Sample Reference E-mail Questions
Throughout the course of my internship, I answered an average of 2.5 reference questions per day using ZenDesk, a support ticketing system & customer service software application that BHS staff uses to respond to emails. Below I have selected (and anonymized) a sampling of the questions I responded to during this time period. I have also included a standard response template (called a macro) for a popular research topic that can be built upon for increased specificity in the future relating to the exact reference question asked.
Greetings,
I am interested in sources and archives on Fort Greene, generally and the Paul Robeson theatre in particular. How might I locate these sources within your collections?
Thank you,
A1
Hello A1,
Thank you for contacting the Brooklyn Historical Society with your question regarding Fort Greene and the Paul Robeson theatre.
The best way to search our holdings on Fort Greene would be to search the relevant keywords within our catalog. Our library and archival collection is searchable here.
Useful information on researching specific neighborhoods within Brooklyn can also be found in our Neighborhood Change and Gentrification research guide. For Fort Greene in particular I would also recommend our Fort Greene/Clinton Hill "audio tour" or the following books, available here in our library: "Fort Greene" and "Fort Greene, Clinton Hill : neighborhood & architectural history guide."
One place that may be helpful as you begin your research on the Paul Robeson Theatre is our guide on building research. This guide contains links to outside resources, such as the NYC Department of Buildings and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), that may be useful in your research.
I also found a significant number of news articles on Paul Robeson by searching the Brooklyn Public Library’s digitized collection of newspapers, available through newspapers.com. This resource can also be useful in researching neighborhoods once you narrow down time periods and other parameters.
I hope this information has been helpful in your research. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any additional questions.
Best,
Allee Manning, Public Services Intern
I am interested in sources and archives on Fort Greene, generally and the Paul Robeson theatre in particular. How might I locate these sources within your collections?
Thank you,
A1
Hello A1,
Thank you for contacting the Brooklyn Historical Society with your question regarding Fort Greene and the Paul Robeson theatre.
The best way to search our holdings on Fort Greene would be to search the relevant keywords within our catalog. Our library and archival collection is searchable here.
Useful information on researching specific neighborhoods within Brooklyn can also be found in our Neighborhood Change and Gentrification research guide. For Fort Greene in particular I would also recommend our Fort Greene/Clinton Hill "audio tour" or the following books, available here in our library: "Fort Greene" and "Fort Greene, Clinton Hill : neighborhood & architectural history guide."
One place that may be helpful as you begin your research on the Paul Robeson Theatre is our guide on building research. This guide contains links to outside resources, such as the NYC Department of Buildings and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), that may be useful in your research.
I also found a significant number of news articles on Paul Robeson by searching the Brooklyn Public Library’s digitized collection of newspapers, available through newspapers.com. This resource can also be useful in researching neighborhoods once you narrow down time periods and other parameters.
I hope this information has been helpful in your research. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any additional questions.
Best,
Allee Manning, Public Services Intern
Hi,
I am trying to locate a copy of any photographs from the 191* [REDACTED] High School graduating class. Laura [REDACTED] graduated that year. I noticed you have a collection for this school.
Thank you,
A2
Hello A2,
Thank you for contacting the Brooklyn Historical Society with your question regarding the 1918 Girls High School graduating class; specifically Laura [REDACTED].
I am uncertain of whether or not there are any photos of the 1918 Girls High School graduating class or Ms. [REDACTED] specifically because the collection has not been processed to that level. The scope of that collection, which spans the period 1899 to 1936 , is described as including “volumes, journals, and ephemera documenting school events and student activities. Materials include two exercise programs for class events; a collection of school songs; three yearbooks under the title The Triennial; a theatrical program for Old Heidelberg; a play put on by the dramatic societies of Girls' and Boys' High Schools; issues of the student-produced literary journal, Blue and Gold; issues of the school's newsletter, published under the titles The Chaser Fortnightly and The Fortnightly; and two volumes of poems written by students.”
You are quite welcome to make a research appointment to explore the Girls' High School collection (ARC.128) yourself. As per the guide to the collection, it is open to researchers without restriction. If there are images of Ms. [REDACTED] appearing in the yearbooks or publications dated prior to 1923, they would be in the public domain.
