History
The Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) was founded in 1863 by Henry Pierrepont (1808-1888) as the Long Island Historical Society. In 1985 LIHS changed its name to Brooklyn Historical Society.
In October 1999, BHS began a full-scale restoration of its National Historic Landmark building, and reopened in 2003.
In 2005, the BHS was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Principal activities of BHS include education programs, which are organized around a central educational concept of encouraging students to understand that history is connected to their lives. BHS programs link the study of American history to events and sites in the students’ own communities by introducing the investigation of primary source documents and neighborhood histories. BHS’ education programs largely focus on the ability of students to “read” primary source documents, including works of art, maps, photographs, and other artifacts.
BHS offers a schedule of programs designed to engage a broad range of audiences. Programs range from topics in history and current affairs to exhibition related lectures, to musical events, walking tours, readings and plays.
Up to eight exhibitions each year are preesented by BHS, ranging from comprehensive retrospectives and historical surveys to more focused presentations that explore specific themes and topics. Installations from the collection have included a gallery of family portraits and another of landscape paintings. These installations rotate over time, providing visitors with greater access to BHS’ fine arts collections.
In December 2007 BHS opened the first gallery in the United States devoted to oral history. The first exhibition installed in the gallery was an installation of oral histories, photographs, documents, and artifacts called "In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn's Vietnam Veterans".
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“Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the “anticipation of Nature.””
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)