The human hair dealers of Fulton Street

Brooklyn’s Fulton Street has a long history as one of the borough’s busiest shopping mecca.

And in the late 19th century, it was a posh, premier commercial strip—lined with fashionable boutiques, stationery stores, fine furniture dealers, and confectioneries.

And human hair dealers too, as these cards make clear. These sellers catered to the upper-class ladies of the then-independent city.

Faded hair switches—I wonder what they sold for? These cards are part of the fantastic, digitized Fulton Street trade card collection at the Brooklyn Public Library.