Brooklynology

Fascinating Brooklyn stories from our local history archivists.

POTW: Penny-farthing

Alice

[Boy with bicycle], 1886, V1974.7.49; Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, ARC.191; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on June 14, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. The photo of the week depicts Eddie Tepper posing with a penny-farthing bicycle in 1886. This is…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: The Trails and Trials of Miss Edna Huntington

Nicole

[Edna Huntington in a canoe], 1935. Edna Huntington papers and photographs, ARC.044. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently finished processing the library correspondence sub-series of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s (BHS) Institutional archive, which contains almost all the mail library staff received from 1863 to the mid-1990s. There are reference questions, membership acceptances and resignations, correspondence to and from other institutions, RSVPs, and much more. Looking at these records provides insight into the activities…

POTW: Olives on the Avenue

Dee

Jim Kalett, [Interior of Sahadi Importing Company, Brooklyn, N.Y], c. 1983, black and white photograph, V1992.35.5. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week takes us to a Brooklyn institution, Sahadi's on Atlantic Avenue. This photograph of bins of olives and grains inside the store taken by Jim Kalett circa 1983 is similar to one published in Brooklyn...and How It Got That Way by David McCullough, for which Kalett was the photographer. The book notes that the western end of Atlantic Avenue became "…

POTW: Happy May Day from this Brighton Beach Fishmonger

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

Worker cutting fish, 1987, COHEN_0092; George Cohen photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  George Cohen, a Bronx-born photographer, donated a selection of his photographs of 1980s Brighton Beach to the Brooklyn Public Library in 2013. On this May Day qua International Workers' Day, I found a worker cutting a fish for sale in Brighton Beach in 1987. This fishmonger reminded me of my father, who worked as a fish cutter in Ohio in the 1980s. He made frequent trips to New York where he…

Eugenie Fribourg: Nearly 99 Years in Brooklyn

Allyson

May is Jewish American Heritage Month and to celebrate I thought we could take a closer look at the Eugenie Fribourg Family Photographs and Ephemera Collection. It is comprised of materials relating to and documenting the family and professional life of Eugenie Merzbach Fribourg, a Jewish-American Brooklynite whose life spanned nearly the entire 20th century. She was born in 1908 and died in 2007, just weeks before her 99th birthday and the vast majority of her life was spent in Brooklyn.

Eugenie and Louis Fribourg, twins. Eugenie Fribourg collection.…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Underneath the Floorboards

Katherine

[Basement View from the Great Hall during Renovation], circa 2000. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
It’s not every day you get the chance to see what lies underneath the floors of an old building. And while we don’t have any beating hearts underneath our floorboards, this photograph offers us a rare glimpse of the foundation of 128 Pierrepont Street.   As was mentioned in our first Opening the Pocket Doors post written by my colleague, Nicole Font, our building at 128…

Want a Tattoo? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Sarah

[Brooklyn Blackie Tattooing], 1961; Irving Herzberg Collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Did you know that from 1961-1997 tattooing was banned in New York City? The city blamed the ban on an outbreak of Hepatitis B, but the shops may have been casualties of Mayor Wagner’s crusade to “clean up” ahead of the 1964 World’s Fair. With the shops closed many artists left the city, but a few began working out of apartments, and any New Yorker could still get a tattoo if they knew where to look. This photograph shows a family peeking…

POTW: The Shot Heard Round the World

Allyson

 

Ralph Branca, 1952, DODG_0006; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
To celebrate the return of baseball season, today's Photo of the Week is of Ralph Branca, the man who became famous for what would be called The Shot Heard Round the World. Ralph Branca pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1944-1953 and then again in 1956. He also pitched for the Tigers (1953-1954) and the Yankees (1954). A three-time All-Star, he won 80 games for the Dodgers with a career high of 21 wins in 1947. In 1948 he…

