Cemetery for members of the Low, Luquer, Lynch, and Pierrepont families, among others. There is correspondence from Henry Evelyn Pierrepont to his wife (1865-1866) and documents concerning Seth Low Pierrepont’s disposition of property from the family home at One Pierrepont Place in Brooklyn, circa 1941. The collection holds a few Civil War era documents related to the Confederate States of America, including bonds and military correspondence.
Names:
- Luquer family
- Luquer, Eloise Elizabeth
- Luquer, Lea
- Luquer, Nicholas
- Luquer, Thatcher T. P.
- Lynch family
- Overmyer, Grace
- Payne family
- Payne, John Howard, 1791-1852
- Pierrepont family
- Pierrepont, Henry Evelyn, 1808-1888
- Pierrepont, Seth Low
- Green-Wood Cemetery (New York, N.Y.)
- White Star Line
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- Europe — Description and travel
- New York (N.Y.)
- Southern States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865
- Westchester County (N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Cemeteries — New York (State) — Kings County
- Decedents’ estates — New York (State)
- Genealogy
- Ocean travel
- Real property — New York (State)
Types of material:
- Bonds (legal records)
- Correspondence
- Diaries
- Family papers
- Indentures
- Invoices
- Journals (accounts)
- Manuscripts (document genre)
- Receipts (financial records)
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Call Number: ARC.263
Extent: 94.55 Linear feet, in 7 manuscript boxes and 85 flat boxes
The Pierrepont family papers (1761-1918) document the intersection of commercial, civic and personal interests across three generations of one of the most prominent and influential families of nineteenth century Brooklyn, New York. The bulk of the collection concerns the business dealings of Henry Evelyn Pierrepont from 1838 to his death in 1888. This especially includes an extensive set of accounting and transactional records concerning the Pierrepont Stores, the family’s warehouse on Brooklyn’s East River waterfront; these include records of ships arriving at the Stores and their cargoes delivered. Additionally, there are substantive correspondence, legal documents and other materials concerning the Union Ferry Company, of which Henry was an officer. In addition to commerce and shipping, a major theme of the collection is that of land acquisition in Brooklyn Heights and at the adjacent waterfront in the early nineteenth century, and the development of that property over the course of the century. Included in the collection are correspondence, deeds, indentures, leases, accounting records, diaries, maps, invoices, receipts, business proposals, legal filings, clippings, and historical and genealogical manuscripts.
Names:
- Pierrepont family
- Pierpont, Hez. B., 1768-1838
- Pierrepont, Henry Evelyn, 1808-1888
- Pierrepont, Henry Evelyn, 1845-1911
- Pierrepont, John Jay, 1849-1923
- Brooklyn Heights Railroad Company
- Covered Tube Cable Railway Co. (Brooklyn, New York, NY)
- Long Island Historical Society
- Nassau Cable Railway Company of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, New York, NY)
- Pierrepont Stores (Brooklyn, New York, NY)
- Union Ferry Company (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Maps
- Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- East River (N.Y.)
Subjects:
- Bonded warehouses and goods — New York (State) — New York
- Business enterprises — New York (State) — New York
- Ferries — New York (State) — New York
- Imports — New York (State) — New York
- Landowners — New York (State) — New York
- Real estate development — New York (State) — New York
- Real property — Ownership — New York (State) — New York
- Shipping — New York (State) — New York
- Waterfronts — New York (State) — New York
Types of material:
- Account books
- Cadastral maps
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Daybooks
- Deeds
- Diaries
- Indentures
- Invoices
- Journals (accounts)
- Ledgers (account books)
- Manuscript maps
- Manuscripts (document genre)
- Scrapbooks
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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.
Portrait Collection, 1700-2000
25 boxes (10.42 linear feet)
Photographs and printed matter, including reproductions of drawings, engravings, and paintings, featuring people from Brooklyn and beyond ranging from the 18th to 20th centuries. Organized alphabetically by last name of the person featured in the portrait.
Subjects:
- Portraits
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
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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 (pdfs available). Recordings are not currently available to researchers.
Pfizer Brooklyn Oral History, 2007. Sound recordings: 27 wav files
2008.029
The Brooklyn Historical Society and Pfizer, Inc., initiated the Pfizer Brooklyn Oral History project in June 2007. 25 in-depth interviews were conducted with past and current employees. The Pfizer pharmaceutical company was founded in Brooklyn in 1849, and in 2007 the company planned to close this founding plant location over the next two years (by 2009).
Recordings of these interviews may be listened to in the library. Transcripts of the interviews may be read in the library.
Call Number: ARC.050
Extent: 8.0 Linear feet, in 16 manuscript boxes
The Rev. John Howard Melish (1874-1969) was pastor at the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn, New York (1904-1949), while his son, the Rev. William Howard Melish (1910-1986), was associate rector at the same church from 1938 to 1957. The bulk of this collection covers 1947-1958, a period of time during which the two clergymen, with the support of parish congregants, struggled to remain attached to the Church of the Holy Trinity despite efforts by the church vestry and the Episcopal Bishop of Long Island to remove them. In the midst of the Cold War era, the Melishes’ removal was sought because of, at least in part, the son’s role as Chairman of the National Council for Soviet-American Friendship. The bulk of the collection consists of clippings maintained by William Howard Melish, but also includes correspondence, notes, and other documents from Melish and his supporters, including congregant Anna May Mason. The collection also includes an audiotape of William Howard Melish’s remarks at the 1963 memorial service held for W. E. B. Du Bois in Ghana.
Names:
- Mason , Anna May
- Du Bois, W. E. B., 1868-1963
- Fletcher, Joseph F.
- Melish, John Howard, b. 1875
- Melish, William Howard, 1910-
- Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005
- Wager, Ralph Edmond, 1881-1979
- White, Bouck, 1874-1951
- Church of the Holy Trinity (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Melish Defense Committee
- National Council of American-Soviet Friendship (U.S.)
- Touchet, Francis H.
Places:
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — Church history
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) — History — Archival resources.
- Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.) — Intellectual life
Subjects:
- Anti-communist movements — United States — History — 20th century
- Church controversies — New York (State) — New York
- City churches — New York (State) — New York
- City clergy — New York (State) — New York
- Cold War — Religious aspects
- Cold War — Social aspects — New York (State) — New York.
- Cold War — Social aspects — United States
- Episcopalians United States
- Episcopalians — New York (State) — New York
Types of material:
- audiotapes
- Church bulletins
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Journals (periodicals)
- Legal documents
- Photographs
- Sermons
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