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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.
Only in library branchesBlack Short Fiction and Folklore
Collects African and African-American short stories and folktales published in more than 15 countries from the mid-1900s to the present. Includes full digitized runs of select literary magazines and black-owned journals and newspapers.
Library card requiredBlack Thought and Culture
Collects published works by leading African American writers, spanning the 1700s to the present. Includes books, interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamplets and letters.
Library card requiredBlack Women Writers
Collects fiction, poetry and essays by black women published in Africa and the Americas from the 1700s to the present.
Library card requiredBrooklyn 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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Free & accessible anywhereBrooklyn Public Library Digital Collections
Discover Brooklyn history: Explore our collection of digitized Brooklyn content.
Free & accessible anywhereCaribbean Literature
Searchable collection of Caribbean poems, plays, novels, short stories, and other materials from 1700 to the present. Works are in English, French, Haitian Creole, Spanish and Dutch.
Library card requiredEPOCH - 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.
Free & accessible anywhereHeritageQuest
Genealogical tool that includes U.S. Federal Census records, genealogical and historical sources for more than 60 countries, Census data, slave schedules, maps, local history books and articles, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant application files, and the Freedman's Bank Records 1865-1874.
Library card requiredJSTOR
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.
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Only in library branchesMasterFILE Premier
Full text articles covering a broad range of subjects including general reference, business, education, health, general science and multicultural issues.
Library card requiredNew York Times (1851-2007) with Index (1851-1993)
PDFs of articles include original layout, images, and advertisements. Limit searches by topic, article title, date, and more.
Library card requiredNew York Times Digital Microfilm
Browse 2008 - present issues of the New York Times by date and page number or search for articles by keyword. Includes high-quality replications of photos, graphs, and tables. (Please note that present coverage will be one month behind due to a publisher embargo period.)
Library card requiredWhere 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.