The Closing of Sydenham Hospital

At the start of 2018, the Municipal Archives began digitizing its vast and varied audiovisual collections, including lacquer discs, films and tapes from municipal broadcasters WNYC Radio and TV, surveillance films created by the New York Police Department (NYPD) and early cable television programming from the City’s Channel L Working Group. Now, almost six years later, the Archives has made thousands of hours of this visual material available online, with even more being added in the next few months.

These four collections, WNYC Radio (REC0078), WNYC-TV (REC0047), the NYPD Surveillance Films (REC0063) and Channel L (REC0072) together provide uniquely detailed and multifaceted perspectives on the City of New York during one of its most difficult eras since the Great Depression. These municipal entities often covered the same issues facing New Yorkers, but through different lenses and motivated by different public interests. While WNYC Radio and TV mostly showed the City through a lens of journalism and culture, the NYPD had its eye on the safety and security of its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Channel L gave cable subscribers a window into the minutia of City government with a variety of call-in talk show programs, many hosted by City officials trying to explain their legislative efforts and amplifying the voices of activists and average New Yorkers invited on the air.

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Sydenham Hospital, ca. 1940. Tax Photo Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

One issue that WNYC, the NYPD and Channel L all covered was the 1980 closure of Sydenham Hospital in Harlem. As discussed in a previous blog post, Sydenham Hospital was the first fully integrated hospital in the United States. It also served one of the most medically deprived areas of the country, with health outcomes for Harlem residents far below those of other New Yorkers. Still, the dire budgetary constraints of 1970s New York ultimately led Mayor Ed Koch to close the hospital.

WNYC-TV was on the scene documenting protests at the hospital over the years. The television journalists also covered official statements regarding the fate of the public hospital system from both Mayors Abe Beame and Ed Koch, as well as City Council President Carol Bellamy. This newly preserved and freely available footage shows the day-to-day news coverage from WNYC-TV that New Yorkers depended on to keep abreast of current events. Over the years, WNYC-TV employed journalists like Brian Lehrer, Maria Hinojosa, Bob Herbert, and Ti-Hua Chang to host talk shows like NY Hotline, and to critically investigate current events.

Like WNYC-TV, Channel L covered major metro-area developments, but rather than employing a cadre of journalists, Channel L gave hosting duties directly to the political figures that WNYC reporters often interviewed. City Council member Fred Samuels represented Harlem during the 1970s and 80s. He often hosted Channel L talk shows featuring doctors from Sydenham Hospital who expressed the importance of their healthcare facility to the people of Harlem. Samuels also featured other residents and professionals from Harlem on his repeat appearances, using the new format of cable television to highlight an array of issues confronting the community he represented, and his efforts to address the challenges of his constituents.

At the same time, the New York Police Department was also creating audiovisual records of social and political protest movements, including the ten-day occupation of Sydenham Hospital. Unlike Channel L and WNYC-TV, the NYPD never intended the footage to be released to the public. These films were created to further the efforts of the NYPD’s Bureau of Special Services (BOSS) to maintain the safety and security of New Yorkers during an increasingly tumultuous and physically dangerous time. Because of this different motive and method, the footage from this collection offers a totally different perspective on the same events covered by the journalists of WNYC-TV and the politicians of Channel L.

Through the work of archivists at the Municipal Archives, the perspectives of the City’s journalists, politicians, activists, police, and average New Yorkers come together to create a rich vision of one of the greatest cities in the world on the closure of Sydenham Hospital and countless other historical events and movements. The fight for LGBTQ+ rights, Caribbean migration, the rise of modern environmentalism, the Civil Rights movement, the Cold War, second wave feminism, the birth of hip-hop, the space race and so many other developments in the second half of the twentieth century are revealed in new ways through the sounds and visions of these never-before available collections. With holdings that dwarf every other city in the United States, the NYC Municipal Archives and its audiovisual collections serve a vital function of providing a communal memory of American culture, identity, and history, reminding us of our values as a society and the lessons our predecessors learned for our benefit. 

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This is the last blog post by archivist Chris Nicols. After more than five-years of work dedicated to preserving the visual resources of the Municipal Archives, Chris is moving on to new challenges. We will miss both his technical know-how and the always intelligent perspective he provided on the content he worked so hard to preserve. 

The Battle for Gay Rights, continued

On Wednesday April 2, 1986, at 10 a.m., in the Board of Estimate Chambers in City Hall, Mayor Edward I. Koch held a public hearing before signing Intro. #2, the ‘Gay Rights’ bill. Before opening the hearing for comments, he spoke:

“This bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodation. It is long overdue…. A version of this legislation has been before the City Council for fifteen years, and I have testified in its support, both as a Member of Congress and as Mayor. At last, we can have a law that would guarantee justice too long denied to people in the City of New York who have been deprived of the right to earn a living, to obtain shelter or to have access to services and public accommodations simply because they are heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. At last, we can have a law that would liberate from the fear of discovery, discrimination and violence the thousands of gay men and lesbians—as well as heterosexual men and women whose sexual orientation is misperceived—who live in our city, and would permit them to devote more of their energies, talents and intelligence to their professional and personal lives. At last, we can have a law that would ensure fairness and equality for all of us.”

