Welcome to the Center for Brooklyn History (CBH). CBH is a research library and community hub dedicated to public history.
Formerly known as the Brooklyn Historical Society, CBH became part of Brooklyn Public Library in 2020 and is now free and accessible to all for research, education, culture and more. Our freshly renovated landmark building—home to the Othmer Library's magnificent reading room—is a trove of special collections, archives, ephemera, art exhibits and programs that bring our borough's rich history to Brooklynites of all ages.
Brooklyn Is ...
The Center for Brooklyn History reopened on September 14th with an exhibition that celebrates the people and neighborhoods of our diverse, richly textured borough. What captures Brooklyn for you?
Search our collections
The Center for Brooklyn History makes its collections available to all researchers. Browse our books, photographs, oral histories, maps collections and more.
Upcoming Public Programs
CBH hosts a wide range of free weekly programs to delight and engage our many audiences. See what's happening next, both virtual and in person.
Visit the Othmer Library
Located on CBH’s second floor, the Othmer Library and its reading room are home to special collections and archives for public use. Researchers are encouraged to make appointments in advance.
CBH Education Programs
The Center for Brooklyn History education department connects students, educators, and archivists in New York City and beyond to unique collections, programs, and events that bring the history of Brooklyn to life.
Brooklynology
Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists, featuring our popular Photo of the Week posts.
Private Event Rentals
The Center for Brooklyn History is a perfect blend of a national historic landmark featuring timeless architectural details and state-of-the-art modern facilities to meet all your event needs.
Our History
The story of the Center for Brooklyn History began in 1863 with the founding of the Long Island Historical Society (LIHS) during a time of tumultuous change. In only a few decades, Brooklyn had grown from a tiny agricultural backwater to the third largest city in the country. Civic pride was at an all-time high. Many of Brooklyn’s citizens believed they needed to commemorate their city’s rural past before it quickly faded from memory. Founders also envisioned the LIHS as a center for dialogue about history. In the nineteenth century, the society’s roster of speakers included newspaper editor and reformer Horace Greeley, writer Arthur Conan Doyle and abolitionist and women’s rights activist Julia Ward Howe.
Over the next century, the fortune of LIHS mirrored that of Brooklyn: it navigated the consolidation into the City of Greater New York, played a part in historic conflicts such as its use as a Red Cross headquarters during World War I, and faced its own struggles as the city grappled with deindustrialization, economic decline and social change.
Upcoming Events
Trace/s Exhibition Tour
Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.
Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…
Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Path to Today
Join us for the first event in a three-part series exploring the intersection of racial inequality and the environment. Part 1 delves into the systemic roots of environmental racism and confronts a critical question: Why are communities of color and low-wealth populations…
Trace/s Exhibition Tour
Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.
Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…
CBH Talk | Deborah Archer and James Forman Discuss “Dividing Lines”
In her new book, Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality, acclaimed scholar and ACLU President Deborah Archer shows how seemingly innocuous transit planning functions – the development of roads, sidewalks, dividers, and other infrastructures –…
Children of the Movement: Growing up with Parents in the Black Panther Party
This program is offered in partnership with The Guardian.
In March, The Guardian published a landmark article and produced a short film spotlighting the self-described “Panther cubs”—offspring of members of the Black Panther Party. This project, two…
Trace/s Exhibition Tour
Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.
Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…
Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Present Crisis
Join us for Part 2 of a three-part series exploring the intersection of racial inequality and the environment. This time we explore the situation today. Leaders from across the country share solutions to environmental crises within their communities and discuss a new urgent challenge…
Opening the Archives: Finding LGBTQ+ History in the CBH Collections
When author Hugh Ryan researched his 2019 book When Brooklyn Was Queer, he delved deep into the archives at the Center for Brooklyn History. Queer history is rarely neatly labeled in finding aids or research guides. And so Hugh brought a queer lens to an array of seemingly unrelated…
CBH Talk | Rules and Rutabagas: A Conversation about the Park Slope Food Coop with Joe Holtz, Sun Yu, and Alexandra Schwartz
In the early 1970s, a remarkable experiment in collective action took root in Park Slope: the Park Slope Food Coop (PSFC). Founded in 1973 as a members-only, collectively-run buying club, the Coop has grown over 52 years into the largest single store food cooperative in the United…
Trace/s Exhibition Tour
Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.
Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…
Get Social with CBH
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Become a CBH Supporter
Whether through membership or a one-time gift, your support helps connect the past to the present and makes Brooklyn's vibrant history tangible, relevant, and meaningful for today's diverse communities—and generations to come.
Contact Us
For general inquiries regarding the Center for Brooklyn History, you can call or email us, or submit a research request.
About CBH
Staff Picks
- Brooklyn History
- Family Genealogy
- Brooklyn Literary Walking Tour
- Brooklyn Documentaries
