We are busy preparing to move. We’ll be back next week with more blogs. Stay warm.
Bush Terminal warehouses, Brooklyn. B & O Rail car in foreground, 1912
Happy New Year
Looking forward to 2021 and the opening of our new Brooklyn storage and research center. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.
Public research room, NYC Municipal Archives, Industry City, Brooklyn. Photo by Michael Lorenzini.
Moving the Archives, part II
“The City of New York is finally catching up with over two centuries of neglect in the care of its records.” Thus began an October 1953 article in the American Archivist touting the 1952 creation of the New York City Municipal Archives and its integration into a records management program. At the time, the Municipal Archives and Records Center was housed in the Rhinelander Building, and the Municipal Reference Library was still a branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL). As of December 1952, the Archives had an estimated 12,000 cubic feet of material, and “no standard storage or filing material.” The collection has grown significantly since then, by more than a factor of ten, and as the diversity of its collections has grown, the limitations of standard storage shelves has made preservation difficult.
This past January we described the construction of the Municipal Archives’ new off-site storage space in Industry City. A lot has happened to the world since then. However, we are happy to report that after a shutdown of several months, the project continues. We have had to adjust the schedule due to COVID-19 and, like a lot of construction projects, supply chain issues are still creating delays. But, our new custom shelving is going up, HVAC equipment is installed, and we are starting to see the shape of what will be.
HVAC equipment being lifted to the roof of Building 20, Industry City.
Rails being installed for the movable shelving.
Shelving going in above the decking and rails for the compact movable storage system.
The HVAC system required an enormous amount of ductwork.
Insulated elevator vestibules will prevent energy loss and protect collections from dust intrusion.
In 1953 the Municipal Archives and Records Center installed a state-of-the-art microfilm laboratory. Now, almost 70-years later, we are building a state-of-the-art digitization lab in the new space, with workstations for digitizing motion picture films, magnetic video tapes, still film, and flat art. New high-speed scanners that are gentle on archival materials will allow the mass digitization of paper records.
Floor plan for the new digitization lab at Industry City.
The new research room for patrons taking shape.
In 1953 it was reported that “As yet relatively little reference use has been made of the archives. Reference services in 1952 averaged about 35 a month. Chairs and tables are available for use by researchers, but the supervisor has not as yet felt sufficiently prepared to cope with a heavy reference load and thus has not publicized the collection very much.” While the new Industry City space will have chairs and tables for researchers, our digitization programs have allowed us to reach far more researchers through our online portals than could ever visit our offices. An average of 740 people a day are visiting our nyc.gov site. Over the last several years the Archives has provided reference service to more than 50,000 patrons annually and the on-line gallery had over 200,000 users last year.
Not much had changed since 1952 for the “Typed guides and inventories… available as finding aids to help researchers,” but over the past few years archivists have been inputting all those inventories into ArchivesSpace, work that they were able to continue remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new integrated access portal now under way will allow researchers to search across all Library and Archives collections.
Insulated walls being installed for the cold storage vault.
A new cold storage room will house the photographic and magnetic tape collections of the Municipal Archives, including thousands of original WNYC broadcast tapes recently accessioned from the NYPL.
By early next year, we will have moved 140,000 cubic feet of New York City government’s historical records into this new space, including mayoral records, maps, photographs, ledgers and other documents. These records will be available to researchers onsite instead of being trucked to Manhattan, thus making a contribution to a greener City. Seventy years hence there undoubtedly will be different preservation and storage solutions for the born-digital records of today’s government. But the foundational documents at our Industry City location will be safe, secure, and available.
Source: Jason Horn, Municipal Archives and Records Center of the City of New York, American Archivist, volume 16, issue 4, 1953: https://americanarchivist.org/doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.16.4.h1335164g7567424
The Hard Hat Riots, May 8, 1970
Friday, May 8, marks the 50th anniversary of one of the uglier incidents in New York’s history, in a year that was one of the most tumultuous in recent US history. In front of Federal Hall and under the statue of George Washington, construction workers stormed a student protest against the Vietnam War and chased both students and bystanders through the streets, beating and kicking them. Known as the Hard Hat Riots, it sparked two weeks of protests, counter protests and marches. Historians and journalists have debated the meaning of the incident ever since.
