Gilded Age New York: Winter Recreation in Central Park, 1889

1889 New York City Central Park

Photograph

Underwood & Underwood. Merry Gliders, Central Park, N.Y., 1889, records winter recreation in New York City’s Central Park during the late nineteenth century. The stereoview shows skaters gathered on the park’s ice, preserving a view of the public use of Central Park for seasonal recreation more than three decades after the park opened to visitors.

Sepia-toned stereoview photograph, copyright 1889 by Underwood & Underwood. Two mounted photographic images, approximately 6 x 3 inches overall, titled Merry Gliders, Central Park, N.Y. The scene depicts numerous figures ice skating across a frozen section of Central Park, with the stereoscopic format designed to produce an illusion of depth when viewed through a stereoscope.

The image documents ice skating as part of everyday leisure in nineteenth-century Central Park and records the park not simply as designed landscape but as an actively used public recreational setting. Its 1889 date places the scene within a period when stereographs circulated views of American cities, landscapes, and public life to domestic audiences. No condition information was supplied.

Item #11083

Price: $125.00