Amy Stecher
Manhattan Building Plans Processing Project ...
Alexandra Hilton & Matthew Minor
Mystery Item, Part II
Pauline Toole
200 Years of the Erie Canal
Kenneth Cobb
The NYC Department of Health Celebrates 220 ...
Michael Lorenzini
The NYPD Aviation Unit Photograph Collection

Manhattan Building Plans Processing Project Update

In 1977, the Municipal Archives accessioned more than 100,000 plans and 1,200 cubic feet of permit folders from the Manhattan Borough Office of the Department of Buildings. Dating from 1866 through the 1970s, the records document structures on 958 blocks in lower Manhattan, from the Battery to 34th Street. The plans comprise sections, elevations, floor plans, and details, as well as engineering and structural diagrams. The corresponding permit folders include official Building Department forms, specifications and correspondence for new building, plumbing, elevator, and other applications.

New Building Application, 28-30 Avenue A. Department of Buildings collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

City archivists re-housed the permit folders, eventually completing the task in the early 2000s. The plans, however, remained in their original unorganized condition until 2018 when the New York State Library awarded a grant to the Archives to begin necessary preservation and cataloging activities. The State Library has continued to support the project with additional funding. For the Record tracked project progress, beginning with The Manhattan Building Plans Project when it launched in 2018, and most recently The Manhattan Building Plans Project Update in August 2024.

Beginning in 2018, the State Library funding supported processing plans for buildings in the Tribeca, SoHo, and Greenwich Village neighborhoods. In 2023, archivists began working on building plans for the Lower East Side and East Village. The buildings in those neighborhoods encompass many types of uses—residential, manufacturing, and retail—and include townhouses, rowhouses, tenements, apartments, stores, factories, warehouses, hotels, theaters, boardinghouses, churches, synagogues, schools, stables, and garages.

Elevation and stoop details for synagogue at 242 East 7th Street, 1908. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

With funding from the State in 2025, archivists processed 6,032 plans and rehoused them 94 containers. They performed repairs on 1,498 items so they can be safely handled by patrons. This week, For the Record looks at the work completed this past year with illustrations of some of the interesting “finds” identified in the collection. 

The Department of Buildings practice of requiring plans to be filed when issuing permits to build new buildings coincided with a period of intense immigration to the United States by Eastern European Jews who settled in the Lower East Side; consequently, the collection is particularly rich in drawings reflecting those immigrant communities.

242 East 7th Street, ca. 1939. 1940s Tax Photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The collection also provides generous examples of buildings that accommodate all features of city-life, such as hotels, stores, garages, stables, and restaurants. 

Lovely 1883 elevation of 28-30 Avenue A, showing the building as a clothing store and also a 1912 cross-section drawing of the same building (which eventually became a bar and theater and by 1940 a ) with chandelier and cornice and coving details. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

28-30 Avenue A, cross-section. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

28-30 Avenue A, ca. 1939. 1940s Tax Photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Free Public Baths for the City of New York, front elevation. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. Public baths were a unique feature of Lower East Side life. 

Free Public Baths for the City of New York, cross section. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

New Building Application, 538/540 East 11th Street. Department of Buildings collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Free Public Baths for the City of New York, first floor plan. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Free Public Baths, also known as the East 11th Street Baths, are one example. One of the first public baths built by the city, architect Arnold William Brunner filed plans in 1903. The baths remained open until 1958. The building has been landmarked. Front elevation showing separate men’s and women’s entrances, a cross-section drawing, and a drawing of the showers and baths on the first floor.

538/540 East 11th Street, ca. 1939. 1940s Tax Photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

538/540 East 11th Street, ca. 1985. 1980s Tax Photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

In 1903 McKim, Mead and White submitted plans for construction of the Tompkins Square Branch of New York Public Library, also a landmarked building.

Front elevation, Tompkins Square Branch of New York Public Library, 331/333 East 10th Street, Manhattan Building Plans Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Tompkins Square Branch of New York Public Library, 331/333 East 10th Street, ca. 1939. 1940s Tax Photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Third Floor Plan, showing the reading room and adjacent caretaker’s apartment (with added notes and figures hand-written in pencil), Tompkins Square Branch of New York Public Library, 331/333 East 10th Street, Manhattan Building Plans Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

New Building Application, 331/333 East 10th Street. Department of Buildings collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Plans identified in the collection this past year have served as illustrations in recent For the Record articles. Happy Birthday Calvert Vaux featured plans submitted to the Buildings Department by Central Park architect Calvert Vaux. The story of the rushed construction of the Empire State Building, including plans of the iconic structure from the collection, is recounted in Race to the Top. 

Look for future updates as archivists continue processing this unique collection.  

Mystery Item, Part II

A whole season has passed since DORIS kicked off its popup exhibit 400 Years of NYC Government Records, 1636-2025, featuring some of our favorite items from the Municipal Archives and Library. We also included a “mystery item” from within the Old Town Collection. It looked like a genealogical chart, but its presence generated questions such as, who were these people and how did we end up with it? We put it on display and asked attendees for opinions—and we received some great answers—and some laughs. And, as promised, we’re back with updates. 

Our “mystery item,” believed to be part of the Old Town Records. NYC Municipal Archives.

