Last week I hopped on the R train for a visit to The Brooklyn Historical Society in Brooklyn Heights. The Brooklyn Historical Society is an "urban history center dedicated to preserving and encouraging the study of Brooklyn's extraordinary 400-year history." Housed in a Queen Anne-style building completed in 1881 and designed by George B. Post, the Society more than likely has the answers to all your questions regarding the borough dating back to the days when it was under Dutch rule and called Breukelen in the 1630's through to its British take-over in 1664 and up to today's hipster/stroller-brigade domination.
The Society is home to a fine art collection consisting of approximately 400 paintings and thousands of prints, drawings and works on paper from the 17th-20th centuries as well as a number of decorative art pieces and artifacts. Many of the paintings can be viewed throughout the four-story building grouped in categories like "Portraits of Prominent New Yorkers" and "Historical Views of and from Brooklyn."
The photography collection includes a database of 35,000 images as well as between 10-20,000 positives, negatives, slides, and transparencies featuring Brooklyn notables like Coney Island, Grand Army Plaza, and The Brooklyn Dodgers. It also boasts an impressive collection of historical postcards, some of which depict the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and a compilation of Brooklyn neighborhoods shot between the mid-1800's to the mid-1950's.
Some of the special exhibitions currently on view include No Jheri Curls & No Drugs: A David Lee Photo Exhibition which features over 40 intimate, black-and-white photographs of Spike Lee and his cast and crew during the production of She's Gotta Have It (1986) in Brooklyn taken by the director's brother David Lee (through September 1). Living and Learning: Chinese Immigration, Restriction & Community in Brooklyn, 1850 to Present which featured time-lines, photos of documentation, and summaries regarding the hardships and racism Chinese immigrants endured when first arriving to the U.S. and settling in Brooklyn (through August 30th). In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn's Vietnam Veterans which displays portraits, photos, souvenirs, mementos, and medals belonging to Vietnam Veterans from Brooklyn and allows visitors to listen to audio from each discussing their memories of the war.
The Brooklyn Historical Society is a must for history buffs as well as those newbie Brooklynites who relentlessly insist on their borough's superiority over Manhattan. Perhaps they can learn some interesting facts about their neighborhood so they can more intelligently back up their claim. For more info, visit Brooklynhistory.org.
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