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.
William Richardson Papers (1853-1896). 5 linear inches.
ArMs 1977.169
William Richardson (1822-1893) was a prominent post-Civil War resident of Brooklyn. He owned the Atlantic Avenue Railroad Company, was active in the Republican Party, was an Alderman for the Twenty-Second Ward, and was involved in many civic causes.
The William Richardson Papers document the personal and business affairs of this Brooklyn businessman. The collection includes correspondence, railroad documents, family items, political and governmental documents, ephemera, and miscellaneous items concerning civic issues.
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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.
Brooklyn Roads, 1825-1883. 3 boxes, 0.5 linear ft.
ArMs 1977.337
This is a collection of petitions from citizens, reports, contracts, surveys, and assessment notices for public improvements in the City of Brooklyn. Nearly all of the items were addressed to the Brooklyn Common Council and then referred to the Assessment, Law, or Street committees.
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Washington Roebling-Brooklyn Bridge Collection 1873-1879. 1 manuscript box (0.5 cubic feet). ArMs 1977.259
This collection consists of notes, letters, engineering computations, reports, specifications, inventories and technical newspaper clippings, dated 1873-1879, all relating to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, and includes notes to “Col. Roebling” and some items in his hand.
This is a fragmentary collection consisting of items rescued from a rubbish heap at a city-owned building being demolished in April, 1966.
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Richetta Randolph Wallace Papers, 1906-1971. 5 boxes (2.5 cubic feet).
ArMs 1978.137
Richetta Randolph Wallace was the first member of the administrative staff for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She later became the NAACP’s office manager and was private secretary to NAACP officers James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and Walter White (1893-1955). She also served as Clerk of the Conference for NAACP annual conferences. In 1945, Ms. Randolph became the Clerk of the Board and Confident Secretary to the Executive Secretary. At the time Ms. Randolph first became associated with the NAACP (circa 1910), it was just being established and several items in her collection shed light on how the organization began.
The collection consists of Randolph’s personal and business papers. Her personal papers consist of items such as correspondence, receipts, manuscripts, newspaper clippings and personal ephemera including many brochures and pamphlets as well as a scrapbook and cards. The collection also includes materials concerning court cases involving civil rights, lynchings, and murders of African Americans in the United States. The bulk of the material addresses issues in African-American history and civil rights, some pertaining to the NAACP, others to her involvement in a historical black church and to her interest in African American literary arts.
Access Points:
- Johnson, James Weldon, 1871-1938
- Ovington, Mary White, 1865-1951
- Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-
- Randolph, Richetta G.
- Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964
- White, Walter Francis, 1893-1955
- Mount Olivet Baptist Church (New York, N.Y.)
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- African-American Churches-New York (State)-New York
- African Americans-History-1877-1964
- Civil Rights-United States
- Lynching-United States
- Clippings
- Correspondence
- Ephemera
- Galley Proofs
- Pamphlets
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Bennet Ryder Collection, circa 1676-1915. 2 boxes and 1 oversize box (1.25 linear feet).
ARC 001
The Bennets, Lakes, Stillwells and Van Sicklens were English families who lived in the Netherlands and then emigrated to New Amsterdam in the mid-17th century. William Adrianse Bennet settled Gowanus for the Dutch in 1636, while Jan Lake, Nicholas Stillwell and Dutchman Fernandus Van Sicklen were part of the group that settled the English town of Gravesend with Lady Deborah Moody in 1643.
This collection contains historical documents created by the descendants of these early English and Dutch settlers in Colonial New Amsterdam. The collection is divided into two series. The first series contains the papers of descendants of the Bennets and Ryders and the second contains the papers of the descendants of the Lake, Stillwell and Van Sicklen families. The documents, the majority of which are wills, deeds and indentures, were created from 1670-1915.
Access Points:
Deeds–New York (State)–Kings County
Coney Island (New York, N.Y. )
Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church (New York, N.Y.)
Gowanus (New York, N.Y.)
Gravesend (New York, N.Y.)
New Utrecht (New York, N.Y.)
Wills–New York (State)–Kings County
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The Recreation Rooms and Settlement Collection, 1905-1991, 2.5 linear feet
ArMs 1994.014
The Recreation Rooms and Settlement Collection documents the work of the settlement, originally established to provide educational and recreational opportunities for Jewish immigrant women, from its early years on the Lower East Side of Manhattan through its current activity in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn. While material in the collection spans from 1905 to 1991, the bulk of the records are from the period 1953-1991. Included in the collection are: board of directors minutes and appended administrative reports, by-laws, annual reports, program files, executive director correspondence, flyers, news clippings, photoprints, fundraising records, budgets, histories and brochures.
Subjects
- Brooklyn Council for Social Planning
- Christadora House
- Citizen’s Housing Council of New York
- Clara de Hirsch Literary Club
- Council of Jewish Women (U.S.)
- East Side Tenants League
- Educational Alliance (New York, N.Y.)
- Emergency Committee to Save Public Housing
- Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York
- Lower East Side Neighborhood Association
- Mobilization for Youth
- National Jewish Welfare Board
- National Multiple Sclerosis Society (U.S.)
- New York (N.Y.). City Planning Commission
- New York City Housing Authority
- Recreation Rooms and Settlement
- Recreation Rooms and Settlement
- Rivington Neighborhood Association (New York, N.Y.)
- United States. Works Progress Administration
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)–Charities
- Lower East Side (New York, N.Y.)
- Adler, Felix, 1851-1933
- Berger, Graenum
- Davis, Gloria
- Koch, Ed, 1924-
- Community centers–New York (State)–New York
- Jews–Charities
- Social settlements–United States
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