Blog - For The Record — NYC Department of Records & Information Services

Preserving the Ghosts of New York City

New York City loves its holiday seasons. Whether it is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Lunar New Year, or the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center, New Yorkers participate in major seasonal celebratory touchstone events. Halloween is no exception, and what better pastime to celebrate the scariest season than to share ghost stories?

This week For the Record highlights stories of the paranormal recorded by the WPA Federal Writers’ Project in the 1930s. Housed at the Municipal Archives the WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection contains a wealth of material that examine multiple facets of New York City life. Established in 1935, the Federal Writers’ Project was an important wing of the overall WPA. It employed an army of writers to document, publish, and preserve the local histories of every state and territory. New York City, like other major cities, received its own specific guide from the project as well. The Municipal Archives is fortunate to house many of the working files of the writers assigned to document New York City.

The Walton House, Pearl Street, New York. Valentine’s Manual, 1857. NYC Municipal Library.

Researchers familiar with the Municipal Archives may have already used elements of this collection in their studies. The WPA Federal Writers’ Project conducted the Church Records Survey, a very popular resource for researchers, but this only represents a small portion of the entire collection. Totaling 64 series and roughly 165 cubic feet, the entire collection is a valuable source of ethnographic, sociological, and cultural content. One series is particularly relevant to this season.

Series 28 of the Federal Writers’ project is titled “Look Behind You (Psychic Phenomenon) 1937-1938.” The records contain information on various aspects of the history and study of psychic phenomena and folklore in the United States, particularly in New York City and environs. Research on demonology, famous spiritualists, ghosts, haunted houses, psychic painting and photography, Native American spiritualism and folklore, witchcraft and other aspects of psychic research is included. The records document the efforts to assemble the information for both a popular historical and contemporary account of the study of psychic phenomena and folklore in the US. A draft manuscript was produced but there is no evidence that it was ever published.

Walton House, Sitting Room, 2nd Story. Valentine’s Manual of 1857, NYC Municipal Library.

The first highlighted story recounts the tale of an ill-fated sea captain named Guilford Walton. He was a resident of the Walton House in Franklin Square in lower Manhattan. He was a mysterious man, but residents of the house claimed he was a respectable individual. However, the captain soon began to mysteriously, much like his arrival, waste away.

It appears there was some “entity” hunting the unfortunate captain. Who knows what truly happened to Guilford Walton on that fateful night? Did the hard years at sea finally take their toll on the ex-sailor, or was there truly something hunting him? Additionally, what happened to the creature if it did exist? Despite the efforts of Walton’s comrades, the suspect was never caught. The Walton House and Franklin Square no longer exist so potentially the creature’s lair was demolished as well, or it possibly found a new home somewhere else in Manhattan?

The undead are not the only creatures who stalk the night. Some New Yorkers have seen more insidious creatures that are truly demonic in nature. Take the account of Thomas Flarity. He was a gardener on an estate near Fort Schuyler in what is now The Bronx. Flarity happened upon a fellow traveler late one night who happened to be looking for a gardener.   

It is fortunate that Flarity had more sense than Faust. While he was initially tempted to do so, he ultimately rejected the Devil’s deal and escaped with his soul intact.

This incident is not the only time a fiendish creature was spotted in the boroughs. In Staten Island there was a truly frightening patron who chose the famous Bull’s Head Tavern as its preferred haunt.

The Bull’s Head Tavern had attracted many famous visitors over its years of operation, but perhaps its most famous visitor was also its most infamous?

The Revolutionary War provides a connecting theme among the stories within series 28. There is a common notion that ghosts linger around sites of trauma and suffering. War is no exception and many haunted sites around the New York area are linked to that war. The most famous spirit cursed to haunt the area is the Headless Horseman of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but there is another deadly Hessian that haunted New York.  

These stories represent only a portion of what the WPA Writers’ recorded. There are many more tales of hauntings, ghosts, and other paranormal activities within the collection.

From For the Record, have a Happy Halloween!

Horsepower: The City and the Horse

Question: What was once ubiquitous in New York City and now almost completely absent from the streetscape? Answer: The Horse.

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company’s Freight Depot at West and Barclay Streets, Manhattan, November 1910. Department of Docks & Ferries Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horses arrived with the first European colonial settlers and for the next three centuries powered the city’s transportation, construction, law enforcement, firefighting, street cleaning, ambulance, and delivery services. With related occupations and businesses—saddlers, blacksmiths, carriage manufacturers, harness makers, feed suppliers, stables, auction houses, etc. the City was dense with horses. This week, For the Record introduces the topic and features pictures selected from the Municipal Archives gallery that illustrate the preponderance of the horse in city life. Future articles will identify and explore resources in the Archives for further study of the horse in the City.

