George Bradford Brainerd

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George Bradford Brainerd
File:George Bradford Brainerd, Lunch on the Shore at Great Neck, Long Island, ca. 1900.jpg
George Bradford Brainerd, Lunch on the Shore at Great Neck, Long Island, ca. 1880s. Brooklyn Museum.
Born November 27, 1845
Haddam Neck, Connecticut, United States
Died 1887 (aged 41–42)
United States
Alma mater Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Occupation Photographer, civil engineer, amateur historian

George Bradford Brainerd (1845–1887) was a civil engineer, an amateur photographer, and an amateur natural historian.

Biography

Brainerd was born on November 27, 1845 in Haddam Neck, Connecticut. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, from which he graduated in 1865. While at R.P.I., he, along with seven other men, founded the Theta Xi fraternity. As a civil engineer, Brainerd worked for the then-City of Brooklyn in the position of Deputy Water Purveyor — a position he held for 17 years (1869 to 1886). During this time, Brainerd published the 48-page book, The Water Works of Brooklyn (1873).

He died in 1887.

Works

Brainerd's work as an amateur photographer began when he was just 13 years old. He began by making his own cameras and developing ambrotypes from them. While working as a civil engineer, Brainerd photographed public work projects, as well as street scenes in Brooklyn. He also took extensive photographs of areas in New York State, including on Long Island and along the Hudson River. His subjects included houses, churches, mills, railroad stations, gate houses, reservoirs, harbors, beaches, and ponds, among others. Over the years, Brainerd continued to design his own cameras and photographic techniques. Through his inventions, he was able photograph the human vocal organs thus contributing to the perfection of this type of medical photography.[1] As an amateur natural historian, he amassed a large collection of bird skins, shells, and minerals, as well as maintained his own herbarium, and collected moss and lichens.[2][3]

George Brainerd, was a lifelong Brooklynite, and produced a total of 2,500 photographs before his early death at age 42 in 1887. The majority of these were images of Brooklyn, a vast documentation of the urban landscape—dams and mills, bridges and train depots, engine houses and pumping stations—but also, especially after 1880, images of city dwellers and street scenes.

Independently wealthy and the Deputy Water Purveyor for the City of Brooklyn, Brainerd was an advanced amateur photographer adept at exploring new techniques. His legacy remains in the Brooklyn Museum; about 1,900 of his glass plate negatives make up a large portion of the Museum’s huge collection of Brooklyn- and New York−themed glass plate negatives.

Gallery

  • 1996.164.2-1818 glass IMLS SL2.jpg

    George Bradford Brainerd, Longshoreman, Brooklyn, ca. 1872-1887. Brooklyn Museum

  • 1996.164.2-272 glass IMLS SL2.jpg

    George Bradford Brainerd, Iron Pier, Coney Island, Brooklyn, ca. 1872-1887. Brooklyn Museum

  • Brooklyn Museum - Boy and Dog, Iron Pier, Coney Island, Brooklyn - George Bradford Brainerd - overall.jpg

    George Bradford Brainerd, Boy and Dog, Iron Pier, Coney Island, Brooklyn, ca. 1885. Glass plate negative, Brooklyn Museum

  • Negro Family, Coney Island, Brooklyn, ca. 1885. (5833493398).jpg

    George Bradford Brainerd, Negro Family, Coney Island, Brooklyn, ca. 1885. Glass plate negative, Brooklyn Museum

  • George Bradford Brainerd, Construction of Brooklyn Bridge, ca. 1872-1887. Glass plate negative, Brooklyn Museum

  • Bridge, Brooklyn, NY, ca. 1872-1887. (5832937251).jpg

    George Bradford Brainerd, Bridge, Brooklyn, NY, ca. 1872-1887. Glass plate negative, Brooklyn Museum

  • George Bradford Brainerd (American, 1845-1887). Windmill, Southampton, Long Island, ca. 1872-1887.jpg

    George Bradford Brainerd, (American, 1845-1887). Windmill, Southampton, Long Island, ca. 1872-1887. Glass plate negative, Brooklyn Museum

  • 1996.164.2-1784 glass SL1.jpg

    George Bradford Brainerd, Bridge Street, ca. 1872-1887. Glass plate negative, Brooklyn Museum

  • George Bradford Brainerd, Creek, Patchogue, Long Island, ca. 1872-1878. Glass plate negative, Brooklyn Museum

  • George Bradford Brainerd (American, 1845-1887). Soap Works, Hicksville, Long Island, 1878.jpg

    George Bradford Brainerd, Soap Works, Hicksville, Long Island, 1878. Glass plate negative, Brooklyn Museum

References

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