Robert A. Henriksen 

Robert A. Henriksen holds one of the largest privately assembled and published collections of printed Brooklyn advertisements spanning from the late 1800s into the mid-20th century. Available here at Amazon

Through an extensive series of self-published books, he has made accessible thousands of original vintage ads that capture everyday commercial life, local businesses, national brands, and the evolving culture of Brooklyn.

He has published over 40 Vintage Advertisement books, containing 300 or more advertisements each. totaling over 5000 ads 

The Core Collection: Brooklyn Vintage Ads

The flagship project is the Brooklyn Vintage Ads series — a multi-volume set (described as 20 volumes) of advertisements from the late 1800s through the 1950s. Each book contains over 300 ads. No two volumes are the same; the selections are randomly chosen from a much larger personal archive.

These are scanned original printed ads covering an extraordinarily wide range of categories:

• Supermarket & grocery ads
• Airlines & aircraft
• Alcohol & soft drinks
• Beauty, hygiene & perfume
• Clothing & fashion
• Cars, oil, gas & tires
• Food, candy & restaurants
• Furniture & household goods
• Jewelry & watches
• Medicine & health
• Movies, entertainment & celebrities
• Music & sports
• Toys, kids & babies
• Phone & communication
• Tools, gadgets & toys
• Travel & transportation
• Want ads, apartments & cars for sale
• And many more

Readers gain a vivid sense of period prices, new inventions, and advertising styles of companies — some long vanished, others still operating more than a century later.

Specialized Companion Series

Complementing the main set are focused collections that further expand the archive:

• Vintage Brooklyn Auto Ads (4 volumes) — each with 350–400+ ads from the early days of the automobile through the 1950s, including dealership promotions, used-car listings, oil, gasoline, and tire advertising.
• Made in Brooklyn: Iconic Ads and Other Ephemeral — vintage ads, matchbooks, and Brooklyn ephemera dating to the late 1800s (over 400 items in some editions).
• Additional volumes on vintage matchbooks, Fulton St trade card Collection, food ads, Ebinger’s, and related Brooklyn ephemera.

Taken together, Henriksen has published **at least 40 books**, the great majority of which contain 300 or more ads each, Over 5000 vintage Brooklyn ads fully supporting the claim of one of the biggest collections of printed Brooklyn advertisements of this kind.

**Brooklyn Echoes Quiz and Podcast Website** 

Brooklyn Echoes (brooklynechoes.com) is Robert Henriksen’s interactive home for the forgotten stories, hidden places, and timeless traditions of Brooklyn, spanning from the 1950s to the present day. The site invites visitors to step back in time through a combination of engaging trivia games and the Brooklyn Echoes Podcast, offering a choice between testing their knowledge of the borough’s rich history, neighborhoods, icons, and lesser-known tales or simply listening to narrative episodes that bring those echoes to life. Designed as a living archive of nostalgia and discovery, Brooklyn Echoes serves as a central hub that links together Henriksen’s wider projects—including his vintage advertising books, merchandise, and related media—while continually expanding with new trivia challenges and podcast installments that keep Brooklyn’s cultural memory vibrant and accessible for both lifelong residents and curious newcomers.

**Brooklyn YouTube Trivia Website / Channel** 

Through the Brooklyn Hall of Fame YouTube channel (@thebrooklynhalloffame) and its dedicated trivia shorts section, Robert Henriksen has built a lively, quick-fire destination for Brooklyn history buffs who prefer video-based learning and entertainment. The channel specializes in short-form trivia quizzes covering an impressive range of local topics—street games like Ringolevio and stickball, iconic food institutions such as Peter Luger Steakhouse, Nathan’s Famous, Ebinger’s Bakery, and Roll-N-Roaster, classic landmarks including the Brooklyn Bridge, Litchfield Villa, Prospect Park Boathouse, and Floyd Bennett Field, as well as neighborhood favorites, factory signs, roller-disco culture, and Brooklyn Dodgers lore. Each short presents a question followed by the answer reveal, making the format ideal for mobile viewing and repeated play; with well over a hundred trivia quizzes already available and more added regularly, the channel functions as an ever-growing digital museum of Brooklyn facts, memories, and nostalgia that complements Henriksen’s written and podcast work.

**Brooklyn Hall of Fame, Inc.** 

The Brooklyn Hall of Fame, Inc., a 501 ( C)  3 founded by Robert A Henriksen, is a passion-driven organization dedicated to celebrating the rich history, culture, and achievements of Brooklyn by honoring the individuals—both celebrated and unsung—who have made lasting contributions to the borough. Through its website (thebrooklynhalloffame.com), the project researches, documents, and shares the stories of people who called Brooklyn home, aiming to preserve their legacies for future generations while inspiring continued community pride and positive impact. Henriksen, whose deep personal connection to Brooklyn fuels the effort, has devoted countless hours to this work; the organization seeks volunteers to help with curating content, producing videos, managing collections, designing digital resources, and planning events, all in service of keeping the spirit of the borough alive. By linking biography features, trivia, podcasts, and historical deep-dives under one banner, the Brooklyn Hall of Fame stands as a comprehensive tribute to the extraordinary people and everyday heroes who helped shape the vibrant, diverse community Brooklyn is today.