Title: Librarian Conditions Vastly Improved Since 1920s

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/03/30/librarian-conditions/

Description: Notes from the 1921 annual report of Brooklyn Public Library.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: The Brooklyn That Never Was Part 2

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/04/02/brooklyn-never-was-part-2/

Description: The original design for Brooklyn's Central Library.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: A Small Accolade, and Some Brooklyn Moustaches

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/04/24/small-accolade-and-some/

Description: Announcing Brooklyn Collection's honorable mention in the ArchivesNext Best Archives on the Web awards and sharing some Brooklyn mustaches of yore.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Hard Times by guest blogger Richard Reyes-Gavilan, Chief of the Central Library

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/06/01/hard-times-guest-blogger/

Description: The history of library budget cuts.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Herb and Dorothy, and Brooklyn Public Library

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/06/08/herb-and-dorothy-and/

Description: The documentary Herb and Dorothy about the art collecting Vogels.

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Subject:   Arts,  Library history

Title: Photograph inventory July 13-24, 2009

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/07/10/photograph-inventory-july/

Description: Advance notice of a photograph inventory that will impact research services.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Projects

Title: Storybooks and Captain Hook

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/07/27/storybooks-and-captain/

Description: Pet shows at Central Library in the 1950s.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Animals

Title: Pioneering Children's Services

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/08/13/pioneering-childrens/

Description: The history of pioneering children's librarianship at Brooklyn Public Library.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: On Bookplates

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/09/24/bookplates/

Description: A history of some of the bookplates used at Brooklyn Public Library.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Open House New York Weekend and Brooklyn's Central Library

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2009/10/06/open-house-new-york/

Description: Tours of Central Library during Open House New York weekend.

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Subject:   Events,  Library history

Title: A Tweet a Day

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2010/01/08/tweet-day/

Description: Announcing the start of the Brooklyn Collection Twitter account.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Happy Birthday, Central Library!

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2010/02/03/happy-birthday-central/

Description: The history of Brooklyn's Central Library in honor of its 69th birthday.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Clara Whitehill Hunt, Superintendent of Work With Children

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2010/02/19/clara-whitehill-hunt/

Description: Clara Whitehill Hunt, pioneering BPL children's librarian.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Children,  Library staff

Title: Hard Times Revisited by Guest Blogger Rich Reyes-Gavilan

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2010/05/24/hard-times-revisited/

Description: An appeal for help with the library's budget struggles.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Library Layoffs May Hit Brooklynology.

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2010/06/09/library-layoffs-may-hit/

Description: Brooklyn Collection staff under threat from budget cuts.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Library staff

Title: Empty Shelves, Empty Reference Desks

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2010/06/11/empty-shelves-empty/

Description: A history of a past library budget crisis tied into a similar present-day crisis.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Taking it to the Streets: Bookmobiles and Brooklyn

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2011/06/29/taking-it-streets/

Description: A history of library bookmobiles in Brooklyn.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: From the 16mm Film Collection: the Library, a Family Affair

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2011/10/06/16mm-film-collection/

Description: A 1952 film in the Brooklyn Collection's 16mm film collection featuring Brooklyn Public Library.

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Subject:   Film,  Library history ,  School History

Title: The Philanthropist, His Oil, His Institute, and a Library

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2011/10/17/philanthropist-his-oil/

Description: A brief history of the Pratt Institute and the business and fortunes of its founder, Charles Pratt.

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Subject:   School History,  Industry,  Library history

Title: Storytime

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2012/02/15/storytime/

Description: Thomas Hudson Jones's entrance grille for the Central Library.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Arts

Title: Expanded Hours

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2012/08/30/expanded-hours/

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Subject:   Library history

Title: All Wet

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2012/09/13/all-wet/

Description: The Mount Prospect Reservoir next to the site of what is now Central Library.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Urban Development

Title: Out with the old, in with the... old?

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2012/12/05/out-old-old/

Description: An introduction to BPL's new catalog.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Projects

Title: Mail on the Mind

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2013/01/02/mail-mind/

Description: A historic mail slot at Central Library leads to exploring the history of mail delivery in Brooklyn.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Go, logo, go!

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2013/01/14/go-logo-go/

Description: The library's new logo and its logos through the years.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: The Library Rap is Here

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2013/02/08/library-rap-here/

Description: A "library rap" from the Crown Heights branch on Umatic tape is digitized.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Brooklyn Public Library: an Open Book

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2013/09/26/brooklyn-public-library/

Description: An exhibit of historic Brooklyn Public Library materials.

