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Post Office Scene, 1926, v1973.5.629; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical SocietyI 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 more interesting and more beautiful the longer you look at it…
While I love this image for its aesthetics, I realize that some people will be more interested in the history and context of this photograph. Sadly, all that we know about this image is that it was photographed inside a postal sorting facility in 1926, probably someplace in Brooklyn. For people longing to learn more about the history of the postal system, the U.S. Postal Service has an impressively detailed history on their website, in addition to an 84-page PDF document. For people with a passion for postal-related images, Brooklyn Historical Society has more images of postal scenes in the Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection (ARC.202) and the National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution, also has photographic archives.
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 new 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.
Author: Halley Choiniere
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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