A few days after the exhibit, digitization specialist Matthew Minor (who has an interest in heraldry) emailed archivist Alexandra Hilton asking if she had more information about the mystery item. She thought that perhaps they could join forces to learn more. Matt made high-quality scans of the bifold document, a side for each of the four lineage charts, to help with the analysis. 

Now, Alex and Matt share their exploration of the origin and meaning of our mystery item.  

Alex: With the magic of digitization, the document suddenly became a lot easier to read. Scanning it over, something caught my eye, and my heart stopped for a second. Was that “Tudor” I just read? I took a second look—yes, yes it definitely was Tudor. Feeling a little faint with excitement by this discovery, I start doing the Tudor genealogy in my head as I glanced at the bottom of the chart, verifying the names I was expecting to see—Queen Mary I of England with her husband, King Philip II of Spain, beside her. 

I didn’t want to spoil the fun for Matt but couldn’t resist sending him a message to get excited, promising him that I wouldn’t spoil anything until he had a turn. Meanwhile, I discovered the four couples whose lineage is charted in the document. 

  1. King Philip II of Spain (1527–1598) & Queen Mary I of England (1516–1558) 

  2. King Francis II of France (1544–1560) & Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587) 

  3. Philibert II, Duke of Savoy (1480–1504) & Margaret of Austria (1480–1530) 

  4. King James V of Scotland (1512–1542) & Margaret of Valois (1523–1574) 

Annotated sheet showing the ancestors of Philibert II, Duke of Savoy and Margaret of Austria.

Matt: My background is in art, so I was struck by all the vivid, finely drawn heraldry. Preferring not to work on a screen, I printed a poster-size copy and pored over it. Eventually, I recognized a few names, and by using online resources, came to the same conclusions as Alex. 

“So, someone was trying to marry a hypothetical child of Mary, Queen of Scots to a child of Mary I and Philip II?” I asked her. 

She noted that such a marriage would be a way of preserving Catholicism in Britain. We discussed this and other possibilities (all while exchanging funny memes about royalty). Alex’s knowledge of European royalty is quite a bit more extensive than mine. 

Annotated sheet showing the ancestors of King James V of Scotland and Madeleine of France.

Alex: Luckily, I knew the perfect British person to pepper with all my questions. She’s a DORIS alum and current archivist at The London Library, the one and only—Nathalie Belkin! Likely laughing at my American excitement for finding something “old,” she told me that “these types of things were commonplace around that time” but if we could figure out the type of paper it was on and its dimensions, she’d share it with a contact. 

Matt: I took the document to one of the conservators, Nora Ligorano. Examining it over a lightbox, Nora told me that it was handmade paper, most likely linen fiber. We also noticed that the paper had two watermarks. One was a shield with three fleurs-de-lis, the coat of arms of French royalty. The other we couldn’t quite make out. Since the document was found in an American archive, Nora checked the watermarks against a catalog of historical American watermarks but did not find any matches. This lends weight to the idea that the document (which we measured at 31.5 x 41.5 cm) was made in France, perhaps for official use.  

Alex: Nathalie’s friend got back to her and suggested that we send close-up images of the watermarks to the British Association of Paper Historians. 

Watermark, visible when viewed on a lightbox. Old Town Records. NYC Municipal Archives.

Watermark, visible when viewed on a lightbox. Old Town Records. NYC Municipal Archives.

She also recommended checking out Briquet Online, a watermark database containing the works of noted Swiss filigranologist Charles Moïse Briquet (1839–1918). The idea is to compare a watermark to the images in the database to come up with an estimated date of creation. It’s tedious work but we’re dropping the images of the watermarks here in case you want to try your hand at searching and comparing! 

Matt: In the past, I had studied basic heraldry, so I noted a few interesting things on the document. 

First, several of the escutcheons (heraldry speak for shields) had what looked like collars underneath them. By enlarging my scans and doing a deep dive online, I figured out that the collars show membership in orders of chivalry—specifically, the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of Saint Michael. These are the two most prominent Catholic orders, the former founded by a Holy Roman Emperor, the latter by a French King. 

Second, it was fascinating to look at how the different shields were combined in successive generations to show family heritage. It was also interesting that both men and women have escutcheons on the chart, rather than the traditional shield for men and lozenge (diamond shape) for women.  

Our “mystery item,” believed to be part of the Old Town Records (verso). NYC Municipal Archives.

Finally, some of the shields showed the French arms with white fields instead of blue. There were multiple variations for certain families, such as the Tudors. This isn’t strange, and in most cases, I could find a record of them somewhere, but a few stood out. Specifically, the arms used for Elizabeth Woodville (Queen of England and wife of King Henry IV) were unusual. Elizabeth used several coats of arms throughout her life—the Woodville arms, her first husband’s arms, and her own version of the royal arms of England—but none of them look like the shield on the document.  

Having hit a wall, I contacted the College of Arms in London to ask if they could help. I got a response from John Petrie. Sir John is the Windsor Herald, the royal family’s official authority on British heraldry. He told us that unfortunately he could not add much information, although he did note that the pedigrees from this period in the archives of the College of Arms usually don’t have this much heraldry on them. 

Our Findings 

Why was it created? 

While we don’t know for sure, the presence of both the House of Burgundy and the House of Bourbon alongside the Habsburgs, Tudors, Valois, and Stuarts suggests that this document isn’t merely a diplomatic artifact or a marriage chart. Rather, it likely has dynastic, genealogical, and possibly propagandistic significance, meant to trace or emphasize the convergence of major royal bloodlines. 

  • Dynastic display and propaganda: Charts like these were often created to demonstrate the legitimacy, nobility, and interconnectedness of royal bloodlines. The presence of so many recognizable arms—Burgundy, Bourbon, Savoy, Castile, Aragon, Valois—suggests a deliberate effort to underscore shared ancestry among Europe’s Catholic monarchies. 

  • Catholic dynastic unity: These charts visually affirm the intermarriage network of Europe’s Catholic ruling houses at a moment (mid-16th century) when the Protestant Reformation fractured traditional alliances. The selection of these four couples highlights the Catholic dynastic web uniting Spain, France, Scotland, England (via Mary I), and Savoy. 

  • Heraldry as genealogical proof: Before printed genealogies became widespread, heraldic genealogy served as visual proof of lineage. Each shield isn’t decorative—it encodes descent. Blue fields with golden fleurs-de-lis signal France; the red-and-yellow quarterings denote Castile and Aragon; the white cross on red signifies Savoy. 

  • Political statement: By linking these lineages, the document could have served a courtly or diplomatic purpose—perhaps created for a Habsburg or Savoy court—to illustrate how Europe’s greatest royal lines were intertwined and how legitimate claims to multiple thrones (Spain, France, England, Scotland, Savoy) derived from common ancestry. 

What do the four lineages have in common? 

  • All descend from or marry into Burgundian and Bourbon bloodlines. 

  • All represent Catholic royal houses interconnected through diplomacy and marriage. 

  • All reflect dynastic consolidation efforts through intermarriage rather than conquest. 

  • Each marriage carries political symbolism: union of realms, alliance against Protestant England, or reinforcement of Habsburg-Valois power balance. 

What are its origins? 

The document’s characteristics strongly indicate that it’s of French origin, created sometime during the 16th to early 17th century: 

  • The language is primarily early modern French, with some Latinized forms for titles and connective words (e.g., ex, uxor, filius, filia). 

  • The handwriting is a French humanist cursive typical of courtly genealogical manuscripts from about 1550–1620. 

  • The mix of Latin for formal lineage notation and vernacular French for commentary was standard for genealogical charts produced for noble patrons in this period. 

And why is it at DORIS? 

We’re still not sure. It’s not an organic fit for either the Old Town or Dutch records collections but could be part of the early Common Council papers. It would be an unusual gift to the Mayor, but that is a possibility as well.   

Our research has concluded for now, but we’d love to hear your comments! Share what you know below. 

200 Years of the Erie Canal

Two hundred years ago this month, New York State officially opened the Erie Canal. Led by Governor DeWitt Clinton aboard a boat named the Seneca Chief, a small flotilla headed from Buffalo to Albany and then down the Hudson River to New York City. The boats carried a diverse cargo—whitefish, flour, butter, maple and cedar wood, a menagerie of animals and two kegs of water. One keg would be famously poured by Clinton into the Atlantic Ocean, the “marriage of the waters” symbolizing the connection made by the Canal.

Dewitt Clinton High School, “The Marriage of the Waters” oil painting, September 22, 1926. Painting by C.Y. Turner, 1905. Photograph by Eugene de Salignac. Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Creating a water route between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes was proposed many times. In his history of the canal, Erie Water West, Ronald E. Shaw notes that the Dutch, the English and French colonial settlers all considered how to develop inland water routes. Preceding them, of course, Native Americans were traveling through the interior by canoe which allowed passage via narrow streams. No less a personage than George Washington traveled through the Mohawk Valley and suggested using the waterways to connect with western territories.

Many leaders associated with the Revolutionary War pop up in accounts of the decades-long effort to develop a route and fund its construction. Gouverneur Morris, Philip Schuyler, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, John Jay and James Madison all played a role. There was intrigue between the Federalists and the Jeffersonian group—Tammany—which later evolved to become the tarnished society of grifters controlling city government. But in 1812, led by Martin Van Buren, the focus was ideology as much as patronage. Presidents advocated for improvements to roads and bridges, but didn’t fund them. State leaders quibbled. Feuds, chicanery, grudges and political muscle shaped the debate around a canal.

Erie Canal and Feeders, 1886. Endpaper, The Birth of the Erie Canal, Harvey Chalmers II, Bookman Associates, 1960. NYC Municipal Library.

In the 1790s the State Legislature supported various studies and surveys of the Mohawk Valley to determine possible passageways. The State Legislature created a Commission to study a canal linking the Great Lakes to the Hudson River in 1808 and the project moved in fits and starts. The War of 1812 and political differences hampered progress until in 1815, when various prominent New Yorkers reinvigorated the process. A notice inviting respectable New Yorkers (men) to a meeting at the City Hotel for the purpose of drafting a petition to re-establish a commission to develop the canal, was published in the New York Evening Post on December 29, beneath an ad for a show named “Budget of Blunders.” The meeting was attended by 46-year old De Witt Clinton, who already had served as a United States senator, New York City Mayor and who lost the 1812 Presidential race to James Madison. Clinton became the canal’s greatest proponent. Following the City Hotel meeting, he drafted the petition asking the State Legislature to fund a Commission to study the feasibility of linking Lake Erie and the Hudson River.

