In August 2020, the Center for Brooklyn History (CBH) was established through the merger of Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) and Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)’s Brooklyn Collection local history archive. CBH is housed at 128 Pierrepont Street, in the magnificent landmark building designed by George B. Post that was home to BHS, and the Long Island Historical Society before it, for nearly 140 years. By creating CBH, the Historical Society’s and BPL’s special collections were merged, and now represent the world’s most comprehensive collection related to Brooklyn while also providing extensive and diverse collections relating to the history of Long Island. CBH’s resources include a vibrant museum, a world-renowned archives and landmarked special collections library (Othmer Library), a cutting-edge education center, and a hub for community dialogue. As a result of the merger, access to CBH’s building, collections, and programs are now free to the public.

Building on previous assessments of Brooklyn Historical Society’s Long Island materials, CBH will contract with an archivist to evaluate the condition, contents, and relevance to historical scholarship of each Long Island collection in our holdings. The archivist will identify candidates for digitization and conservation and complete digitization of smaller items. This will include the digitization of the Henry Lloyd Ledgers, an unpublished set of records which are of critical importance to scholars of the early colonial period. Finally, the archivist will also partner with CBH’s chief historian and a consulting historian to provide historical context on key items in the collections. All of these efforts will combine to increase public access to and understanding of the Long Island materials held by CBH.