Take a moment to view footage from the Municipal Archives collection that so vividly tells the story.

To learn more about the WNYC-TV collection, browse the nearly 1,000 digitized films in the digital gallery here and discover many other collections made freely available. The digitization of these films was funded by a Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) grant from the New York State Archives.  

The Battle for Gay Rights

The New York City Municipal Archives’ moving image collection provides unique documentation on diverse subjects. Several recent digitization projects have made this visual record more widely available. This week, For the Record highlights newly digitized films and video tapes of iconic NYC LGBTQ+ rights activists like Sylvia Rivera, Andrew Humm, Betty Santoro, Marc Rubin, and many more. These activists worked from 1971 to 1986 to pass the so called ‘Gay Civil Rights Bill’ that added sexual orientation to New York City’s anti-discrimination laws, protecting queer people’s right to housing, employment and security. All of this footage was recorded either by municipal television channels serving the city or covert NYPD surveillance of the gay liberation movement in the wake of the Stonewall riot of 1969.

To learn more about the WNYC-TV collection, browse the nearly 1,000 digitized films in the digital gallery here and discover many other collections made freely available. The digitization of these films was funded by a Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) grant from the New York State Archives.

Preserving Mali’s Motion Picture Film Heritage

In November 2022, the New York City Municipal Archives hosted two visitors from Mali as part of a United States State Department grant meant to aid the development of a Malian national film archive at the Centre National de la Cinématographie du Mali (CNCM). Written by the non-profit group XFR Collective, this grant funded Malian filmmaker Alassane Poudjougou and Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana of the CNCM’s trip to learn about archival standards in film and tape preservation by touring facilities in the City of New York, including Columbia University, the Museum of Modern Art and New York University. At the Municipal Archives, they cleaned, repaired and digitized some films they brought with them that featured post-colonial life in Mali in the 1960s and ‘70s. With thousands of films like these discovered in the 1990s by Professor Fofana, the Municipal Archives recognizes that sharing the lessons and processes that we have learned could help them preserve their historic record.

Alassane Poudjougou inspects the NYC Muncipal Archives film scanner while Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana takes pictures.

For generations, the Empire of Mali was the thriving, preeminent power in Western Africa and its most famous ruler was Mansa Musa in the 14th century, possibly the wealthiest man to ever live. But in 1672, weakened by internal divisions, the Malian Empire succumbed to invasion by the neighboring Bemana Empire, splitting Mali into smaller kingdoms. By the end of the 19th century, France had established a colonial government, forcibly relocating thousands in the hopes of turning the area into a cotton growing powerhouse to rival India.

The end of French colonial rule in 1960 brought freedom to the inhabitants of the new Republic of Mali, as well as new connections with the Soviet Union and the adoption of socialist policies under President Modibo Keïta. Keïta was overthrown in a military coup in 1968, when Lt. Moussa Traoré took over as head of a military dictatorship until calls for democracy in the 1990s grew strong enough to force reforms. The first peaceful transition took place in Mali in 2002 when Traoré was voted back into power after years of absence. Today, Mali is still wracked by the impact of colonialism and its legacy of division, with a civil war currently playing out between the north and south, nearly derailing this grant.

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Bouna Cherif Fofana discovered thousands of films chronicling the early history of the Republic of Mali.

In the 1990s, Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana of the CNCM discovered over 2,000 films from the turbulent period of the 1960s and ‘70s, documenting the early years of post-colonial life in the Republic of Mali. However, the CNCM did not have the resources needed to preserve these films. Hearing of this situation, NYC-based artist Janet Goldner, members of the non-profit group XFR Collective (in which the author is a member) and Malian film maker Alassane Poudjougou worked together with Professor Fofana and the CNCM to apply for a U.S. State Department grant that would help them get started. Delayed by ongoing turmoil in Mali, Fofana and Poudjougou were finally able to visit the New York City Municipal Archives in November, 2022 to tour the facilities and receive essential training on moving image preservation.

Bouna Cherif Fofana and Alassane Poudjougou also got an overview of magnetic tape preservation methods

This visit was only the first leg in a long journey to establish a national film archive of Mali. In the future, Poudjougou and Fofana hope to raise funds to create a climate-controlled storage facility and a digitization lab like the one at the NYC Municipal Archives center in Industry City. However, Mali is not a wealthy nation, with 80% of the country living on less than $5.50 per day and many working in gold mines owned by international conglomerates. An upcoming documentary from Alassane Poudjougou investigates the terrible conditions Malians work in while mining gold and the litany of broken promises that foreign corporate entities have made to Mali. A film archive of Mali would not only preserve the thousands of films Professor Fofana discovered, but also new productions of Malian filmmakers like Poudjougou that expose powerful entities continuing to abuse the people of Mali.

Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana practices film inspection and cleaning methods in the Municipal Archives’ digital lab.

Since the end of French colonial rule, thousands of people from Mali have moved to New York City, home to the largest population of Malians living in the United States. Many came during the 1960s and ‘70s, escaping turmoil that some of Professor Fofana’s films may yet document. Even more came after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s when the films were first discovered. Over 20 years later, the Municipal Archives hopes that by fostering its relationship with the CNCM in Mali, we might help shed light on how the Republic of Mali came into being and how thousands of Malians also became New Yorkers.

LGBTQ+ Teachers, Parents and Children

As queer people have increasingly asserted their visibility in public life and sought equal treatment, opponents of LGBTQ+ rights have consistently expressed their view that queer teachers or role models might have a negative impact on children or the notion of families in general. Undoubtedly, these views existed long before any kind of large LGBTQ+ rights movement. Since queer people have more aggressively pushed for equal treatment under the law, these fears have been given more specific and explicit form, shaped into arguments meant to defeat or support legislation. The ongoing digitization of the Municipal Archives’ WNYC-TV collection makes available video content that sheds light on the thinking of both supporters and opponents of such legislation in late 20th century America, echoed by the same arguments still playing out today.

Starting in 1971, the New York City Council repeatedly considered a so called ‘gay civil rights bill’ that would have added sexual orientation to anti-discrimination laws already on the books. Doing so would have protected the livelihoods, living situations and access to public spaces of gay, lesbian and bisexual New Yorkers- but essentially excluded trans people from these same protections. As covered in a July 2020 For the Record post, The Battle for Gay Rights, this effort narrowly failed again and again until it finally passed in 1986. Before then, an array of powerful groups in New York City formed coalitions to defeat the legislation, often citing threats to traditional family structures and children.

District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and Deputy Governor Mary Anne Krupsak supported the ‘gay civil rights bill,’ while Councilmember Anthony R. Gaeta did not. REC0047_01_3447, September 11th, 197.5 WNYC-TV Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

In 1975, councilmember Anthony R. Gaeta expressed the fears of many New Yorkers at the time. He was afraid that gay teachers specifically, or just the basic presence of openly gay people more generally, would have an ‘adverse effect’ on young children. Hearing his argument, some might find it possible to see how the word ‘gay’ could just as easily be replaced with the word ‘Jewish’ or ‘foreign’ or ‘black’ and similar arguments were made in favor of maintaining other discriminatory laws. Although Gaeta did not go into further detail in the interview, many other opponents of expanding civil rights laws to include sexual orientation made it clear that they believed that gay or lesbian or bisexual people would influence the sexuality of children, turning them into  members of a group seen as undesirable in some communities. For example, the 1978 Briggs Initiative in California, that Harvey Milk campaigned against, would have required any openly gay teacher to be fired under Briggs’ belief that all gay teachers intended to abuse their students.

Openly gay teacher Linda Levy describes the positive impact she believes openly gay, lesbian or bisexual teachers can have on all of their students, regardless of sexual orientation. REC0047_2_013_0230, 1991, WNYC-TV Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

To be sure, teachers play a vital role in the lives of their students and can be some of the most influential role models a child will have. But some students like Mayumi Passenant never had any openly gay teachers, did not see any teacher as a role model and found support from straight teachers when opening up about her sexuality. And openly queer teachers bring value to more than just LGBTQ+ students by being open. Their openness expands the world their students live in and what is possible in it. Allowing teachers to be open also helps them teach better by not forcing them to lie or mislead their students. In a world where teachers already struggle with a lack of resources, hobbling LGBTQ+ teachers only further harms the children who depend on them for a good education and to do well later in life.

Legal Director of the LAMBDA Legal Defense Fund Paula Ettelbrick and Co-Chair of Center Kids Wayne Steinman rejected the idea that same sex parents cannot provide sufficient role modelling for their children. REC0047_2_013_0229 June 5th, 1991 WNYC-TV Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

What’s more, the notion that someone can define the sexuality of another through social pressures, or that gay people are especially likely to abuse children, is a hateful and shameful scapegoating myth that undermines efforts to protect children from real abuse. Any link between sexual orientation and childhood abuse has been repeatedly dismissed by experts, even at the Department of Justice as early as 1978. Today, sexual orientation is seen by researchers as the result of a wide variety of subtle biological factors and not something that is engineered in the way one is raised or taught. While the source of one’s sexual orientation is internal, the discrimination one might face is entirely external and within our control as a society. Protecting children from abuse means also protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans children from abuse and remembering that every gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans adult today was once a gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans child.

New mothers Miriam Frank and Desma Holcomb describe the joys of new motherhood and the considerate way they raise their daughter Ruth. REC0047_2_013_0229 June 5th, 1991, WNYC-TV Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.