Between 1886 and 1929 the newspaper Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an annual almanac, "A Book of Information, General of the World, and Special of New York City and Long Island," as the 1914 edition is sub-titled. There is a great deal of material in these volumes which may be useful to the family historian.
Although the 1914 edition was hardbound and contained 700 pages, the price was only fifty cents. One would therefore expect copies of the Almanac to be widely available, but this does not seem to be the case. There is a complete run from 1886 to 1929 in the Brooklyn Collection of Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza, but sets at other local libraries, including the New York Public Library in Manhattan, are incomplete (the NYG&B Library only has 1904, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1912, and 1913).
This writer has a personal copy of the 1914 edition, and the following description is based on that edition. However, similar information will be found in other years.
Not only does the 1914 Almanac contain 700 pages, but each page consists of two columns in very small (8 point) type. This will give some idea of the amount of material that is crammed into this single volume.
The Almanac can be of value to genealogists or family historians in several ways, including: 1) a family member's name may appear (though unfortunately there is no name index); 2) an organization or institution associated with an individual or family may be listed, with useful information; or 3) there may be other facts that might be interesting to include in a family history, particularly when one is describing the times and places in which the family lived.
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The 1914 Almanac begins with a subject index, and those pages include many display ads, some for banks which list the officers and trustees at the time. The front matter also includes a separate index of advertisers (page xxxiii).
Pages 2-55 contain Street and Avenue directories for the Boroughs of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx, and Queens. These were provided by the Trow Directory, Printing, and Bookbinding Company, and are the same ones found in contemporary city directories.
Pages 80-85 give Ward and Assembly District boundaries for the five boroughs as of 1914.
Pages 92-95 list all the Post Offices in the five boroughs and Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties, with names of postmasters and a few other employees.
Pages 128-140 are devoted to Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk counties). They include the following lists:
500 GERMAN SOCIETIES in the five boroughs.
See next page for the other groups of ethnic and
general associations that will be found in the Almanac.
Societies and Associations (with addresses and principal officers): Alumnae and Alumni; Boards of Trade and Civic Improvement; Business, Commercial, and Agricultural; Charitable; Literary; Political; Religious; Missions; Church Sewing Schools; Church Kindergartens; Social; Miscellaneous.
Volunteer Fire Companies (with names of chiefs)
Justices of the Peace
School Boards and Districts (with superintendents, board presidents or chief trustees, and collectors)
Churches, by denomination, with date organized, membership figures, value of property.
Libraries
Pages 141-150 cover Financial Institutions, with names of presidents and cashiers or secretaries of each. Categories include: National Banks in NYC; Banks of LI; NYC Safe Deposit Companies; NYC Savings Banks; NYC State Banks; NYC Trust Companies; Co-operative Building, Savings and Loan Associations; Life and Property Insurance companies.
On pages 156-70 are found Labor laws, unions, and officials (NYC and LI); and a table of prevailing rate of wages (by occupation).
Pages 171-190 are devoted to Public Schools of the City of New York, giving members of the city and local school boards; qualifications for teachers' licenses; and salary schedules. There are lists of all the high schools, public schools, and teacher training schools in each borough, plus special and evening schools, with location, principal, janitor, and number of classrooms, teachers, and students.
At pages 194-220 are found Hospitals, Homes and Societies for Relief: hospitals, dispensaries and asylums; relief of the aged; relief of children; special relief (ethnic, religious, etc.); reformatories; settlements; humane societies; miscellaneous. These cover all boroughs and there is a separate list of state institutions. In each case they list the name and address of the institution, and one or two principal officers or staff Also listed are tuberculosis clinics in NYC, hospitals in NYS, and private sanitariums in NYC and LI.
Pages 220-221 contain a list of Long Island newspapers by community; and county, town, and village officials.
At pages 222-223 there is a list of Cemeteries of NYC and vicinity, giving name, location, acreage; number (but no names) of interments in 1912 and to date; superintendent or secretary; and travel directions to the cemetery.
Between pages 225 and 333 (109 pages!) is a section which may be of particular interest to family historians. It contains lists of SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS by borough; some international, national, and state organizations are included. For each entry there is an address and the name of a secretary or other principal officer(s). The organizations are listed by category (pages will indicate the relative size of each category):
Alumni and Alumnae Associations pp. 225-27
Art Clubs 227-28
Boards of Trade & Civic Improvement Assns. 228-32
Business, Commercial and Agricultural Assns. 232-37
Dramatic Societies 237-38
Educational Societies 238-41 [including "N.Y. Genealogical and Biographical Soc. 1869. 226 W. 58th. 700 mem. C. W. Bowen, Pres.; H. R. Drowne, Sec."]
