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Collection of Brooklyn, N.Y., Civil War relief associations records, ephemera and other material

Call Number

ARC.245

Dates

circa 1798 to 1964, inclusive
; 1861-1866, bulk

Creator

Women's Relief Association of the City of Brooklyn
Brooklyn and Long Island Fair in Aid of the United States Sanitary Commission. (1864)
War Fund Committee (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)

Extent

4 Linear Feet in 5 manuscript boxes and 9 boxes of various sizes

Language of Materials

Materials in English, except for a set of correspondence in Spanish.

Abstract

The collection was compiled over time by the Brooklyn Historical Society (formerly the Long Island Historical Society). It principally contains the records of two major Brooklyn-based Civil War relief associations, the War Fund Committee and the Women's Relief Association, including records of their various projects. A large portion of the collection documents one significant project undertaken by these organizations, the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair of 1864, also known as the Sanitary Fair. Documentation of the Fair covers both its financial aspects and the events and exhibits taking place there, and includes posters, broadsheets, printed matter, the Fair's newspaper, subscription books, admission tickets, stereographs of the New England Kitchen exhibit, and more. Some artifacts exhibited at the Fair are included in the collection, notably an album of autographed writings with contributions by Hawthorne, Longfellow, and James Fenimore Cooper, among many others. Documents concerning other relief organizations are found in the collection, including the Brooklyn Bureau of the American Freedmen's Friend Society and the Brooklyn and Long Island Christian Commission. Records of fundraising in Brooklyn for a Lincoln Monument Fund and in response to an 1866 fire in Portland, Maine, are also included. In addition, the collection holds other materials, primarily concerning the Civil War, relief efforts in cities other than Brooklyn, politics, commercial advertising, and other matters.

Biographical / Historical

At the outset of the Civil War, the Red Cross did not exist, there was no draft, the nursing profession was nascent, and there existed no formal welfare relief for wounded soldiers and families of deceased soldiers. Private institutions, state and local governments, and individuals mobilized in order to meet the great demands of the war. Volunteer military regiments were formed through the efforts of state and local recruitment agencies, and relief was provided through existing channels of philanthropy, such as church groups and local welfare agencies, as well as newly-established ones created specifically to assist the war effort.

Women were especially active in these relief efforts, not only as a result of their long-standing involvement in philanthropy, but also as the moving force behind the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC), which was established early in the war in order to assist the government in supplying the needs of soldiers and providing advice and assistance to improve the medical and sanitary conditions of the army. Women's auxiliary chapters of the USSC were established throughout northern states. Cities that promoted the work of the Commission served as "depots" for the vast quantities of goods and other supplies that were collected for soldiers, and organized fund-raising events for the USSC, including concerts and fairs.

Private and public relief and recruitment activities in Brooklyn began at the beginning of the Civil War through institutions, women's organizations, and state-run channels. It quickly became apparent that the resources of the city could better be mobilized on behalf of the war effort by creating a large central committee. Accordingly, the "War Fund Committee of the City of Brooklyn and the County of Kings" was established in the summer of 1862, with headquarters at 15 Court Street in the Hamilton Building. J.S.T. Stranahan was elected chairman of the Committee and Isaac Frothingham served as its Treasurer. Stranahan, a local businessman and president of the Atlantic Docks, had been a Whig Member of Congress and a Republican presidential elector in 1860.

The Committee's literature named objectives: adding members, promoting the goals of the Sanitary Commission, performing services on behalf of the sick and wounded, aiding discharged soldiers and the families of deceased soldiers, assisting the Allotment Committee in their philanthropic work. The Committee created organizations such as the "Home Trust of the Volunteers" to aid soldiers and their families in procuring pensions and financial assistance. It also undertook to raise funds for the United States Sanitary Commission by means of appeals through churches, and raised $6,000 in May, 1863. The War Fund Committee later raised money to erect a statue in honor of assassinated President Lincoln, later erected in Grand Army Plaza at the entrance to Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

