Alfred Steers's commemorative medals
Revolutionary-era cannonball
A Ceremonial Firefighter's Helmet
Happy New Year!
Cozy up for the holidays!
It's Christmastime in Brooklyn!
131 Miles and Countless Stories: Finding the Lost Histories of Brooklyn’s Waterfront
Several years ago, in the thick of research and development for a Brooklyn Historical Society project about Brooklyn’s waterfront, I found myself calling a long list of New York City government phone numbers. My goal was simple but elusive – to figure out exactly how many miles of coastline there were in the borough of Brooklyn. I had scoured books and articles – to no avail. City reports on the waterfront are plentiful – especially in the years after the devastation of Superstorm Sandy – yet still no luck. But I’m a historian, and we historians can be pretty dogged about research. About ten…
The Emancipation Proclamation: Copperheads Respond
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. The American political landscape was marked by many different and complicated factions during the Civil War. One group, often dubbed "Copperheads," remain the most misunderstood. Copperheads were Unionists affiliated with the Democratic party who opposed the Civil War. For reasons including a fear that emancipated slaves entering the labor force would threaten the livelihoods of northern white workers,…
The Emancipation Proclamation - Abraham Lincoln Responds
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. For 150 years, historians have debated Abraham Lincoln's motivations, feelings, and beliefs about slavery and emancipation. What motivated him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation? Did he free slaves in rebel states for political expediency, or for moral reasons? What did Lincoln think or say in the moments before he signed the document that declared "forever free" over 3,000,000 enslaved men, women, and…
The Emancipation Proclamation: A Kentucky Soldier Responds
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. Most Americans think about the Civil War in terms of the Union north and the secessionist south. But perhaps no states played as decisive a role in the war as Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky, the "border states." These were slave states that fought for the Union. For strategic and political reasons, the loyalty of these states proved essential to a Union victory. Kentucky, with its abundant…
The Emancipation Proclamation: Junius C. Morel Responds
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. This week, BHS opens a major long-term exhibition, "Brooklyn Abolitionists/In Pursuit of Freedom." The exhibition, part of a public history partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center and Irondale Ensemble Project, explores the unsung heroes of Brooklyn’s anti-slavery movement. Among those unsung heroes was a man named Junius C. Morel. Born in North Carolina, Morel lived and worked in Philadelphia before…
The Emancipation Proclamation: Jefferson Davis Responds
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. It should not surprise readers that the President of the Confederate States of America did not respond positively to the Emancipation Proclamation. In a long and florid speech to the Confederate Congress on January 13, 1863, President Jefferson Davis portrayed the proclamation as a crime against humanity that would be decried and reviled throughout history. “We may well leave it to the instincts of that…
The Emancipation Proclamation: Frederick Douglass responds
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. A month after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass reflected on the moral impact of emancipation on all Americans. “We are all liberated by this proclamation. Everybody is liberated. The white man is liberated, the black man is liberated, the brave men now fighting the battles of their country against rebels and traitors are now liberated… I…
The Emancipation Proclamation: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle responds
In conjunction with a current exhibition, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. Two days after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle took a dim view of Republican Abraham Lincoln’s leadership and of the impact that emancipation would have on the reunion of north and south. “The truth is, the proclamation tends only to embitter the strife, and to render all but impossible a restoration of the Union. The chances of Union were remote enough without this…
The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond
In October, BHS opened an exhibition featuring a rare edition of the Emancipation Proclamation. The document, which includes the signature of President Abraham Lincoln, has offered many visitors to our institution an opportunity to reflect on the remarkable events that took place in the United States during the 1860s. Lincoln did not sign the Emancipation Proclamation in a vacuum. Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs influenced the President's decision and responded to the proclamation with a range of emotions, from jubilation to outright horror. BHS's exhibition captures the cacophony…
Celebrating the March on Washington from Brooklyn
Next week, America celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. On August 28, 1963, between 200,000 and 300,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to rally for black civil and economic equality. Present at the historic event were several Brooklynites who, as members of the Brooklyn branch of the Congress of Racial Equality (Brooklyn CORE), walked from the County of Kings to Washington, D.C.
The Lefferts family goes digital
In 2010, the Lefferts historic house donated a rich collection of Lefferts family papers to Brooklyn Historical Society. Included were genealogies, bibles, recipe books, financial papers, personal recollections, and many other documents that offer an intimate glimpse into the lives and labors of one Brooklyn family over four centuries. Thanks to a generous grant from the Leon Levy Foundation, BHS spent much of 2010 and 2011 conserving, organizing, and processing these materials. The goal: to make these unique artifacts available to researchers, students, and museumgoers, and to preserve their…