Gothamist

A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.

Gothamist

WNYC Listen Live

Donate

 

 

Arts & Entertainment

A Treasure Trove Of Old NY Newspapers Will Soon Be Available Online At Brooklyn Public Library

By

Evan Nicole Brown

Published Jun 5, 2019

Modified Jun 5, 2019

Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Never miss a story

 Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

Brooklyn Public Library Onsite Archives

View all 8

By

Evan Nicole Brown

Published Jun 5, 2019

Modified Jun 5, 2019

Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Soon, thousands of old newspaper articles, dated between 1835 to 1999, will be available online through the Brooklyn Public Library’s digital archives. These historic clips will come from 41 different publications, including the Brooklyn Citizen, Daily Long Island Democrat, Greenpoint Home News, Flatbush Times, and the Canarsie Courier.

“There’s a really good mix of important newspapers of the time and local Brooklyn titles,” Natiba Guy-Clement, librarian and manager of special collections at Brooklyn Public Library, told Gothamist. The library’s Brooklyn Collection team has already digitized 21 titles, and Guy-Clement expects to have the remaining 20 uploaded soon. “We just sent out our last shipment [to be digitized], so we should have all these titles uploaded in the next six to eight weeks.”

Once the digitization is complete, the public will be able to access the historic clips online for free via host site Newspapers.com. However, this will only work when you're at the library. “Currently our agreement with Newspapers.com is that we can make [the articles] available at all the neighborhood branches in Brooklyn,” says Guy-Clement. “After three years they will be freely accessible anywhere in the world.” So for now, researchers, historians, and curious New Yorkers will have to use either a designated Brooklyn Public Library computer, or connect their laptop to the library’s WiFi for unrestricted access.

Meanwhile, old issues of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle are already available online, and access is unrestricted for those—you can search old issues here. The below newspapers will follow this existing Eagle model once the library’s agreement with Newspapers.com lifts in 2022.

bkonsite.JPG

Here's the complete list of the forthcoming online newspaper archives:

Tagged

brooklyn public library

digitized

newspapers

old newspapers

original

Evan Nicole Brown

Read more

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

MORE arts-entertainment

Inside a photographer's journey to visit every neighborhood in New York City

What do you see when you record the whole of the boroughs?

By

Sonia Rao

Published Oct 5, 2026

Banned books and Winnie the Pooh: October in NYC libraries

It's a busy month at the branches.

By

Alec Hamilton

Arts & Entertainment

Banned books and Winnie the Pooh: October in NYC libraries

It's a busy month at the branches.

By

Alec Hamilton

NYC music in October: The Strokes, a Blink-182 cover band, and Polish experimentalism

By

Hank Shteamer

Are you a New Yorker? The Department of New Yorker Verification will now decide.

By

Hannah Frishberg

In the mood for a pastoral autumn experience? Try Queens.

By

Elizabeth Shwe

and

James Ramsay

Never miss a story

Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.

Sign upEmail address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .