Center for Brooklyn History at Brooklyn Public Library

The Center for Brooklyn History was not on our agenda. We were passing by and had a few minutes so went in. There is no fee to go since it is part of the Brooklyn Library system. And there is a library on the 2nd and 3rd floors. On the first floor, after you enter, there is a section in back with maps and historical artifacts on the walls. They play a slideshow on a loops displaying a Brooklyn neighborhood, what they are known for, and a bit on the history. We found that was very interesting. The room in comfortable, so we sat for a while and watch the show go by a few times. Restrooms are on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The elevator is tiny - it holds two people. I chose to ride the elevator up, but to walk down. I noticed there were a number of oil paintings showing historical figures and historical Brooklyn. This is a great place to stop to learn more about Brooklyn and its neighborhoods. We didn't go into the actual library, but we did look through glass doors and saw many, many books. On the 3rd floor, there was a research library only available to historians. It would be interesting to get a peek in there.

As of September 14, 2023 the Center for Brooklyn History (now part of the NYPL system) has reopened after renovations! This isn't the fanciest or biggest library, but it has a beautiful research library and all the librarians and staff are super nice and helpful. Plenty of great architecture. Not just the research library, but their main staircase and the brick and moulding outside. They have temporary exhibits as well as many fascinating speakers and programs.

We rented the Center for Brooklyn History for our wedding. We used the space for both our ceremony and reception. We could not have had a more magical evening. The library space is absolutely gorgeous, and provided a perfect, reverential backdrop for our nuptials. The downstairs space is nicely laid out, with access to the outdoor patio allowing us to enjoy the warm Brooklyn summer evening. The staff was a pleasure to work with - courteous, professional, and efficient. The communication was clear, and they were very flexible. They worked hard to make our wedding perfect, and they responded to all our requests with an attitude of "yes and." Plus, our space rental fee was a direct donation to the BPL system, which was huge plus! Would highly recommend them for any event you have.

The BHS (both locations) will be closed through March 31, due to the coronavirus situation. Also, all educational and public programs have been suspended until further notice.

This was a nice, unexpected, find while meandering around Brooklyn. The space is a bit hidden but if you happen to glance and see the signs, definitely pop in for a walk through The museum is donation based (aka free), so that's always a plus. It appears to be an old home rehabilitated as a exhibition area. Each floor has a specific focus, there are four floors in all but the last level is basically administration offices. The exhibitions were nice enough, but not very interactive or expansive. The main idea is to just walk around and read the blurbs on different artifacts. The main draw was the library on the second floor but unfortunately it has limited hours and it was closed when we went (major bummer!) Overall, It's worth a gander if you happen upon it, but I wouldn't go out of the way to get here. If I find myself in the area again, I'll try to get in and peer through the library, again only if convenient.

We had our family reunion here to give the original letters from my cousins grandfather to her grandmother a proper home & to preserve the history. Their love started as pen pals, him an immigrant from St. Ann Jamaica, WI, and she from Port Antonio Jamaica. They wrote each other for almost a year a fell in love through letters never seeing each physically until the eve of their wedding 8/25/1914. They married the morning of 8/26/1914 and then sailed to the United States that evening leaving everyone & everything she knew for love. Intrigued? Pick up the book Papas Letters by Judith Lovell on amazon

Small gem of a museum, with some incredible Brooklyn artefacts. Make sure to take a step into the library which is room of gorgeous hand carved wood features from the 1800's. I went on Free Friday and there were a lot of fun activities planned including drink & draw. Plan to go again soon and see what new exhibits they have in store.

Excellent hidden gem of a museum. 1) It is worth a visit, especially if you are a student, it is FREE! 2) They have good exhibits. 3) The library on the second floor is amazing.

Very nice gem in Downtown Brooklyn focusing on the city's history along with some historical sculptures and paintings. The wooden stairs take you up to the second and third levels. There is a library on the second level, though I didn't have time to actually look inside but I could see what it looked like through the windows and double-doors. Overall, a good place to learn some history about Brooklyn.

