The lantern slides and glass positives consist of 177 items; 81 are black-and-white lantern slides and 96 are (unmounted) black-and-white glass positive photographs. The majority of items in this series were created by John Jay Pierrepont. The series also includes several items created by New York City-based lantern slide manufacturers: T.H. McAllister and Walter Isaacs. The subject for the majority of slides consists of maritime activities along the East River where it spills into New York Harbor (or Upper New York Bay). The vantage point from which most of the slides are taken is from the Brooklyn Heights shoreline, just above the docks and warehouses, looking across the harbor towards the lower Manhattan skyline. At times the view focuses southward, capturing the Statue of Liberty, while at other times the view turns northward, capturing the Brooklyn Bridge. The slides document the harbor during the 1870s and 1880s when the harbor was a very active maritime route for the importing and exporting of goods to and from New York City, as well as later, from the 1890s through the 1910s, when maritime activity slowed. Various kinds of boats are captured in the slides including ferries, tugboats, barks (barques; barcs), and sloops. The slides also show the Brooklyn Bridge during construction and post-construction, the Statue of Liberty, day-time and nighttime views of the lower Manhattan skyline, the Pierrepont Stores after the fire in 1881, and dock scenes in Brooklyn, among others. Finally, there are several non-maritime related subjects in the collection including street scenes in Brooklyn Heights and views of Prospect Park.