Historical Note: The BAM Board of Directors grew out of two previous formal organizations of leadership for the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The first, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences (BIAS), established 1823 predated BAM's founding by 38 years. The second organization was the shortly lived St. Felix Street Corporation, established in 1970. As BAM began to distance itself from the control of BIAS, which was at the time a partnership with multiple Brooklyn organizations, namely the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, and the Brooklyn Children's Museum, it sought to create a leadership body devoted to BAM alone. This corporate body was later reorganized as the BAM Board of Directors in 1974, with Paul Lepercq as its Chairman. The leadership of the board continues to this day to help shape both the financial and institutional character of BAM.

Scope and Content Note: The BAM Board Files consist of two main series: the BAM Board of Trustees and the BAM Endowment Trust (BET). The BAM Board of Trustees is comprised of five boxes of board minutes, from 1966 to the present, as well as one box of Board correspondence and related materials and a final box of biographies of BAM Board members, the bulk of which were created in the 1990s. The BAM Endowment Trust series consists of three boxes of BET minutes from 1997 to the present, as well as one additional box of related BET member biographies and financial statements.

The remaining series consists of a small amount of files from related BAM Board groups, such as the Community Partnership Council and Friends of BAM. This series also contains the only records of the Women's League for BAM (1958-1959).

Notable materials in the Friends of BAM series include the 1968 formal constitution of this volunteer group, outlining their goals to represent the diverse cultures of New York City by creating a broader audience and membership base for BAM and its programming.

Extent: 12 document boxes, 15 linear feet