A commission was re-established in 1816 and its members, including Clinton, explored and documented. Finally, in 1817, the State Legislature passed a law authorizing the canal and providing the authority to issue $7 million in bonds to fund it. By the groundbreaking on July 4, 1817, DeWitt Clinton was the Governor and things began to move. The canal was termed “Clinton’s Ditch” or “Clinton’s Folly” and widely ridiculed. Until it was lauded.

Lockport, Erie Canal, 1825. From the book by Cadwallader D. Colden, Memoir, prepared at the request of a committee of the Common council of the city of New York, and presented to the mayor of the city, at the celebration of the completion of the New York canals. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/3a314030-c645-012f-7237-58d385a7bc34

Hard to believe, but New York City was not the pre-eminent trading port in the early 19th century. Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and even New Orleans were front runners. The Canal changed that. A New York Times article about the centennial celebration reported, “It must be remembered that Philadelphia was a more important city in 1826 than New York, and Boston had a larger commerce as well. The future metropolis included about 150,000 population and was looked upon as a rather isolated community. Everybody admitted its splendid harbor, but there were many other harbors. The trouble with New York, said the wiseacres, was its distance from the productive districts. ‘It never would amount to much.’”

According to Gerard Koeppel, writing in the Encyclopedia of New York City 2nd Edition, “In 1815 the city handled less than one-fifth of U.S. exports and in 1860 well over one-third. In 1820 the city was a distant third to Baltimore and Philadelphia in flour exports; by 1827 it was the runaway leader. In 1821 (the first year of available statistics) the city handled just more than one-third of U.S. imports, and by 1860 more than two-thirds, with six times the imports as second-place Boston.”

Grand Canal Celebration. View of the fleet preparing to form in line. Stokes’ Iconography of New York, v.3 pl. 95a. NYC Municipal Library

When the Erie Canal opened in 1825 it was widely regarded as an engineering marvel, planned by people with little-to-no formal training and built by immigrants, newly arrived in the United States, many from Ireland. The canal was 363 miles long and used 83 locks to transition 700 feet of drops along its length. Tolls collected along the route covered costs and generated a profit. Termed the most important public works project of the 19th century, the canal had an enormous impact on New York City, and on growth in the western territories and states—particularly Michigan, Illinois, Ohio. New arrivals easily moved west, and products moved east.

There was even a song, “the Meeting of the Waters of Hudson & Erie,” which claimed it was not the anticipated wealth that would fill coffers that was celebrated but rather, a vast and sublime project.

Tis, that Genius has triumph’d—and Science prevail’d,

Tho’ Prejudice flouted, and Envy assail’d,

It is, that the vassals of Europe may see

The progress of mind, in a land that is free.

Various materials in the Municipal Archives and Library shed light on the effort to fund, build and celebrate the canal. The Common Council Collection, dating from 1670 to 1885, yielded several Canal Committee folders, beginning in 1818. That seemed a good start since that was the same year that ground was broken on the Erie Canal. However, these contained various petitions and observations dealing with the putrid canal along Canal Street, sewers and linking the contaminated Collect Pond to the river.

Canal Committee resolution, March 25, 1825. Common Council Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The 1825 Canal Commission folder contains Council records about the opening of the canal as well as the more prosaic content.

City merchants met at the Tontine Coffee House and recommended that the Common Council provide funding for a celebration of “the arrival of the first Canal Boat from Lake Erie to the waters of the Hudson.”

A September 12, 1825, resolution proposed supporting a public celebration of the completion of the great Western Canal and was referred to committee.

Resolution on an application to form a committee “for a public celebration of the completion of the great Western Canal, making a junction [of] our inland seas with the Ocean…” September 12, 1825. Canal Committee, Common Council Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

A November 10, 1825, report to the council on the festivities, reported that “the celebration both by land, and by water, has been in a style of unusual magnificence and splendour. That it has so far transcended all anticipation and been so ably conducted, by the gentlemen to whom it was more immediately considered, as to require a full and detailed report.”

“Commemoration by the City of New York of the completion of the Grand Erie Canal, which unites the waters of the great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The Committee of the Corporation of the City of New York,… respectfully report, that the celebration both by land, and by water, has been in a style of unusual magnificence & splendour. That is has so far transcended all anticipation….” Canal Committee, Common Council records, November 10, 1825. NYC Municipal Archives.

Resolution on celebrations, pg. 2. Canal Committee, Common Council records, November 10, 1825. NYC Municipal Archives.

The celebration included a parade of trades people including butchers, saddlers and “the city’s firemen marching with nine shining fire engines, the pride of their eyes and glory of the city” according to a New York Times retrospective in 1926. The same article noted that “The festivities of the day were closed in the evening by the illumination of public buildings and the principal hotels…The illumination of the City Hall contributed largely to the brilliant appearance of Broadway. It was illuminated by 2,302 brilliant lights, consisting of 1,542 wax candles, 450 lamps (giving the effect of a large transparency) and 310 variegated lamps, so that the front of the Hall presented a spectacle of peculiar splendor and brilliancy.”

And for this, the Common Council resolved that the Comptroller authorize $5000 to fully fund the event and its memorialization.


Resolution to pay for the celebrations of the Erie Canal. Canal Committee, Common Council records, Dec. 5, 1825. NYC Municipal Archives.

A century later, the ground-breaking nature of the canal had been overtaken by railroads and subsequently by the interstate highway system. But canals were not abandoned. In 1918, the State expanded the canal system and at the 1926 centennial celebration, Governor Al Smith claimed that the revenue from the canal exceeded expectations. According to historian Carol Sheriff, the celebration was delayed by a year because supporters “faced the same substantial hurdle: convincing elected officials, particularly those who remained skeptical of the Barge Canal’s sustainability, that state funds should be spent on celebrating the Erie Canal at all.”

Despite the challenges, the Erie Canal Centennial Commission, chaired by DeWitt Clinton’s grandson sponsored a celebration in the City, featuring a reprise of the marriage of the waters, a boat parade that began at Spuyten Duyvil in upper Manhattan and fireworks in the evening.

Steamer Macom reception to 100 Years Marriage of the Waters Erie Canal opening, October 7, 1926. Photograph by Eugene de Salignac, Deptartment of Bridges/Plant & Structures collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

This year, the Erie Canal Bicentennial Commission coordinated events in towns that lined the former canal. With a theme of “Raising More Voices” events included planting white pine trees along the route as a tribute to the Haudenosaunee original residents of the Mohawk Valley. The commission sponsored the World Canals Convention and explored economic revitalization tied to the canal. Finally, a replica of the Seneca Chief set sail from Buffalo on September 24, making stops along the way and gathering water from each town along the route. It is scheduled to arrive in New York City on October 25 and the collected water will be dispersed.

The NYC Department of Health Celebrates 220 Years

The New York City Health Department has been keeping New Yorkers healthy for 220 years. Their anniversary provides For the Record an opportunity to discuss some of the many collections in the Municipal Archives with materials relevant to public health research topics.

Bellevue Hospital, 1862, engraving, Valentine’s Manual, 1864. Municipal Library.

““Mrs. Baisley in Moore Street, has lost her husband and three children to the prevailing fever,…””
— Health Committee minutes, 1798

The Health Department traces its origins to January 17, 1805, when the Common Council passed a law “for the establishment of a Board of Health, and for the appointment of a City Inspector.” The legislators took this action in response to a yellow-fever epidemic then raging through the City.

However, “health” as a concern of local government officials long pre-dates this legislation. Collections in the Municipal Archives document issues related to the health of city inhabitants as far back as the first Dutch colonial settlement. The printed, published proceedings of the legislative bodies—Records of New Amsterdam, 1653-1674; Minutes of the Common Council 1675-1776; and Minutes of the Common Council 1684-1831—provide useful entry points to identify health-related references.

An entry in the New Amsterdam Records from 1664, describes how two homeowners feared a tannery “established between their houses...” will spoil their water and “...they shall also have to endure great stench from the tanning of skins.” The Burgomasters and Schepens declined to ban the tannery saying that “as others have been allowed to make a tannery behind their house and lot, such cannot be forbidden.” The indexes to the Records and Minutes provides dozens of citations to similar and continuing matters related to public health.

Resolution from the Common Council that no persons from Philadelphia shall come to this City, 1793. Common Council Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

In addition to the printed and published Minutes of the Common Council, the Municipal Archives maintains a separate collection of records created or received by the legislative bodies. The series spans 1670 to 1831. The documents, mostly petitions, resolutions, financial documents, and correspondence, are arranged chronologically. After 1800 the arrangement is further refined by the “committees” established by the Council, e.g. finance, roads, etc.

The first “Health” labeled folder dates from 1793. It comprises documents that the Council referred to a Committee they appointed to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious diseases. The eight documents in the 1793 folder all address news of a yellow-fever epidemic in Philadelphia: “The Corporation of this City having this day resolved that no person coming from Philadelphia shall come into the city. I am directed by the Committee … to inform all passengers in the stages from Philadelphia that they will not be suffered to land here.” (September 16, 1793.) It is not clear from the folder contents whether the Council ever formally lifted the ban on visitors from Philadelphia.

“September 8th, 1803: The Health Committee met pursuant to adjournment. Present his Hon. The Mayor, Chairman; the recorder; Aldermen Vanzandt, Bogert, Ritter, Barker, Minthorn.

Dr. Rodgers and Miller attended nine deaths and twenty new cases of malignant fever occurred the last 24 hours. Mr. James Hardie reported six internments in the church burial grounds inclusive of one included among the fever deaths and two were buried at Potters Field not of fever making the mortality for the last 24 hours – Seventeen. Committee adjourned to 9th Sept.” Department of Health book, 1790 -1803. NYC Municipal Archives.

“The number of persons, interred in each of the Burying Grounds of this City, from the first of August, to the tenth of November 1790.” Department of Health book, 1790 -1803. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Council-appointed Health Committee kept written minutes or proceedings of their meetings. Maintained as a separate collection in the Archives, the first extant volume of the Committee minutes is dated September 10 - December 11, 1798. The entries begin with routine business, e.g. payments for nursing services, procuring supplies, and “... a suitable carriage for the removal of the sick from this City to Bellevue [hospital].” The Committee also “Resolved that Doctors Alexander Anderson and Charles McLean be appointed to attend the sick poor in this City and report their situations from time to time to this Committee.”

““Doctor Benjamin Hicks reports Montgomery Miller, Read[e] Street two doors down from the corner of Church Street right hand side, is in the last stage of the fever, in want of necessaries….””
— Health Committee minutes, 1798

The Minutes then record dozens of reported “situations” such as, “Mrs. Waters of No. 288 Water Street is reported to [be] ill with the prevailing fever and in want of necessaries.” “Margaret Ireland of Henry Street has a family of four children in distress—gave her three dollars.” And, “Catharine and Mary Condon, orphan children, there [sic] mother died in Orange Street some twelve days ago, received into the Almshouse.” The volume includes a name index, and an appendix listing the “Burials in the different grave yards in the City, at Potter’s Field & Bellevue, from 8 August to 12 November 1798.”  The Minutes series continue through, the nineteenth century, but with significant gaps.

The Historical Vital Records Collection

One important function of the Health Department, the creation of vital records, is of particular significance to Municipal Archives patrons. Beginning in the 1950s, the Health Department began transferring their older vital records, both ledger-format and certificates, to the Municipal Archives for public access. Now totaling more than 13 million birth, death and marriage records, the collection has served generations of family historians.

““Susannah Allen represents, that she has seven small children, lost her husband about two months ago,… gave her three dollars….””
— Health Committee minutes, 1798

The oldest record in the series is a list of yellow fever victims during 1795 in Manhattan. In 1801, and again in 1804, the Common Council addressed record-keeping related to deaths. Notably, in 1804, the Council specified that the “Inspector . . .cause to be published… an accurate list of the deaths of the preceding week with the age sex disease and other particulars of each person so dying and where buried. And shall keep a register wherein he shall record the names of all persons returned as aforesaid which shall be open during office hours to the inspection and examination of any person who may or request a view.”
Among justifications in the 1804 directive for vital record-keeping, the Council said that it would be necessary “...to enable posterity to prove the decease of their ancestors, relatives and connections.” And indeed, posterity has greatly benefited from their action. In Fiscal 2025, the Municipal Archives supplied more than 15,000 copies of vital records to its patrons.

““Sarah Frygill, represents that Joseph a free Black lays ill in her cellar No. 28 Roosevelt Street, in want of medical aid….””
— Health Committee minutes, 1798

In 1866, the New York State legislature passed a public health law that established the Metropolitan Board of Health, the first municipal public health authority in the U.S.  Four years later, the State passed another law that created the Department of Health for the City of New York, with a new Board of Health operating as its overseeing body. Researchers interested in documenting the evolution of these entities as they grew to become pioneers and leaders in public health will find ample source material throughout the mayoral records. Beginning with the administration of Mayor Van Wyck in 1898, clerks maintained “Departmental Correspondence” as a separate series providing quick access to Health Department actions. The mayor’s subject files are also a gold mine of information.

““William Gardner, Hezekiah Read, and Maysey a Black woman opposite Daniel Dunscomb’s in Pearl Street in want of everything will pay for a nurse,— Doctor McLean will attend them….””
— Health Committee minutes, 1798

Researchers focused on the twentieth century will find an abundance of relevant material for health topics. The most comprehensive collection is the Health Commissioners records. Processed with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2017, the collection totals 742 cubic feet and spans 1928 to 1991. The records document the Department’s wide-ranging responsibilities and actions such as regulating the milk supply, vaccinating the city against polio, tackling drug addiction and sexually-transmitted diseases, and improving maternal and child health. There is a wealth of correspondence about polio, the AIDS crisis, the administration of city health clinics, and Medicaid.

The foregoing description of health-related materials in the Archives is only the “tip of the iceberg,” to use a cliche. Researchers are invited to use the Collection Guides to learn about the dozens of Health Department-created or related collections in the Archives. 

Researchers are also encouraged to search holdings of the Municipal Library. Based on the importance of public health-related information and publications, the Municipal Library maintained a separate branch at the Health Department, located at 125 Worth Street, from 1937through the 1980s. The Library has merged contents from the Health Department branch into the collection at 31 Chambers Street. Look for future For the Record articles that highlights Library holdings.

The NYPD Aviation Unit Photograph Collection

REC0116_A_764: Statue of Liberty with Manhattan in distance, ca. 1974. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

In 2011, the Municipal Archives accessioned from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) a vast collection of historic photographs. The bulk of the NYPD photographs pertained to criminal investigations and dated from 1914 to 1975. This was a substantial addition to the Archives’ collection of records related to the administration of criminal justice—arguably the most comprehensive in the English-speaking world. 

When accessioning and processing the collection, City archivists discovered some images dated to the late 1880s, and that the overall significance of the photographs extended well beyond documentation of criminal activity. The collection provides a unique perspective on the workings of the NYPD and how they integrated photography into daily operations. This week, For the Record focuses attention on a separate collection of photographs created by, or for, the NYPD Aviation Unit. 