Team of 34 horses bringing steel girders for Municipal Building from dock at Battery Place, February 26, 1911. Photograph by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges, Plant & Structures Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Dutch brought horses to New Amsterdam to carry heavy loads and operate gristmills and sawmills. English settlers imported horses for racing. Soon after their arrival, references to horses appear in official records, most often as the subject of assorted regulations and taxation. An entry from The Minutes of the Common Council for October 15, 1670, provides a typical citation: “Ordered that all and every person that should ship from this place any horses, mares or geldings to Virginia, Maryland or any other outward plantations should pay for every horse, mare or gelding one shilling in silver or two guilders in wampum....”

Subsequent records document regulations about where and how horses could be bought and sold, watered and fed. And many rules focused on horse racing—most often the prevention thereof.

Police officer with his horse in Central Park, ca. 1915. NYPD Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Department of Street Cleaning snow removal team, n.d. Department of Sanitation Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The first horse-drawn omnibus in the nation operated along Broadway in Manhattan from Prince to 14th Street beginning in 1832. Horse-drawn passenger vehicles continued to ply city streets until 1918. Beginning in the 1860s, fire companies adopted horses to pull fire-fighting apparatus. Similarly, the Street Cleaning Department, and the Department of Public Charities and Hospitals hitched horses to their equipment.

The number of plans related to features of Central Park specifically dedicated to horses in the Department of Parks drawing collection points to their importance for leisure activities.

Central Park, shelter for carriages and horses, preliminary study, front elevation. Jacob Wrey Mould, 1871. Department of Parks & Recreation Drawings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horse Aid Society, Manhattan Bridge, October 18, 1917. Photographer: Eugene de Salignac. Department of Bridges Plant & Structures Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

West 44th Street, September 6, 1931. Photographer: Frank Savastano. Borough President Manhattan Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Other records reveal another consequence of the city’s reliance on horses. There are disturbing numbers of arraignments in the Police and Magistrate’s Court docket books for offenses related to animal abuse. In many cases, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) brought the charges. New York City’s branch of the ASPCA, founded in 1866, was the first in the U.S. based on a similar group that originated in Great Britain. More recently, the ASPCA monitors conditions of the City’s carriage horses.

By the early twentieth century, the number of horses in the city began to diminish. Technology, in the form of motor vehicles—cars and trucks, gradually reduced the city’s reliance on horsepower. Between 1910 and 1920, the number of horses in the City declined from 128,000 to 56,000.

Riders on Central Park Bridle Paths, June 1937. Photographer: E.M. Bofinger. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Although much reduced in number, the horse is not entirely absent from the City scene today. Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, the only racetrack located within New York City limits, continues to operate, generally from late October through April. Closure of the Claremont Riding Stables on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in 2007 greatly reduced, but did not entirely eliminate people enjoying horseback rides along Central Park’s bridle paths. And despite decades-long protests and controversy, horse-drawn carriages still meander through the southern portion of the park.

Highway maintenance, Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven Avenue, August 13, 1926. Borough President Queens Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Coney Island Hospital ambulance, n.d. Department of Public Charities and Hospitals Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Department of Street Cleaning rubbish wagon, Brooklyn, n.d. Department of Sanitation Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Teamster on West Street, Manhattan, February 10, 1938. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horse with feed bag, ca. 1936. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Village blacksmith, 33 Cornelia Street, Manhattan, August 6, 1937. Photographer: E.M. Bofinger. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Mayor Edward Koch at the Big Apple Stakes, Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens, April 26, 1980. Mayor Edward Koch Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Marriage Contracts

October is Family History month. In recognition of this popular pastime and the many valuable genealogy resources at the Municipal Archives, For the Record explores the origins and intellectual content of the Marriage Contract collection. There are 8,616 items in the series; the bulk of the material pre-dates 1908 when New York State instituted the marriage license requirement. Similar to license records, the contracts provide information essential for family historians. But they also reveal interesting data that illuminates the experience of new immigrants to the United States during the first decade of the twentieth century.   

But first, why were the contracts created? The records help provide the answer. Most of the contracts consist of pre-printed forms with information filled-in as appropriate. There are two forms, both titled “Marriage Contract.” On one of the forms pre-printed text reads, “Now, therefore, in pursuance of Subdivision 4 of Section 11 of Article II of the Domestic Relations Law, as amended by Chapter 339 of the laws of 1901, the said [name of groom] and the said [name of bride] do from the date of this contract become Husband and Wife.” 

