Brooklyn Apprentices' Library

Last updated

The Brooklyn Apprentices' Library, also known as the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library Association, was the first circulating and free library established in the city of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 1823, it was patterned after the Apprentices' Library of Philadelphia. [1] The library moved from its original location in Brooklyn Heights to the Brooklyn Lyceum in 1841. In 1843 it merged with that organization to establish the Brooklyn Institute (now the Brooklyn Museum).

History

The Brooklyn Apprentices' Library Association began in the summer of 1823 when a group of Brooklyn citizens, including philanthropist Augustus Graham, met at Stevenson's Tavern for the purposes of establishing a library in the city of Brooklyn. [2] The organization was founded with the purpose of aiding youths "in becoming useful and respectable members of society." [3] They adopted a charter and began to collect books, funds, and other resources to achieve that aim. [4]

A building site for the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library was found at the intersection of Cranberry and Henry Streets in Brooklyn Heights, and the cornerstone for the library was placed by General Lafayette on Independence Day 1825. [4] This event was witnessed by a six year old Walt Whitman who six decades later wrote about his memory of seeing Lafayette place the cornerstone. He also recalled that Lafayette picked him up and kissed him on that day, and was generally enthralled by the general's charismatic good-natured demeanor. [5] Whitman would later work as a librarian at the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library. [6]

In 1841 the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library moved from its original location into the Brooklyn Lyceum. In 1843 the Brooklyn Lyceum organization and the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library merged to form the Brooklyn Institute (later known as the Brooklyn Institute of Arts). That organization later founded numerous cultural institutions in Brooklyn, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music among other cultural, scientific, and education programs. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Whitman</span> American poet, essayist and journalist (1819–1892)

Walter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American history. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn</span> Borough of New York City

Brooklyn is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, located on the westernmost edge of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most-densely-populated county in the United States, behind New York County (Manhattan). Brooklyn is also New York City's most populous borough, with 2,736,074 residents in 2020. If Brooklyn were an independent city, it would be the third most populous in the U.S. after the rest of New York City and Los Angeles, and ahead of Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Academy of Music</span> Theater and concert hall in Brooklyn, New York

The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue at 30 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City. Known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performances, the BAM presented its first show in 1861 and began operations in its present location in 1908. The Academy is incorporated as a New York State not-for-profit corporation. It has 501(c)(3) status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Public Library</span> Public library system in New York City

The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two other public library systems in New York City, it is an independent nonprofit organization that is funded by the city and state governments, the federal government, and private donors. The library currently promotes itself as Bklyn Public Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechanics' institute</span> Educational establishment

Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts, were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men in Victorian-era Britain and its colonies. They were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees. The mechanics' institutes often included libraries for the adult working class, and were said to provide them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinton Hill, Brooklyn</span> Neighborhood in Brooklyn in New York City

Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. It is bordered by the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Flushing Avenue to the north, Williamsburg to the northeast, Nostrand Avenue and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the east, St Marks Avenue and Prospect Heights to the south and southwest and Carlton Avenue and Fort Greene to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Greene, Brooklyn</span> Neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City

Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the west, Atlantic Avenue and Prospect Heights to the south, and Vanderbilt Avenue and Clinton Hill to the east. The Fort Greene Historic District is listed on the New York State Registry and on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a New York City designated historic district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Museum</span> Art museum in Brooklyn, New York

The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet (52,000 m2), the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Flatbush, and Park Slope neighborhoods of Brooklyn, the museum's Beaux-Arts building was designed by McKim, Mead & White.

<i>Brooklyn Eagle</i> Newspaper in Brooklyn, New York (founded 1841)

The Brooklyn Eagle was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city and later borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, for 114 years from 1841 to 1955. At one point, it was the afternoon paper with the largest daily circulation in the United States. Walt Whitman, the 19th-century poet, was its editor for two years. Other notable editors of the Eagle included Democratic Party political figure Thomas Kinsella, seminal folklorist Charles Montgomery Skinner, St. Clair McKelway, Arthur M. Howe and Cleveland Rodgers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williamsburgh Savings Bank</span> Bank in Brooklyn, New York from 1851 to 1986

The Williamsburgh Savings Bank was a financial institution in Brooklyn, New York from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. The bank was incorporated in 1851 under legislation passed by the New York State Assembly. The bank continued to operate until a series of mergers brought the bank into the HSBC group late in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd</span> Poem by Walt Whitman on the death of Abraham Lincoln

"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is a long poem written by American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) as an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln. It was written in the summer of 1865 during a period of profound national mourning in the aftermath of the president's assassination on 14 April of that year.

