Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs
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Abstract
Photographs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper's photo morgue, primarily dating to the two decades prior to the paper's 1955 closure.
Historical note
Founded in 1841 by Isaac Van Anden and Henry Cruse Murphy, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle was published as a daily newspaper for 114 consecutive years without missing a single issue. The newspaper, originally conceived as a temporary political forum for the 1842 election, ironically survived longer than its competitors and eventually absorbed all other Brooklyn daily papers except the Brooklyn Citizen. At one point the Eagle actually became the nation's most widely read afternoon newspaper. In a practice unusual among major metropolitan daily newspapers of that time period, the Eagle chronicled national and international affairs as well as local news and daily life in Brooklyn. As a result the Brooklyn Daily Eagle provides a window into Brooklyn's past, as well as documentation of national and international events that shaped history.
Brooklyn existed as an independent city until the consolidation of New York City in 1898. The Eagle played a vital role in the community of Brooklyn's self-identification as being separate from and even superior to Manhattan. For example, the paper took an active role in developing the Brooklyn Bridge as a symbol of Brooklyn's pride. The paper also coined Brooklyn's nickname "the borough of homes and churches." With offices in Brooklyn, New York, Washington, Paris and London, the Eagle became one of the borough's greatest institutions. Editors of the Eagle included Walt Whitman, Thomas Kinsella, St. Clair McKelway, Cleveland Rodgers, and Frank D. Schroth.
The rise and fall of the Eagle coincided with economic development in Brooklyn. The paper folded in 1955 after a prolonged strike called by the New York Newspaper Guild. At the time it closed the paper employed 681 people and did an annual business in the sum of approximately $6 million.
Arrangement
Approximately one tenth of the collection has been removed from its original order and refoldered under a separate subject heading structure. This section of the collection was formerly described as the "Annex Photographs" after the storage space where it was housed. It was also inaccurately called the "Brooklyn Subjects" section of the collection. It is now Series 1: Rearranged photographs.
Series 2 is physically arranged primarily in the original alphabetical order imposed upon the materials by the Eagle's staff, with some exceptions for size and condition as noted. This section of the collection was formerly known as the "Morgue Photographs," again after the storage space where they were housed, or (again inaccurately) as the "non-Brooklyn subjects" portion of the collection.
Intellectually, Series 2 has been divided into three sub-series: Personal names, Coporate names and organizations, and Subjects. Within these sub-series, sub-folder headings are listed in the Scope and Contents note of their parent folder for clarity.
Scope and Contents
This collection comprises over 200,000 black and white photographs, almost entirely from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper's photo morgue, primarily 8x10 black and white prints with some negatives and smaller and larger prints as well. The photographs are foldered alphabetically by subject.
Series 1 has been almost entirely digitized and made available on CBH's Digital Collections portal. It also includes a small percentage of photographs that were not part of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle photo morgue, but rather come from various other sources. Such photographs are often, but not always, identified by a folder heading that includes the caveat "non-Eagle." Many of the Brooklyn Public Library photographs in the collection are also not from the Eagle.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Topics
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use
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/descriptive title, date (if known); Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, BCMS.0002; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The records of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, including these photographs, were given to Brooklyn Public Library in 1957 by Frank D. Schroth, the paper's owner and publisher at the time of its closure. The library's ownership was clarified and additional paperwork was signed by Thomas N. Schroth in 1998.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
The collection's digital surrogates should be used in place of the originals whenever possible.
This collection is stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org at least three weeks prior to research visit.
Existence and Location of Copies
The digitized portions of Series 1 of this collection are available on CBH's digital collections portal.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Series 1 was created during a large-scale digitization project with this collection. The project removed select "Brooklyn subject" files from the overall collection and rearranged them by subject during the digitization process.
The folder listing that comprises the majority of Series 2 of this finding aid was completed by various Brooklyn Collection staff over the course of many years. As part of creating the folder listing, staff also removed the photographs from their original acidic folders and rehoused them in archival folders.
In May 2026, an itellectual rearrangement of the collection was completed by Dee Bowers.