 The Municipal Library’s New York State publication collection includes a copy of The Laws of the State of New York, 1901. Turning to Chapter 339, §11 the text states “Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned continues to be a civil contract . . . that must be “solemnized.” The 1901 law amended an 1896 statute which specified that a marriage may be solemnized by 1) clergyman or minister of any religion, or the leader of the society for ethical culture in the City of New York; 2) mayor, recorder, alderman, police justice or police magistrate; or 3) a justice or judge of a court of record, etc.   

Marriage contract no. 8501. NYC Municipal Archives.

The 1901 amendment added a fourth method to validate a marriage: “A written contract of marriage signed by both parties, and at least two witnesses.” The amendment added “Such contract shall be filed within six months after its execution in the office of the clerk of the town or city in which the marriage was solemnized.” The Governor approved the amended law on April 12, 1901, and it became effective on January 1, 1902. Shortly thereafter, the New York City Clerk began receiving marriage contracts.   

The contract series is a valuable resource for family historians. All of the contracts include basic data, e.g. names and dates. In some instances, additional information is provided, such as birthplaces and parents’ names.

Upon closer examination, the records also provide some fascinating insights into immigration. One notable feature of the series is that many of the couples have family names that point to origins in Southern and Eastern Europe. Given patterns of immigration at that time, the likelihood is that many were recent arrivals to the U.S. Further inspection shows that many were very new arrivals, i.e. marrying at Ellis Island on the day of arrival. As noted above, most of the contracts are pre-printed forms. One of the two forms that comprise most of the series was supplied by the “U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, Immigration Service,” according to a stamp on the forms. 

Examining marriage contracts that used the federal form reveals an interesting phenomenon. The grooms are almost always listed as residing in the U.S., mainly New York City. But the “residence” of the bride is frequently recorded as Ellis Island. For example, contract no. 2453: “We, Harry Askin, aged 25, residing at 357 E. 10th Street, N.Y.C. and Lei Stein, aged 18, arriving Ellis Island, S. S. Statendam on January 4, 1905, hereby agree to marry etc.”   

Marriage contract no. 5709. NYC Municipal Archives.

Over the years, patrons visiting the archives have sometimes been in search of documentation to support a family legend that their ancestors married on Ellis Island. City archivists replied that there were not records; Ellis Island was not considered part of New York City for vital record purposes, and reporting of birth, death and marriage events to the City’s Health Department was not consistent. Now, with the newly indexed marriage contract series, maybe the family stories are true – and there are records to prove it!  

A second observation about contracts using the Immigration Service form is that there are “witnesses” who signed multiple contracts. For example, during the last two weeks of August 1904, Helen A. Taylor, of 108 W. 84th Street, witnessed eleven marriages. All eleven brides “resided” on Ellis Island, having arrived on steamships within a day or two of the contract-signing. Although two grooms also listed Ellis Island as place of residence, all the rest resided locally. Similarly, Elizabeth A. Fitzgerald, of 404 E. 6th Street, witnessed five marriage contracts during December 1904. The newly-arrived brides all married U.S. resident grooms, often on the day the boat docked: “We, George W. Whitehead, 26 years, residing at 165 W. 21st Street, N.Y.C. and Edith Swain, 23 years, arrived at Ellis Island, S.S. Lucania, December 12, 1904, hereby agree to marry etc.,” signed December 12, 1904. (Marriage contract no. 2381.) 

Marriage contract no 8497. NYC Municipal Archives.

This leads to further questions. Were the “witnesses” representatives of an altruistic organization such as the Immigrant Aid Society, or were they operating some kind of business enterprise? Did having the marriage contract ease entry to the U.S. through Ellis Island?   

One possible answer comes from historical information supplied by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services division of the Department of Homeland Security. According to their website, “During its first decade [after 1892], the Immigration Service formalized basic immigration procedures and made its first attempts to enforce a national immigration policy. The Immigration Service began collecting arrival manifests (also frequently called passenger lists or immigration arrival records) from each incoming ship, a former duty of the U.S. Customs Service since 1820. Inspectors then questioned arrivals about their admissibility and noted their admission or rejection on the manifest records. Beginning in 1893, Inspectors also served on Boards of Special Inquiry that closely reviewed each exclusion case. Inspectors often initially excluded noncitizens who were likely to become public charges because they lacked funds or had no friends or relatives nearby.”   

Given this information, it seems apparent that having one of the two parties already residing in the U.S. probably assured quick passage through Ellis Island and a new life in America.  

Once again, basic bureaucratic processes and the resulting documentation available in Municipal Archives collections help tell a larger story. And future digitization of the series will greatly expand this utility. In the meantime, the index to the contracts can be accessed by clicking on the ‘External Documents’ link in the Collection Guide description of the collection. Patrons can visit the Archives to view the contracts, or order copies using the online order form for historical marriage records.    

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.

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. 

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. 

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