Additionally, I took a cursory look within the Brooklyn Public Library’s Yearbook Collection and saw that while they do not appear to have any copies of the yearbook, “Triennial,” from that year, there should be issues of the student-produced literary journal “Blue and Gold” from at least some of the years she attended school there.
While Ancestry.com has digitized yearbooks as well, they do not typically make the class photo available. Though I tried searching Laura [REDACTED] individually, I didn’t turn up any results.
I hope this information has been helpful in your research. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any additional questions.
I am trying to locate a copy of any photographs from the 191* [REDACTED] High School graduating class. Laura [REDACTED] graduated that year. I noticed you have a collection for this school.
Thank you,
A2
Hello A2,
Thank you for contacting the Brooklyn Historical Society with your question regarding the 1918 Girls High School graduating class; specifically Laura [REDACTED].
I am uncertain of whether or not there are any photos of the 1918 Girls High School graduating class or Ms. [REDACTED] specifically because the collection has not been processed to that level. The scope of that collection, which spans the period 1899 to 1936 , is described as including “volumes, journals, and ephemera documenting school events and student activities. Materials include two exercise programs for class events; a collection of school songs; three yearbooks under the title The Triennial; a theatrical program for Old Heidelberg; a play put on by the dramatic societies of Girls' and Boys' High Schools; issues of the student-produced literary journal, Blue and Gold; issues of the school's newsletter, published under the titles The Chaser Fortnightly and The Fortnightly; and two volumes of poems written by students.”
You are quite welcome to make a research appointment to explore the Girls' High School collection (ARC.128) yourself. As per the guide to the collection, it is open to researchers without restriction. If there are images of Ms. [REDACTED] appearing in the yearbooks or publications dated prior to 1923, they would be in the public domain.
Additionally, I took a cursory look within the Brooklyn Public Library’s Yearbook Collection and saw that while they do not appear to have any copies of the yearbook, “Triennial,” from that year, there should be issues of the student-produced literary journal “Blue and Gold” from at least some of the years she attended school there.
While Ancestry.com has digitized yearbooks as well, they do not typically make the class photo available. Though I tried searching Laura [REDACTED] individually, I didn’t turn up any results.
I hope this information has been helpful in your research. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any additional questions.
Dear Brooklyn Historical Society,
I’m writing to see if you may be able to help me locate any archival collections/material about the Danish-American weekly newspaper Nordlyset, published in Brooklyn, which closed in the 1950s and/or about its editor during the 1920s-1950s, Albert van Sand. I have a copy of the newspaper and the obit of Albert van Sand from NYT but I’ve been unable so far to locate any more archival info about the newspaper during the 1940s and its editor. (I’ve tried, without luck, the Danish American Archives & Library, the D.A.N.E. archives, the Brooklyn and NY Public Libraries). I tried searching your site online but without positive result but I wonder if you may have an idea if such archival material exists and where they would be located.
I’m a graduate REDACTED student at REDACTED. I’m trying to locate the information about Nordlyset and Albert van Sand for a research paper and journal article in the journal REDACTED about Danish-American newspapers during WWII.
Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to offer!
Hello A3,
Thank you for contacting the Brooklyn Historical Society with your question regarding archival collections/material about Albert van Sand or the Danish-American weekly newspaper Nordlyset. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any cataloged archive of Nordlyset within ArchiveGrid, nor could I identify any archives of Albert van Sand.
However, I did find some mentions of Albert van Sand and Nordlyset in other resources. In case you had missed these results for Albert van Sand in your prior research of newspaper archives, I found several results in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Here is the link to those results. There were also a number of matches for Brooklyn Daily Eagle articles mentioning Nordlyset.
In Google Books, I came across Albert van Sand in The American-Scandinavian Review, Volumes 39-40. It would appear to be a description of his 70th birthday.
I also found “Nordlyset” coming up six times within the text of “History of the Norwegian People in America,” through Google Books. However, I am not sure if this is the same Nordlyset you are looking for, seeing as this paper appears to have been based in Wisconsin and renamed “Democraten” in 1849. (If this paper is of interest regardless, there is a history of it described in “The Early Norwegian Press In America,” available through MNHS.org).
