Summer

Summer [Prospect Park West], circa 1908, V1981.15.208; Ralph Irving Lloyd lantern slides, V1981.15, Brooklyn Historical Society.

Sunday is the first day of summer, so it seems appropriate to highlight a photograph in our collection titled “Summer.” This photograph is by Ralph Irving Lloyd and depicts Prospect Park West around 1908. I love the small details in this photograph that give clues to an earlier time in Brooklyn, including the clothing style, the awnings on the buildings, and the vehicles in the background. With the shaded sidewalk and near-empty street, the photograph evokes a lovely feeling of a peaceful summer stroll.

Dr. Ralph Irving Lloyd was a Brooklyn ophthalmologist and an avid amateur photographer. The collection consists of roughly 400 black-and-white lantern slides, created by Lloyd, that depict 17th, 18th, and 19th century historic houses, homesteads, churches, storefronts, cemeteries and gravestones, and schools in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan; and 19th and early 20th century street scenes of Brooklyn. He lived at 14 8th Avenue (near Flatbush Avenue) in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. To view more photographs from this collection, check out the online image gallery.

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 Brooklyn Visual Heritage 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. library@brooklynhistory.org