Looking for a photo of the Milestone Marker taken from Milestone Park on 18th Ave. can anyone help me? Emil Imbro 732-245-0096

I work in this building and consider it a great privilege to enter this gorgeous George Post building everyday. There's lots of beauty and history to explore inside too, so come check it out. Well worth the trip!!

Unfortunately, we had our Brooklyn Historical Society wedding here in May of 2015 and I could not have had a more difficult or unpleasant experience. I had booked the venue 15 months in advance because I was planning it from out of town and the last month I encountered so many ridiculous arguments and last-minute changes of plan I actually considered switching the venue two weeks beforehand because of all the headache their uninformed staff put us through. The venue is absolutely beautiful, we fell in love with the library, but the entire staff associated with the planning, with the one exception of the building maintenance manager, was unreasonable, unprofessional, and gave us conflicting information each time we toured the building, especially the last two weeks when they finally sat down and looked through the details of what we had planned the past year and a half. --ONE WEEK before our wedding, after signing a contract detailing what rooms we could use starting at 3pm, I get a call that we are not allowed to set up the side library room until 5pm, I check the contract, and it explicitly states use of the side library room starting at 3pm. I call them back and inform them about the contract. They acquiesce, but make it seem as though they are doing me a favor. I have never experienced vendors that tell me I could not do something when it was EXPLICITLY stated in my contract. --We were told the giftshop would remain open. We told them it was a deal breaker, that it could NOT stay open during non-museum hours, and they agreed. At the end of my wedding, one of my friends hands me a gift she had bought from the gift shop that night -- as they obviously kept the gift shop open throughout my wedding. --I had stated I wanted pictures in front of the stained glass windows of the library (I had seen it on pinterest!). They say OK, just us and the photographer. Two weeks beforehand, touring one last time, we were told that NO, only the photographer was allowed on the rafters. --Two weeks before our wedding, we were told that we would have to get wedding insurance AS WELL as our caterer. I asked why and Daisy said that they require it of all of their weddings. Except that I had emailed some people who had left reviews on YELP that had been married at this museum and EVERYONE said that no one was required to get wedding insurance separately from their caterer. --Two weeks before our wedding, they said that the head of building maintenance was going away the weekend of our wedding, therefore would not be available to use the forklift to set up any of our high decorations. I asked what our alternatives were and they said we could set everything up Friday for the Sunday wedding, with the caveat that if they booked another function on Saturday night, that would limit what decorations we could put up, but we would not have confirmation until Friday, the day we were supposed to put up decorations. Luckily, they did not book anything that Saturday, so I was able to put up everything I wanted, but it caused unnecessary stress and headache, especially so close to the wedding. --During the wedding, it got extremely hot as the air conditioning was clearly not functioning. We kept waiting for an imaginary maintenance worker to come and fix it - he never came - until my husband suggested to them they open the doors to let in some air in. I can't imaging what would have happened in July. Bottom line: DO NOT HAVE YOUR WEDDING HERE. The cost of the venue was not worth Tte staff who were uninformed as I was told several conflicting things that even CONFLICTED OUR CONTRACT!!!!!! If you do, beware of this fraudulent practice and get EVERYTHING IN WRITING.

I was recently married at the Brooklyn Historical Society in October. This was an absolutely fantastic choice for our wedding of 130 people and I could not be happier we chose this as our venue. We unfortunately originally had our wedding booked at ReBar, the Dumbo venue which shut down in May leaving us in a total lurch. BHS was one of the first places I heard of offering to help displaced couples and after seeing the space I wished we just originally booked them as it is really gorgeous! Daisy who handles all the details of renting the space is really lovely and was really awesome answering all of our questions and concerns in the months leading up to our wedding. BHS hosts some great public events which we chose to attend during the summer to get a feel for the space with people in it, this was really helpful while planning! You do have to choose from a list of their approved caterers since its a historic building but they offer a really great range of options price wise. I worked with Eventfull and they were fantastic! Another big plus is they have tables and chairs so we did not have to bring in furniture rentals. Their location was really important to us as well. Our guests, many from out of town, were staying in a hotel in the financial district. We wanted a venue convenient to get to that also would provide a great backdrop for our pre ceremony wedding photos, Brooklyn Heights was perfect for both! We did our ceremony and reception both in the Great Hall and rented the tile lobby and outside space for cocktails. Everything went smoothly and all of the staff working during the event were friendly and professional, especially Christian, the AV tech who we had to hire in order for our band to be able to use the sound system. If you are looking for a beautiful venue in a gorgeous historic neighborhood, definitely check out BHS!