Through Internet Archive, I found mention of Nordlyset and Albert van Sand on pages 135 and 136 of “Norwegians in New York, 1825-1925."
Nordlyset also produces a large number of results in the digital library HathiTrust, though most results are not in English but in Danish or Norwegian.
Here at BHS, one resource we have that may be of interest to you are “The Danish genealogical helper.”
I hope this information has been helpful in your research. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any additional questions.
I’m writing to see if you may be able to help me locate any archival collections/material about the Danish-American weekly newspaper Nordlyset, published in Brooklyn, which closed in the 1950s and/or about its editor during the 1920s-1950s, Albert van Sand. I have a copy of the newspaper and the obit of Albert van Sand from NYT but I’ve been unable so far to locate any more archival info about the newspaper during the 1940s and its editor. (I’ve tried, without luck, the Danish American Archives & Library, the D.A.N.E. archives, the Brooklyn and NY Public Libraries). I tried searching your site online but without positive result but I wonder if you may have an idea if such archival material exists and where they would be located.
I’m a graduate REDACTED student at REDACTED. I’m trying to locate the information about Nordlyset and Albert van Sand for a research paper and journal article in the journal REDACTED about Danish-American newspapers during WWII.
Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to offer!
Hello A3,
Thank you for contacting the Brooklyn Historical Society with your question regarding archival collections/material about Albert van Sand or the Danish-American weekly newspaper Nordlyset. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any cataloged archive of Nordlyset within ArchiveGrid, nor could I identify any archives of Albert van Sand.
However, I did find some mentions of Albert van Sand and Nordlyset in other resources. In case you had missed these results for Albert van Sand in your prior research of newspaper archives, I found several results in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Here is the link to those results. There were also a number of matches for Brooklyn Daily Eagle articles mentioning Nordlyset.
In Google Books, I came across Albert van Sand in The American-Scandinavian Review, Volumes 39-40. It would appear to be a description of his 70th birthday.
I also found “Nordlyset” coming up six times within the text of “History of the Norwegian People in America,” through Google Books. However, I am not sure if this is the same Nordlyset you are looking for, seeing as this paper appears to have been based in Wisconsin and renamed “Democraten” in 1849. (If this paper is of interest regardless, there is a history of it described in “The Early Norwegian Press In America,” available through MNHS.org).
Through Internet Archive, I found mention of Nordlyset and Albert van Sand on pages 135 and 136 of “Norwegians in New York, 1825-1925."
Nordlyset also produces a large number of results in the digital library HathiTrust, though most results are not in English but in Danish or Norwegian.
Here at BHS, one resource we have that may be of interest to you are “The Danish genealogical helper.”
I hope this information has been helpful in your research. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any additional questions.
Hello,
My 2x great grandfather died at Raymond Street Jail in 189*. Do you have any mugshots of the prisoners? I figured I'd ask because I have never seen a photo of him. He was only there a few days and died on REDACTED, 189*. His name was [REDACTED]. If you have any info on him, please let me know.
Thank you kindly,
A4
Hi A4,
Thank you for writing Brooklyn Historical Society with your inquiry on Raymond Street Jail and your great great grandfather.
We have a limited number of resources from Raymond Street Jail, and it is unlikely we have any photos of REDACTED.
I did find a brief news item concerning REDACTED from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. It was published on page REDACTED on REDACTED. It reads, “REDACTED, aged REDACTED, who was sent to jail for REDACTED by REDACTED on REDACTED, died there yesterday from REDACTED." Here is a link to the news clipping.
For general research regarding the Raymond Street Jail, we have “A New Raymond Street Jail for Brooklyn” available here in the library. I checked our archives but did not find anything from that time period. Below are links to photos/illustrations of the jail I have found, though they are a bit more recent than the time period you’re interested in.
https://brooklynhistory.pastperfectonline.com/photo/2AAF02E8-2B80-4FB2-A7F9-845073982024
https://brooklynhistory.pastperfectonline.com/photo/2FBF1445-2F74-454D-8053-903112234239
https://brooklynhistory.pastperfectonline.com/photo/DDE47AC5-EAD6-480D-B2CF-144427521237
In terms of mugshots, I’m not sure where exactly those may be. (That said, such a photo may well have existed at this time period, given that the New York police had adopted the practice by 1857, according to the New York Times.) While I’m not sure whether or not this group still exists, it seems like the New York Correction History Society may have insight into this information.
