Blog posts by Halley Choiniere

POTW: Walking with Eugene Armbruster

Halley Choiniere

It’s shocking how fast July and August have slipped by, but at least the weather is still good. One of my favorite ways to enjoy both this weather and this city is to wander around with a camera. Based on the images in the Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks collection, that appears to have also been one of Armbruster’s favorite pastimes. Flipping through Armbruster’s photographs, it is easy to imagine him wandering around different neighborhoods in Brooklyn in the 1920s, taking pictures of whatever seemed interesting or beautiful in the moment. The four images above appear to…

POTW: The Feast of San Gennaro

Halley Choiniere

[Feast of San Gennaro], circa 1978, v2008.013.17; Lucille Fornasieri Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society
If you missed this year’s Giglio Feast in Williamsburg as I did, there’s still the promise of the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy, pictured in the image above, circa 1978. There seems to be a certain amount of rivalry between these two Italian-American New York City street festivals, echoing the rivalry between Manhattan and Brooklyn. People loyal to the Giglio Feast are proud that it has a longer…

POTW: Electrification of the Long Island Railroad in Brooklyn

Halley Choiniere

[Electrification of Long Island Rail Road at Washington Avenue], 1903, v1984.1463.3; Long Island Rail Road construction photographs, v1984.1463; Brooklyn Historical Society
For this post, I want to share an interesting image that I scanned last week. The image above shows construction by the Long Island Rail Road near Atlantic Terminal in 1903.The Long Island Rail Road was incorporated in 1834, and used steam-powered trains until 1905, when they switched to an electric system. As part of the switch to electricity, the LIRR…

POTW: The Brooklyn Postal Service

Halley Choiniere

Post Office Scene, 1926, v1973.5.629; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society
I selected today’s image for purely aesthetic reasons. I love the color of this print. I love the long, whimsical, almost Alice-in-Wonderland hanging glass lamps with equally long pull ropes hanging from each one. I also love the perfectly tailored clothing and glossy, pomaded hair of the man in the center of the picture (see detail below of hair and tailoring). It’s one of those images that becomes…

POTW: Roller Skating

Halley Choiniere

[New Utrecht Reformed Church, 16th Avenue and 84th Street, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn], 1925, v1992.49.216; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, v1992.49; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Roller skating has experienced waves of popularity in New York City from its beginnings in the 1860s through the present day.In 1863, James Plimpton patented a new roller skate design that allowed for a smoother motion while skating, making the sport something that people actually wanted to do. In the same year, Plimpton also opened…

POTW: Ice Delivery in the City

Halley Choiniere

[Ice Delivery from the American Ice Company to Emmanuel House], circa 1910, v1981.284.12; Emmanuel House lantern slide collection, ARC.136; Brooklyn Historical Society.
We recently had our first taste of pleasantly warm spring weather. It was lovely, but it also means that in about a month we will be heading into the moist, syrupy heat of summer in the city. I love summers in Brooklyn…but I have a refrigerator, and a constant supply of iced tea, iced coffee, and ice cream. Can you imagine facing the Brooklyn summer armed…

POTW: Bensonhurst, 1976

Halley Choiniere

[Youth Group, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn], 1976, v1991.110.301.26; Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service records, ARC.129; Brooklyn Historical Society
[Youth Group, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn], 1976, v1991.110.301.30; Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service records, ARC.129; Brooklyn Historical Society
It is certainly possible to enjoy and appreciate an image without knowing its context. I enjoy the clothes and the clear camaraderie of the people in the two pictures…

POTW: Forgotten Professions

Halley Choiniere

[Young man with a pig], circa 1900, v1985.4.36; William Koch glass plate negatives, 1985.4; Brooklyn Historical Society
Recent Brooklyn Historical Society blog posts have highlighted police matrons and horseshoers in Brooklyn, and I would like to continue the theme of jobs that are now obsolete in the city. The image above is one of many images of rural and farm life from the William Koch glass plate negatives collection (also highlighted in a blog post from April 2013). This particular image shows a farmer with his pig…

POTW: Horses in Brooklyn

Halley Choiniere

[Horseshoeing and Jobbing Shop, New Lots Road, Brooklyn, N.Y.], circa 1900, v1974.32.293; Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks, 1974.032; Brooklyn Historical Society
This week, we have yet another pastoral image of Brooklyn circa 1900, complete with a dirt road, a picket fence and a well in the yard beside the wooden clapboard house. It is not news that many of the outer neighborhoods in Brooklyn were rural and even agricultural in the late-19th and into the 20th century. What piqued my interest in this image was…

POTW: April Snow Showers

Halley Choiniere

Sunrise on Brighton Beach, 2009, 2010.008.2; Jacob Mann photographs, 2010.008; Brooklyn Historical Society
The weather was so perfect two weekends ago. It was warm. I wore sandals. I bought some plants and planted them in pots on my roof. I was in the best mood, and the city seemed like the best place in the world to be – and then it snowed. My potted plants are dead. Suddenly, the city seems like a cold, harsh place. For me, the image above encapsulates all of my April-in-the-city emotions. If the weather is warm and…