Assessing an 1848 Clairvoyant's Predictions for Brooklyn's Future

Liza

Left: Brooklyn Buildings, ca. 1850, print, ARC.202_box16_311; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.  Right: 162-166 Remsen Street, 1949, gelatin silver print, NEIG_0232; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
On November 21, 1848, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran an article titled “An Evening with a Clairvoyant '' in which an unnamed woman mesmerically read from a book written 102 years into the future. The topic: “the history of…

POTW: Four Horses of Fort Greene

Liza

[Three horses drinking out of a fountain], ca. 1898, photographic print, V1972.2.23; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
In this Photo of the Week, Brooklynites of two and four legs are lured to what appears to be a refreshing fountain on a warm day. The women wear light, summery patterns, and the workmen have bared their shirtsleeves and even forearms. Yet neither heat nor work could disrupt hat fashions. The women display their ornamented millinery while the men sport a variety…

Brooklyn Goes Daffy - It's Spring!

Deborah

View of many flowering daffodil plants in Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1935. GRDN_0093.  Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History​ 
Spring has officially sprung, on March 20th to be exact, and with it come the bright faces of flowers. I am always on the lookout for blooms in the late days of winter, but for me the daffodils mark the true turn of the season. This photo of the week, taken in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 1935, makes the flowers look like they are glowing. If you think the flowers are…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: The Women’s Committee of the Long Island Historical Society

Nicole

[Women’s Committee Fashion Show], 1968. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, ARC 288. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
To celebrate Women's History Month, this week's photo takes us back to 1968 for a fashion show presented by the Women's Committee of the Long Island History Society (LIHS). The Women’s Committee formed in 1959 to further the objectives of LIHS through fundraising and planning social events. Its creation was spearheaded by Maud E. Dillard, who served as its president from 1959 to 1964. Following her term,…

POTW: One Pub's Layered History

Dee

Ballybunion Irish bar, 2012, color photograph, OSOS_0280. Our Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This Friday is Saint Patrick's Day, so I searched our Digital Collections portal for something Irish to share for Photo of the Week. I was pleasantly surprised to find an image from my own neighborhood, Bay Ridge, which is home to many Irish-American families. This color photograph of the Ballybunion Irish bar at 9510 3rd Avenue was taken in 2012 and donated to the Our Streets, Our Stories…

POTW: Happy Women's History Month from three Queen Esthers

Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History

  

 Girls as Queen Esther, 1965, HERZ_0424; Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's photo of the week comes from the Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection. Five Hasidic children stand on the front step of a Williamsburg building on Purim in 1965. Three are dressed as Queen Esther, hero of the Book of Esther, who saved the Jewish people of ancient Persia from King Haman. To read more about the Herzberg collection, see this 2014 blog post. Although some of…

A Tale of Two Schools: a Brooklyn-France Connection in the Aftermath of World War II

Alice

Left: The Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y., circa 1905, postcard, 2014.019.17.07.002; The Packer Collegiate Institute records, 2014.019; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.  Right: [Jules Ferry courtyard], circa 1948, photographic print, 2014.019.08.02.011; The Packer Collegiate Institute records, 2014.019; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
On December 12, 1947, Madame Carrillon, La Directrice of Collège Jules-Ferry in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France wrote to Packer Collegiate…

POTW: A Decade in the Life of a Brooklyn Photographer: the Laura Fitzpatrick Collection

Deborah

Elizabeth and Laura Fitzpatrick, 1943. FITZ_0186, Laura Fitzpatrick photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today’s Photo of the Week comes from the collection of Laura Fitzpatrick, who began taking pictures at age 11 of her friends, family and neighbors in Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, during the years 1938-1948. Our photo depicts Laura and her mother Elizabeth standing on a Brooklyn street, elegantly dressed and coiffed. Behind them we see a line of storefronts and a man breezing by in a wide cap. In…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Celebrating Presidents' Day with President Susan Mullin

Katherine

Susan Mullin, undated, Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Happy Presidents’ Day! This week, we are sharing an image of former Brooklyn Historical Society President, Susan Mullin, who both enacted and embodied change within the Historical Society.   Susan Mullin, originally from Virginia, moved to Brooklyn Heights with her husband soon after marrying. She immediately took to Brooklyn’s charm and diversity. While Mullin initially ran an antique shop on Pineapple Street, she…

POTW: Celebrating Don Newcombe

Sarah

[Don Newcombe], circa 1951, DODG_0749; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
Happy Black History Month! Today we’re celebrating Dodgers pitcher Don “Big Newk” Newcombe. Born in New Jersey in 1926, he played for the Newark Eagles, Nashua Dodgers, and the Montreal Royals before pitching his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 20, 1949. Later that year he became the first Black pitcher to start a World Series game and was named Rookie of the Year. After completing two years of…

POTW: Soup Season: The Syrian-Jewish Edition

Allyson

The Hidary and Abadi families. Older woman sipping soup at a soup pot in her kitchen. 1999. BJHP_0283z. Brooklyn Jewish History Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
It's Soup Season! Today's Photo of the Week comes from our Brooklyn Jewish History Project. This is Fritzie Abadi (Hidary) on a Syrian cooking day, testing her recipe. Fritzi (Frieda) was chef Jennifer Abadi's grandmother. Her cookbook-memoir, “A Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie’s Kitchen” (now in its new and revised…

Opening the Pocket Doors: What Past Exhibitions Reveal

Nicole

"Long Island Treasures Preserved in Brooklyn," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 27, 1900. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Throughout its 157-year history, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) executed over 150 exhibitions. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working to process the Exhibits and Special Projects portion of BHS’s institutional archive. To wrap up this part of the project, this blog post highlights the exhibits that stand out as significant in BHS history, particularly those that demonstrate how the society's values…

Brooklyn's Mechanical Milkman

Liza

 

Mechanical milkman, 1953, WORK_0136; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today we’re celebrating not leaving the building for basic necessities! It’s too cold out there. In 1953, automats had been thriving throughout New York City for decades, but Rowe Corporation endeavored to explore territory beyond the cafeteria: the apartment lobby. The Clinton Hill Apartments became the testing site for the charmingly retro-futuristic “mechanical milkman,” which claimed to save women from “braving Winter…

POTW: Kane Street Synagogue

Alice

Kane Street Synagogue interior, 1934, BJHP_0034; Brooklyn Jewish History Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This photo of the week shows the sanctuary interior of Kane Street Synagogue in Cobble Hill in 1934. The building was constructed in 1855 as a Middle Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in the Norman style of Romanesque architecture and was subsequently owned by the Trinity German Lutheran Church. Congregation Baith Israel purchased the building in 1905 when they moved from their Boerum Hill Synagogue (Congregations…

POTW: Odessa in Brooklyn

Dee

Marcia Bricker, "Odessa Restaurant," circa 1980, color slide, V1992.43.40. Marcia Bricker photographs collection, V1992.043; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This image of a restaurant in Brighton Beach is from our small collection of photographs by Marcia Bricker. Bricker, a documentary photographer, had worked for the federal jobs program CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) documenting the Soviet refugees that began settling in the Brighton Beach area in the 1970s when the Soviet Union relaxed immigration policies. In…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Ba Da Dao/Sunset Park Chinatown History Project

Nicole

[New Neighbors Exhibit Opening], June 1996. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
Today’s photo of the week shows a moment from the opening of New Neighbors: Sunset Park's Chinese Community in June 1996. The event featured lion dancers, shadow puppets, food, games, and calligraphy workshops. In this photo, taken in the Othmer library, lions stand beside a shadow puppet theater as an excited audience (not pictured) waits for the play to begin. In 1992, The Brooklyn Historical…

Sliding into the New Year

Deborah

[Families sledding on a snowy hill in Prospect Park]  1978, V1990.2.183, Donald L. Nowlan Brooklyn collection, 1990.2, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on February 18, 2015 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. This POTW was originally posted late in a snowy winter. We have yet to see…

