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History of Reproductive Rights in New York City - Exhibit

This week, the Department of Records and Information Services opened a ‘pop-up’ exhibit on the history of reproductive rights in New York. It begins in 1828, when providing an abortion after quickening first became illegal, and traces the story to the present day, highlighting the city’s current reputation as a national leader in the fight to protect women’s reproductive rights.

1916 handbill in English, Yiddish, and Italian advertising Margaret Sanger’s first birth control clinic at 46 Amboy Street in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Margaret Sanger, My Fight for Birth Control, NYC Municipal Library.

The new exhibit uses historical documents, photographs, and ephemera to depict the evolution of the laws governing abortion from criminality to full access. It begins with the 1828 New York State law that made it a misdemeanor for a provider to induce abortion after “quickening.”

March held during Abortion Action Week, May 6, 1972. New York Police Department Special Investigations Unit Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Bottle with cork. Exhibit in case: People vs. Elizabeth Klurk (Abortion), April 29, 1878. This bottle with its unknown residue, contained a solution intended to induce abortion. NY DA Indictment Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Items from Municipal Archives collections created by the criminal justice system illustrate how New York criminalized women who obtained abortions. The 1871 indictment against Jacob Rosenzweig is on view. The City prosecuted Rosenzweig, a former saloonkeeper, for murder after performing a botched abortion on Alice Augusta Bowlsby and stuffing the woman in a trunk, where she died. Other items in the display focus on the former seamstress Caroline Ann Trow Lohman, aka Madame Restell, also prosecuted for performing abortions. Documents about Margaret Sanger and her sister document her journey through the criminal justice system for sharing birth control information illustrate her story. 

Inquisition into the death of Alice Augusta Bowlsby, 1871. Jacob Rosenzweig, a former saloonkeeper, was prosecuted by the City for murder after performing a botched abortion on Bowlsby and stuffing her body in a trunk. NY DA Indictment Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

The exhibit also includes photographs from the New York Police Department Crime Scene Photograph collection in the Municipal Archives that graphically illustrate the un-hygienic locations where illegal abortions were performed.

Scene of bedroom where a 20 year old woman received an illegal abortion and later died in Manhattan General Hospital, July 14, 1932. NYPD Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Charts from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene track how thousands of women from across the country relied on City health providers for safe, legal reproductive health care after 1970 when New York State decriminalized abortion and before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

The exhibit uses pamphlets, buttons, and items from the mayoral collections to tell the story through the last decades of the 20th century as the City fought to protect women’s reproductive rights. The show concludes with a copy of the 2024 Sexual and Reproductive Health Bill of Rights further enshrined New York City’s commitment to protecting reproductive rights.

The exhibit is free to the public. It is located at the Municipal Archives, 31 Chambers Street, Manhattan, Room 103, New York, NY 10007. It is open from 9 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Transcribing Records of Enslaved New Yorkers

New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced an ambitious project at the Department of Records and Information Services to make accessible historical records documenting thousands of formerly enslaved New Yorkers. The records in the Municipal Archives date from 1660 through 1827 when New York State abolished the practice of slavery.

Slave and School Records in Kings County, 1799-1819. Old Town Records, Gravesend, NYC Municipal Archives.

The records are part of the Old Town Records collection. This series includes records created by the towns and villages in Kings, Queens, Richmond, and Westchester Counties prior to consolidation in 1898. Recently processed and partially digitized during a project funded by the National Historical Publications & Records Commission, the records provide unique documentation of communities now part of the Greater City of New York. Over the course of the processing project, For the Record published several articles tracking progress and highlighting aspects of this collection. Processing the Old Town Records Collection, Oyster Boards in the Old Town Records and The Genealogical Possibilities of Manumissions in the Old Town Records are a few of the articles.

This week, For the Record interviewed Arafua Reed for information about the transcription project and how interested persons can volunteer to participate. Arafua is a City Service Corps volunteer with AmeriCorps and NYC Service, currently serving as DORIS’ DEIA Coordinator.

For The Record: Arafua, what are the records that are being transcribed?

Arafua Reed: It’s going to be a phased project. The focus of phase one is birth certificates and manumission documents, along with some court minutes from the Old Town Records collection. During the second phase we will transcribe information recorded in other collections such as the Records of New Amsterdam and the Common Council.  

FTR:  Can you tell us about the provenance of these records?

AR:  Most of these documents resulted from the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery enacted by New York State in 1799. The law stated that children born to enslaved women after July 4, 1799, would be legally declared “free.” Since these children were still considered property with material value, this came with a loophole that their freedom would become valid only after a certain amount of time had elapsed—25 years of age for women, and 28 years for men—meanwhile these children were still required to work. Therefore, enslavers were required to record the children’s births on legal documents.