The Women's Relief Association of Brooklyn (WRA), a local auxiliary of the USSC headed by Mrs. J.S.T. Stranahan, appealed through churches to raise $50,000 for the Sanitary Commission in the fall of 1863. The WRA and the War Fund afterward sought other fundraising venues for the USSC while continuing to conduct appeals through church activities. The War Fund asked the WRA to organize a Sanitary Fair for Brooklyn, but at that time plans were already underway for the WRA's participation in New York City's Grand Metropolitan Fair on behalf of the USSC, originally scheduled to open on Feb. 22, 1864. Plans for a separate "Brooklyn and Long Island Fair" proceeded in earnest after New York City's fair was postponed to April, and opened on February 22, to run for two weeks.

The WRA and the War Fund Committee jointly sponsored the event, and members from both organizations served as the fair's executive officers. Numerous committees were formed, subscriptions solicited, and donations of goods received from all over Brooklyn and Long Island. The officers selected the Brooklyn Academy of Music, then located on Montague Street, as the principal site and two temporary structures and several private ones were afterward needed to accommodate the exhibits and other activities. The plans included publication of the first daily newspaper for any contemporary fair, Drum Beat. According to historical accounts of the fair, this newspaper averaged a daily circulation of 6,000. At the fair's closing, Treasurer James Frothingham announced that $400,000 had been raised for the Sanitary Commission, more than twice the amount of the most optimistic predictions, and well in excess of what had been raised in any city to date.

Sources for further information at BHS include: Harriet Stryker-Rodda's Brooklyn and Long Island Sanitary Fair (call E631.B76.S77) and History of the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair published by the Fair's Executive Committee (call E631.B76.H57).

Arrangement

The collection is organized in the following series:

Series 1: War Fund Committee Records

Series 2: Women's Relief Association Records

Series 3: Brooklyn and Long Island Fair

Series 4: Lincoln Monument Fund

Series 5: Other Relief Organizations and Events

Series 6: Ephemera and Miscellaneous

Scope and Contents

The collection principally contains the records of two major Brooklyn-based Civil War relief associations, the War Fund Committee and the Women's Relief Association. A large portion of the collection concerns one significant project undertaken by these organizations, the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair of 1864, also known as the Sanitary Fair. In addition, the collection holds a miscellany of other materials, primarily concerning the Civil War or dating from the Civil War era.

Documentation of the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair covers both its financial aspects and the events and exhibits taking place there. The collection holds floor plans for the Fair site at the Academy of Music; stereographs of the New England Kitchen exhibit; a full run of Drum Beat, the Fair's newspaper, and sheet music for a song of the same name; programs; performance scripts; announcements; admission tickets; posters; placards; broadsheets; and artifacts. Several artifacts known or believed to have been exhibited at the Fair are in the collection, including a strand of George Washington's hair, a set of correspondence from the Mexican War, a scrapbook of Confederate song lyrics, and an album of autographed writings compiled by Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt. This album includes contributions by Hawthorne, Longfellow, and James Fenimore Cooper, among many others; a complete list of contributors is found in the container list of Series 3.

In addition to the Fair, the collection holds financial records, minute books, and print matter concerning the War Fund Committee and the Women's Relief Association's other activities. The War Fund's Home Trust of the Volunteers, Lincoln Monument Fund, and East Tennessee Fund are among the projects well-represented in the collection. Other Brooklyn and New York relief organizations from the Civil War era are included to a limited extent in the collection. These include documents from the Brooklyn Bureau of the American Freedmen's Friend Society (led by local African-Americans), the Brooklyn and Long Island Christian Commission, and the Brooklyn fund established in response to an 1866 fire in Portland, Maine. Some print matter and ephemera from other Brooklyn and New York area organizations, not necessarily engaged in relief efforts, are also in the collection. The collection also holds some material concerning sanitary fairs in other cities, especially Albany, New York City, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. Some copies of newspapers from fairs at Boston, Indianapolis, New York, and Philadelphia are in the collection.