Stories a Photo Can Tell

Dee

[P.S. 15 graduating class], photographic print, June 1900, V1972.1.1343, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photographs, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently reprocessed the composite collection Early Brooklyn and Long Island photographs (ARC.201). This 1900 class photo from P.S. 15 is included in the collection. We have many class photographs like this one, such as in our Class Photographs collection (BCMS.0029) and our Brooklyn schools collection (CBHM.0006). But what caught my interest about this photo was an index card…

July 16, 1968 Was Hot

Sarah

[Cyclone roller coaster], 1968,  V1988.12.47; Otto Dreschmeyer Brooklyn slides, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
The holidays are over and we're sliding into the cold, quiet weeks of deep winter. Today's Photo of the Week hopes to bring some color and heat to these dark days! This photo shows Astroland's Over the Falls in front of the Cyclone on July 16, 1968. The photographer, Otto Dreschmeyer, noted on the back of the image that the day was hot. After the freezing holiday weekend, it might be difficult to…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: A Look at Executive Director, David Kahn

Katherine

[Former Brooklyn Historical Society Executive Director, David Kahn]. undated, Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Welcome to our second installment of Opening the Pocket Doors, our ongoing series looking into the processing of the Institutional Records of the Brooklyn Historical Society.   In our previous post in this series, we delved into a brief history of our institution, formerly known as both the Long Island Historical Society and the Brooklyn Historical Society. Today, we…

POTW: Dining Under the Dome

Gina Murrell

[Diners at Dome Motor Inn restaurant], circa 1978, HERZ_0004_044, color slide.  Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, BCMS.0056. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
The Dome Motor Inn was THE place to stay when traveling to Kamloops in mid-20th century Canada. A couple hundred miles northeast of Vancouver, British Columbia, Kamloops was home to the popular inn, which boasted a dome-covered restaurant that itself became a tourist destination. Red and lime-green vinyl seats surrounded wood tables that were arranged beneath an…

POTW: Brooklyn Theater Fire: The Musical!

Allyson

[Mid Flame and Smoke, undated]. THEA_0011. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
On this day, December 5th, 1876, the Brooklyn Theater, on the corner of Washington and Johnson Streets caught fire. This was a terrible tragedy, and close to 300 people lost their lives. You can read more about that tragedy on our The Brooklyn Theater Fire of December 1876: a community's response post. Instead, today's post is inspired by J.W. Turner, singer/songwriter, who took that tragedy and turned it…

Cutting a Rug: Evidence(s) of Social Dance in Brooklyn

Deborah

Juke box jive--Happy-faced teenagers at Colony House [located at 297 Dean Street] applaud two slick-footed regulars [dancing], 1944. SWEL_0695. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History   
Roll up the rug – what you do at the start of a house party  Cut a rug – what happens when you neglected to roll it up first  I’ve been a social dancer most of my life, and the form closest to my heart is Lindy hop. I was interested to see what I could find in the archive that documented…

POTW: The Smallest Horse in the World

Liza

[Miniature Abraham & Straus delivery van], 1908. DEPT_0008. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  Before Cyber Monday became a multi day event, before stampedes of parents besieged displays of Elmo and Cabbage Patch kids with greater gusto than I will ever understand, there was the neighborhood department store. While Manhattan had Macy’s, Brooklyn had Abraham & Straus.  On Valentine's Day, 1865, Abraham & Straus opened its doors at 285 Fulton Street as Wechsler & Abraham, a “…

POTW: Bundling Up

Alice

Toddler on the sidewalk in a winter suit., [1950?], Gelatin silver print, OSOS_0182; Our Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
It finally feels like fall in New York and Brooklynites are starting to bundle up. This photo of the week takes us to the sidewalks of 1950s New York where little Cataldo Piccione poses for the camera in his one-piece winter suit. While the exact location of this scene is unknown, we can see the familiar sight of buildings rising in the background and a not quite legible…

