POTW: Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album

[Charles Blieffert and his parents, Helene and Charles], circa 1905, 2015.010.2.2; Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album; Brooklyn Historical Society.

The photo of the week depicts Charles Blieffert (at the wheel) with his parents, Helene and Charles, posing for a portrait at a Coney Island tintype studio sometime around 1905. Charles Blieffert was the only child of German immigrant parents. He grew up at the family home located at 18th Avenue near Gravesend Avenue in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. In an effort to Americanize his name, he changed his name from “Karl” to “Charlie” and pronounced his last name “Bly-furt” rather than “Blee-furt.” During the Great Depression, Charles moved out of Brooklyn to Milwaukee where he found work in the insurance business. He did not marry until his widowed mother died in 1940.

This photograph comes from the Charles (Karl) Blieffert photograph album collection. Brooklyn Historical Society recently acquired and processed this collection, which includes one photograph album dating from 1908 to 1917 and four tintype photographs of Charles with relatives. The photograph album is particularly noteworthy because it includes 249 black and white photographs taken by Blieffert of young friends and family members in the Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, and Brighton Beach neighborhoods of Brooklyn during the early 20^th-century. Photographs depicting Knickerbocker Field Club, fishing in Sheepshead Bay, and a clam bake at Felton’s are standouts in the album. You can view this collection online here.

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our Brooklyn Visual Heritage website here. To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Sat, 1:00-5:00 p.m. library@brooklynhistory.org