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.
Holiday Greetings
Season’s Greetings from everyone at DORIS
Christmas Tree in City Hall Park, 1937. Photographer: E. M. Bofinger. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Documenting the WTC Memorial Risers
The Municipal Archives recently launched a project to document the “risers” built for the annual 9/11 memorial services at the World Trade Center. Beginning September 11, 2002, New York City held annual memorial services for the victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Memorial pool at the World Trade Center, September 11, 2005. Photographer: Michael Lorenzini, NYC Municipal Archives.
For the first nine years, family members who gathered at the site for the services placed flowers and memorabilia in two water-filled pools representing the World Trade Center Twin Towers.
DORIS staff gathered mementos and flowers from a memorial pool at the World Trade Center, September 11, 2008. Photographer: Michael Lorenzini, NYC Municipal Archives.
The Municipal Archives preserved items left by friends and families at the site, along with the structural elements of the water-filled pools. Known as the “risers,” these wooden beams vary in size with some measuring approximately 18' x 10" (18 ft. long x 10 inches wide).
WTC Risers. WTC Riser Documentation Project, December 2020. Photographer: Pearl Boatswain, NYC Municipal Archives.
Between 2002 and 2008, the Archives retrieved 56 “risers” from the annual services. The symbolic pools were discontinued when construction of the new World Trade Center buildings covered the site.
WTC Riser. WTC Riser Documentation Project, December 2020. Photographer: Pearl Boatswain, NYC Municipal Archives.
The intrinsic value of the risers lies in the inscriptions written on them by family members. The inscriptions cover a gamut of emotions including sorrow, anger, and love.
Looking ahead to the twentieth anniversary of the attack in 2021, the Archives conceived the documentation project to ensure survival of these inscriptions, some of which are beginning to fade. The Archives will maintain several risers in its permanent collection. Some will be relocated to other institutions.
Temporary studio set-up at Industry City, WTC Riser Documentation Project, December 2020. Photographer: Pearl Boatswain, NYC Municipal Archives.
The Archives contracted a professional photographer, Stephen Mallon, for the documentation project. Beginning November 30, he used a medium-format camera to create high-resolution color images. Each riser was photographed in its entirety for documentation and then 12" sections were shot with a one-inch overlap. The sections will be stitched together to recreate a digital replica of each riser.
WTC Riser, WTC Riser Documentation Project, December 2020. Photographer: Pearl Boatswain, NYC Municipal Archives.
The planned second phase of the project will be to enter the names, years and inscriptions into a searchable database. Given the large amount of content the Municipal Archives is developing guidelines to “crowd-source” the data entry. This database will then be connected to the unique image which will allow families to find the inscriptions written years earlier.
WTC Riser. WTC Riser Documentation Project, December 2020. Photographer: Pearl Boatswain, NYC Municipal Archives.
The Municipal Archives will coordinate with other partners to complete this monumental project.
Adopt New York’s Past
Earlier this year, the Department of Records & Information Services partnered with the New York Archival Society, its affiliated 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, to promote a new program to help preserve some of the most significant items in the collections of the Municipal Archives and Municipal Library.
Spearheaded by Lindsey Hobbs, the head of Preservation/Conservation, “Adopt New York’s Past,” offers the opportunity for interested persons to choose from a selection of the city’s maps, volumes, drawings, and documents that are in a state of disrepair and make a contribution to fund the necessary conservation treatments.
Here is a sample of items from the collections that have been identified in as suitable for “adoption.”
Town of Flatbush, Kings County, 1797. Kings County Map Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
This 1797 hand-drawn map of the town of Flatbush and surrounding areas of Brooklyn includes the homes of several early Dutch families that settled in the area, as well as Erasmus Hall (now Erasmus Hall High School) and the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church, the longest serving religious site in all of New York City. The delicate details of the map, from the church’s spire to the 8-point compass rose, have become discolored over time and embedded with dirt and grime. The cloth-back paper has become brittle and is subject to further damage if the map is handled by researchers. Adopting this item would allow conservators to reduce the acidic discoloration of the paper, remove much of the surface dirt that is obscuring fine details, and prevent further deterioration. Your support will help to extend the life of this important New York record.
Town Proceedings, Town of Flatlands, Kings County, 1799. Kings County Clerk Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
This volume, which documents the birth of children to enslaved women in the Flatlands area of Brooklyn, is a unique record of New York History. The binding of this volume has been damaged over time, and requires conservation treatment to make it safer for researchers to handle. Repairing the binding and creating a custom enclosure will ensure that the volume is protected both from poor handling and external environmental conditions.
Belevedere Castle, front elevation. Department of Parks Drawing Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
The Archives’ collection includes nearly 2,000 drawings related to the planning and construction of Central Park. This drawing of the front elevation of Belvedere Castle, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, represents an early rendering of the structure and its detailed finial. Over time the drawing has become weakened and discolored by acids due to lignin content in the paper. Conservation treatment would reduce the acid and discoloration in the paper, and a new tissue lining on the reverse would add needed strength.
Brooklyn Bridge Drawings Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Among the Archives' nearly 10,000 plans for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, this drawing depicts specifications for cable-making hardware that would provide support. It is a beautiful example of the artistry that went into every detail of the construction. Conservation treatment would help to remove some of the discoloration and degradation products from the paper, making the paper more stable, safer to handle, and bringing the drawing closer to its original appearance.
Third Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park, 1859. NYC Municipal Library.
The Municipal Library’s collection of Annual Reports of Central Park document the early development and use of the park in the mid to late 1800s in vivid detail. Each volume also contains fine lithographic foldout prints throughout. The earliest rare volumes are in need of custom enclosures that will protect the often delicate contents. Adopting one or more of these volumes will support their long term preservation by helping us to build cloth-covered drop-spine boxes to store them in.
Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, 1850. NYC Municipal Library
One of the earliest illustrated histories of New York City, Valentine's Manuals documented change in the city each year through legislative and historical information as well as original lithographic prints, woodcut illustrations, and maps. Created by David T. Valentine from 1841 – 1866, the 1855 edition is leather-bound with edge tooling details and contains beautiful lithographic prints of Central Park and other fold-out maps. The covers have become detached from the volume from handling over the years, and the spine is deteriorated. Adopting this rare volume would allow it to be rebound and appropriately housed to protect this important piece of New York History.
Bookplate. Courtesy Catha Rambusch, Rambusch Lighting Co.
Donors will be commemorated by a label with the physical item and a note in the catalog that includes their name and an acknowledgment of the gift. The donor’s name will also appear on New York Archival Society’s website next to a picture of the “adopted” document. (Requests to remain anonymous will also be honored.) Donors will receive a thank you note with before and after photos of the adopted item once the conservation work is completed.
Please visit the New York Archival Society website Adopt New York City's Past to see more examples and to select one (or more!) of these unique items from the collection in need of conservation care.
Early Mayors Papers – The Letter Press Volumes
Recent blogs have discussed how the increasing importance of the mayor within city government over the course of the 19th century is reflected in the quantity and significance of mayoral records in the Archives. This week we will focus on the “Letterpress Volumes,” an important but often overlooked series related to the mayoral correspondence collections, collectively known as the “Early Mayors Papers.”
In their preface to Gotham, the essential history of New York City, authors Mike Wallace and Edward Burroughs neatly encapsulated the city’s trajectory over the course of the 19th century:
“New York was a place of ever-increasing potency in global affairs, and as the United States evolved from colony to empire, the city migrated from the edge to the center of the world.”
Commercial maritime activities focused on Manhattan’s west side waterfront were the primary engine of the city’s economy in the 19th century. West Street, Manhattan, ca. 1900. Department of Docks and Ferries Collection. NYC Municipal Archives
New York City has always played a central role in the nation’s economy. In 1850, the port of New York handled more goods and passengers than all others in the country combined. By the end of the century it had become the busiest port in the world. Similarly, the city’s financial markets and banks were a conduit for capital to finance industrialization and westward expansion across the continental United States.
John Fitzpatrick, Mayor of New Orleans, to Mayor of New York. Letter, August 5, 1893. Mayor Thomas Gilroy Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
During the latter part of the 19th century American railroads and industry experienced a wave of consolidations and vertical integration that resulted in the creation of the modem corporate enterprise. Many of these new businesses found New York City to be a highly desirable location for their national headquarters. Not only did the city provide access to capital funds, but it fostered an economy of legal, managerial, and advertising services. Advances in building technology, particularly the elevator and steel-frame construction, enabled construction of tall office buildings. With abundant steam heat supplied from central power stations, reliable electric and telephone service, plus a growing transit system for the working population, the city quickly become the nation’s premier commercial center. Massive immigration during the latter part of the century challenged city government as never before in all areas of municipal services including health, housing, sanitation, care for the destitute, transportation, education, and policing.
The growing centrality of the mayor in city government is reflected in the intellectual content of the mayoral records. Mayoral correspondence provides ample evidence of how the office interacted with the business, labor, social, and other constituent communities of the city, and how they used the powers of municipal government—taxation, regulations, expenditures—to shape the destiny of the city and the nation.
Letters from city officials from around the country asked New York’s mayor for advice and information. In 1877, Mayor Smith Ely received communications from Milwaukee, Norfolk, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Detroit, each soliciting answers to questions about municipal administration. The Mayor of Milwaukee wanted to know: “...what [is] the opinion of the people residing on lines of the railways in respect to the use of steam?” In 1893, mayors from Chicago, Portland, and New Orleans similarly wrote to Mayor Thomas Gilroy for advice. John Fitzpatrick, Mayor of New Orleans, inquired “...has your city an asylum or place of refuge (not strictly prisons) where persons are committed...” and, “if the said institution have any industry in connection therewith that make them self-sustaining or nearly so.”
John McCarthy, Superintendent of Streets, City of Chicago to Mayor of the City of New York. Letter July 17, 1893. Page 1 of 2. Mayor Thomas Gilroy Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
John McCarthy, Superintendent of Streets, City of Chicago to Mayor of the City of New York. Letter July 17, 1893. Page 2 of 2. Mayor Thomas Gilroy Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Researchers exploring these and other topics in American history will find the Early Mayors Papers supplies endless examples to support their arguments. But eventually they might notice that they are seeing only the incoming correspondence. Where are the replies?
The answer is that copies of letters written in reply were maintained in “Letter Press” volumes. There are 165 volumes in the series, and they date from 1834 to 1945, although all but a handful span 1862 through 1902. The early volumes consist of bound handwritten copies of the correspondence. The later volumes include copies of the correspondence produced by placing the original letter against a water-moistened tissue paper. That’s the good news. The less-than-good news is that they are very fragile; the ink is fast fading and some pages are already totally unreadable. Due to their delicate condition they have never been microfilmed or digitized.
Forwarding correspondence, Letterpress volume, July 19, 1893. NYC Municipal Archives.
Mayor Thomas Gilroy’s communication regarding prevention of a cholera epidemic in New York City. Letterpress volume, March 30, 1893. NYC Municipal Archives.
City archivists and conservators are investigating appropriate preservation and reformatting measures, but in the meantime the series will be made available to researchers, whenever possible. Together with the incoming mayoral correspondence the letter press volumes responses provide a more complete picture of the role the City and its Mayor played in leading innovation during a critical period of the nation’s history.