POTW: Opening the Pocket Doors: Processing Brooklyn Historical Society’s Institutional Records

Nicole

[Man outside of the Long Island Historical Society], undated. Brooklyn Historical Society Institutional Records, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
The week’s photo of the week shows an unidentified man standing in front of our landmark building located at 128 Pierrepont Street. Designed by architect George B. Post and built in 1878-81, the four-story Queen Anne-style building features ornamentation made from locally produced terra cotta. For over 150 years, staff in this building have worked to preserve, provide access to, and…

POTW: Hurricane Sandy

Dee

Shore Hotel sign damaged from the Hurricane Sandy], 2012, 2014.010.7, MIchael Claro Hurricane Sandy Photographs, 2010.010; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on November 7, 2018 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. It’s been ten years since Hurricane Sandy, but it’s not soon…

Be Kind, Rewind

Sarah

[Boy outside of video store], 1986, COHEN_0036; George Cohen photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Today's Photo of the Week rewinds to 1986, where a boy is peering into a Brighton Beach video store. These entertainment temples started in the late 1970s and wound down in the 2000s, although there are still some to be found in New York City, serving those looking for a hit of nostalgia or simply unwilling to make the jump to streaming. We all remember having to settle for an older title because the new…

The Lady of Gravesend

Sarah

The Lady so integral to the history and development of Brooklyn spent most of her life in England. She was born Deborah Dunch around 1586, in London’s Gray’s Inn or a country estate outside the city. Her father, Walter Dunch, was a barrister and her grandfather, William Dunch, was an Auditor of the Royal Mint. She was a child during the reign of Elizabeth I, and grew up in the shadow of the plague, which had killed one-quarter to one-third of London’s population only twenty years before her birth and made appearances again in 1581 and 1592.

[Memorial to Lady…

POTW: No Bones About It – They Are Getting the Skinny on This Exam Subject

Deborah

Young students, oldest school--[eight] prospective R.N.'s are receiving instructions from Anna Dennis, R.N., director of nursing at the Prospect Heights Hospital … 1946. HOSP_0566. Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
In honor of the scary season, today's photo of the week features our popular Halloween friend. Here in Brooklyn Heights within the last few weeks we’ve seen skeletons clambering up or down the sides of buildings, leaning chattily over a table in quiet conversation, or…

POTW: Five Children and a Puppy

Gina Murrell

[Five African-American children with puppy], circa 1968, HERZ_0667, black and white silver gelatin print.  Irving I. Herzberg photograph collection, BCMS.0056. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In the bright sun, five Black children squat down on the ground, forming a semicircle. Four have their hair carefully sectioned off in plaits, the fifth has natural hair closely shaven, as if fresh from the barber. All five look on with affection, their arms outstretched. What is the object of their focus? A fluffy puppy on a…

POTW: The Elephantine Colossus

Allyson

Elephantine Colossus], circa 1893, Illustration, V1972.1.1090; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
This From the Vault post was originally written by Dan Brenner and published on November 6, 2019 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter.   The Elephantine Colossus was an elephant-shaped hotel attraction located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Coney Island from 1885 through…

LGBTQ+ History Resources at the Center for Brooklyn History

Gina Murrell

Group portrait taken at Brooklyn Pride Street Fair, 2007. Ann Rosen photograph collection, ROSE_0013. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
October is LGBTQ+History Month. In the weeks leading up to this month celebrating the history and achievements of LGBTQ+communities, a question that is asked by researchers is: What resources do the Center for Brooklyn History have on queer people? The answer? A lot! This Brooklynology blog post will highlight several CBH LGBTQ+history resources that can be referenced in October and all year-round…

