Losing Sight of Brooklyn: Identity, Nostalgia and Change in Late 19th Century Brooklyn, New York

by Grudzinski, Rebecca Elaine

In the late 19th century, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle was one of the most prosperous newspapers in the United States. This thesis examines the Eagle’s development from a small Democratic newspaper to an independent community publication. The Eagle’s “Brooklyn First” campaign supported city improvements and territorial expansion while attacking the city’s nemesis, New York. As middle class and wealthly Protestants supported the Eagle’s mission, the newspaper lost sight of Brooklyn’s diverse identity by speaking to the city’s most affluent citizens. The Brooklyn vote to consolidate with New York laid bare the complex identity of the city and the reality that most residents did not fit the Eagle’s description of the ideal Brooklynite. An examination of the newspaper’s fight to preserve Brooklyn’s autonomy leads to questions about urban change, identity, and nostalgia in late 19th century New York.