The decade began with classes taught in rented office space in noisy downtown Brooklyn. By the end of the decade students, faculty, and administrators settled into a beautiful Georgian-style campus in the heart of the borough, with a new President taking the helm. Brooklyn College’s first decade formed the character of the college and laid the foundation for future growth, challenges, and conflicts, as well as a tradition of academic excellence.

Crowded Brooklyn streets surrounding the Downtown Campus (circa 1930). Note the long since demolished Fulton Street el. (Brooklyn College Archives Photo Collection).
The Fight for a Public College in Brooklyn
It’s Official: Brooklyn College is born!
Early Yearbooks as a Lens into Student Life
List of Sites Considered by the BHE
Campus Sketches: The Art of Anthony Pugliese
Future 1930s Installments:
Athletics
Student Activism
Student Press
Early Faculty and Administrators
Presidential Bookends: Boylan and Gideonse
The Dies Committee
Brooklyn College in the Spanish Civil War
Oral Histories
The school colors: a philosophical decision or a closeout sale?
The Alma Mater and its ties to Socialism
(Suggestions for blog posts: email marianne@brooklyn.cuny.edu)