My 2x great grandfather died at Raymond Street Jail in 189*. Do you have any mugshots of the prisoners? I figured I'd ask because I have never seen a photo of him. He was only there a few days and died on REDACTED, 189*. His name was [REDACTED]. If you have any info on him, please let me know.
Thank you kindly,
A4
Hi A4,
Thank you for writing Brooklyn Historical Society with your inquiry on Raymond Street Jail and your great great grandfather.
We have a limited number of resources from Raymond Street Jail, and it is unlikely we have any photos of REDACTED.
I did find a brief news item concerning REDACTED from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. It was published on page REDACTED on REDACTED. It reads, “REDACTED, aged REDACTED, who was sent to jail for REDACTED by REDACTED on REDACTED, died there yesterday from REDACTED." Here is a link to the news clipping.
For general research regarding the Raymond Street Jail, we have “A New Raymond Street Jail for Brooklyn” available here in the library. I checked our archives but did not find anything from that time period. Below are links to photos/illustrations of the jail I have found, though they are a bit more recent than the time period you’re interested in.
https://brooklynhistory.pastperfectonline.com/photo/2AAF02E8-2B80-4FB2-A7F9-845073982024
https://brooklynhistory.pastperfectonline.com/photo/2FBF1445-2F74-454D-8053-903112234239
https://brooklynhistory.pastperfectonline.com/photo/DDE47AC5-EAD6-480D-B2CF-144427521237
In terms of mugshots, I’m not sure where exactly those may be. (That said, such a photo may well have existed at this time period, given that the New York police had adopted the practice by 1857, according to the New York Times.) While I’m not sure whether or not this group still exists, it seems like the New York Correction History Society may have insight into this information.
Hi A5,
Thank you for your inquiry regarding Brooklyn Suffragists and their burial sites.
As far as burial sites specifically, this list that I found on FindAGrave may be useful. It would appear that Suffragists buried in New York City include Carrie Chapman Catt (Woodlawn Cemetery), Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Woodlawn Cemetery), Alva Erskine Stirling Smith Belmont (Woodlawn Cemetery) who is referred to as Alva Vanderbilt Belmont on the Woodlawn Cemetery’s website, Harriet Burton Laidlaw (Green-Wood Cemetery), and Lucy Burns (Holy Cross Cemetery). An article published on Hyperallergic.com also states that Ella Baker (“a a civil rights activist, deeply involved in voter registration through organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee”) is buried at Flushing Cemetery; Sarah J. Garnet (“ a suffragist and the first black woman to be a principal in New York City”) is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery; and Thomas Downing (“19th-century equal rights in voting champion”) is buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
I searched these names in our collection and found the following results here in our library or archive:
We also have a number of books on the topic available in our non-circulating library. The book “Officers and members, history, constitution and by-laws" from the Brooklyn Woman Suffrage Association published in 1896 is available within this collection and may be of interest to you, as well as “Women and the Ballott” from the Brooklyn Protest Committee in 1894 .
For remote research of this nature, I recommend the digital archives of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for keywords related to suffrage. That may be useful in finding the names of lesser-known/local organizers and activists.
Thank you for your inquiry regarding Brooklyn Suffragists and their burial sites.