Certificate of Birth for Harry, a male child born on October 25, 1804, reported by John Vanderbilt on September 5 1805. Records of the Town of Flatbush, Old Town Records collection, NYC Municipal Archives..

Enslaved people born prior to July 4, 1799, were re-categorized as indentured servants; this language (using “servant” instead of “slave”) appears throughout the manumission documents. Typically, the document includes the enslavers statement reporting the birth, and a corresponding certification of its accuracy by the town clerk. In rare instances, there is text in a will document freeing an enslaved person.

FTR:  Do you know about how many individuals will be identified by the transcription project?

Birth records, ledger, 1826, Town of Flatlands, Old Town Records collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

AR: There are about 1,300 birth and manumission records in the books slated for transcription during this phase.

FTR:  Please describe the transcription process.

AR: The Municipal Archives is using an online service called From The Page for the transcription project. Once logged-in, volunteers will click on a book and select a page. Or, they can click “Start Transcribing” (just above the list of volumes) and will be taken to a random page that hasn’t been worked on yet. The format of volunteer submissions are split into two sections: there’s a text area field, where the entire page will be transcribed in full. Just below this text box is a spreadsheet, where volunteers will insert the information about children born to enslaved mothers.

We’re asking that volunteers type what they see and to keep in mind the transcription tips that sit in the middle of every page. It’s an easy process to get into; reading some of the handwriting is probably the most difficult part of it.

FTR:  Are transcribers provided any assistance with reading the hand-written records?

Birth records, 1810-1811, transcribed in ledger, Town of Flatlands, Old Town Records collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

AR: That’s my current responsibility. There’s a convenient Notes and Questions box under each transcription page, so if volunteers need help with some of the words, or if they want a review of something very specific on one of their pages, or even if they find something interesting, they can send that message there. These notes are public, so if volunteers want to engage with someone else’s comments, they can.

FTR:  How will you make sure that the transcribers do not make mistakes?

AR: That is another part of my responsibility. I don’t expect anyone to complete these pages to perfection and, when I see mistakes, I can easily correct them. I’m currently reviewing the submissions page by page, but there are ways for volunteers to note specific pages that they need help with. After a submission is all typed out, volunteers can check a box by the Preview and Save buttons that says, “Needs Review.” This lets me know that a transcriber would like someone to look over the work before it’s considered complete. These notes are very helpful for me to track progress. In some cases, I might need to adjust the transcription conventions to include things that people struggle with often.

Certificate of Birth for Henry Lynes, a male child, born on November 5, 1804, reported by Simeon Buck, November 26, 1804. Records of the Town of Flatbush, Old Town Records collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

FTR:  How will the transcribed information be made available?

The Archives will publish the birth records as a database in Collection Guides. In addition, the Archives has curated a sub-collection for birth records of enslaved people and a webpage on archives.nyc devoted to holdings featuring Records of Slavery and Emancipation.

FTR:  It looks like a significant impediment to using manumission records to trace ancestry is the lack of surnames. In the example below, we know that “Tom” was born on March 28, 1806, to “Bet,” but we do not know their surnames. Do you have any advice about how to overcome this impediment?

Certificate of Birth for Tom a male child born on March 28, 1806 to Bet, reported by George Lott on September 27, 1806. Records of the Town of Flatlands, Old Town Records collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

AR: We suggest that researchers try using vital record collections of the communities where enslaved persons resided. Given that we know the date of birth and a first name, and if the formerly enslaved person remained in the community, it might be possible to find additional demographic information in vital records. The Municipal Archives collection of vital records includes records of birth, death and marriage in many of the Old Town communities.

FTR:  What should a person do if interested in participating in the project?

AR:  To start working, a volunteer can visit the Records of Slavery page that lives on the website.

It’s Presidents Day

Federal Hall, Inauguration of General Washington, the First President of the United States, on the 30th of April 1789. H.R. Robinson for D.T. Valentine’s Manual, 1849. NYC Municipal Library.

New York City government offices, including the Municipal Archives, close on the third Monday in February for Presidents Day. Banks, schools, the United States Post Office, and the New York Stock Exchange also observe the holiday.

Archives collections document some presidential moments in the City’s history, highlighted in For the Record articles.

In 2024, For the Record traced the residences of President George Washington in George Washington in New York: The First Presidential Mansion.

In 1968, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Uniform Holiday Bill that set specific Mondays to celebrate Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day as well as establishing Columbus Day as a Federal Holiday, effective in 1971. The goal was to establish a minimum of five three-day weekends for federal workers. As Johnson stated in his approval message, “The bill that we sign today will help Americans to enjoy more fully the country that is their magnificent heritage. It will also aid the work of Government and bring new efficiency to our economy.”

President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, was never a national holiday but was a State holiday in many places, including New York. In 2018, the For the Record article Bodies in Transit displayed an entry about the assassinated President Lincoln as an example.