"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" is a poem by Walt Whitman, and is part of his collection Leaves of Grass. It describes the ferry trip across the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn at the exact location that was to become the Brooklyn Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry C. Murphy</span> American politician (1810–1882)

Henry Cruse Murphy was an American lawyer, politician and historian. During his political career, he served as Mayor of Brooklyn, a member of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Minister to the Netherlands, and member of the New York State Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fulton Ferry (ferry)</span>

The Fulton Ferry was the first steam ferry route connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City, United States, joining Fulton Street, Manhattan, and Fulton Street, Brooklyn, across the East River. It revolutionized travel between the then City of New York on Manhattan Island and the Village of Brooklyn and the rest of Long Island. Robert Fulton's steam Fulton Ferry Company in 1814 established his name on the ferry service. After the Brooklyn Bridge was built, ridership declined, and the ferry ceased operation on January 19, 1924. NYC Ferry now serves a very similar route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral Basilica of St. James (Brooklyn)</span> Church in New York, United States

The Cathedral Basilica of St. James is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Brooklyn. It is located at the corner of Jay Street and Cathedral Place in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It was built in 1903 and designed by George H. Streeton in the Neo-Georgian style.

This is a timeline and chronology of the history of Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's boroughs, and was settled in 1646.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives</span>

The Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives holds approximately 300,000 volumes and over 3,000 linear feet of archives related to the history of the museum and its collections. The library collections comprise books, periodicals, auction catalogs, artist and institutional files as well as special collections containing photographs, sketches, artists' books, rare books and trade catalogues. The museum archives contains institutional records, curatorial correspondence, expedition reports, and other related textual and visual records dating to the founding of the institution.

The New York Aurora was a 19th-century daily newspaper in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Lyceum</span>

The Brooklyn Lyceum was the name of both a non-profit organization in Brooklyn, New York that was active from 1833 through 1843, and the structure which housed that institution. The building Brooklyn Lyceum, located at 182-184 Washington Street, was built in 1835. In 1841 the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library, the first free library in Brooklyn, moved into the building, and the two organizations shared the building until they merged to form the Brooklyn Institute in 1843. The building continued to be known as the Brooklyn Lyceum for two more years until the Brooklyn Lyceum building was purchased in 1845 by Augustus Graham and donated to the Brooklyn Institute at which point the building became known by that name. During its history, the building housed several organizations, often simultaneously, including the Brooklyn City Library, the Brooklyn Institute Free Library, the Youth's Free Library, and The Hamiltonians. The building remained the home of the Brooklyn Institute until it was destroyed by fire in 1890.

Jesse Talbot was an American landscape painter and a friend of the poet Walt Whitman. Born in Dighton, Massachusetts, Talbot worked for the American Tract Society and other evangelical Christian organizations in New York City before becoming a professional artist, first exhibiting in the National Academy of Design in 1838. His work was often favorably compared to that of Thomas Cole and other leaders of the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. Talbot developed a friendship with Walt Whitman in the 1850s. The notebook in which Whitman first wrote down the ideas for Leaves of Grass is known as the “Talbot Wilson notebook” because Talbot’s name and address are written on the inside front cover. Talbot died in relative obscurity in 1879.

References

  1. Kenneth T. Jackson, ed. (2010). The Encyclopedia of New York City. Yale University Press. p. 183. ISBN   9780300114652.
  2. Henry W.B. Howard, ed. (1893). "Educational Institutions". The Eagle and Brooklyn: The Record of the Progress of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Issued in Commemoration of its Semi-Centennial and Occupancy of its New Building: Together With the History of Brooklyn From Its Settlement to the Present Time. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 741.
  3. Durham, Michael S. (2009). New York. National Geographic. p. 212. ISBN   9781426205231.
  4. 1 2 S. Giffard Nelson (April 10, 1897). "Brooklyn's "University for the People"". Harper's Weekly : 368.
  5. Walt Whitman (2007). "Lafeyette in Brooklyn". In Edward F. Grier (ed.). Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts: Volume I; Family Notes and Autobiography, Brooklyn and New York. New York University Press. p. 32-35. ISBN   9780814794357.
  6. Ellen Freudenheim, Anna Wiener (2004). Brooklyn!, 3rd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to New York's Most Happening Borough. St. Martin's Press. p. 339. ISBN   9780312323318.
  7. Center for Brooklyn History (November 21, 2022). "Guide to the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences publications and ephemera ARC.138". Brooklyn Public Library.