Neighborhood treasure. Great speaker series to stimulate your mind and activate your citizenship.

A big, stately building in beautiful Brooklyn Heights that's nice to fit into a day visit to the neighborhood. The Brooklyn history this place is interested in is mainly the old, old history, so expect to see lots of paintings and artifacts from the early, Dutch days. So much Brooklyn history and nostalgia centers on the 20th century, so this gives a different perspective, though sometimes that perspective feels somewhat distant and cold. They also host more contemporary-minded endeavors such as the Brooklyn Book Festival and the Brooklyn Zine Festival.

This place is hidden in the corners of Brooklyn (5 min walk from the Borough Hall station) and is a good find. I saw Professor Eric Foner speak here last night about the Emancipation Proclamation, and the original document was on display too, which was cool. I learned a lot and liked the building too, which is beautiful and "ancient-looking" on the outside and very nice on the inside.

This refers to the library section of BHS: We dropped by to look up info about our house. BHS's library has info you can't find anywhere else (the Dept of Buildings had next to no info we could use). But the library has atlases dating back to the mid 1800's, deed info, resident directories, old articles and such. Technically you're supposed to make an appointment to visit the library, but it apparently wasn't a busy day when we were there, so they said to come on up. The library itself is gorgeous, all old wood and big tables. The librarians were really helpful, digging up stuff about the neighborhood and finding stuff we never would have thought to look up. We found out a lot of interesting stuff out about our house, although we'll need to return to really get a complete picture. That's my only complaint about the place, accessibility. It's only open til 5 from Wednesday to Saturday, and it's a $6 charge. Obviously this means most regular folk will never be able to get in there without making special plans for it (which is what we did). But otherwise it's a wonderful resource which I plan to mine further.

Loving this place and the current exhibition happening in the Empire building celebrating the Brooklyn Waterfront!

It blends so well in a residential neighborhood that it's easy to overlook it. Beautiful space, great for intimate parties.

They Keep the Exhibits Accessible And is a good resource for researching.

I never even knew this museum existed after living in Brooklyn for 5 years. After going to the Amsterdam Historical Museum, I realized I didn't know much about the city that I live in. So, I decided to take a trek to Brooklyn Heights. The museum is housed in a gorgeous old building. I stopped at the front desk hoping they offered tours, but no such luck. On the first floor, I saw an exhibit on the Brooklyn Dodgers. The rest of the floor was taken over by a holiday market, so I headed up the grand staircase. They had a few paintings lining the walls. The second floor was mostly taken up by the library. I didn't go in, but it was all dark wood and important looking. I will have to go in next time. On the 3rd floor, they had an exhibit that consisted of literally 5 artifacts. They also had an exhibit curated by students. I really wanted to like this place, but it just left me underwhelmed. As Tom K. mentioned the size and scope fall short. I'm sure Brooklyn has had a long and storied history, but the museum shows only a small portion of that. Brooklyn deserves more.

We had our wedding at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Randi and the team at the venue were extremely helpful, flexible, and generous throughout the planning process. We did several walk-throughs, meetings and phone calls with Randi and she was very generous with her time and expertise. Everything was absolutely seamless the night of the wedding - not to mention gorgeous. Our guests were so happy to be in such a gorgeous space. The acoustics in the Great Hall on the 1st floor were a bit tough for a big band (i.e., just super loud), but that ended up being really fun for the dance party anyway. We highly recommend BHS as a unique and beautiful wedding venue, with of course lots of history! And you get to support a great organization along the way and return to the museum to celebrate anniversaries, etc. Thank you Randi & all of BHS!

