Online Resources

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.

Brooklyn Newsstand

Brooklyn Newsstand is a collection of digitized Brooklyn newspapers made possible through a partnership between Brooklyn Public Library and Newspapers.com.  

Brooklyn Newsstand | Partial Content (831,000 digitized pages) - can be accessed for free from anywhere with an internet connection - contains 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.

Brooklyn Newsstand | Full Content (2,402,000 digitized pages) contains over 30 additional newspapers, each listed below with date ranges and description, and can be accessed for free via Brooklyn Public Library’s public computers and public wireless network. Please note: We've made arrangements with our partner, newspapers.com to provide free access to all Brooklyn titles during our closure. In branch and in library wifi use only, will go back into effect when we reopen.

Brooklyn Public Library Digital Collections

Discover Brooklyn history: Explore our collection of digitized Brooklyn content.

EPOCH - 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.

Fire Insurance Maps Online (FIMO)

New York State high-definition, full-color fire insurance maps from Sanborn and other publishers, real estate atlases, plat books, and other historical maps showing building structures, building construction details, property ownership, property uses, and other useful information. The site has an Interactive map search, and Geo-referenced or search by place name and drop-down menus.

HeritageQuest

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.

New York Heritage Digital Collections

Search and browse digital collections about New York State's extensive history. Includes letters, diaries, photographs, newspapers, and maps from over 160 museums, libraries and archives.

New York State Newspapers

Current and archived articles from newspapers across New York State.  Includes the New York Observer, the New York Post and Newsday.

New 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.   

New 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.)

Urban Archive

View our collection of city stories and check out the platform of digital collections of New York City's museums, archives, and libraries.