POTW: 19th Century Brooklyn photographs

[Man with camera and boy], ca. 1880., v1974.7.45, Adrian Vanderveer Martense Collection, v1974.7.45; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Brooklyn Historical Society has many rich photography collections documenting Brooklyn from the mid-1800s to the present. One particular strength of the photography collections is the photographs depicting 19^th century Brooklyn. The Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, Emmanuel house lantern slide collection, Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, and William Koch glass plate negatives collection are good starting points if you’re interested in Brooklyn history or photography during this period. Nothing beats looking at an original 19^th-century photograph in person, so stop by the Othmer Library during public research hours to see for yourself!

The photo of the week depicts a man named Mr. Sherrill holding a box camera next to his young son in an unknown neighborhood of Brooklyn, sometime around 1880. This photograph comes from the Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection comprising of lantern slides and photographs taken by Martense, documenting Brooklyn during the late 19^th century. Some highlights of the collection include informal portraits of people in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and photographs of the Blizzard of 1888. To see more photographs from this collection, check out this gallery.

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