POTW: The Changing City

Halley Choiniere

I recently visited my brother in Paris, and in preparation for this trip, I went to see an exhibit of historical photographs at the Metropolitan Museum – Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris. Beginning in the mid-19th century, a city planner named Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann master-minded a program for the improvement and beautification of Paris, razing entire streets and neighborhoods in Paris with the same zeal that Robert Moses would adopt in New York City in the next century. The city of Paris hired photographer Charles Marville to chronicle the city’s transformation during this…

POTW: Portraits with Dogs

Halley Choiniere

[Woman with Dog], circa 1910, v1990.61.20; Victorina Hayes collection, ARC.037; Brooklyn Historical Society.[Child with Dog], circa 1870, v1992.17.34; Secor, Flint and Cousins Families collection, ARC.192; Brooklyn Historical Society.[Man and Dog], circa 1975, v2008.013.40; Lucille Fornasieri-Gold photographs, 2008.013; Brooklyn Historical Society. 
Within the genre of portraiture there is a sub-genre of portraits of people posing with their dogs. The Brooklyn Historical Society happens to have an impressive body of images…

POTW: Brooklyn Women

Halley Choiniere

[Rose: 82 Years Old], 1977, v1992.43.13; Marcia Bricker photograph collection, v1992.043; Brooklyn Historical Society.
This week’s photo of the week is in honor of Women’s History Month (also known as March, if you are not in the loop). While a wonderful idea, when I sat down to write about women, I was at a loss as to where to begin. It suddenly seemed like a daunting, and potentially dangerous topic, guaranteed to offend or stereotype somebody. So, I did a search of our image collections to get some ideas, and to see what…

POTW: The Rooftops of Brooklyn

Halley Choiniere

What do you see from your rooftop? Chances are, if you have lived in Brooklyn at any point in the last century, you have spent at least some time on the roof of your building. I have many fond memories of climbing through my window and scaling my fire escape to get to the sunlight and calm of my roof. The rooftops give you space to breathe, and at least the illusion of solitude. Most of the time I am completely alone – a rare and amazing feeling to have in the city – but I also sometimes see people on other rooftops sunbathing, or sitting with a friend, or barbequing, or doing yoga, or simply…

POTW: The Streets of Brooklyn Heights

Halley Choiniere

[Street Scene, Brookyn Heights, Brooklyn, N.Y.], circa 1890, v1974.29.6; Brooklyn street scenes glass plate negatives, v1974.029; Brooklyn Historical Society.
I was initially attracted to this photograph, taken somewhere in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights circa 1890, because it is aesthetically pleasing and because I have a soft spot for bowler hats. While I am not certain of the street – perhaps a reader will be able to provide a more exact location for this image – the neighborhood in the photograph seems similar to…

POTW: Portrait of Mrs. Henry T. Fleitman

Halley Choiniere

[Mrs. Henry T. Fleitman], circa 1930; Portrait collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Sometimes a single image is all that you need to imagine the entire story of somebody’s life. That is how I felt when I happened upon this beautiful image of Mrs. Henry T. Fleitman while rifling through Brooklyn Historical Society’s portrait collection. Her face pointing away from everybody else in the photograph, and the contrast of her light clothing with the clothing of the people around her, give an impression of sadness and…

POTW: Constructing the Brooklyn Sewers

Halley Choiniere

A selection of images from the Brooklyn sewers construction photograph collection, ARC.209; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Brooklyn Historical Society has multiple text-based collections that highlight the pressing need for a better sewer system in Brooklyn in the nineteenth century, and describe the construction of the Brooklyn sewers.In addition to the Records of Brooklyn’s Corporation Council (a collection that has not yet been processed, but that has its own blog series), there is also the Brooklyn Bureau of Sewers…

POTW: Building the Manhattan Bridge

Halley Choiniere

[Manhattan Bridge Under Construction], circa 1905, v1988.41.6; Brooklyn sewers construction photograph collection, ARC.209; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Of the three bridges connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge certainly gets the most attention. The Brooklyn Bridge is iconic. It is the first bridge that springs to mind when you think of Brooklyn, and it is the bridge that you always stroll across with your friends when they visit the city.Brooklyn Historical Society has a number of collections related to…

POTW: Pining for Warm Weather

Halley Choiniere

[Summer, Circa 1897, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y.], ca. 1897, v1973.4.1081; Postcard collection, v1973.004; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In the last Photo of the Week blog post, one of my colleagues wished for a “healthy, normal dumping of snow,” and she certainly got her wish! I visited Prospect Park last Friday afternoon and watched people sledding and enjoying the snow, but any delight I felt in the snowy landscape has given way to bitterness towards the bitter cold. I, personally, am ready for a summer picnic in…

POTW: The Healthcare Dilemma

Halley Choiniere

[Waiting Room, Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital], ca. 1890, v1972.1.801; Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection, ARC.201; Brooklyn Historical Society.
As the initial application deadline for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approaches, I would imagine that healthcare is on the minds of many. I recently spent a couple of hours online shopping for healthcare and filling out an application. The application process was slightly bothersome, and I experienced a high blood pressure moment when I first saw…