If members of the Diocese of Brooklyn want to take a look at their own past, the largest collection of Brooklyn history in the world is now available to the public.
The Center for Brooklyn history features tens of thousands of books, photos, maps, artifacts and more, detailing life in the borough going back to the 1800s.
Operated by the Brooklyn Public library, you can see bits of the Diocese of Brooklyn within the collection,
like photos of an Italian-American Catholic family in Williamsburg in the 1950s, or school work from Holy Cross students in Flatbush from the late 1800s.
You can also see some old editions of the Tablet, going back to its founding in 1908.
Archivist Dee Bowers says even if you’re not from Brooklyn, you can still find a connection to the collection.
“This statistic is oft repeated, not necessarily proven, but a lot of people say as many as one in seven Americans have history in Brooklyn. So that is a huge part of our national identity and our regional identity here. Another thing to note is that Catholic history and the history of faith in Brooklyn is integrally intertwined with immigration. And that’s another huge part of Brooklyn history, the Brooklyn story and, of course, the American story at large,” said Center for Brooklyn History at Brooklyn Public Library archivist, Dee Bowers.
The Center for Brooklyn history is located in Brooklyn Heights and is open to the public.
Archivists encourage you to come explore and even donate to the collection!
The Brooklyn Public library is accepting artifacts, personal records and other items from the public.
To contribute head to their website: