Did HPL ever visit the Brooklyn Museum? What did he like to see there? I may go next week, so I\u2019m seeking tips.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yes, he did see the Museum, which was also once known as the Brooklyn Institute. He first saw it in 1922, as a \u2018visiting NYC\u2019 tourist in the company of \u201cMorton, Kleiner, Belnap\u201d (see Letters from New York). A big attraction of the place was the cost. Entry was free on most days, and the place was also open into the evening on Thursdays. This is how it would have looked from the \u201ccrossing the street\u201d view.<\/p>\n
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This first visit seems to have been a brisk look at the \u2018highlights\u2019. Since we know that then \u2018did it\u2019 more systematically and thoroughly later in the same year (see Letters to Family). I think we can assume the fine sculpture from antiquity would have been enjoyed, and would have reminded him of the sculpture hall in Providence in which he had lingered as a lad.<\/p>\n
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But there was also the Invertebrates Hall and Insect Hall in the eastern galleries, on the \u201csecond floor\u201d until 1927. There he may well have seen the hanging giant octopus, which is known to have been there and accompanied by a giant squid, pre-Cthulhu.<\/p>\n
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I had better pictures than this, but sadly they\u2019ve been lost. I\u2019m not sure if this is still there to be seen today. A catalogue search for \u201coctopus\u201d did not reveal it, though perhaps the natural history section (if it still exists there) has another catalogue? This same Hall also had\u2026 \u201cThe marine animals of the coast of Long Island and New England, from high tide to a depth of 7,200 feet\u201d as a long cased display. It\u2019s possible he missed these sea-creatures on the first visit, but must surely have seen them on the second.<\/p>\n
Lovecraft \u2018did\u2019 the Museum again solo in May 1930, seeing the new \u2018Colonial furniture and interiors\u2019 wing which was then newly offering complete rooms arranged for his antiquarian delight.<\/p>\n
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In 1933 he \u201c\u2026did the Brooklyn Museum with Sonny\u201d (Lovecraft letter to Morton, 12th January 1933) when they focused on the \u201cDutch\u201d section. I would suspect that this section may also have been new and have featured old Dutch furniture and interiors, but I suppose it may also have been flanked by rooms with other Dutch items such as paintings.<\/p>\n
Equally important to Lovecraft was\u2026 \u201cmy erstwhile favourite Japanese Garden beside the Brooklyn Museum\u201d which had been designed in 1914\/15 by the young self-taught Takeo Shiota. This was likewise free, and Shiota\u2019s initial hill and pond planting was after a decade maturing nicely by the mid 1920s. His planting was also being sensitively added to. Lovecraft found the place \u201calways lovely\u201d, whatever the season. This garden now appears to be part of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and may no longer be free (at a guess). Here we see it under one of the heavy snowstorms of New York City, possibly even the very same \u201cworst in living memory\u201d snowstorm that Lovecraft very narrowly missed when he moved into Red Hook\u2026<\/p>\n
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There was also evidently once a pleasant sunset walk to be had after the Museum had closed, and if the leaves were off the trees. In early November 1924 he and Loveman walked at sunset from the Brooklyn Museum to Brooklyn Heights, to call on the poet Hart Crane\u2026<\/p>\n
The walk was very lovely \u2014 downhill from the heights on which the Brooklyn Museum stands, & with many sunset vistas of old houses and far spires. We reached the heights in the deep twilight\u2026\u201d (Letters from New York<\/em>, p. 82)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At first glance then, the \u2018Lovecraft\u2019 version of the museum would be:<\/p>\n
Egyptian and Roman antiquities and statuary.
\nBritish historical items, non-ecclesiastical.
\nLong Island and New England natural history, inc. toads, coastal marine animals,
\ndeep sea-horrors, giant octopus.
\nAny colonial portraits, New England landscape painting especially Providence.
\nAny colonial \/ old Dutch rooms, doorways.
\nThe Japanese Garden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of my Patreon patrons, J. Miller, asks: Did HPL ever visit the Brooklyn Museum? What did he like to …<\/p>\n