Brooklyn Historical Society mixed manuscript collection
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Handwritten documents of various provenance that were artificially assembled by librarians at the Long Island Historical Society (now the Center for Brooklyn History). Documents primarily concern Kings, Queens, and Suffolk Counties in New York State. Most items are legal documents, such as court records, deeds, and bonds, but there are also government documents, military documents, letters and more.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in chronological order.
Scope and Contents
This collection contains mostly handwritten materials dating from 1626 to 1917. The collection was compiled by library staff at the Long Island Historical Society (now the Center for Brooklyn History). Documents primarily concern Kings, Queens, and Suffolk Counties in New York State, as well as the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The majority of the items document the business dealings of individuals, from indentures to deeds to letters of recommendation. Additional materials include election records, military documents, family papers, and one enslaved person's bill of sale. Specific individuals and families represented in the documents include Robert Fulton, the Pettet family, Samuel Spragg, and the Young family, among others. Notable items include a court release endorsed by Aaron Burr, a document signed by John Adams, and letters signed by Frederick Douglass. Documents of Kings County representatives of the Continental Congress, as well as a 19th century copy of a 1626 document in Dutch referencing the Dutch purchase of the island of Manhattan from Native Americans, are also included.
Subjects
Organizations
Families
Genres
People
Topics
Places
Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use
The materials in this collection are in the public domain. While many items at the Center for Brooklyn History are unrestricted, we do not own reproduction rights to all materials. Be aware of the several kinds of rights that might apply: copyright, licensing and trademarks. The researcher assumes all responsibility for copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Brooklyn Historical Society Mixed manuscript collection, 1974.037, Box and Folder number; Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
As a composite collection the source and date of acquisition for many of the materials is unknown. When known, the provenance is noted at the item level. The collection was first formally accessioned in 1974.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
If surrogates exist, they should be used in place of the originals whenever possible.
About this Guide
Processing Information
This collection was processed to the item level.
Oppressive descriptive language was remediated from the abstract note in this finding aid as part of an anti-racist descriptive language audit performed in January 2021. Folder titles were retained to maintain record of descriptive language of collection creators.
The collection was reprocessed by Dee Bowers in 2025. At that time, the collection's arrangement was changed from alphabetical to chronological, description was enhanced where possible, oversize documents were flattened and rehoused, and certain items were removed to other more appropriate collections: a Red Cross paper "flag" to the Brooklyn ephemera collection (BCMS.0007) and documents from the Order of the Eastern Star to the Fraternal organizations of Brooklyn collection (ARC.147). Provenance documentation filed with collection items was removed to the collection's accession folder.
