Series 7: Brownstone Revival Comittee records, 1967-2008, inclusive

Scope and Contents

The series contains files relating to the Brownstone Revival Committee (BRC) (later Brownstone Revival Coalition), dating from 1967 to 2008. It includes organizational records, lecture and workshop files, copies of the Brownstone calendar, and issues of the organization's publication, The Brownstoner.

Additional files related to the BRC can be found in Series 3: Everett and Evelyn Ortner personal papers, Series 5: Brooklyn and Historic Preservation lectures, Series 6: Brooklyn and Historic Preservation general files, Series 8: Back to the City Conference, Series 9: Brownstones and Historic Preservation clippings, and Series 10: Brownstone correspondence.

Arrangement

The series is organized into five sub-series:

Sub-series 7.1: Brownstone Revival Committee administrative records

Sub-series 7.2: Brownstone Revival Committee lectures, seminars, and workshops

Sub-series 7.3: The Brownstoner

Sub-series 7.4: Brownstone calendars and photographs

Sub-series 7.5: H. Dickson McKenna files

Sub-series 7.1: Brownstone Revival Committee administrative records, 1967-2008, inclusive

Extent

5.85 Linear Feet in two manuscript boxes, four folders, and two oversize folder

Scope and Contents

The sub-series contains administrative records of the Brownstone Revival Committee (BRC) (later the Brownstone Revival Coalition), dating from 1967 to 2008. They include Board of Directors files, correspondence, reports, financial records, photographs, home-buyer's guides, one scrapbook, and ephemera.

The BRC organized the first Back to the City conference in 1974, and some files related to that conference are found in this sub-series.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

BRC Historic, 1967-2004, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Text)

General

Includes 1979-1986 board meeting minutes

Home-Buyer's Guide to New York City Brownstone Neighborhoods, 1969, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Text)

BRC - General I, 1969-1975, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Text)

BRC - General II, 1968-1974, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Text)

BRC - General III, 1970-1986, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Text)

BRC "Gems", 1970s-1998, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Text)

General

Includes Park Slope walking tour, Gowanus typescript by John Muir, lists of recommended professionals and craftpersons, and other documents

BRC vs. IRS, 1970-1971, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone Surveys, 1971-2002, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Text)

Back to the City tour, 1974, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Text)

BRC - Publicity, 1974-1976, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Text)

General

Includes Back to the City

BRC bank, mortgages, and bankers, 1975-1976, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Text)

BRC board meetings, 1977-1983, inclusive

Box: 27, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Text)

General

Includes financial records

BRC Guide to New York City's Fine Old Neighborhoods (fourth edition), 1979, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone Revival Committee scrapbook, 1979-1980, inclusive

Box: 77, Folder: - (Material Type: Graphic Materials)

Brownstone Revival Committee and Brownstone Fairs, 1980-1987, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Text)

General

Includes photograph of Brooklyn Borough President Sebastian Leone and Brooklyn Union Gas Company President Eugene Luntey with Brownstone billboard

Reverse Mortgages, 1982-1994, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Text)

General

Includes Ortners' reverse mortgage application for 272 Berkeley Place and issues of the Brownstoner (Spring and Winter 1989, Spring 1990, and Fall 1993)

Brownstone Revival Coalition of New York, 1982-2007, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Text)

Brooklyn Brownstone Fair posters, 1986, inclusive

Box: 75, Folder: - (Material Type: Graphic Materials)

General

Oversize

BRC brochure layout, 1986, inclusive

Box: 75, Folder: - (Material Type: Graphic Materials)

General

Oversize

BRC correspondence, 1986-2000, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstoner Ad appeal/rates, 1986-2004, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone Awards, 1989-1993, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Text)

BRC membership forms, circa 1990s, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Text)

Grants, 1990-1996, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Text)

BRC miscellaneous, 1995-1998, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Text)

BRC Board of Directors, 1996-1997, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Text)

BRC brochure, 1996-2001, inclusive

Box: 28, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Text)

BRC bills, 1996-2003, inclusive

Box: 29, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Text)

BRC board meetings and mailing lists, 2008, inclusive

Box: 29, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Text)

Sub-series 7.2: Brownstone Revival Committee lectures, seminars, and workshops, 1970-2004, inclusive

Extent

0.65 Linear Feet in twelve folders

Scope and Contents

The sub-series contains files relating the lectures, workshops, and seminars produced by the Brownstone Revival Comittee (later the Brownstone Revival Coalition), dating from 1970 to 2004. It includes correspondence, flyers, programs, lecture notes, slide lists, and photographs.

