handling the heat
a photography exhibition at Queens Central Library
In 2022, Melting Metropolis Co-Investigator Dr Kara Schlichting selected a fascinating array of visual materials from Queens Memory Project archives, to curate an exhibition highlighting how New Yorkers kept cool and had fun in summers past. Visitors to the exhibition were asked, How do you do summer in Queens? and invited to share personal reflections and stories of summer in the borough. Browse an archive of this exhibition below.
The exhibition ran in July and August 2022 and was curated in collaboration with Queens Memory Project. Archival images reproduced with permission of Queens Public Library, New York.
Introduction
Summer in New York City is hot and often steamy. Daily summer temperatures average around 80°F in July and August. Since the mid-1800s, local newspapers enthusiastically covered each heat wave that hit the city. Journalists announced sweltering temperatures in splashy headlines. They reported how the “great city roared and steamed and smoked.”[i] In response, New Yorkers fled to city parks and beaches and slept on fire escapes and rooftops to beat the heat.
This exhibit explored summer scenes from the Queens Public Library’s historic photograph collection. The photographs, drawings, and postcards highlight how city dwellers responded to high summer temperatures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Then, as now, summer heat ushered in a season of outdoor fun. It is a season of open fire hydrants, ice cream cones, and days spent at Coney Island and Rockaway beaches or Astoria Pool. Some of these illustrations remind us how much summer in the city has changed: there are no longer roller coasters or beachfront camps Rockaway. But some summertime activities remain the same: ice cream trucks still appear, and the boardwalks of Brooklyn and Queens still draw crowds.
[i] George William Curtis, “Chapter XXXI Dog Days: Trumps,” Harper’s (June 18, 1859), 389-90.
Rockaway - Beach at Seaside postcard by S. Hirschberg, 1921. This set of postcards captures the range of rooming activities for people who wanted to stay the night at Rockaway in the early 20th century. Hotels catered to visitors with larger budgets, while the bungalow rentals and cotton tents captured in this postcard catered to people of various means. Some families moved to the beach for the full summer, living in these wooden bungalows or canvas tents.
Prospect Heights - Sprinkler at the Dean Street Playground between 6th and Carlton Ave. By Anders Goldfarb, 2004.
Lefrak City Pool, Long Island Daily Press, 1970. Gelatin silver print.
Open Summer Trolley Car, St. Jacobus Church Collection, 1900. Nitrate negative / Black and white print. St. Jacobus Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded in 1867 for Germans living in the Locust Grove area of Long Island (now part of Woodside). Here congregants enjoy an open-air trolley, the sides of which have been removed to provide a cooler summer ride.
Bathing at Rockaway by William J. Murray, 1905. Glass plate negative/ Gelatin silver prints. A protected area is roped off for swimmers, some of whom use the short lengths of hanging rope to steady themselves in the surf. These "bather safety lines" first appeared on Rockaway beaches in 1876, after which the drowning rate dropped considerably.
Steve Kessler Eating Good Humor by Steve Kessler, 1953. Black and white photograph. Ice cream trucks and carts have long signaled summer’s arrival. Queens youth Steve Kessler eats his Good Humor ice cream on 43rd Street courtyard steps in Sunnyside.
Steve Kessler at Rockaway by Steve Kessler, 1950. Black and white photograph.
Rockaway - Greetings from Rockaway Beach, New York, postcard by Manhattan PostCard Publishing Co., Inc, 1930. Eastern Queens has been a summer destination since the 1800s. Visitors sent postcards like this one home to friends and family to document–and perhaps brag–about their beach vacations.
Rockaway - New Holland Hotel, Rockaway Beach postcard by S. Hirschberg, 1922. This postcard was addressed to a Miss K. Regenburg of Pennsylvania, August 23, 1922, with the message: "Dear Kit, Spending the day here, weather was great.…The children are on their glory went in the water up about their knees. are just now covering their legs up high with sand. We are going to Coney Island tomorrow ..."
Rockaway - Jacob Riis Park, Neponsit, postcard by Manhattan Post Card Co., 1934. Jacob Riis Park in southwestern Queens. The Art Deco bathhouse opened in 1932.
Rockaway - Jacob Riis Park, Neponsit, postcard by Manhattan Post Card Co., 1934. This is the reverse side of the postcard in the previous slide. Postmarked to a Mis Vic. Price of New Jersey on July 10, 1934, it reads: Hello Vic, Having a nice time. You can .. A coat out here. Hope its warm in the city, say hello to Grace for me and Mr. Scheuer, remind him to take back my dress. See you soon, Nettie.
Family in the Surf at Rockaway by William J. Murray, 1905. Glass plate negative.
Family at Rockaway Beach by William J. Murray, 1905. Glass plate negative / Gelatin silver prints. A family picnic at Rockaway Beach. An open-air trolley is visible behind them.
Enjoying the Beach at Rockaway by William J. Murray, 1905. Glass plate negative/ gelatin silver print. In the early 1900s, Rockaway attractions included hotels, bathing pavilions, amusement stands and rides, including this roller coaster.
Nurses and Children on Beach. Floating Hospital, 1938. Black and white photograph. The Floating Hospital was founded by the St. John’s Guild of Trinity Church on October 19, 1866. The hospital offered medical care, baths, and meals on steamboat trips to and from the beach. (This image is the property of The Floating Hospital. Please contact The Floating Hospital at sgranahan@thefloatinghospital for research and reproduction requests.)
Mother with Children on the Beach. Floating Hospital, 1938. Black and white photograph.
Man Reading Newspaper next to Bicycle (at Coney Island) by Anders Goldfarb, 1984. Black and white photograph.
Rockaway - Beachgoers in Tent, 1905 postcard. This postcard shows a couple smiling in front of their beach camp. Nights spent sleeping at the beach were much cooler than in the city center.
'Harlem' by Nan Lurie, 1937. Ink on paper. Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration Federal Art Project NYC WPA. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1910, Nan Lurie, was a printmaker and engraver who documented daily life, especially of Black Americans, in the 1930s. Here she captures how hot weather pushed Harlemites to sleep outside on their apartment building roof.
Alongside the exhibition, we ran family craft workshops where historians, librarians, artists and community members all made paper fans together. These took place at Queens Public Library and as part of the 34 Ave Open Streets in Jackson Heights.
These workshops were great opportunities for our project investigator and artist to start to chat to Queens residents about Melting Metropolis’ research questions and, in so doing, establish which of our themes are a priority locally. These findings will shape our future community engagement activities.
Event images by Martina Colova.
