It’s easy to forget that before Brooklyn was trendy – its streets lined with yoga studios, vegan bakeries, and shops bearing artisanal offerings – there was another, quite different borough in its place. Brooklyn Visual Heritage, an arts project that has amassed thousands of remarkable images of Brooklyn and made them available online, offers a fresh look at the borough through its past. This Brooklynite was enamored of the collection’s assortment of postcards from the early 20th century. The cards picture attractions such as Prospect Park, Bay Ridge, Greenwood Cemetery, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Brighton Beach, and the correspondence on the other side ranges from simple quotidian messages to well-wishing and Brooklyn love.
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Libraries Special Collections