Harry Kalmus Photographs

[Untitled.], ca. 1950, v1991.11.17.4; Harry Kalmus papers and photographs, ARC.046; Brooklyn Historical Society.

I rarely see an ice cream truck around Brooklyn that isn’t Mr. Softee, so it was a pleasant surprise to come across this photograph from the Harry Kalmus collection. In this photo of the week, children are getting ice cream from a Good Humor truck, sometime around 1950. I love the moment in this photograph—all the children lined up along the curb with ice cream in hand, and one child carefully deciding from the list of options pictured on the truck.

This photograph comes from the Harry Kalmus photographs collection that features over 13,000 photographs taken by Kalmus from 1938-1987. Kalmus was a long time Brooklynite and professional photographer, documenting primarily weddings and bar mitzvahs in Brooklyn. Most of Kalmus’s photographs are not digitized, but if you visit the Othmer Library, you can see our online catalogue that showcases thousands of his photographs.

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