Presidents Day officially celebrates Washington’s birth, which was made a federal holiday in 1885, and is still named Washington’s birthday for federal workers. As noted above, some states and municipalities mark both births, closing government offices on Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12, and Presidents Day on the third Monday. Conversely, it is business-as-usual in ten states that do not mark Presidents Day as a holiday. Clever marketers coined the term Presidents Day in the 1980s to combine the commemorations.

Another recent blog described President Jimmy Carter’s history with the City: New York and President Jimmy Carter.

Mayor Edward Koch, President Jimmy Carter, New York Governor Hugh Carey, on the steps of City Hall following approval of Federal loan guarantees for New York City, August 8, 1978. Mayor Edward Koch Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Presidents featured in these For the Record posts made significant contributions to the nation. Let us honor their work during this holiday weekend.

Happy New Year 2025!

Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year!

Confetti, Times Square, New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2007. Mayor Michael Bloomberg Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Spectators enjoying the show, Times Square, New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2003. Mayor Michael Bloomberg Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

At the stroke of midnight, the celebrity host will plunge this replica ball to “drop” the 12-foot diameter LED-lined crystal ball located atop the roof of One Times Square. Photo: 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Musicians jamming, Times Square, New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2003. Mayor Michael Bloomberg Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Trivia Night at the Archives!

Question 1: 

Infamous NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses left an indelible mark upon the landscape of NYC including each of the following projects except:

  1. 1964 World’s Fair

  2. Queensboro Bridge 

  3. Gowanus Expressway

  4. Lincoln Center

Question 2: 

Designed by Central Park architects Olmsted & Vaux, 10,000 cyclists took to the road for the 1896 opening of the nation's first bike lane on this Brooklyn thoroughfare. What was this thoroughfare: 

  1. Ocean Avenue 

  2. Eastern Parkway 

  3. Ocean Parkway 

  4. Bedford Avenue 

Commissioner Pauline Toole welcomed trivia players to the Surrogate’s Court atrium. Trivia Night at the Archives, November 14, 2024. NYC Municipal Archives.

Chilly outdoor temperatures yesterday evening did not deter more than 90 trivia fans at DORIS’ first Trivia Night. Held in the grand atrium at the Surrogate’s Court building at 31 Chambers Street, the event tested participants’ knowledge of New York City-related trivia. Mr. Austin Rogers, a twelve-time Jeopardy champion presided over the fun evening. Rogers developed a program that enables multiple players to participate in-person or virtually. His app also tracked responses in real time, automatically calculating each team or individual players’ point total.

Austin Rogers mc’d the program. Trivia Night at the Archives, November14, 2024. NYC Municipal Archives.

City archivists Cynthia Brenwall and Katie Ehrlich developed fifty questions based on their knowledge of City history and Municipal Archives collections. The categories included sports and the City, the City in film and screen, and Name that Borough!   

Rogers called out the multiple-choice questions. Participants simultaneously viewed the questions on monitors in the atrium, and on their phones or other devices. With up to sixty seconds to deliberate, participants clicked on their responses.  

Deliberating the correct answer. Trivia Night at the Archives, November 14, 2024. NYC Municipal Archives.

Between trivia rounds, guests were treated to video clips of music performances from the Municipal Archives’ digital collection. Selections included Duke Ellington and his band performing at City Hall in 1969, Ray Santos and his orchestra “The Caribbean Music Experience” on WNYC-TV in 1995, performances by Princess Nokia and Sweet Honey in the Rock at Declaration of Sentiments: The Remix in 2015, and more.  

And the winner is....  

After fifty questions, challenging for even the most informed New Yorker, the audience cheered the winning team, “Naka.” The team “Flatlanders” took second place. “The Pizza Rats” took the honors for “Cool Team Name Winner.”  

“Naka,” the winning team stands to accept cheers from the audience. Trivia Night at the Archives, November 14, 2024. NYC Municipal Archives.

 Question 3.  

Which of the following is not in the time capsule installed in 1870 beneath the base of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s outdoor installation of the obelisk popularly known as “Cleopatra's Needle?”

  1. Complete Works of Shakespeare 

  2. Declaration of Independence 

  3. 1870 NYC Census

  4. Portrait of George Washington 

Question 4. 

This Brooklyn-born blonde bombshell spent time in the Blackwell’s Island Penitentiary for obscenity charges stemming from her 1927 play “Sex.” 

  1. Fay Wray 

  2. Mae West 

  3. Greta Garbo 

  4. Clara Bow 

Okay, here are the answers.  Question 1. - Queensboro Bridge; Question 2. - Ocean Parkway; Question 3. Portrait of George Washington; Question 4. - Mae West. 

How did you do?  Ready to join us for the next Trivia Night at the Archives? Stay tuned:  it will be in the spring! 

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