Into the Past

As I entered the Brooklyn Historical Society, the first word that came to mind was preservation. Walking into the Brooklyn Historical Society was like stepping into the 19th century Brooklyn. Leading up to the library was a very old, wooden, staircase that creaked with each step. Upon entering the library, I had the opportunity not only to visualize, but also to feel Brooklyn’s Past. Among all the different photographs, the one I thought was most interesting was a picture taken from downtown Manhattan of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Brooklyn ports. With my peers, we were able to make a conjecture of when the picture was taken based on objects that were present and also missing from the photograph. The main object that gave away the time, in which the photograph was taken were the bridges. The Brooklyn Bridge was present, but the Manhattan Bridge was missing allowing us to narrow the date to after the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, but before the construction of the Manhattan bridge. The Architectural aspects of both the interior and exterior of the building was amazing. Starting with the faces of people carved into the exterior of the building, to the beautifully detailed and constructed columns seen in the library, which hold up the top floor of the library, was all very fascinating. This is my first encounter with the Brooklyn Historical Society, and I hope to have more wonderful encounters later on this semester.

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4 Responses to Into the Past

  1. rayan says:

    I also agree that the picture of the downtown Manhattan was interesting it shows how Brooklyn looked in the past. At the same time that I believe that the other pictures they had about how the shipyard had change over the years I also believe that the picture of the works from the 1940 to the 1970 was interesting to because it shows the different type of people that works there over the years that past.

  2. Isaias G. says:

    It must have been a real treat to be able to to see these pictures of how the Brooklyn view has changed over time. From an architectural standpoint, it must have been truly interesting to see how these people where able to shape what is now Downtown Brooklyn. I think that a picture of the photograph with have further added to your post, but other wise, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

  3. hmoller says:

    What i enjoyed the most from your post is how you used context clues within in the picture to narrow down the date it was taken. This shows how enthused you were during your assignment. I agree with that a picture of the image would have really helped your post and emphasized how much Brooklyn changed over the years.

  4. Although I do not agree with you on the fact that the building gave off a feeling of preservation right as we entered, I do agree that the building was as we started going up the stairs started to look much less commercialized and much more vintage.

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