REC0116_S-44_063: Biplanes spraying aero insect control, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_E-8_496: View of airplane being fueled, Brielle Avenue, Staten Island, New York, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_E-26_030: View of man dangling from helicopter, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

The NYPD established the Aviation Unit in 1929 at Floyd Bennett Airfield in Brooklyn. Originally created in response to the increase in air traffic during the 1920s, it grew to include rescue operations, firefighting, port security, and tactical support. At first, the NYPD maintained only fixed-wing planes, but in 1948, they introduced helicopters to the fleet. Some of these first Bell Helicopters were outfitted with floatation devices to make water rescues possible and today, the NYPD has created an advanced Air and Sea Rescue Unit. Since 1954, the Aviation Unit has relied solely on helicopters for air support.

The collection came to the Municipal Archives by way of an NYPD Pilot, Officer Danny J. Edling. The negatives (said to be rescued from a dumpster) were previously stored in an officer’s locker at Floyd Bennett Field and entrusted to Officer Edling, who had an interest in the Unit’s history. Hearing about the NYPD photographs accessioned by the Municipal Archives, Officer Edling reached out and transferred the items in his care to the Municipal Archives in 2014.

REC0116_D-22_403: Aerial view of City Hall area, ca. 1969. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. (Note the construction of the Twin Towers underway in the upper left.) 

The 3,631 negatives consist mainly of aerial photographs, which are believed to have been taken by NYPD Aviation Unit officers, dating between 1935 and 1982. Also included are images of significant events related to the daily workings of the Aviation Unit including funerals, award dinners and new vehicle purchases—even a departmental family outing to Coney Island. There are also a number of stunning aerial images of ocean liners coming into New York Harbor, perhaps on their maiden voyages, including the ill-fated Italian ship, Andrea Doria ca. 1953 and the German ship, S.S. Bremen in 1935.

REC0116_S-32_019: Ship Andrea Doria in water, ca. 1953. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_S-32_019: Ship Andrea Doria in water, ca. 1953. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_E-45_148: View of police at scene of crash, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

Another significant theme is investigations of aviation disasters. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was not formed until 1958, but even after its creation, the NYPD continued to investigate crashes in New York City. Notable accidents include Northeast Airlines Flight 823, which crashed shortly after take-off in snowstorm on February 1, 1957. The DC-6 clipped trees on the edge of Rikers Island and crashed outside the fences of the prison. Prison officials and inmates rushed to help the passengers and of the 101 people on board, there were 20 fatalities. Of the 57 prisoners who assisted in the rescue efforts, 30 were released and 16 were given reduced sentences by the parole board.

REC0116_C-18-1_052a: View of Northeast Airline Flight 823 crash and removal, Rikers Island, February 2, 1957. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_C-43_250: Close-up view of plane crash—Pan American N779PA, John F. Kennedy International Airport, April 7, 1964. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

Also documented are Pan-Am flight 212 from San Juan Puerto Rico, which overshot the runway at JFK on April 7, 1964 (no fatalities); and the December 16, 1960, mid-air collision that resulted in 134 deaths. United Airlines Flight 826 bound for Idlewild (now JFK) and TWA Flight 266 traveling to LaGuardia Airport collided over Staten Island. The TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation crashed in Miller Field on Staten Island, while the UA DC-8 crashed at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place in Park Slope, Brooklyn. For more on this horrifying accident, see the 2019 blog: “Death from the Skies Over Brooklyn.”

REC0116_C-29_206a: View of plane crash—TWA Super Constellation, Miller Field plane crash site, Staten Island, December 16, 1960. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_E-2_450: Aerial view of building fire, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

The Aerial Unit collection came with very minimal information about the images. Some negative sleeves included the date and other descriptions, but more research will be needed to identify significant events. A photo file index, which is partially complete, includes material information from some of the negatives between the years 1971 to 1982 and a listing guide. The collection was originally arranged with an alphabetical system that was used to identify possible subject terms. For example, “Homicides,” “Heliports,” and “Harbor” would all be filled under “H” and then subsequently assigned a chronological number under that letter. The listing guide gives some of the subject terms for the alphabetical system, but not all of the meanings are included. Due to this, the collection was kept in the original order but updated with a numerical numbering system starting at 1 and proceeding to 3,638 for ease of location within the collection.

Readers are invited to take a look at these samples from the collection.

REC0116_E-53_118: Aerial view of Ellis Island, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_F-20-2_012: View of United States Navy submarine 571 (USS Nautilus) under Manhattan Bridge, 1958. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_F-20-2_006: View of the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) under the Manhattan Bridge, 1958. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_V-3_737: Police boat on the water in the snow (Harbor event with CO's and Gus Crawford), n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_T-2_675: Men at tear gas training, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_S-58_322: View of the SS France and smaller ships in river, ca. 1960. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_S-22_051: Sinking ship (unidentified), n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_P-58_680: Aerial view of the Bronx and Yankee Stadium, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_C-48_297: View of Circle Line boat ride, n.d. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_P-59C_799: Aerial view of World’s Fair, Flushing Meadows, Queens, 1964. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_B-4_103a: Coney Island beach with the Parachute Drop and Thunderbolt in background, ca. 1960. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_B-4_108: View of crowded beach (Brighton Beach), ca. 1960. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

REC0116_O-6_481: Families at Steeplechase Park, Coney Island, ca. 1960. NYPD Aerial Unit Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

Stacy H. Wood, Illustrator

In a continuing series of articles highlighting unusual or unexpected items found in Municipal Archives or Library collections, this week For the Record features a delightful pictorial map created by artist Stacy H. Wood.