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Subject:   Exhibits,  Library history

Title: Brooklyn's Carnegie Libraries

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2014/02/25/brooklyns-carnegie/

Description: An overview of some of Brooklyn's Carnegie libraries.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: A Library for Children -- the Stone Avenue Branch

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2014/05/07/library-children-stone/

Description: A history of Brooklyn Public Library's Stone Avenue branch on the occasion of its 100th year in operation.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Dirt for Dirt's Sake: the trials of Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer"

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2014/09/22/dirt-dirts-sake-trials/

Description: Documentation of the library's response to New York state declaring Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer "obscene," in honor of Banned Books Week.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Literature

Title: What's wrong with your tongue?

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2015/10/08/whats-wrong-your-tongue/

Description: A comparison of two photos of the Brooklyn Eagle's eagle statue, now housed at Central Library.

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Subject:   Brooklyn Eagle,  Library history

Title: The Eagle Above Our Doorway

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2018/02/23/eagle-above-our-doorway/

Description: Confirming the provenance of the Brooklyn Eagle statue at Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library.

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Subject:   Brooklyn Eagle,  Library history

Title: For Every Reader, Their Book

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2019/10/09/for-every-reader-their/

Description: The history of readers' advisory at Brooklyn Public Library.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Hidden Ephemera in the Clippings Files

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2020/03/11/hidden-ephemera-clippings/

Description: Selections from ephemera discovered in the Brooklyn Collection clipping files.

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Subject:   Ephemera Collection,  LGBTQ history,  Animals,  Library history ,  Transportation

Title: National Library Outreach Day: On Bookmobiles and Fugitive Libraries

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2021/04/05/national-library-outreach/

Description: This week is American Library Association's National Library Week, a time to celebrate library workers and outreach efforts, and promote library use and support. The bookmobile pictured above dates back to BPL's outreach efforts in the 1950s.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Library history

Title: A Look Back at Brooklyn's Central Library

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2021/05/21/look-back-brooklyns/

Description: A brief history of the construction of Brooklyn's Central Library.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Architecture,  Library history ,  Neighborhood history

Title: A Million Possibilities

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2021/12/27/million-possibilities/

Description: A New Year's post in honor of BPL's 125th anniversary.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Library history

Title: Atoms for Peace and Goodbye, Central Library

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2022/01/24/atoms-for-peace-and/

Description: Today, former Brooklyn Collection materials, staff, and all the rest officially moved to our new home at the Brooklyn Historical Society building on Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. As our own exhibits at Central Library also become a thing of the past, let's appreciate this view of the Flatbush Avenue side of Central Library, where the Atoms for Peace exhibit trailer was parked in the 1950s.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Library history ,  Politics

Title: Built for Brooklyn History: A Place With Many Names

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2022/02/15/built-for-brooklyn/

Description: Visitors to the Center for Brooklyn History on Pierrepont Street sometimes ask if the building served another purpose before it was a historical society. The answer is—it was always a historical society! Built in 1881, the Queen Anne-style building was designed by architect George Browne Post.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Architecture,  Library history

Title: Miss Chien at the Book Chute

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2022/05/06/miss-chien-book-chute/

Description: On Monday, June 18, 1962, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle announced the opening of a "New Borough Library": the Brooklyn Heights Branch and Business Library. The newspaper sent photographer Ben Schiff to take photos of the new library and its staff, including Janet Chien, seen in the above Photo of the Week.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Library history ,  Library staff

Title: Wasted Space, But Not for Long

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2022/09/26/wasted-space-not-for-long/

Description: Can you guess where this week's Photo of the Week was taken? "Referred to as 'the hole' by library personnel," this cavernous space was the sub-basement of our very own Central Library.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Library history ,  Architecture

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: Processing Brooklyn Historical Society’s Institutional Records

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2022/11/14/opening-pocket-doors/

Description: The week’s photo of the week shows an unidentified man standing in front of our landmark building located at 128 Pierrepont Street.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Photo of the Week,  Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Look at Executive Director, David Kahn

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2022/12/19/opening-pocket-doors-look/

Description: Today, we are looking at the legacy of Executive Director David Kahn and how, under his leadership, the society transitioned to a new era as the Brooklyn Historical Society.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Opening the Pocket Doors,  Staff,  Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: Ba Da Dao/Sunset Park Chinatown History Project

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/01/09/opening-pocket-doors-ba/

Description: Today’s photo of the week shows a moment from the opening of New Neighbors: Sunset Park's Chinese Community in June 1996.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Opening the Pocket Doors,  Immigration,  Neighborhood history,  Sunset Park,  Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: What Past Exhibitions Reveal

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/02/01/opening-pocket-doors-what/

Description: Throughout its 157-year history, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) executed over 150 exhibitions. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working to process the Exhibits and Special Projects portion of BHS’s institutional archive. To wrap up this part of the project, this blog post highlights the exhibits that stand out as significant in BHS history, particularly those that demonstrate how the society's values changed over time.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Library history ,  Exhibits

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: Celebrating Presidents' Day with President Susan Mullin

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/02/20/opening-pocket-doors/

Description: This week, we are sharing an image of former Brooklyn Historical Society President, Susan Mullin, who both enacted and embodied change within the Historical Society.