As far as burial sites specifically, this list that I found on FindAGrave may be useful. It would appear that Suffragists buried in New York City include Carrie Chapman Catt (Woodlawn Cemetery), Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Woodlawn Cemetery), Alva Erskine Stirling Smith Belmont (Woodlawn Cemetery) who is referred to as Alva Vanderbilt Belmont on the Woodlawn Cemetery’s website, Harriet Burton Laidlaw (Green-Wood Cemetery), and Lucy Burns (Holy Cross Cemetery). An article published on Hyperallergic.com also states that Ella Baker (“a a civil rights activist, deeply involved in voter registration through organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee”) is buried at Flushing Cemetery; Sarah J. Garnet (“ a suffragist and the first black woman to be a principal in New York City”) is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery; and Thomas Downing (“19th-century equal rights in voting champion”) is buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
I searched these names in our collection and found the following results here in our library or archive:
- A letter from Susan B. Anthony to Mr. E. Butterick of Brooklyn on behalf of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association, dated 1895 inviting him to the 80th birthday celebration of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and soliciting a donation to the Association's campaign for womens' suffrage. <http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/bhs/arms_1974_222_anthony/>
- One leaflet, dated 1895, issued by the National Council of Women of the United States. The leaflet announces the holding of an event called "Reunion of Friends and Pioneers of Woman's Progress" at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, held in honor of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's 80th birthday.<http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/bhs/arms_1977_156_national_council_women/arms_1977_156_national_council_women.html>
When searching our archives catalog, I came upon two additional Suffragists whose families have collections here at BHS. They are Louise Merritt Stabler (1868-1954) and May Patterson (circa 1879-1925). As per the finding aids for their collections: - Louise Merritt Stabler was a member of the first graduating class of Barnard College in 1893. She later became active in the suffrage movement, and was married to zoologist George Howard Parker (1864-1955), a professor at Harvard College. The Louisa Merritt Field Stabler family papers chiefly consist of personal correspondence from Louisa Merritt Field Stabler to her daughter, Louise Merritt Stabler Parker. Collection: Louisa Merritt Field Stabler family papers <http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/bhs/arms_1995_002_stabler/>
- May, who was active in the Democratic Party and a devout suffragist, is notable for being the first female Assistant District Attorney to argue a case in a United States court. Collection: Patterson family papers and photographs <http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/bhs/arc_078_patterson/arc_078_patterson.html>
We also have a number of books on the topic available in our non-circulating library. The book “Officers and members, history, constitution and by-laws" from the Brooklyn Woman Suffrage Association published in 1896 is available within this collection and may be of interest to you, as well as “Women and the Ballott” from the Brooklyn Protest Committee in 1894 .
For remote research of this nature, I recommend the digital archives of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for keywords related to suffrage. That may be useful in finding the names of lesser-known/local organizers and activists.
Prison Ship Monument Macro (for inquiries regarding the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park)
Thank you for your interest in Brooklyn Historical Society and your inquiry regarding general research on the prison ship martyrs and the monument in Fort Greene Park.
We have many resources on both the prison ships and the monument that you can read at our library within the open stacks. You can search those books in our catalog here. One book that may be of interest that we have here in the Othmer Library is “Recollections of the Jersey prison ship: from the manuscript of Capt. Thomas Dring prisoner,” by Thomas Dring and Albert Greene. This book contains firsthand accounts of the experiences of prison ship survivors. The contents of this book are also discussed on episode 24 of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s podcast “Flatbush + Main.”
While you cannot check out books from the library, you are welcome to visit our library and access the books in our historic reading room. We are open Wednesday through Saturday from 1PM to 5PM.
Within our archives/special collections, we have a wealth of materials concerning the monument, including the dedication of the prison ships monument from 1908, bylaws and minutes of the Association for Erecting a Monument to the 11,500 Martyrs of the British Prison Ships (1852-1855), the 2003 Monument Lot archaeological dig report.
Thank you for your interest in Brooklyn Historical Society and your inquiry regarding general research on the prison ship martyrs and the monument in Fort Greene Park.
We have many resources on both the prison ships and the monument that you can read at our library within the open stacks. You can search those books in our catalog here. One book that may be of interest that we have here in the Othmer Library is “Recollections of the Jersey prison ship: from the manuscript of Capt. Thomas Dring prisoner,” by Thomas Dring and Albert Greene. This book contains firsthand accounts of the experiences of prison ship survivors. The contents of this book are also discussed on episode 24 of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s podcast “Flatbush + Main.”
While you cannot check out books from the library, you are welcome to visit our library and access the books in our historic reading room. We are open Wednesday through Saturday from 1PM to 5PM.
Within our archives/special collections, we have a wealth of materials concerning the monument, including the dedication of the prison ships monument from 1908, bylaws and minutes of the Association for Erecting a Monument to the 11,500 Martyrs of the British Prison Ships (1852-1855), the 2003 Monument Lot archaeological dig report.