Construction workers raising American flag on the steps of Federal Hall, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Construction workers breaking through police lines, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
It is hard to make sense of the event without understanding the backdrop:
On April 29, 1970, President Nixon ordered American troops into Cambodia to track Viet Cong forces. The Vietnam War was already deeply unpopular and dividing America, but Nixon had run on a campaign of ending the war with honor. He asked Americans for patience in a famous November 1969 speech urging the “silent majority” of Americans who were not out protesting to stand by him. Now he was expanding the war, “leaving Vietnam through Cambodia” as the comedian George Carlin put it.
The invasion of Cambodia inflamed anti-war protesters. Students on college and high school campuses around the country began walk outs and protests. Kent State University in Ohio was one of those schools. After several days of unrest, including the torching of the campus Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) building, the National Guard was called in to quell the protests. On Monday May 4th, the Guard ordered protesters to disperse, firing tear gas into the crowd. For reasons still unclear, a sergeant fired live ammunition into the crowd, sparking a volley of 67 rounds. Thirteen students were hit, leaving four dead and nine wounded.
Flyer incorporating images from the Kent State shootings for an anti-war protest at 43rd and Madison, on May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, series III, NYC Municipal Archives.
Flyer incorporating images from the Kent State shootings for an anti-war protest at 43rd and Madison, on May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, series III, NYC Municipal Archives.
The sight of soldiers firing on unarmed college students shook the nation, but it also elicited sentiments that the students “got what was coming to them.” The galvanizing effect on the anti-war movement was immediate, and on Tuesday May 5th students across the nation staged more walk-outs and strikes. New York City Mayor John Lindsay ordered the American flag topping City Hall to be flown at half-mast. Students from Columbia University and City College staged a memorial march between the schools. A small group of students from NYU and Hunter College staged a protest in front of Federal Hall. All week a group gathered there without incident except for Thursday afternoon when a small group of construction workers arrived to confiscate American flags that they said were being desecrated. Mayor Lindsay declared Friday May 8th a day of remembrance and high school and college classes were canceled. Multiple small protests were staged throughout the City.
Flyer for Wall Street protest on May 7, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, series III, NYC Municipal Archives.
Flyer for student strikes, week of May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, series III, NYC Municipal Archives.
The crowd at Federal Hall grew to over a thousand, mostly high school and college students. All morning the protesters listened to speakers from the steps of Federal Hall calling for an end to the war and social injustices at home, watched over by a small line of police. Just before noon, over 200 construction workers and others descended on Federal Hall from four directions, joined by others along the way. Many of the men carried American flags and demanded to plant them in front of Washington’s statue. What happened next was unclear, but eye witnesses said a man spit on a flag, blew his nose on it, and taunted the workers. Within moments, the construction workers broke through the police barricades, punched him in the face and started their rampage. Protesters were violently thrown off the steps, “longhairs” seemed to be singled out for the most brutal attacks, but even stock traders and lawyers from nearby firms who tried to shelter the teens reported that they were savagely attacked. A female secretary reported that as she was beaten for trying to help a student a man said, “If you want to be treated like an equal, we'll treat you like one.”1
Journalist being pushed off of a ledge by workers, May 8, 1970. Photograph by Howard Petrick. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Student injured in riots, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
A group of workers stormed nearby Pace College, upset by an anti-war banner there, beating more students and smashing windows with crowbars and pipes. A group continued to City Hall Park demanding that the flag be raised to full mast. The park and City Hall Plaza were completely open, and the few police onsite could or would not stop the protesters. An aide to Mayor Lindsay was assaulted. A postal worker made it to the roof and raised the flag. When the flag was lowered again moments later, a larger group of angry construction workers broke through the police. Fearing that they might set fire to City Hall, Deputy Mayor Richard Aurelio ordered city workers to raise the flag again. At Trinity Church on Broadway, a makeshift hospital for the students was attacked by the mob and the flag of the Episcopal Church was torn from the building. Many eye-witnesses claimed that throughout the day the police stood by and let the mob beat students. Seventy people were injured and only six arrests were made.
Student filmmaker after being assaulted by workers, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Construction worker assaulting man on Broadway, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Workers stomping on a man on Broadway, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Workers assaulting pedestrians on Broadway, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Construction workers assaulting people in front of City Hall, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Man injured in riots in front of Federal Hall, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
The press struggled to make sense of this event. Was this Nixon’s silent majority flexing their muscle? Time magazine had just declared “Middle Americans” their people of the year, and it seemed that this was middle America saying they had had enough of the revolution. The last few months had seen activist groups splinter into more violent factions, including the Weather Underground who firebombed the Manhattan home of the judge in the Panther 21 trial and accidentally blew up a Greenwich Village townhouse while making bombs. Many in America looked at events like these and began to wonder if America had, as 63% of them told a pollster for the Nixon campaign, “seriously gotten off on the wrong track.”2
Arthur Muglia taunting construction workers from the steps of Federal Hall, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
There was a lot more going on below the surface though. First off, the man who taunted the workers was not a student radical, but a middle-aged man in a suit by the name of Arthur Muglia. He told a lawyer, Michael Belknap, who helped him to the hospital that he wasn’t against the war but was protesting the treatment he had been given in government hospitals. Belknap told police he was under the impression that Mr. Muglia “was not all there.” Upon returning to the scene, Belknap pleaded with construction workers to stop beating a student, at which point he was branded a “commie lawyer” and savagely beaten in the face.
Arthur Muglia being punched by a construction worker on the steps of Federal Hall, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Construction workers on Park Row, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Other eye-witnesses to the riots described seeing men in gray suits with union patches directing the assaults. Construction workers described being told by their shop stewards that they would get paid for walking off their job sites (mostly from the World Trade Center) and “cracking some heads.” Peter J. Brennan, President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and Vice-President of the NY State AFL-CIO, called the protests a spontaneous display of patriotism. However, many thought he directed them. Brennan, a staunch anti-communist, had clashed with Mayor Lindsay for several years over many issues, including efforts to integrate the building construction trades. Whether he was the puppet master of the May 8th assault or not, he took full advantage of the aftermath. In the following days, a rather predictable back and forth occurred as Mayor Lindsay criticized the police for their lack of action, and police union leaders accused the mayor of undermining the police. City Hall/NYPD relations were already strained, just a week earlier, Lindsay had established the Knapp Commission in response to Detective Frank Serpico’s tales of widespread police corruption.
Construction workers leaving the riots to cheers from Stock Exchange workers, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Mayor Lindsay demanded an investigation into the May 8th incident. The NYPD interviewed hundreds of witnesses, protesters, and police. They also fielded many calls and letters supporting and opposing the construction workers. An economist from the US Labor Department described pleading with police officers to help the students and make arrests. A Mrs. Tuohey called “to give the name of the biggest communist in the Country—John Lindsay—Gracie Mansion.”
Construction workers on Broadway during the riots, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Police commanders described being stretched thin that day and unprepared for the confrontation. The log for the day describes the Special Events Squad responding to: 300 students at Queens College trying to block the Long Island Expressway, 300 marchers on West 184th Street and Jerome Avenue, 150 people marching to Union Square, 100 Young Lords and Black Panthers demonstrating in front of 100 Centre Street, 100 picketers at John Adams HS in Queens, 300 people marching on Queens Boulevard, a protest in front of the United Nations, a “large disorderly crowd at St. Francis College” and a protest blocking Broadway and 96th Street. That was all before noon! In addition, Mayor Lindsay was scheduled to address a crowd at Foley Square at 1:30 and he requested a heavy police detail including high ranking officers.
Hard Hat protesters and counter-protesters face off near City Hall, May 11, 1970. NYPD Film Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
On May 11, several thousand construction workers, dockworkers and white-collar workers rallied against the mayor, calling him a “commie rat” and worse. Protests, and counter protests by students and anti-war labor groups, continued on May 12, 13, 15, and 17. It culminated in a march on May 20th Brennan organized of 150,000 workers through lower Manhattan’s “canyon of heroes” while office workers showered them with an unofficial ticker-tape parade.
Hard Hats demonstrate for the Vietnam War, 47th Street and 7th Avenue, May 13, 1970. NYPD Film Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Hard Hats demonstrate for Nixon and the Vietnam War, near City Hall Park, May 15, 1970. NYPD Film Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Hard Hats protesting Mayor Lindsay near City Hall Park, May 17, 1970. NYPD Film Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Hard Hat demonstration in favor of Nixon and the Vietnam War, May 20, 1970. NYPD Film Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
It would be easy to look at these marches the same way we look at the Charlottesville march or other recent outpourings of right-wing intolerance, but it’s not that simple. The NYPD surveillance films at the NYC Municipal Archives reveal that at least some of the protesting workers were African-American and Latino. Many working-class Americans of all races looked at the Vietnam War differently than the protesters because it was them and their relatives who were fighting the war while college students were granted deferments. Said one construction worker, “I’m doing this because my brother got wounded in Vietnam, and I think this will help our boys over there by pulling this country together.”3
Hard hat demonstration in support of Nixon and the police, May 20, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Hard hat demonstration in support of Nixon and the police, May 20, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Hard hat demonstration in support of Nixon and the police, May 20, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, Photograph Files, NYC Municipal Archives.
Brennan was the only real winner of this whole saga. On May 26th he went to the White House and presented Nixon with a hard hat. Nixon and his aides saw Brennan as a useful ally and asked him to organize labor support for Nixon’s 1972 re-election. After Nixon’s landslide victory Brennan was appointed labor secretary.
1 https://prospect.org/article/then-one-democrat-anymore/
3 After ‘Bloody Friday,’ New York Wonders if Wall Street is Becoming a Battle Ground. Wall Street Journal, May 11, 1970.
Moving the Archives
The need for a new climate-controlled space for the City’s historical records has long been recognized. In 1986, the Municipal Archives leased warehouse space in Brooklyn’s Bush Terminal complex for off-site storage of archival material. Although the waterfront area was desolate and the warehouse did not provide optimal storage conditions, the space was far superior to the previous off-site location in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. More recently, Bush Terminal has been rebranded as Industry City and the entire Sunset Park neighborhood has been revitalized.
Researchers visiting the new Municipal Archives Industry City facility will have panoramic views south and west. NYC Municipal Archives, January 2020.
Now, after years of planning, construction of a new facility is finally underway. Upgrading the current space while still occupying it would have been nearly impossible, so we are moving—but just a short distance, to an adjoining building in the Industry City complex. Even though the distance is not great, the task is Herculean. The tentative move-in date is September 2020.
Raw space is being cleared for construction of the Municipal Archives Industry City facility. NYC Municipal Archives, January 2020.
The Archives’ space will be spread across three floors and is adjacent to DORIS’ Records Management Division’s storage center. Both divisions will share modern office space on the 7th floor. The facility will also include a public research room which will greatly reduce the transfers of archival materials to and from Manhattan for patron access. A digital laboratory with stations for films, videotapes, negatives and paper documents is another feature of the new space and will help facilitate the growing digitization initiatives of the Archives.
Climate-controlled storage rooms, including a walk-in cold storage vault for negatives and film, will protect the collections from the deteriorating effects of inappropriate temperature and humidity levels. State-of-the-art filters will also eliminate harmful atmospheric pollutants. A conservation lab will allow for the on-site treatment and isolation of mold-damaged or infested materials. In all the storage rooms, new custom-built, high-density shelving will help protect materials and allow for a greater storage capacity in a smaller footprint. Concentrating the materials in this manner will reduce rent costs and lessen the energy draw of the climate-control systems. But of course, the build-out is just one part of this task, the move is the other.
The concrete floors are being prepped for construction of the Municipal Archives Industry City facility. NYC Municipal Archives, January 2020.
As anyone who has ever relocated from one apartment or house to another can tell you, moves are stressful. They are also an opportunity to take stock of what you have, rediscover things you’ve forgotten, and re-evaluate some of the things you’ve been hanging onto for no apparent reason. Over the past three years, municipal archivists have been surveying and re-appraising collections, and conservators have been preparing condition reports. The current facility suffers from drafty windows, peeling paint, and dust accumulated over ages. Many collections were transferred from filthy warehouses and never cleaned. Archives staff have begun the process of reboxing and cleaning every single item that needs it. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the collections will be re-boxed, a total of over 70,000 new containers. Recycling the old boxes is itself an enormous task. In addition, every single ledger on open shelves (50,000 total) will be vacuumed, and eventually every object will be barcoded. And then, the 140,000 cubic feet of historical records will be moved from one building to another.
At the end of process, we will have greater control over our collections, they will be in better storage containers and in a better storage environment, and we will have a public footprint in Brooklyn.
Construction of the Municipal Archives Industry City facility has commenced. Municipal Archives, January 2020.
Future blog posts will update this continuing saga.
The “Missing” Common Council Records of the Revolutionary War
The New York City Municipal Archives has an almost unbroken[1] set of records depicting City governance from 1653, when the city of New Amsterdam first received its charter, until 2013 when Mayor Michael Bloomberg left office. The one notable gap is from May 24, 1776 until February 10, 1784. These eight years, of course, cover an important time period because, on July 2nd, 1776 the Continental Congress declared independence from the British and the British fleet arrived in New York shortly thereafter. Researchers often wonder: “Where are the records of New York City government during the Revolutionary War? Were they destroyed?” Well the short answer is, there was no city government.