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Subject:   Photo of the Week,  Opening the Pocket Doors,  Women,  Staff,  Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: The Women’s Committee of the Long Island Historical Society

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/03/20/opening-pocket-doors/

Description: To celebrate Women's History Month, this week's photo takes us back to 1968 for a fashion show presented by the Women's Committee of the Long Island History Society (LIHS).

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Photo of the Week,  Library history ,  Women

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: Underneath the Floorboards

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/04/24/opening-pocket-doors/

Description: It’s not every day you get the chance to see what lies underneath the floors of an old building. And while we don’t have any beating hearts underneath our floorboards, this photograph offers us a rare glimpse of the foundation of 128 Pierrepont Street.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Photo of the Week,  Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: The Trails and Trials of Miss Edna Huntington

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/05/15/opening-pocket-doors/

Description: Insight into and images from the life of Edna Huntington, onetime LIHS librarian.

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Subject:   Library staff,  Library history ,  Opening the Pocket Doors,  Photo of the Week,  Women

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: Humble Beginnings at the Hamilton

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/06/19/opening-pocket-doors/

Description: So where was the Long Island Historical Society for the first 18 years of its existence? The society rented several rooms in the Hamilton Building, located on the corner of Court and Joralemon Streets.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Library history ,  Photo of the Week

Title: Bookplates: Explanation and Inspiration

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/06/29/bookplates-explanation/

Description: A history of bookplates and examples from CBH's collections.

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Subject:   Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Peek Inside the Vault

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/07/17/opening-pocket-doors-peek/

Description: This week’s photo of the week takes us on a journey into the depths of the Long Island Historical Society (LIHS) building. In the cellar, nestled opposite the crawl space and underneath the stairs, is where one would find the LIHS vault.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Photo of the Week,  Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: Save the Clock Tower!

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/08/21/opening-pocket-doors-save

Description: Part of the original design by George B. Post, the clock tower has been a part of the building since its construction between the years of 1878 and 1881. However, the clock tower was never installed with an actual mechanism for the clock and has therefore never worked.

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Subject:   Library history ,  Opening the Pocket Doors,  Architecture

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Room of (Our) Own

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/10/23/opening-pocket-doors-room

Description: If you were to go up to the third floor of 128 Pierrepont and walk to the doors that read “Gina Ingoglia Weiner Gallery” and peer through the windows, you would see a room that currently holds a portion of the Center for Brooklyn History’s collections in neat rows of archival boxes. But this room was not always utilized for storage; prior to a storage room, it was used as an exhibit gallery for the Brooklyn Historical Society.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Stained Glass Mystery

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/11/06/opening-pocket-doors

Description: If you've visited the Othmer Library, you might have noticed the large stained glass lunettes (arched windows) on the gallery level. These are original to the space, but did you know there used to be more stained glass features throughout the building?...an even greater mystery lies in the identity of the artist who crafted these stained glass pieces. To date, the building records have yet to reveal the artist's name, but there is a probable candidate.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Library history ,  Architecture

Title: Not forgotten: Activism in the AIDS/Brooklyn exhibition collection

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/11/15/not-forgotten-activism

Description: In 1993, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) opened a groundbreaking exhibition on HIV and AIDS in Brooklyn: AIDS/Brooklyn. This exhibition aimed to document the crisis in Brooklyn through the material culture, personal narratives, and life histories of those living with HIV/AIDS.

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Subject:   Exhibits,  Library history ,  LGBTQ history,  Health

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: What Could Have Been

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2023/11/15/opening-pocket-doors-what

Description: In 1868, when the former Long Island Historical Society (LIHS) first purchased the plot of land intended for their new, permanent home, there was a plethora of possibilities.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Library history ,  Architecture

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: A History of Education at the Brooklyn Historical Society

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2024/01/02/opening-pocket-doors

Description: An overview of educational programming at BHS as part of the institutional archives project.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Library history

Title: Opening the Pocket Doors: Adopt-A-Block

URL: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2024/01/16/opening-pocket-doors

Description: In the 1990s, the librarians at the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) dedicated significant efforts to implementing measures aimed at preserving and enhancing access to the Society’s collections.

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Subject:   Opening the Pocket Doors,  Library history