Local Newspapers on Microfilm Collection

The Local Newspapers on Microfilm Collection consists of 89 neighborhood and Brooklyn-wide newspapers covering the years 1835-1999. Each of the papers, varying widely in scope of coverage, generally includes information on politics, business, education, church events, sports, entertainment, and community happenings. Some papers provide coverage of international events while others are exclusively devoted to events in Brooklyn. Since no two papers are identical in scope the individual descriptions should be consulted to discover the precise contents of each paper.

After the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ceased operations in 1955, Brooklyn was left without a single comprehensive news source covering life in Brooklyn. Because of this, this collection is an invaluable resource for discovering information about the borough. In addition to articles on daily life, many of the papers in the collection also contain obituaries, wedding notices, and birth announcements – providing a useful resource for researchers looking for genealogical traces beyond 1955. In addition to its usefulness as a genealogical tool, the collection also provides a window into immigrant communities; the collection includes newspapers devoted to Norwegian, Finnish, Syrian, Lebanese, Lithuanian, and Russian communities. Papers devoted to covering Jewish communities as well as African-American communities are also included in the collection.

Please note that the date range 1835-1999 does not represent continuous coverage but rather reflects the earliest date and the latest date covered. Likewise, not every neighborhood is covered during every year of that date range. Refer to the individual descriptions to discover the dates for any given neighborhood newspaper.