Some Genealogically Relevant Resources at the Brookline (MA) Public Library
by Deena A. Berton
First Printed in Mass-Pocha 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Reprints OK With Proper Credit to Deena A. Berton and Mass-Pocha.
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 Did your ancestors ever live in Brookline, Massachusetts? If so, you may be in luck. In my research experience, I have found that genealogically relevant, local public resources vary widely by community. Luckily for those of us with relatives who lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, the Brookline Public Library has a fairly complete collection of tax lists, community street directories, and residents lists stretching back to the late 1800s which makes tracing people easy -- even if you start out with scant information about them.

Most of these items are readily accessible in the stacks in a special reference room, appropriately named the "Brookline Room" at the main branch of the library (located at 361 Washington Street; telephone for hours 617-730-2369). Access is as simple as speaking to the reference librarian and showing an ID. Some of the material, especially the more current books, may be found in the general reference section.

Some of the resources available are:

Brookline High School Year Books (The Murivian)

Years: 1949-50, 1952-54, 1956-65, 1967-1971, 1976-77, 1981-82, 1988-90, 1992-93

These have individual photos of all the seniors and teachers. They also have group pictures of the underclassmen, in (roughly) alphabetically organized "homeroom" groups.

Brookline High School Reunion Books

Class of 1938, 50 year Reunion Book published in 1988

This is a gold mine. It has stories of many of the class members and photos from the original year book (notice it is not included in the list they have above).

Brookline High School Alumni Association Alumni Directory 1993

 Brookline Library Call Number B.R./379.5/B 8al

Published by Bernard C. Harris Publishing Company, Inc., White Plains, NY, 1993

Published in honor of the Sesquicentennial (150 year) Celebration of the School, this is a list of all alumni from all graduating classes that they could track down in 1993 with their current address and phone and occupation. Very useful is the alphabetical listing of alumni by the name used when they were students. This is a great resource for tracking down those female ancestors who "disappeared" when they were married and changed their names.

(The Alumni Association, which published the above directory, claims to have a database of 20,000 alumni, some of whom filled out forms with additional information about themselves. They will research this database and give you a copy of the biographical file for a small fee if you write to them at: Brookline HS Alumni Association, c/o Brookline High School, Alumni Office, 115 Greenough St., Brookline, MA 02143, USA.)

Brookline Tax Lists

Years: 1913-1973, 1975-1981

These vary in content by year but most include one or all of:

Poll Tax Lists - Alphabetical lists of registered voters (generally this only includes males over age 20)

Personal Property Tax Lists - Alphabetical lists of residents who were charged a tax on their personal possessions

Property Tax Lists - Alphabetical lists of property owners in the town with descriptions of the property being taxed

Brookline Street Listings of Residents

Years: 1903-1908 (one book); 1909-1920 (these seem to be the same as Poll Tax Lists - see above); 1921-1996

 These are lists of residents by street address in the town, usually as of the first of the year. These include the resident's name, occupation, age, and (most importantly for tracing people) the residence of each individual in the household the year before. They also include another very genealogically relevant piece of information, the nationality of the resident. If the resident was an alien at the time of the survey, it listed his or her country of allegiance. This can be invaluable when trying to trace an ancestors application for naturalization.

Brookline Blue Books of Residents

Years: 1887, 1889-1895, 1897, 1899-1902, 1904, 1906, 1907-1926, 1928, 1932, 1939-1941

These are lists of "Leading Residents" of Brookline. Most are organized by street but some have alphabetical listings. Some years contain lists for Allston, Brighton, Wellesley or other tangential communities. Often, these list women with their maiden names even if they are married (i.e. , Florence Neiman nee Wayner) which I found very useful.

Brookline Directories

1877/78, 79/80, 81/82, 83/84, 85/86, 1887, 1889, 1891-1920, 1922, 1924-1932, 1934, 1940, 1944, 1966, 1968

These are standard city directories of residents in alphabetical order.

 Brookline Chronicle Obituary Index

This is an alphabetical card catalog of obituaries appearing in the Brookline Chronicle. I am not sure of the exact years covered by the index, but a cursory look showed deaths ranging from the early 1920s to the mid 1970s.

Church/Parish Histories

There are a number of church published books which list members or active participants. These tend to be "minutes" of meetings or simply rule books. I did not notice any Temple or Jewish histories, but I did not do a thorough search.

Brookline town Records

They have many types of town records stored in the library. The records mostly contain information about running the town, including budgets, building plans, election rules, etc. However, glancing through them I noticed many lists of town officers and politicians so if you have a relative who was involved in town politics, they may be worth a look.

Any one set of these records would be useful in and of itself. However, as a collection, they constitute a tremendously useful resource. For instance, using the Poll Tax Lists, I was able to determine the age of a male relative by the year he first appeared in the Lists (a male had to be 20 years old to be listed). From that I was able to identify what year he graduated high school and I was able to find his high school yearbook, complete with graduation picture.

The street listings, once you get the hang of them, are also particularly useful since they are such a comprehensive set. By comparing household occupancy data for several years running, I was able to determine years in which people were married, became naturalized, and when they moved into the town (and which communities they came from before they lived in Brookline)!

In my experience, not many communities have this much data so readily available. If you have a relative who lived in Brookline, I highly recommend you take advantage of these resources.