A Child's Bedroom in 1880

I recently updated the finding aid for our Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection (ARC.201) and came across this haunting image of a child's bedroom in a home at 28 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Taken around 1880, the image shows a number of dolls standing and sitting in the room, looking disturbingly as if they had just been caught mid-action. Sunlight streams through a window on the far wall, causing the standing dolls to cast long shadows that somehow enhance the impression that they are moving across the floral carpet. Coupled with the painted portrait of three staring children hanging above the elaborately decorated fireplace and mantel, these dolls create an impression I can only describe as creepy.

28 Pierrepont Street has since been carved up into several apartment units, and from the sales listings online it looks like the interiors have been thoroughly modernized. I wonder if this room is still a bedroom, and if its current occupant(s) ever feel an unnatural chill--especially as we approach fall and the spooky season.

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal of Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research in our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at [email protected].