Though today's photo of the week has "Thanksgiving" in the title provided by the photographer, the events pictured in the photo are, at first glance, mysterious. Boys surround a group of people dressed in women's dresses, wearing masks and hoods, as they all traipse down a residential street. Some damage to the negative or the print adds a graphic addition to the upper right corner. The metadata, giving only the title and the date, provides little else. My first instinct when seeing "Boys'" was that this photo might have been related to a Boys' Home for orphaned or indigent children in Brooklyn. To investigate this, I searched "boys' thanksgiving" in our digitized newspapers and filtered to pre-1892 dates. One article, from the 1870s, a temporal match, seems like a likely explanation for the image.
THANKSGIVING EVENTS.
St. Vincent's Home for Boys.
Thanksgiving celebration took place at the St. Vincent's Home for Boys last evening. It had been announced to the boys in attendance the night before, some fifty in number, that a Thanksgiving dinner or supper would be ready for them the usual hour of coming in, seven o'clock. In the evening several of the larger boys were also requested to be prepared with songs, dances, recitations, etc., for performance on the evening of the supper. Accordingly, at the hour mentioned, the boys were on hand, and sat down to a liberal banquet of turkey, chicken and duck, with al the accompanying vegetables and dessert. This feast was bestowed upon them by Mr. Thomas Cassin, and it was remarked that the "young uns" on hearing the name of the generous donor, appeared to be as thankful to him as to anybody else.
After the banquet, which was greatly enjoyed, not only by the boys but by those who saw them enjoying themselves, the latter consisting of the officers of the institution and a few visitors, the way was led to the spacious parlors or reading rooms of the Home. Here a stage had been erected at one end, with drop curtain and a few accessories for scenery and stage properties. Quite a company of ladies and gentlemen ware assembled, friends and contributors to the Home. [...]
Further research is needed to confirm this connection, but it seems possible that the events depicted in Brainerd's photo come from a Thanksgiving play performed by the older boys of the St. Vincent's Home for boys, or a similar event.
Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We welcome appointments to research our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
Post a Comment
While BPL encourages an open forum, posts and comments are moderated by library staff. BPL reserves the right, within its sole discretion, not to post and to remove submissions or comments that are unlawful or violate this policy. While comments will not be edited by BPL personnel, a comment may be deleted if it violates our comment policy.
eNews Signup
Get the latest updates from BPL and be the first to know about new programs, author talks, exciting events and opportunities to support your local library.