Brooklyn Historical Society was founded in 1863 as the Long Island Historical Society (LIHS) during a time of tumultuous change. In only a few decades, Brooklyn had grown from a tiny agricultural backwater to the third-largest city in the country. Civic pride was at an all-time high. Many of Brooklyn’s citizens believed they needed to commemorate their city’s rural past before it quickly faded from memory.

Greater Astoria Historical Society, founded in 1985 is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Through education programs, exhibitions, the research library, our historic sites, and special events, GAHS offers New Yorkers and visitors to Queens a chance to connect with the heritage of Queens.

The Lower Manhattan Historical Association ("LMHA") is a collaborative community umbrella for New York City-based historical, cultural, and military Constituent Organizations devoted to the study, preservation, documentation, commemoration, and patriotic celebration of Lower Manhattan’s rich and complex history.

The New-York Historical Society, one of America’s pre-eminent cultural institutions, is dedicated to fostering research, presenting history and art exhibitions, and public programs that reveal the dynamism of history and its influence on the world of today. Founded in 1804, New-York Historical is the oldest museum in New York City. New-York Historical has a mission to explore the richly layered political, cultural and social history of New York City and State and the nation, and to serve as a national forum for the discussion of issues surrounding the making and meaning of history.

In Pursuit of Freedom explores Brooklyn’s anti-slavery movement from the end of the American Revolution to the early days of Reconstruction through photographs, census records, anti-slavery and local newspapers, maps and more.

Founded in 1968 as a not-for-profit organization, the Queens Historical Society (QHS) is the largest and most active historical society in the borough and the only one with a borough-wide scope and impact. It promotes and provides assistance for research into social, political, and economic aspects of Queens history and documents the constant changes that continue to shape the borough. It maintains an archive and library of primary and secondary sources of historical information for students, historians, and the public.

As the oldest continuously inhabited free Black settlement in the United States, Sandy Ground is a place of great historical significance that was founded in the early 19th Century and became a settlement of free Blacks from New York, Maryland, and Delaware. The community was able to thrive and became a safe haven on the Underground Railroad.

The Staten Island Historical Society’s collections tell the story of the American experience through the lives of Staten Islanders. Portions of the collection are displayed in museum galleries and house museums at Historic Richmond Town. The Online Collections Database was created for the study of selected items that may not be on display.

Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn’s largest African-American cultural institution, is a multidisciplinary museum dedicated to preserving the history of the 19th century African American community of Weeksville, Brooklyn - one of America’s first free black communities.