An extensive miscellany of Civil War era materials, and some earlier, are included in the collection. These materials include wartime poems, manuscript remarks of Capt. Samuel Whiting concerning the war and his service as U.S. consul to the Bahamas, political tracts and other print matter, Confederate regiment supply requisitions, orders for the 13th and 26th regiments of the New York State National Guard (unrelated to service in the war), commercial advertising broadsheets, and a copy of Bradstreet's Commercial Reports for New England (circa 1865, partly obscured by its use as a scrapbook), among other documents.

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers without restriction.

Conditions Governing Use

Materials in this collection are in the public domain.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); Collection of Brooklyn, N.Y., Civil War relief associations records, ephemera and other material, ARC.245, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection consists of material believed to have been collected over time and compiled by librarians at the Brooklyn Historical Society (formerly, the Long Island Historical Society). The specific sources for most of the collection are unknown. It is known that the Society, founded in 1863 less than one year before the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair, solicited donations of materials exhibited at the Fair and was no doubt active at the time in acquiring records of the Fair and its sponsoring organizations, including documents in this collection. Material of known provenance in the collection includes the following:

Mrs. Henry Sheldon, the chairwoman of the Fair's Fancy Goods Committee, donated the committee's subscription books in 1903. Brown University donated the list of subscribers to the Fair from Southampton. The book of autographed writings compiled by Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt was purchased at the Fair by Henry R. Pierson, and donated by Pierson to the Society in 1885. Similarly, the scrapbook of Confederate song lyrics was purchased at the Fair by J. Carson Brevoort, a frequent contributor to the Society, and the book was likely donated by him. The printing plates were donated by Jonathan B. Steel. There is some indication that the War Fund records were donated by Treasurer Frothingham and that the Women's Relief records came directly from that organization.

Related Materials

BHS holds various archival materials related to this collection. The best source for identifying additional materials at BHS is the Civil War subject guide, available on Emma, BHS's catablog. Some notable items are:

Committee of Reception to the Crews of the Frigates "Cumberland" and "Congress" records (call 1977.313) includes the records of a Brooklyn Civil War relief association focused on helping the survivors of a naval battle.

Brooklyn, N.Y. Civil War History collection (call 1977.006) includes the research notes Frank J. Bramhall collected for the War Fund Committee for a planned, but never written, history of Brooklyn's contributions to the war effort.

The C. B. Nichols scrapbook (call 1974.134) includes material from the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair.

The Civil War collection (call 1977.200) has a small number of printed materials associated with the War Fund Committee and the Lincoln Monument Fund.

There are various posters and other works on paper related to the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair that are not in this collection. These can be found by reference to section 3 (broadsides, prints, etc.) of the Civil War subject guide or by searching PastPerfect, a database available in the library of such objects.

Other Finding Aids

The stereographs of the New England Kitchen exhibit are recorded in PastPerfect, Brooklyn Historical Society's image database, at the collection level. One representative image can be found in the database.

Collection processed by

Deena M. Schwimmer, updated by Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 11:13:37 +0000.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

The collection was originally processed in 1979 and was given the title War Fund Committee Collection, which may still appear in some records. Prior to that time, the unprocessed collection was known as the Sanitary Fair Collection. The material was reprocessed by Deena M. Schwimmer, Leilani Dawson and Marilyn H. Pettit in 2005 at which time some material was removed from the collection and other material was added. The collection's title was also informally changed to reflect the broad scope of its content.

In 2011, the collection was re-described by Larry Weimer using the system application, Archivists' Toolkit. At that time, the collection's title was formally changed to the current one, the material removed in 2005 was returned, some additional material was included, and clarifications in the collection description were made. Additional copies of The Drum Beat and issues of the Sanitary Fair Gazette (Cleveland) added to the collection in September-October 2015 by John Zarrillo.

The collection combines the following accessions: 1973.191, 1974.123, 1974.258a, 1977.099, 1977.102, 1977.329, 1980.026, and 1981.005.

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society
Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201