Online Resources

Ancestry.com

A searchable collection of billions of historical records from the USA and other countries. Get access to census and military records, birth, marriage and death records, and immigration records. Available at public computers at all Brooklyn Public Library locations.

For remote access to U.S. Federal Census records, genealogical and historical sources for more than 60 countries, Census data, slave schedules, maps, local history books and articles, and more, please visit our HeritageQuest resource.

Brooklyn Newsstand

Brooklyn Newsstand is a collection of digitized Brooklyn newspapers made possible through a partnership between Brooklyn Public Library and Newspapers.com.  

Brooklyn Newsstand (2,402,000 digitized pages) contains 44 newspaper titles-including the full run of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper (1841-1963) and Brooklyn Life (1890-1931), a Brooklyn Society Magazine. Learn more about the history of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

View the full list of newspapers and their date ranges.

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Brooklyn Public Library Digital Collections

Discover Brooklyn history: Explore our collection of digitized Brooklyn content.

Directory of Open Access Journals

Free community-curated directory that indexes and connects to full text, open access, peer reviewed scientific and scholarly journals.

EPOCH - Electronically Preserving Obituaries as Cultural Heritage

A website that allows anyone to create and publish a free obituary online and in the process involve the community in building their own collection of local history.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collection of education research and information. Sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

globalEDGE

A knowledge web-portal that connects international business professionals to information, insights, and resources on global business activities, created by the International Business Center at Michigan State University.

JSTOR

JSTOR offers researchers the ability to retrieve high-resolution, scanned images of journals, books, and primary sources as they were originally designed, printed, and illustrated. The material available spans many disciplines in the arts, sciences, and humanities.

When browsing or searching, you may find locked content. We apologize that some content is not available via Brooklyn Public Library's subscription. 

New York Apartment Law Insider

Provides information for owners and managers of residential real estate, covering topics like rent stabilization, rent control, building maintenance requirements, and correction of code violations. (This resource is accessible via username and password at the Central Library.  See a librarian.)

New York City Department of Education's Find A School Database

Locate information on New York City's public schools. Search by borough, grade, school name, and zip code.

New York Landlord v Tenant Online

Provides landlord-tenant court decisions as far back as 1993, including cases from the NYC Civil Court, NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), and NYC Environmental Control Board.  (This resource is accessible via username and password at the Central Library.  See a librarian.)

New York State Legislature

Legislative information related to both houses of the New York State Legislature. Look up bill text, summaries, committee agendas, and voting records from 1995 to the present.

Population Reference Bureau Data Center

A data searching tool from the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau, including information on income, housing prices, health, and labor force.

Where to Write for Vital Records

Find information on vital records like birth records, death records and marriage records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Offers direct links to state and other agencies that assist in locating information on vital records.