Collection of Brooklyn, N.Y., Civil War relief associations records, ephemera and other material Bulk, 1861-1866 circa 1798 to 1964

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Collection of Brooklyn, N.Y., Civil War relief associations records, ephemera and other material Bulk, 1861-1866 circa 1798 to 1964

http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/bhs/arc_245_civil_war_relief_associations/arc_245_civil_war_relief_associations.html

The collection was compiled over time by the Brooklyn Historical Society (formerly the Long Island Historical Society). It principally contains the records of two major Brooklyn-based Civil War relief associations, the War Fund Committee and the Women's Relief Association, including records of their various projects. A large portion of the collection documents one significant project undertaken by these organizations, the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair of 1864, also known as the Sanitary Fair. Documentation of the Fair covers both its financial aspects and the events and exhibits taking place there, and includes posters, broadsheets, printed matter, the Fair's newspaper, subscription books, admission tickets, stereographs of the New England Kitchen exhibit, and more. Some artifacts exhibited at the Fair are included in the collection, notably an album of autographed writings with contributions by Hawthorne, Longfellow, and James Fenimore Cooper, among many others. Documents concerning other relief organizations are found in the collection, including the Brooklyn Bureau of the American Freedmen's Friend Society and the Brooklyn and Long Island Christian Commission. Records of fundraising in Brooklyn for a Lincoln Monument Fund and in response to an 1866 fire in Portland, Maine, are also included. In addition, the collection holds other materials, primarily concerning the Civil War, relief efforts in cities other than Brooklyn, politics, commercial advertising, and other matters.

4.0 Linear feet; in 5 manuscript boxes and 9 boxes of various sizes

Center for Brooklyn History (2020-)

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6329168

Related Entities

There are 3 Entities related to this resource.

Women's Relief Association of the City of Brooklyn

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6798s2j (corporateBody)

Civil War volunteer group to provide assistance to soldiers and their families. From the description of Register of receipts, 1862-1865. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155451869 At the outset of the Civil War, the Red Cross did not exist, there was no draft, the nursing profession was nascent, and there existed no formal welfare relief for wounded soldiers and families of deceased soldiers. Private institutions, state and local governments, and individuals mobil...

War Fund Committee (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q92wt (corporateBody)

Andersonville Prison, represented in the collection through its hospital records and registers, was located in southwest Georgia and operated for 15 months between 1864 and 1865. The site was used by the Confederate Army as a prisoner-of-war camp for captured Union soldiers. At the time of its closure, almost 13,000 Union soldiers had died at Andersonville. The records were collected by E. P. Hopkins, a captured soldier from Ohio who worked as a steward in the prison hospital. ...

Brooklyn and Long Island Fair in Aid of the United States Sanitary Commission (1864)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mw7dm2 (corporateBody)

At the outset of the Civil War, the Red Cross did not exist, there was no draft, the nursing profession was nascent, and there existed no formal welfare relief for wounded soldiers and families of deceased soldiers. Private institutions, state and local governments, and individuals mobilized in order to meet the great demands of the war. Volunteer military regiments were formed through the efforts of state and local recruitment agencies, and relief was provided through existing chan...