Brooklyn Public Library publications
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Abstract
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) publications span the years 1898 to 1965 and are housed in six and one half manuscript boxes. Materials represented in the collection include annual reports; bulletins; newsletters; book lists (bibliographies); and miscellaneous programs, publications, and ephemera. The formation of the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) system was approved by the New York State legislature in 1892 and was officially organized in 1897. As of 2010, the BPL system consisted of 60 locations including the Central Library, the Business Library, and 58 branch libraries located throughout Brooklyn.
Historical note
The formation of the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) system was approved by the New York State legislature in 1892 and was officially organized in 1897, just one year before the consolidation of New York City. The BPL system was originally planned as a network of small libraries with the first branch library opening in 1897 at the former Public School No. 3 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. From 1901 to 1923, the BPL system grew rapidly when steel magnate and industrialist Andrew Carnegie provided funds ($1.6 million) for the construction of 21 new branch libraries throughout Brooklyn. Carnegie libraries, as they were generally called, were unique in that they were designed to meld beautiful architecture with functional design. Further, to receive Carnegie's funding, a library or library system had to both provide the land on which the library would be built and must also be able to pay for operational and maintenance costs following construction.
Around the same time as when the Carnegie libraries were being built in Brooklyn, the BPL system also embarked on the establishment and construction of a grand central library. In 1908, BPL hired Brooklyn-born architect Raymond F. Almirall (1869-1939) to design the new central library building. Construction on a classical style Beaux-Arts building progressed until funding difficulties halted construction in 1913. Though the foundation of the building had been dug and the frame of one wall was in place, funding problems prohibited further work on the construction of BPL's central branch. It wasn't until 1938, when a new architecture firm, Alfred Morton Githens and Francis Keally, was hired to redesign a new central library, incorporating Almirall's original foundation and framing (that still stood) as the basis for the new design. On February 1, 1941 the new Modern Classical style Central Library finally opened to public.
As of 2010, the BPL system consisted of 60 locations including the Central Library, the Business Library (located on the border of the Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods), and 58 branch libraries located throughout Brooklyn (18 of which are Carnegie libraries). The BPL system also ranked as the fifth largest library system in the United States, with the Central Library seeing over one million visitors at its Grand Army Plaza location on the northern edge of Prospect Park.
Sources:
- Brooklyn Public Library. "BPL History." Accessed December 30, 2010. http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/history.jsp
- DeCandido, GraceAnne A. "Brooklyn Public Library." In The Encyclopedia of New York City, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson, 160. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; New York: New-York Historical Society, 1995.
- Morrone, Francis. An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn. Salt Lake City, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2001.
Scope and Contents
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) publications span the years 1898 to 1965 and are housed in six and one half manuscript boxes. Materials represented in the collection include annual reports; bulletins; newsletters; book lists (bibliographies); and miscellaneous programs, publications, and ephemera.
Box 1 contains: BPL annual reports for the years 1898 to 1906, 1908 to 1911, 1921 to 1927, 1929 to 1930, 1932 to 1950, 1952 to 1958, and 1961 to 1965. Also included is one publication, Brooklyn Public Library Staff Association Benefit for Scholarship Fund, dated November 1, 1941. The annual reports generally include a list of the Board of Directors (including their home addresses); lists of committees and committee members; names of library staff; laws and proceedings relating to the establishment of BPL; reports from the chief librarian and from various library departments; library statistics for individual library branches; and financial reports. Included is BPL's first annual report of the Board of Directors, 1898-1899.
Box 2 contains: Copies of BPL's Bulletin for the years 1901 to 1908. The Bulletin was published monthly (except for the months August and September) and contained general library information (such as the names of the Board of Directors, locations of library branches, and library rules and regulations) and lists of newly acquired books. Box 2 also contains several issues of the Author Index for the years 1901 to 1903, including the first issue published in February 1901.
Box 3 contains: BPL's Bulletin for the years 1909 to 1918.
Box 4 contains: BPL's Bulletin for the years 1919 to 1922.
Box 5 contains: BPL's Bulletin for the years 1923 to 1929 and 1937 to 1940.
Box 6 contains: BPL's Bulletin for the years 1941 to 1950, 1953 to 1956, 1961 to 1978. Beginning in 1941 the Bulletin began to include general library news and events (such as staff changes, branch changes, and library radio programs), as well as book lists. After 1941, the focus of the Bulletin was generally thematic with such topics as: recommendations of children's books for holiday gifts; business reference books; and reading lists for young people pertaining to Alaska and Hawaii. After 1950, the name of the bulletin changed to Brooklyn Public Library News Bulletin and consisted of news briefs pertaining to the BPL. Books lists were no longer included. Also included is one folder of miscellaneous publications dating from 1983 to 1997. Most of the publications are comprised of BPL's Calendar spanning the years 1983 to 1985.
Box 7 contains: Two issues of the publication, Brooklyn Public Library Monthly, for November 1899 (Vol. 1, No. 2) and December 1899 (Vol. 1, No. 3); copies of The Brooklyn Public Library and Reading-Rooms Bulletin of New Books, January 1879 to 1901; a publication titled: Brooklyn Public Library—Agreement entered into between the City of New York and the representatives of Andrew Carnegie for the Erection of Branch Libraries in the Borough of Brooklyn, 1901; an event program for the cornerstone laying of the first Carnegie Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (in Williamsburg), November 28, 1903; a report from A.D.F. Hamlin, consulting architect, to the committee having charge of the erection of Carnegie Library buildings in the Borough of Brooklyn, 1901; a pamphlet containing instructions to architects regarding Carnegie Branch Libraries in Brooklyn; annual reports of the Board of Directors of The Brooklyn Library, 1896 to 1900; three annual reports for BPL, 1965 to 1968; copies of BPL Newsletter (bound), September 1957 to June 1959 (the newsletter is for BPL staff); a 1941 proposal for the construction and maintenance of a new downtown branch of BPL; typed monthly book lists with the heading "New Books Recently Added", for the year 1934; and miscellaneous publications, programs, and ephemera.
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Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restriction.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Brooklyn Public Library publications, ARC.161, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source and date of acquisition for this collection are unknown.
About this Guide
Processing Information note
Minimally processed to the collection level.