POTW: Risky Business: October 1878

Liza

Brooklyn Anchorage, 1878, gelatin silver print, BRID_0040; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.   
  So begins another October, arguably Brooklyn’s best month (feel free to debate me in the comments). Let’s take a moment to travel back to another Brooklyn October, back to this photographed moment in October 1878. Brooklyn was independent from New York City, no Statue of Liberty was yet visible from Brooklyn’s shores, and the only way to reach Manhattan was by boat. But this last detail was…

Black-and-white photograph of two men standing in the center of an unfinished basement with columns along each side

POTW: Wasted Space, But Not for Long

Alice

Wasted space, but not for long, 1952, Gelatin silver print, CBPL_0111; Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Can you guess where this week's Photo of the Week was taken? "Referred to as 'the hole' by library personnel," this cavernous space was the sub-basement of our very own Central Library. In this photo we see a miniature Chief Librarian, Francis R. S. John, speaking with a Brooklyn Eagle reporter about plans for the space to be converted into stacks for 500,000 more books. This sub-basement was…

POTW: A Child's Bedroom in 1880

Dee

[John T. Martin house], c. 1880, v1972.1.1312, Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
I recently updated the finding aid for our Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection (ARC.201) and came across this haunting image of a child's bedroom in a home at 28 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Taken around 1880, the image shows a number of dolls standing and sitting in the room, looking disturbingly as if they had just been caught mid-action. Sunlight streams…

POTW: Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, 1900-1939

Deborah

[Portrait of man posing on a boardwalk in Coney Island], 1898, v1974.022.4.068, Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, ARC.199; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on September 13, 2017 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog home, or subscribe to our Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. In the dog days of summer, it seems fitting to call out a collection…

The World of Miklos Suba

Anna Schwartz

Miklos Suba, Study for “Barber Pole, South 8th Street,” [1941?], watercolor on paper, 2022.006.28; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
When artist and trained architect Miklos Suba (1880-1944) immigrated to NYC in 1924, he was confronted with a starkly different cityscape compared to his native Hungary. Suba quickly became enthralled by the American urban landscape. He spent hours wandering the busy streets and industrial areas along Brooklyn’s waterfront in search of his next subject. During these excursions, Suba produced numerous…

Remembering 9/11 with Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein

Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein

  This month's guest blog post comes from friend of the blog Larry Racioppo and Amy Weinstein. First is Larry's contribution followed by Amy's.   On February 19, 2002, I met Jan Ramirez, the vice president and director of the New York Historical Society's museum, at St. Paul’s Chapel, the oldest church building in Manhattan. Soon after the 9/11 attacks she helped to launch History Responds. As part of this series, she commissioned me to photograph the Chapel’s wrought-iron fence which ran north along Broadway from Fulton Street to Vesey Street. Thousands of New Yorkers and…

Williamsburg Bridge

Sarah

[Waterfront basketball], 1951, PARK_0050; Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photographs, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. 
The Williamsburg Bridge was completed in 1903, making it the second of three bridges to connect Brooklyn to our neighbors in Manhattan. Make no mistake, this middle sister is no Jan Brady. At completion, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world and quickly became a vital artery for movement between the boroughs. The bridge was one of the last to be designed to accommodate horse and carriage traffic and…

POTW: Shirley Chisholm Visits Fulton Street Festival

Gina Murrell

Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm visits the Fulton St. festival, 1972 ca. 2020.002.018. Khalil Abdulkhabir photographs of the Dar-ul-Islam movement, 2020.002. Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
In 1972, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm strolled the tables lining Fulton Street, stopping to chat with vendors at the bustling outdoor festival in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. Just four years earlier, in 1968, Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress,…

POTW: Jacob Mann Photographs

Allyson

 

Sunrise on Brighton Beach, 2009, 2010.008.2; Jacob Mann photographs, 2010.008; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
  This From the Vault post was originally written by Tess Colwell and published on February 28, 2018 by the Brooklyn Historical Society. To see the latest Photo of the Week entries, visit the Brooklynology blog, or subscribe to the Center for Brooklyn History newsletter. Brooklyn Historical Society is fortunate to have several fine art photographers represented in the photography…