Welcome to the Othmer Library!
The room you see pictured here is today known as the Othmer Library. It is original to the building when it was constructed for the Long Island Historical Society from 1878-81. The library was only open to members, where they could casually read and browse the stacks. Once the lecture hall was converted into a rental space for local businesses, the library would also become the setting for lectures hosted by LIHS as well.
When the institution's name changed to Brooklyn Historical Society and its mission shifted to that of being a cultural museum and institution to better reflect Brooklyn, the library became more of a reading room, where patrons could request archival materials and rare books for research, or simply use the space for quiet study.
The library officially became known as the Othmer Library when it was dedicated to Donald and Mildred Othmer, who bequeathed money to the Brooklyn Historical Society after their passings in 1995 and 1998, respectively.
After the merger of BHS with the Brooklyn Public Library in 2020 into what is now the Center for Brooklyn History, the name Othmer was maintained for this part of the building. Visitors who stop by CBH are welcome to pop up to the Othmer to conduct research with our extensive collections, do their own work, or simply admire the architecture.
The Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Archive Project is generously funded by the Leon Levy Foundation.
Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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