Wonderful space. The library is absolutely gorgeous and relaxing. Nice Brooklyn items in the gift shop.

Amazing, gorgeous site. Very sincere and thoughtful staff. The reading room smells like wood, sunshine, and caramel. I am going to make up research projects so I can return and spend hours in their collections.

Just went to a wedding here. They had it in the library, really wonderful event!

We were married at BHS in October 2014. This was the perfect place for us to get married. The building is beautiful, the staff is great, and the location is perfect. We rented the downstairs and upstairs, and had about 120 attendees. We used the library upstairs for the ceremony and the downstairs for the reception. Daisy really went above and beyond in assisting us with the setup and execution. Even better, the affordable fees to rent the building go to a non-profit with a good cause. The pictures came out amazing with the historic interior. We received many complements on the location from our guests as it is uniquely Brooklyn. We highly recommend using BHS as a wedding and/or reception location.

I recently attended a wedding at BHS and not only is the venue charming, but every aspect of the event proceeded flawlessly and all of the staff were welcoming, pleasant, and helpful. My particular thanks go to Daisy -- upon learning from the groom that I had lost a necklace that night, she immediately emailed to let me know that the necklace had been found, and she had it in the mail to me within an hour. You couldn't ask for better service than that!

Not the best, nor the worst museum. Its just a bit limited, this museum looks like a rich man's mansion from 1890. It has an extensive library on the second floor, everything Brooklyn related is found there. I do like the intimacy of the place, its small and cozy. I do suggest that they place an inscription next to the paintings,or artworks rather than you picking up the laminated planogram from the corner wall. My favorite (current) exhibits were Hidden in Plain Sight, it was a collection of photos of NY's working poor class families and it was quite interactive. I also enjoyed the Civil War Letters of Brooklyn soldiers and their families. I found them intriguing and I love the interactive aspect of the exhibit, especially when you can hear the letters read by a just pressing play. Overall, this museum its a quick visit, I lasted about an hour and a half, sans a visit the library. Go and check them out.

Amazing place! There so many paintings and each one of them are very interesting. It always made me wonder how a paint can survive for such a long time and still look so great. I went there for a whole day and still wasn't able to get through everything but that's probably because I tried to read all the bios. Took me a while but I just love the history and this place. The staff is greatly educated about most of the arts. I asked a question and they had no problem explaining or giving me more information.

I'm writing my first ever yelp review just for Brooklyn Historical Society! In addition to being a wonderful museum where you can enjoy thoughtful, well-curated exhibits and a stellar line-up of cultural programming inside a rare architectural jewel, their event hosting game is truly exceptional. My husband and I hosted our wedding reception there in July 2016 and could not have been happier with the beautiful, comfortable space and the flexibility of the attentive, professional staff. I was a difficult customer, asking to have everything precisely as I wanted it, bringing in my own decor, food, alcohol, music, etc. and expecting a lot of care from their staff, and everyone far exceeded my expectations. Daisy Lee in particular was a phenomenal help from beginning to end, handling many details that hadn't even occurred to me and facilitating all the complexities of a formal Saturday evening party in Brooklyn. Our guests were evenly split, half from New York City and half from abroad, and everyone was deeply impressed by the space and the execution. We are still reveling in compliments from our friends and family who can't stop talking about what a great time they had! Thanks again to everyone at BHS for making our celebration such a success!!

I was interested in heading over there with a class trip, I went with my daughter I went with a lot of students and teachers we were asked to be split up so we can be shown around I felt uneasy because they made us go in groups it's odd it's a museum we can go where we please so I went to the library but the door was locked from the inside out and people were inside I was waiting for someone to open up it took while I was standing there with some parents and some of the kids so then a person came and let us in but gave instructions to leave book bags purses at the door? I couldn't believe it and I looked at the parents and asked why at the door? I figured out why but I asked someone in the library why? No answer the women walked away with no answer. I'm guessing the women was implying that we the kids or parents would steal? I never ever had such a n experience like this in a museum I guess it's Brooklyn, I think I'll just keep myself going to museums in Manhattan.