Additional lectures delivered by EHO, some of which may have been produced by the Brownstone Revival Committee, can be found in Sub-series 3.1: Personal papers, memorabilia, and photographs, Sub-series 3.3: Publicity, and Series 5: Brooklyn and Historic Preservation lectures. Slides were used by EHO in his lectures can be found in Sub-series 4.3: Brooklyn and Historic Preservation slides.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

BRC lectures, 1970-1974, inclusive

Box: 25, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Text)

BRC lecture notes and slide lists (2 folders), 1970s-2004, inclusive

Box: 25, Folder: 7-8 (Material Type: Text)

BRC lecture, "A New Skyline for Brownstone Brooklyn?", 1990-2002, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Text)

item: digital files (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Conditions Governing Access

Access to digital materials is available onsite at the Othmer Library. Requests to access digital materials must be made at least 2 days in advance by emailing library@brooklynhistory.org.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Donated on one 3.5 inch floppy disk, containing two digital files in .dat and .doc formats. Digital ID arc_306_media_001.

BRC seminars, 1996, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Text)

BRC fall seminars, 1998, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Text)

BRC workshops, 1980-2001, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Text)

BRC workshop, 1990, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Text)

General

Includes photographs

BRC workshop, 1991, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Text)

BRC workshop, 1992, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Text)

BRC workshop, 1994, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Text)

BRC workshop, 2001, inclusive

Box: 26, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Text)

Sub-series 7.3: The Brownstoner, 1968-2005, inclusive

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet in three folders

Scope and Contents

The sub-series contains issues of The Brownstoner, the newsletter for the Brownstone Revival Committee (later the Brownstone Revival Coalition), dating from 1968 to 2005. The newsletter includes articles on historic home renovation, state and local legislation concerning historic homes and home buying, finances (mortgages, insurance, etc.), cultural events, street beautification, walking tours and lectures, landmarking, and gentrification.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

The Brownstoner, 1968-1970, inclusive

Box: 20, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1971-1972, inclusive

Box: 20, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1973-1974, inclusive

Box: 20, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1975-1976, inclusive

Box: 20, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1977-1978, inclusive

Box: 20, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1979-1980, inclusive

Box: 21, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1981-1982, inclusive

Box: 21, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1983-1985, inclusive

Box: 21, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1986-1987, inclusive

Box: 21, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1988-1989, inclusive

Box: 21, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1990-1992, inclusive

Box: 22, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1993-1997, inclusive

Box: 22, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Text)

The Brownstoner, 1998-2005, inclusive

Box: 22, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Text)

Sub-series 7.4: Brownstone calendars and photographs, 1985-2006, inclusive

Extent

0.65 Linear Feet in thirteen folders

Scope and Contents

The sub-series consists of calendars produced by the Brownstone Revival Committee (later the Brownstone Revival Coalition) and copy photographs (prints, negatives, and contact sheets) that were featured in the calendars, dating from 1985 to 2006. The calendars include images of 19th century New York (primarily Manhattan) and advertisements for businesses related to brownstones and historic home renovation. The photographs portion of the sub-series includes some images that were not used in the calendars. The sub-series does not include calendars for the following years: 1986, 1987, and 2003.

Additional copy slides of images used in the calendar can be found in Sub-series 4.3: Brooklyn and Historic Preservation slides.

Arrangement

The sub-series is subdivided into calendars and photographs. Each section is arranged chronologically.

Brownstone calendars, 1985, 1988-1997

Box: 22, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendars, 1998-2002, 2004-2006, inclusive

Box: 22, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Prints and negatives, circa 1980s-1990s, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Text)

General

Includes photograph of EGO and Clem Labine

Brownstone calendar - Negatives and contact sheets, 1988, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Prints and negatives, 1990, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Prints, 1991, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Pix not used, 1991, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Negatives, 1991-1992, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Prints and negatives, 1994-1995, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Prints and negatives, 1998-1999, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Prints, negatives, and captions, 2002, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Negatives, 2003, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Text)

Brownstone calendar - Prints, 2000s, inclusive

Box: 23, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Text)

Sub-series 7.5: H. Dickson McKenna files, 1972-1994, inclusive

Extent

1.8 Linear Feet in three folders and one oversize folder

Scope and Contents

The sub-series contains the Brownstone Revival Committee (BRC) and Back to the City Conference records of H. Dickson McKenna, dating from 1972 to 1994. McKenna was an organizer and speaker at the first Back to the City Conference in 1974, and served as the Treasurer and board member of the BRC in the 1980s and 1990s.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

H. Dickson McKenna's Back to the City file, 1972-1974, inclusive

Box: 29, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Text)

H. Dickson McKenna's BRC board files, 1981-1982, inclusive

Box: 29, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Text)

H. Dickson McKenna's BRC board files, 1985-1994, inclusive

Box: 29, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Text)

H. Dickson McKenn'as BRC financial records, 1984-1992, inclusive

Box: 72, Folder: - (Material Type: Text)

General

Oversize