Eugene L. Armbruster (1865–1943) was a New York City photographer, illustrator, writer, and historian born in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

, Germany and based in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where he died. His work includes many buildings, roads, and neighborhoods in area towns such as *

Amagansett Amagansett is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States Census, t ...

* Astoria * Bridgehampton *

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, ...

* Bushwick * Coney Island *

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough li ...

* East Hampton * Elmhurst * Flatbush * Flatlands *

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...

* Forest Hills * Gravesend * Hempstead * Jackson Heights *

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

* Jericho * Long Island City *

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Maspeth Maspeth is a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was founded in the early 17th century by Dutch and English settlers. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside to the north; Sunnyside t ...

* Middle Village * Montauk * Oyster Bay *

Queens Village Queens Village is a mostly residential middle class neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bound by Hollis to the west, Cambria Heights to the south, Bellerose to the east, and Oakland Gardens to the north ...

Rego Park Rego Park is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. Rego Park is bordered to the north by Elmhurst and Corona, to the east and south by Forest Hills, and to the west by Middle Village. Rego Park's boundaries include Queens ...

* Ridgewood * Rikers Island *

South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. Adja ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

* Sullivan County * Williamsburg

Life

Armbruster was born in

, Germany in 1865 and immigrated to the United States in 1882.Eugene L. Armbruster Photograph Collection, PR 81, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society. He was naturalized as a United States citizen in 1891. He owned a house on Eldert Street in Bushwick, where he lived with his wife Julia, and their two children Julia and Eugene Jr. He was a proprietor of the H. Henkel Cigar Box Manufacturing Company until his retirement in 1920. While Armbruster did photography and historical writing throughout his life, he conducted much of this work after he retired. Armbruster took thousands of photographs of Long Island throughout his life. His purpose for taking these photographs was documentary and he was not necessarily concerned with the aesthetic quality.John Hyslop. Eugene L. Armbruster Drawings and Photographs ca. 1895–1936. Queens Library Collection, February 4, 2010. Arbruster often worked as his own publisher and published many limited edition pamphlets.Eugene L. Armbruster Literary Manuscripts, ca. 1895–1936. Queens Library Collection. In the 1930s Armbruster served on a Work Progress Administration project collecting information for a local history project.

Photography and historical work

Armbruster took photographs for documentary over aesthetic purposes. He usually chose to photograph in late fall, winter, and early spring. The overwhelming majority of his photographs are of buildings and street scenes. Many of the landmarks were soon demolished as real estate developers acquired more and more land. His works document Long Island before its transition from farms and fields to urban and suburban developments. Armbruster published several books, most of which pertain to the history of Brooklyn from Dutch settlement in the 17th century to the early 20th century. He was also the author of pamphlets, and a columnist for the ''

Brooklyn Daily Eagle :''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently'' The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...

''. In the newspaper he often answered questions from readers about the history of Brooklyn, advertised his books, and advocated for the preservation of historic buildings. Armbruster's published pamphlets were mostly limited edition with about 300-500 prints made. Armbruster gathered his research by exploring sites, talking to locals, as well as, by reading newspapers and history books. For his research and work on Genealogy he also referenced census records. His published books include: * ''The Eastern District of Brooklyn, with Illustrations and Maps'' (1912) * ''Long Island: Its Early Days and Development'' (1914) * ''The Wallabout Prison Ship, 1776–1783'' (1920) * ''The Original Language of Mankind'' (1933)

Library and archival holdings

Substantial holdings of Armbruster's photographic prints and negatives, and scrapbooks can be found at the following cultural institutions:

Queens Library The Queens Public Library (QPL), also known as the Queens Borough Public Library and Queens Library (QL), is the public library for the borough of Queens, and one of three public library systems serving New York City. It is one of the largest ...

New-York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum ...

Brooklyn Historical Society The Center for Brooklyn History (CBH, formerly known as the Brooklyn Historical Society) is a museum, library, and educational center founded in 1863 that preserves and encourages the study of Brooklyn's 400-year history. The center's Romanesque ...

, and New York Public Library. His photographs were identified and described by

Vincent Seyfried Vincent Francis Seyfried (April 18, 1918-April 14, 2012, aged 93) was an American historian of Long Island. His work between 1950 and 2010 includes eleven books on trolley systems in Queens and Long Island, twelve books on areas of Queens, a seven- ...

for Queens Library. According to the library's finding aid, Armbruster photographed areas in Kings County, New York, from approximately 1895 to 1936; Manhattan from 1920 to 1925;

Nassau County, New York Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead. Nassau County is situated on western Long Isl ...

, from 1917 to 1925; Queens County, New York, from 1910 to 1931; Rikers Island in 1931; and Suffolk County, New York, from 1910 to 1934. The Queens Library collection divides their 6.950 photographs into eight series by county, plus "miscellaneous 1920–1925" and "unknown 1910–1925".John Hyslop. ''Eugene L. Armbruster Drawings and Photographs ca. 1895–1936.''

Collection, February 4, 2010.

References

External links

*
The Eugene L. Armbruster Photograph Collection
at the New-York Historical Society
Eugene Armbruster Photographs and Scrapbooks
at

The Eugene Armbruster Drawings and Photographs Collection, Queens Library Digital Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armbruster, Eugene American illustrators American photographers 1865 births 1942 deaths People from Baden-Baden People from Bushwick, Brooklyn Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States