The New York City Civil War Draft Riot Claims Collection
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by Robert Garber
6d ago
The Municipal Archives holds numerous of collections relating to the city’s role in the American Civil War. Many relate to the fraught topic of service in the military, an issue that simmered at the intersection of immigration and racism, finally boiling over in New York in July 1863. Archives collections document military recruiting efforts, aid for families of volunteer soldiers, and the explosive issue of paying substitutes to be soldiers. The Draft Riot Claims collection has garnered particular interest from scholars. To explain the importance of this collection, some background is in orde ..read more
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“Hi-ya Dev!” New York City Welcomes Native Son Eamon de Valera
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by Kenneth Cobb
1w ago
“Eamon de Valera, former Prime Minister of Eire, returned today to the city of his birth, arriving at LaGuardia Field from Shannon aboard the American Overseas airliner London Mercury at 4:58 a.m.” (The New York Post, March 8, 1948.) Born in New York City in 1882, the Irish leader devoted his life to the cause of Irish unification. In March 1948, he embarked on a two-week tour of the United States. His first stop was his hometown, New York City. City Greeter Grover Whalen’s records, and the subject files of Mayor William O’Dwyer, document de Valera’s two-day sojourn in the city. Frank Ai ..read more
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A Woman of Firsts: Constance Baker Motley
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by Pauline Toole
2w ago
This For the Record blog post expands on a brief article in the February 2024 edition of the Municipal Library’s newsletter. New York City can count many groundbreaking women among its residents and leaders. Few, though, have been as inspiring as Constance Baker Motley who should be celebrated more widely, particularly in her adopted home of New York City. Yet there is only one public space honoring her—a recreation center on East 54th Street that the Parks Department renamed for her in 2021.    The second Black woman to graduate from Columbia University Law School, Motley was one of ..read more
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Finding Bayard Rustin
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by Rossy Mendez
3w ago
Before watching the Netflix film Rustin, what I knew about Bayard Rustin, a key organizer and mastermind behind the March on Washington, was limited. I had only seen Rustin’s name mentioned in the organizational files of the New York Police Department (NYPD) Intelligence Records, also known as the “Handschu” collection. However, after a closer examination of the Handschu records, I became aware of Rustin’s prolific involvement with numerous organizations, and his influence on some of the most successful demonstrations in civil rights history. March on Washington, Flyer, 1965. Handschu Collect ..read more
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George Washington in New York:  The First Presidential Mansion
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by Kenneth Cobb
1M ago
At 12:30 p.m. on April 30, 1789, a military escort arrived at Franklin House in lower Manhattan to conduct president-elect George Washington to Federal Hall where, about ninety minutes later, he took the oath of office as the first President of the United States. The current Federal Hall, which replaced the original structure in 1842, is a well-known historic site and national landmark that has been welcoming visitors ever since. History has been less kind to Franklin House. Located at the intersection of Cherry and Pearl Streets, Franklin House was demolished in 1856. This week ..read more
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The Phony and the Crackpot at City Hall, by Stanley H. Howe
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by NYC Municipal Archives
1M ago
The For the Record  blog has frequently commented on the serendipitous nature of archival research. Thanks to imperfect descriptions and the sometimes haphazard filing practices of record-creators, researchers are often rewarded with seemingly random items. The typescript featured this week turned up in Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s subject files, in a folder labeled “Speeches, 1936.”   Henry Modell, to Hon. Stanley H. Howe, Secretary to the Mayor, January 8, 1936. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia Collection. NYC Municipal Archives. The five-page typescript is titled “Cheese Club 1/13/36.”&nbs ..read more
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Langston Hughes, The Writer’s Position in America
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by NYC Municipal Archives
1M ago
20 East 127 Street, Langston Hughes’ house, 1940. Tax Photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives. Continuing our celebration of WNYC’s 100th Anniversary and in honor of Black History Month, we present this 1957 recording of Langston Hughes discussing the challenges faced by Black writers from a National Association of Authors panel discussion “The Writer’s Position in America.” The themes he discusses: representation, pigeonholing and lack of intellectual freedom, seem as salient today as they were in 1957. Langston Hughes was an icon of the Harlem Renaissance, and although best known as a ..read more
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The Condemnation Photographs
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by Kenneth R. Cobb
2M ago
The Municipal Archives photograph collections are renowned and widely valued for their comprehensiveness. For example, the tax photograph series includes pictures of every house and building in all five Boroughs circa 1939 and 1985. As useful as they are, however, they depict only building exteriors. Pictures of building interiors are less well represented in the collections. There are interior views in New York Police Department crime scene and Housing Preservation and Development collections for example, but they are relatively few in number. Savoy Ballroom, 598-614 Lenox Avenue ..read more
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John Glenn, the First American to Orbit the Earth
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by Kenneth R. Cobb
2M ago
On July 8, 1924, radio station WNYC made its inaugural broadcast from a studio at the top of the Municipal Building. During 2024, For the Record will celebrate the centennial of one of the nation’s first municipally-owned radio station with a series of articles featuring historical audio recordings from the WNYC collection in the Municipal Archives.  In 1986 the Municipal Archives acquired a large collection of original WNYC lacquer phono discs and tapes dating back to 1937. These unique audio recordings capture the sounds of a city and a nation through decades of transformations, tr ..read more
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Stables and Auction Marts - Building Plans with Horses
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
by NYC Municipal Archives
2M ago
A recent For the Record article, Horsepower the City and the Horse introduced the topic of the horse and its profound influence on virtually all aspects of city life. Expanding on this theme, For the Record looked at how the horse informed many of the design elements of Central Park in Drives Rides and Walks -Horses in Central Park. This week’s post continues exploring the subject of horses and focuses on collections in the Municipal Archives and Municipal Library that document structures built in the city to house, buy and sell horses.  Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Auction Market, fr ..read more
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