Hotel Governor Clinton map, by Stacy H. Wood, 1936. Mayor LaGuardia papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Measuring 18 by 28.5 inches, the map depicts the United States decorated with clever cartoon figures and illustrations. It had been sent to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia from the Hotel Governor Clinton, located on Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street in Manhattan. The Mayor’s mail room clerk date-stamped it received on June 9, 1936.

Hotel Governor Clinton map (detail), by Stacy H. Wood, 1936. Mayor LaGuardia papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

The purpose of the map is not entirely clear but seems to relate to the Democratic National Convention that would take place in Philadelphia on June 23, 1936. The legend on the lower left portion of the map is a message to Mayor LaGuardia: “You are invited to indulge, to your heart’s content, in all the pastimes and pleasures this great Metropolis affords, both before & after your quiet sojourn in Philadelphia.” And to that end, the map provides useful information about New York City events such as the dates for upcoming baseball games, arrival of ocean liners S.S. Normandie and Queen Mary, and the Zeppelin Hindenburg. It also helpfully notes the Hotel’s proximity to Radio City, the Hayden Planetarium, and Pennsylvania Station, as well as department stores, Macy’s, Gimbel’s, Saks, and B. Altmans.

Hotel Governor Clinton map (detail), by Stacy H. Wood, 1936. Mayor LaGuardia papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

City archivists came across the pictorial map in “Mayor LaGuardia Oversize Box #1.” In accordance with processing procedures, items that are too large to fit in half-cubic foot archival containers are “separated” from their original locations and placed in enclosures appropriate to their size. In place of the removed item, the processing archivist substitutes a “separation sheet” that provides a brief description of the item, date removed, and the new location.

The separation sheet attached to the poster indicated that it had been originally filed in LaGuardia’s subject series in a folder labeled “Favors, Requests for, 1936-37.” Examination of the folder contents, and others similarly labeled, revealed an eclectic assortment of items. As one would expect, there are numerous letters to the Mayor (and/or his assistants) asking for help in obtaining jobs or other services. For example, on October 6, 1937, G. W. Cahan, of the Greenwood Lakes Estates Co. wrote to LaGuardia’s aide Stanley Howe asking for an introduction to Sanitation Commissioner William Carey, “... as I have an interesting proposition I would like to take up with him.” But it also contained other seemingly random objects such as a birthday greeting to the Mayor in the form of a colorful Western Union telegram.

Western Union telegram, 1934. Mayor LaGuardia papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Most of the correspondence consists of the incoming letter and a carbon copy of the Mayor’s response. For the pictorial map there was neither a cover letter, nor a response. Perhaps the LaGuardia’s clerks decided that the poster’s legend inviting him to “indulge ... in all the pastimes and pleasures of this great metropolis” constituted a request for a favor.

Hotel Governor Clinton map (detail), by Stacy H. Wood, 1936. Mayor LaGuardia papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

The serendipitous discovery of the pictorial map points out one of the limitations of archival description practices. Typically, archivists processing voluminous collections such as mayoral correspondence use the original record-creators’ identifications to describe folder contents, in this instance, “Favors, Requests For.” Item-level processing is generally not practical. It is unlikely that researchers interested in the work and career of the artist, Wood, would think of municipal government records as a possible venue for information. And even if they did, the “Favors, Request for” folder would not be an obvious source.

Brooklyn birth certificate for Stacy H. Wood, 1887. Historical Vital Records collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Hotel Governor Clinton map (detail), by Stacy H. Wood, 1936. Mayor LaGuardia papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Nevertheless, this work by the illustrator Stacy H. Wood is in the collection. An online search resulted in only minimal biographical information. He is described as an American children’s book illustrator and graphic artist active in New York during the first half of the 20th Century. Born in Brooklyn in 1887, he studied at Amherst, the Pratt Institute, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Among other cited works are other pictorial maps including one of the United States for the Boy Scouts of America 1935 Jamboree. Wood died on June 7, 1942, in Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

And the Hotel Governor Clinton? Renamed the Hotel Stewart at some point, it still stands today, a handsome example of Art-Deco-era construction in Manhattan. For interested researchers, the Manhattan Building Permit and Plan collections in the Archives would serve to trace its history beginning with the new building application filed on December 28, 1927, by architects Murgatroyd and Ogden. Subsequent applications document alterations and modifications through the 1970s. More recent reports indicate the building may be slated for residential conversion.

Now that we have “found” the artist Stacy H. Wood, readers are invited to take a closer look at his work. But be forewarned, you will need some time—there is a lot going on in this picture!

Hotel Governor Clinton map (detail), by Stacy H. Wood, 1936. Mayor LaGuardia papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Hotel Governor Clinton, ca. 1939. Tax Photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Hotel Governor Clinton (Hotel Stewart), 2025. Photograph by the author.