Finding Answers to the Impossible at the Brooklyn Historical Society

Post written by Jeff Edelstein, Reference Intern, May 2013

As my internship at the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library approaches its end, I have been looking over the dozens of queries that I have responded to since my arrival at the beginning of the academic school year in September, and I am struck by the number of times when at least some information to seemingly impossible questions was available using resources readily available in the library. Two such resources that I consulted frequently are the Brooklyn & Long Island Scrapbooks collection of newspaper clippings and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac. Both are available for public use during regular library hours; no appointment is necessary.

Scrapbook Collection

Compiled by library staff, the Brooklyn & Long Island Scrapbooks collection is a rich trove of articles, dating roughly from the 1860s to the 1960s, clipped from a number of local newspapers about Brooklyn’s past, including many articles about daily life; it includes many nostalgia pieces from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in the 1950s that recall old traditions and neighborhoods. The collection is available for viewing on microfiche and searchable via the sort of old-fashioned card catalog subject index that those of us over a certain age will recall fondly.

One question I fielded early in my internship made reference to the June Walk of 1914. What was the June Walk? Given my inexperience at the time, it didn’t seem as if I could possibly find something to say in reply. I gave the Scrapbook Collection a try, just in case, but there was nothing in the card catalog under “June Walk.” So I took a step back, searching generally online, where I learned that the June Walks were held on Anniversary Day, a unique Brooklyn holiday created by the Brooklyn Sunday School Union to commemorate the founding of Sunday schools in Brooklyn. I found this initial information in a 2012 blog post on a site called The New York World. The Gothamist site provides further information in a 2007 post called Anniversary Day and the Kids Are Out of School.

Dating back to the 1830s, Anniversary Day celebrations included a parade, but it was not until 1905 that the date was fixed as a school holiday on the first Thursday in June. In 1959 the holiday was renamed Brooklyn-Queens Day in order to decouple the school holiday from the religious origins of the event; by 2005 the school closure was extended to all five New York City boroughs. Kids may still enjoy the day off, but for teachers, it is now officially Chancellor’s Conference Day.

[Anniversary Day Parade] ca. 1915, V1973.5.3418; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.

OK, now that I was armed with some basic information, I could go back to the card catalog. Under “Anniversary Day,” I was directed to “Brooklyn Sunday School Union.” There I found easily a dozen articles, many with photographs, some from as far back as 100 years ago and others as recent as the 1960s. The oldest item, shown below, was a large photograph with an extended caption from the June 20, 1874, issue of Harper’s Weekly Illustrated.

Page from Harper’s Illustrated Weekly, June 20, 1874, with picture and story about that year’s Anniversary Day celebration. From Brooklyn & Long Island Scrapbooks Collection, Brooklyn Historical Society, vol. 43a, p. 56.

The library’s digital image database, also available for on-site searching, yielded a number of photographs of Anniversary Day observances across the years. The photographs accompanying this post are a few examples, with one from around 1915, close to the date noted in the original query. For another early image and related post, see BHS Photography Archivist Julie May’s Photo of the Week post from May 1, 2013.

Eagle Almanac

Another source I have found invaluable in responding to queries is the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac. Volumes in the library’s collection range from 1886 to 1929, although it is not a complete run. Digitized versions of some volumes are available online via Google books. I have used the almanacs to find information about ferry schedules, locations of schools, names of ministers of churches in particular years, and information about local political clubs.

Page of advertisements from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac, 1917, p. xxiv.

 



 

Page of advertisements from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac, 1917, p. 637.

One recent query that sent me looking in the almanac was related to family history research. An ancestor of the person who sent in the question had been active in a Jewish benevolent association, or landsmanshaft; these were social and charitable assistance organizations that formed based on immigrants’ towns of origin. Checking volumes of the almanac for the period in question, I found that although this club’s address was on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, the secretary had the rather unusual surname I was looking for, and gave a home address in Coney Island. The Eagle Almanac had come through for me again.

It was curious that this question about a Jewish organization came in when it did, as I was at that time preparing a new subject guide as part of my internship focused on collections of Jewish interest here at the Brooklyn Historical Society.