French Societies 242
German Societies 242-50 [sub-categories are Benefit, Plattdeutsche, Musical, Gymnastic, War Veterans, Shooting, and Social, and there are separate lists for lodges of the Deutscher Order der Harugari and Order of Prosperity]
Greek Letter Societies 250-51
Irish Societies 251
Italian Societies 251-57 [sub-categories Benefit, Educational- Philodramatic, Musical, Political, Professional, Social, Sporting, and Trade, and there are separate lists of lodges of the Ordine Figli d'ltalia, and Societa di Benevolenza dei Barberi Italiana of State of New York]
Jewish Organizations 257-68 [arranged by borough within the following sub-categories: National, Local Federations, Charitable, Educational, and Mutual Benefit; there are separate long lists of lodges of the Arbeiter Ring, Independent Order Ahavath Israel, Order B'rith Abraham and Independent Order B'rith Abraham, Independent Order Free Sons of Judah, and others]
Kindergarten Societies 268
Literary Societies 269-70
Medical Societies 270-72
Men's Church Clubs [Protestant] 112-1A
Mothers' Clubs of the Public Schools 274-75
Musical Societies 275-76 [see also German and Italian Societies, above]
Patriotic and Commemorative Societies 276-79
Religious Societies [Christian] 279-86
Scandinavian and Finnish Societies 286-87
School Clubs 287-88 [clubs in colleges and high schools; no personal names given]
Scottish Societies 288-89
Secret and Benefit Associations 289-315 [many long lists of local chapters, lodges, etc., but officers named only for organizations as a whole, not local units; includes Masonic]
Social Clubs 315-18 [see also ethnic lists]
Spanish Societies 318
Sporting Clubs 318-26 [by type of club]
Temperance Societies 326-28
Veteran Firemen's Associations 328
War Veterans' Associations 328-29
Woman Suffrage Associations 329-30
Working Girls' Clubs 330-31
Societies and Associations Unclassified 331-33
The next sections cover Religious Institutions. Pages 334- 38 list Church Kindergartens, Schools & Missions [Protestant only, including separate list of Chinese Sunday Schools and Missions]
Pages 338-40 Religious Denominations [Christian] are described, giving national statistics and leading personages.
Pages 341-60 list New York City Churches, by denominations within borough. The first table for each borough covers all except Catholic churches; it includes Jewish congregations despite use of the term "church." This table contains name of church and location, name of pastor and address, date organized, number of contributing members and Sunday School members, total amount raised in the year, and value of church property. The second table for each borough covers Roman Catholic churches, giving name of church and location, name of pastor and number of assistants, date organized, number of parishioners, Sunday School members, and value of church property. There is a recapitulation of statistics by borough, for each denomination.
The Almanac also contains floor plans for theaters in
Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The next sections cover Government: First (pages 449- 74) Federal Government, giving names in Executive Depts. (salaries). Judicial, Diplomatic/Consular Service; U.S. territories and possessions (names and salaries of officials, including Panama Canal); U.S. Army (pay, statistics); U.S. Govt. Pensions (statistics); U.S. Navy (including Brooklyn Navy Yard personnel); and U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. Lists of foreign embassies in U.S. and consulates in NYC. Explanation of Naturalization and Qualification of Voters. At pages 376-77 will be found a list of offices of U.S. Departments in NYC [with names].
Pages 361-71 describe various parts of New York State Government, including salaries of principal staff of each department. 372-73 cover the Militia of New York State, and 376-77 list County Officials in New York State.
Pages 385-416 cover the City of New York Municipal Government: Executive Dept., Legislative Dept., Administrative Depts., Borough Governments, officials of the five Counties, New York City Judiciary, Fire Dept., Police Dept. Many names, including some junior staff, often with salaries.
At pages 515-42 will be found Sporting Records, with many names, some local and some from elsewhere.
Pages 582-93 cover Political Organizations: Democratic, Republican, Progressive [Bull Moose], and miscellaneous, listed by borough with names of principal officers of local clubs. Also local, state and national political committees (local includes LI).
Pages 603-05 contain the General Necrology of 1913, a list of prominent people who died during the year (worldwide). On pages 605-08 is the Local Necrology of 1913, a more extensive list of deaths in the five boroughs and L.I. These lists give name, occupation, date, and age. Also, on pages 488-89 are Obituaries of Mayor Gaynor, J. Pierpont Morgan, and ex-Lt. Gov. T. L. Woodruff NOTE: In 1929 George P. Miller consolidated the Eagle Almanac necrologies from 1886 to 1928 in a typescript which is available in the Long Island Division of the Queens Borough Public Library.
The 1914 Almanac came with street and rail maps of each of the boroughs, folded in a pocket at the front of the volume. Other years may also have come with maps, but these may well be missing from library copies.
There is much more information in the Almanac. Some that might interest the family historian include various calendars (religious, etc.); 1910 census population figures for the U.S. and (in great detail) N.Y. State and City; gazetteers of Queens, Bronx, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester; steamship lines, buses ("stage routes") in Manhattan, surface and elevated "electric roads" in NYC, subway stations, ferry companies (including LI); parks, drives and statues in NYC, playgrounds, hotels and restaurants, public halls, public baths and comfort stations, picnic groves; libraries and reading rooms including [p. 123: "N.Y. Genealogical and Biographical Soc. - 226 W. 58th. Est. 1869. 18,000 vols. Free to members. Open week days, 10 to 6, and Monday evenings, 8 to 10."]; colleges, academies, and private schools (addresses, no names) and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (instructors' names); Civil Service information, and where to procure licenses and permits in NYC; number of births, marriages, and deaths reported in NYC and suburban towns, 1912-13; information for municipal taxpayers; postal regulations; U.S. tariff law and income tax; theaters in NYC (names of managers, and seating plans with prices for seats, generally "250 to $2.00"); vote counts in 1913 for NYC, by election district.
UPDATE, September 2014
A Note to Readers:
Several years of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac are available online via books.google.com and archive.org. The Almanac is not, however, currently available on the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archive site, http://bklyn.newspapers.com/.
by Harry Macy Jr., FASG, FGBS
Originally published in the New York Researcher, volume 16, no. 1 (Winter 2005)
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