Books
Search for books and periodicals about Brooklyn history, politics, development, and culture.
Search the Collections
The Library & Archives makes its materials available to all researchers. We welcome scholars, teachers and students at all levels, genealogists, artists, documentarians, and anyone else curious about the history of the area.
Archives and Special Collections
The archive and manuscript collections document the history of Brooklyn and Long Island from European settlement in the 1600s to the present. Request an appointment to view an archival collection by emailing [email protected] at least two days in advance.
Oral Histories
The oral history collections provide evidence about the lives of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Brooklyn residents.
Photographs
The photography collections at BHS include images documenting the built environment of Brooklyn and Long Island from the 1870s to the present.
Art and Artifacts
BHS’s art and artifact collections represent four centuries of Brooklyn’s visual and material culture. A selection are available to search online.
Film, Video, and Audio Recordings
Explore digitized film, video, and audio recordings from our collections.
Newspapers
The Long-Island Star, 1809-1840, the Brooklyn Daily Evening Star, 1841, and the Brooklyn Evening Star, 1841-1863, are keyword searchable at newspapers.com.
Land Conveyances
This collection documents Brooklyn land ownership from the late seventeenth century to 1896. Organized by block number, these abstracts show seller (grantor) and buyer (grantee) information.