brooklyn, a century ago.

April 25, 2013

brooklyn back yard, circa 1911 brooklyn, circa 1911 brooklyn, circa 1911 brooklyn, circa 1911 brooklyn back yard, circa 1911

I’ve been poring over these family photos lately.

There’s lots to say about them, but for now I couldn’t help but to share them as a little celebration of Brooklyn in the summertime.

I wouldn’t mind a summer filled with watering cans and floppy hats, oversized hair bows and dropped waist dresses. Add in a hydrangea bush with blossoms the size of a horse’s head and I’d likely keel over from the delight of it all.

Brooklyn, you looked mighty fine in 1911. Aunt Ruth, you were pretty cute, too.

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16 Comments

  • Reply Lauren Ashley April 25, 2013 at 2:40 pm

    How neat – I love pouring over old family photos. My great grandma was a flapper, there are some gems from that period lemme tell ya.

  • Reply Roxanne April 25, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    How sweet are these! A lot of my sister's artwork is based from old family photos that look sort of like these! Don't you wonder what they were talking about right before and after these pictures were taken? I'd love to know! xo

  • Reply Linda Zimmerman April 25, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    These photos are beautiful!!! Who is the girl in the 4th photo down, second from the right? Hello Caitlin!!! Whoa! LOVE these photos!

    • Reply Erin April 25, 2013 at 3:46 pm

      I KNOW! That's Aunt Ruth! They look so much alike at that age!

    • Reply Linda Zimmerman April 25, 2013 at 5:15 pm

      Have you checked to see if these homes or yards still exist? It would be so fun to take a present day photo in the same place.

  • Reply Abby April 25, 2013 at 4:14 pm

    Great photos! I love looking at family photos and marveling at these people who are related to me but seem so foreign at the same time. How wonderful that you share a city with your ancestors, too.

  • Reply Harri Davison April 25, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    They're amazing, what a lovely thing to have!

    Harri

    at-rubik.blogspot.com

  • Reply Anita April 25, 2013 at 6:06 pm

    Oh they all look so lovely and inviting! What great mementos to have and to cherish…your description of summer sounds pretty heavenly to me too!

  • Reply molly yeh April 25, 2013 at 6:06 pm

    i love these. i've recently been totally fascinated by brooklyn's history. i love seeing the little signs around town that have bits of history and my boyfriend has been reading a book about how the brooklyn bridge was built and the things he tells me about it are so interesting!

  • Reply My Little Bungalow April 25, 2013 at 10:49 pm

    How sweet. I LOVE old family photos. My mom was born in NYC in 1925 and grew up in Brooklyn. Your post makes me want to pull out my old black and white family snapshots!
    Claudia

  • Reply sweet harvest moon April 25, 2013 at 11:07 pm

    Loving old photos!

  • Reply Mari April 26, 2013 at 1:04 am

    Those are so great. I love that clothes and things may change, but facial expressions are timeless.

  • Reply caitlin April 26, 2013 at 2:38 am

    in love with these photos!!!

  • Reply Little Miss Know-it-all April 26, 2013 at 7:44 am

    Photographs are such wonderful documents, they capture so many facets. I never imagined Brooklyn to look so European-suburban!
    Snapshots are especially endearing, crumpled dresses and all – there seem to be more of this era in the US, as all the old photos pre 50s that I have of my British and German families tend to be very formal and serious portraits. And the 1930s photos are itsy-bitsy-tiny! It was just so expensive. My parents could only afford to take one roll of film of me in my first year in the mid-60s in black/white, though my husband who was born a couple of years later has colour photos from doting grandparents right from the start!
    Anyway, these girls are gorgeous and remind me so much of an American children's book I loved called "The Funny Guy" from around that period (http://www.amazon.com/funny-guy-grace-allen-hogarth/dp/B000THGOHM – this is the exact edition I had!)…

  • Reply Kristin April 26, 2013 at 1:18 pm

    Oh, these are just lovely.

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