Hebrew Educational Society of Brooklyn.

Collecting area: Does not actively collect.

From the description of Repository description. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155457072

In colonial New York, young people primarily received education through private schoolmasters and tutors, and free schooling was available to poor families through the Dutch Reformed and Catholic churches. Following the establishment of a state government, the Regents of the University of the State of New York granted charters for secondary schools in the state; the first charter, in 1768, was for Erasmus Hall Academy, located in the present-day Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush. Individual school districts in Kings County were created based on village, town, or neighborhood boundaries, with each district receiving funding from local taxes, state contributions, and student tuition. This system continued into the mid-19th century, when Brooklyn created a municipal board of education in 1843 to oversee all schools in the city.

While the number of schools in Brooklyn grew, very few educational opportunities existed beyond the primary grades for the children of poor or working class parents. Secondary schools such as Erasmus Hall and the Brooklyn Female Academy (opened in 1846, and now known as the Packer Collegiate Institute) were private, and therefore only affordable for middle class and wealthy families. The Central Grammar School, founded in 1878, was the first public school in Brooklyn to offer secondary level classes. Out of Central Grammar School, Boys' High School and Girls' High School, the first public high schools in Brooklyn, were formed to meet the demand and need for free public education beyond elementary school. Higher education also became available in Brooklyn around this time, as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (now known as Polytechnic Institute of New York University) conferred its first baccalaureate degrees in 1871, and St. Francis Academy evolved from a monastery and preparatory school to St. Francis College in 1885.

From the guide to the Brooklyn schools collection, 1828-1975, (Brooklyn Historical Society)

The widespread emergence of religious organizations devoted to philanthropy in New York City began with the revival of Protestantism in the early 19th century. The reemergence of Protestantism encouraged its followers to provide spiritual and material aid to those in need, and evangelicals responded by establishing a number of benevolent organizations, such as the American Tract Society and the American Bible Society, which were dedicated to the distribution of the scriptures, and the American Sunday School Union, which labored for the establishment of Sunday schools in rural areas. Other Protestant groups founded homes to shelter and care for orphans, widows, unwed mothers, the disabled, and the unemployed. Groups of other religious denominations, including Catholics and Jews, soon followed accordingly and established their own charities, shelters, societies, schools, and missions.

Despite their denominational affiliations, several religious organizations also supported interdenominational work so as to provide as wide-reaching a benefit as possible. While much of the highly-publicized philanthropy in 19th-century New York was the work of wealthy private citizens, such as Peter Cooper, John Jacob Astor, and Charles Pratt, religious organizations were instrumental to the burgeoning of philanthropy in the city, as their members, many of whom were women, conducted their roles as teachers, nurses, social workers, and missionaries for very low wages.

From the guide to the Religious organizations of Brooklyn collection, Bulk, 1841-1931, 1828-1986, (Brooklyn Historical Society)